(WARNER BROTHERS RECORDS; 2014)
Considering the pop landscape over the past few years, Kimbra and her second album, THE GOLDEN ECHO, comes as a breath of fresh air. One of the tunes is called “90’s Music” and it has all of the earmarks and musical cues that highlighted what may turn out to be the last truly musically innovative decade… ever. But, the thought that first crossed my mind as I listened to these 12 (15 on the Deluxe Edition) tracks was how much it reminded me of early 1970s AM radio. At any given point in the day back then, you could hear a pop tune followed by a country tune followed by a rock tune followed by a rhythm and blues tune. My dad, a wise man raised in poverty in 1920s Arkansas, once told me, “If we all liked the same kind of car (or food or movies or music or… well, you get the idea), we would all be driving the same kind of car.” In other words, “Variety is, indeed, the spice of life.” That’s the kind of thinking that has given most humans my age and older more tolerance for different viewpoints and, especially, different musical styles. Kimbra Johnson is a few decades younger than me but, she must have had someone in her life like my father because THE GOLDEN ECHO is like an updated version of that ’60s and ’70s AM radio mentality, with every song dipping into aspects of several different musical genres. I’ll do my best to cover ’em all in the next few paragraphs.
“Teen Heat” starts as a slow cooking track, with a churchy kinda organ and drum machine, before erupting into a cool R and B groove with soulful, funky vocals. The tune drifts back to the slow burn of the first section, where Kimbra’s high falsetto tends to grate a bit (I have the same problem with Prince when he goes up there sometimes, too). Bonus points are awarded for her use of the word “sacrosanct” (and properly, at that). The aforementioned “90’s Music” is next, a goofy, joyous number that definitely evokes the “anything goes” mentality and atmosphere of that decade’s pop music. On the big-production soul stomper, “Carolina,” Kimbra loses the falsetto and… she has a great natural voice. Though the two are totally unrelated lyrically, the goove of “Goldmine” reminds me a lot of Sam Cooke’s “Chain Gang,” kinda sparse with an, ultimately, dark musical tone. “Miracle” is a funky, bouncy declaration of purpose. It reminds me of the first Teena Marie record. “Rescue Him” is the polar opposite of “Miracle.” It’s a bleak, slow-churning funk with a close, claustrophobia-inducing mix.
A standard Cameo-like groove informs “Madhouse,” which features a funkier-than-thou breakdown; it’s a perfect dance floor track to shake… uh… something to (or at). “Everlovin’ Ya” is pretty much what Prince would sound like fronting George’s P-Funk All Stars, though it does need some heavy guitar, a la Eddie Hazel, Garry Shider or His Purpleness himself. A single note piano and minimal orchestration are just about the only interesting things on the ballad, “As You Are.” The lyrics aren’t too bad, either, but Kimbra’s vocal talents do not lie in balladry. A funky click track (or is it rhythm sticks?) and a way-deep-in-the-groove bass highlight “Love In High Places,” which also features a Stanley Clarke-like solo bass run. Now, this is more like it! “Nobody But You” is a slow groove that fares better than “As You Are,” primarily due to a solid vocal delivery, which, again, draws comparisons with not only Prince, but Teena, also. There’s a drop beat right before the tempo picks up for the last minute of the song that is most effective. With an intro that sounds like a scratchy old found recording of a piano waltz, “Waltz Me To the Grave” tries too hard to straddle a creative fence with slow funk, balladic jazz and Dinah Shore-chanteuse pop. The bass is quite adventurous, but at over eight minutes, the song is just too long for its own good.
The Deluxe Edition of THE GOLDEN ECHO features three bonus tracks, the first of which is “Slum Love.” The tune’s various percussion instruments – including vocals – make for an exciting listen. Kimbra’s vocals waver between a sing-song spoken word thing and a cool (and totally unexpected) Zappa-like synchopation. Unfortunately, it loses a bit of the cool factor in the final couple of minutes by adding other instrumentation during the breakdown. “Sugar Lies” is a churchy, soul groove with a snotty kinda chorus. The track has a throbbing, sorta swirling vibe where, for once, the ebb and flow theme works. Kimbra uses a combination of what I call her “big girl” and “little girl” voices for “The Magic Hour,” which works really well as a counter-balance to another heavy, throbbing bass line. Though there are a couple of missteps here, this is still one of – if not the – best pure pop records to be releasd this year. The bonus tracks are only available on the CD and download versions, but for the full, rich texture of THE GOLDEN ECHO (especially the bottom end), you should get the vinyl version.