Leo Green - Straight Up

Ok on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the CD I use as a coffee mat this is number 1 so far of the Naim Label albums reviewed. The trouble is that reviews are inevitably subjective which is why I find the whole concept so difficult and tend to go off on one about the Australians (NR Thompson) or incestuous Brussel Sprouts (Phantom Limb). As an aside Bill Gates does not appear to have heard of Brussel Sprouts as they do not come up on his spell check (incestuous or otherwise).

It is very difficult looking at the quality when you cannot bear to listen to the album (anon coffee mat CD). I was given this as a Rhythm and Blues album and this immediately caused confusion as R&B is not to my son’s generation Robert Johnson..

Again i-tunes again refer to it as Jazz, maybe because Leo is the son of Benny Green; the biggest mistake I made was to read Naim’s blurb, after listening to the album for the umpteenth time but before writing the review. More on that later but a word of warning don’t read their waffle, until you have ploughed through mine.

I had never heard of Leo Green; the number of songs and not just instrumentals on this album caused me a little confusion as the second track ‘How Do You Feel The Morning After’ (let me tell you from recent experience; hungover, confused, strangely elated and knackered) is sung by a female and I had made the initial mistake of assuming Green sang.

‘Straight Up’ (resisting any similar references to those following ‘How Do You Feel the Morning After’) appears to be marketed as an ‘insiders’ album. I am intensely critical of this approach. It is frankly perverse to hide the talent of this musician (plus the singers, guest musicians and the production team) from the general public, even if (given his CV) he is so obviously familiar to the cognoscenti; musical snobbery does not pay the bills.

This album is a balance of instrumentals and songs, in all honesty if a label is required has a soul/blues feel to it, but in the peculiar British way. By this I mean comparable in genre to Alison Moyet and Sade (amongst others).

There appear to be no original tracks and for most of us this can detract from an album however this does not mean to say that there is nothing original in its content.

Green is a saxophonist and his playing gives depth and soul to every track which is why the instrumentals are strong enough to stand on their own and do not just act as filler which is often the case.

We all remember Gerry Rafferty’s ‘Baker Street’ in which the saxophone is the real star. Well ‘Angels’ (track 1) may never be a hit, but to me is every bit is good (if not better). There is always a risk for a relative unknown in apparently trotting out old standards but even ‘In the Ghetto’ (track 4) works well and, and, ‘Across 110th Street’ (track 5) is bloody brilliant. There are another 8 tracks to the album listing them all is a waste of time as if you are not going to buy the album now then you wont anyway. 　

Where Leo Green scores is that when you look at his CV he has supported artists whose styles are completely different. Though he cannot be accused of replicating these artists, the tracks are diverse enough not to be really pigeonholed. However this relative eclecticism does not destroy the flow of the album.

This is a great CD.

Back to Naim’s blurb. It transpires that Green is a supporting musician who plays regularly with Jools Holland and just about everyone else having worked with Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison.