San Diego Union Tribune, March 4, 1984
HEADLINE: Christine McVie still rides Fleetwood style
BYLINE: George Varga, Free-lance writer
BODY:
CHRISTINE MCVIE, Christine McVie, Warner Bros. Records. Christine McVie's bittersweet ballads and lightly buoyant rockers are marked by a gentle lyricism and quiet strength that provide Fleetwood Mac with many of its most appealing qualities.
On her first solo outing since joining the group in 1970, the British-born musician barely deviates from her by now patented approach, and while "Christine McVie" is a warm, engaging album, it doesn't tell us anything about its maker that we didn't already know. Accordingly, most of the seven songs that McVie wrote for this record could easily be placed in the midst of any recent Fleetwood Mac album without attracting much attention.
Still, if "Christine McVie" rings with the sound of deja vu, it is not without its pleasures, and McVie is an accomplished tunesmith with a knack for producing compelling, if not especially daring, music. "Love Will Show Us How," the record's sprightly opening track, is the most uptempo selection presented, and any differences between it and McVie's work with Fleetwood Mac are so slight as to be virtually undetectable. More intriguing are the R&B-tinged "One In a Million," on which she energetically trades vocals with Steve Winwood, and another Winwood-McVie collaboration, "Ask Anybody," wherein her sonorous singing recalls that of Joni Mitchell.
Apparently, McVie does best when she has a musician with abilities commensurate with her own to serve as a foil to her.
It is for this reason that the two numbers featuring Winwood stand out from the album's other, more homogenized offerings. Elsewhere, the blonde vocalist-keyboardist glides easily through several restrained rockers, reaching her emotional peak on "The Smile I Live For," a tender, evocative love song that ranks with her best work.
The instrumental accompaniment by McVie's supporting musicians is predictably polished, and the presence of Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham on six cuts adds further to the record's air of familiarity. Hopefully, McVie will assume a broader, more daring approach next time around, although -- in lieu of a new Fleetwood Mac album -- "Christine McVie" is virtually assured of success. o o o SWEET RETURN, Freddie Hubbard, Atlantic Records. Few jazz trumpeters have soared as high or plunged as low as Freddie Hubbard.
A world-class musician with impeccable technique and a remarkably broad range, Hubbard's recorded work over the last decade has been at best erratic, ranging from stunning mainstream outings to stultifying funk and fusion sessions. With "Sweet Return," the veteran hornman has produced his most consistent album in years, and the results are uniformly splendid.
Spurred on by the inspired backing afforded him by pianist Joanne Brackeen, saxist-flutist Lew Tabackin, drummer Roy Haynes and former Bill Evans Trio bassist Eddie Gomez, Hubbard plays with rousing conviction and immaculate precision on each of the record's six selections. His rhapsodic reading of Erroll Garner's "Misty" is delivered with notable passion and freshness, while his slow-burning solo on "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" simply sizzles with intensity.
Equally noteworthy is pianist Brackeen's dexterous workout on "Heidi-B," Tabackin's raucous, Sonny Rollins-like tenor saxophone solo on "Calypso Fred" and -- throughout -- the consistently lithe ensemble work by Haynes and Gomez, both of whom traverse their instruments with grace, agility and a keen sense of harmonic and rhythmic sophistication. Indeed, by meeting Hubbard as musical equals rather than as subservient accompanists, Brackeen, Tabackin, Gomez and Haynes have helped the trumpeter to deliver his finest album since 1978's "Super Blue." Exuberantly performed, "Sweet Return" should appeal to anyone who likes his jazz delivered with flair and finesse. o o o TWO-FACED, Frieda Parton, Bearsville Records. Were it not for the fact that Frieda Parton's voice sounds as if it has been unalterably damaged by the accidental ingestion of some toxic poison or another, it might be possible to listen to her debut album for more than a few moments at a time.
Unfortunately, Parton offers her listeners almost no respite from her unceasingly irritating wailing, and her hopelessly mangled delivery is notable only for its sheer lack of musicality. Behind her, Parton's four-piece band dredges up nearly every hard rock cliche ever concocted, and while songs like "Soldiers of the Night" are clearly modeled after Pat Benatar, the results more readily suggest someone who has just swallowed her tongue. On the unfortunately titled "The Chosen One," Parton calms down long enough to demonstrate that she is capable of producing a song without lapsing into a hysterical display of histrionics.
Coming as it does, though, at the record's conclusion, it's unlikely that most listeners will get that far. Varga is a free-lance writer.
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