Invasive Exotics After years of gnashing their teeth wildly through the bible belt of Texas, Indian jewelry have emerged with their debut.
Customer Review: Indian jewelry rock my world. Period.
Indian jewelry, Invasive Exotics (Monitor Records, 2006)

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple of months listening to Invasive Exotics, trying to figure out what I think of it. I have come to the conclusion that I don’t like it as much as Indian jewelry’s debut album, Sangles Redux. But then, there are very few albums, by anyone, I like as much as I like Sangles Redux, so that’s not saying much. Truth be told, though, that’s part of my problem; mixed in with the real gems on this disc (”Health and Wellbeing,” “Partying with Jandek,” the awe-inspiring “Lesser Snake”) is a remix of “Lost My Sight” that I just can’t get past. The version on Sangles is one of those tracks you could just listen to over and over again. (I do, at times.) The new version is… meh. Why mess with perfection?

But, you know, it’s Indian jewelry. And it’s one annoying track. And while an Indian jewelry album can’t capture the fascination, ferocity, and almost ritual atmosphere of their legendary live shows, their albums come closer than those of any other legendary live band I can think of to doing so, and are thus more worth picking up. (If you have not yet heard Sangles Redux, you need it. Listen to “Going South” and tell me that is not a song that just begs for live performance. If you have not yet had the chance to see these guys live, do whatever you must.) This is very, very good stuff, and well worth your time. ***

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Kiss Me, Kate (1948 Original Broadway Cast) Opening at the tail end of 1948, Kiss Me, Kate became an instant classic–and amazingly didn’t receive a full-scale revival until 1999. All the more reason to revel in its original version. With its cunning play-within-a-play premise (a musical update of The Taming of the Shrew reverberates in backstage feuds), brilliant mix of high and low comedy, and of course some of Cole Porter’s better-known songs–”So in Love,” “I Hate Men,” Too Darn Hot,” “Always True to You (In My fashion)”–Kiss Me, Kate remains a funny, zesty hall of mirrors. Hard as you may try to find a fly in the ointment, there’s no fault with the cast either–Patricia Morison, for instance, is a perfectly petulant Lilli Vanessi. –Elisabeth Vincentelli
Customer Review: The best and maybe the last CD of this great musical.
Now is the perfect time to buy the CD of this.

Sony’s transfer engineers used state-of-the-art restoration software to remove the roughness and surface noise from the originals, but (thankfully) they resisted the urge to tart-up the sound with artificial reverb, faux stereo, and thundering bass. This is by far the best-sounding CD of this ever released, and it may be the last.

The age of music ownership in America could be drawing to a close. Five years from now, this music may only be available by download, you might only be “borrowing” it, and it probably won’t come with the the authentic cover art or the 26-page booklet.

(See also the original broadway CD of Out of This World.)

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