Artist : The Bad PlusAlbum : Prog (4th Domestic LP)
Release : 05.08.07
Year Founded: 2003
Label Name : Heads Up International
Catalog # : 3125
Packaging Type : Single-Disc Jewel Case
Members : Reid Anderson, Ethan Iverson, David King
Runtime : 1:04:46
Area Tour Dates : None at time of publicationSound Season : Winter
iTunes Worthy Tracks : Tom Sawyer, 1980 World Champion
Sounds Like : Medeski Martin & Wood Friday Afternoon in the Universe
Rating : B-
I'm not at all sure what The Bad Plus were going for when they decided to call their new album Prog. "Prog" has a lot of connotation and means many things to many people, but the closest the band comes to that genre of music is their cover of Rush's "Tom Sawyer." The most accurate name they could have given the album is "Tame."
Known for their raucous original compositions and deconstructionist renditions of well-known tunes that other jazz trios would never touch like Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" or Black Sabbath's "Iron Man," Prog is really missing the impact that the band usually is able to infuse into a genre typically rife with soft, unchallenging elevator-ready schlock.
The really great thing about this band has always been that they were heavy. Their dynamic range was giant — that is to say, they would go from really soft passages to absolute eruptions of discordancy, rhythm, and power. But what the listener ends up with this time around is a very "normal" jazz record that contains elements that would be familiar to those acquainted with past records, such as Give, but little of the furor.
The band-penned songs are either slow to develop or spend too long on a particular phrasing. "Physical Cities," for instance, contains a minute and a half passage of syncopated stabbing in unison, which is as obnoxious as it is impressive (I can imagine this song being incredible live, but it stumbles as an album track).
The remaining covers on the album (Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," David Bowie's "Life on Mars," and Burt Bacharach's "This Guy's in Love with You") don't even come near to toeing the prog line in their original form and The Bad Plus' interpretations of the songs end up being very nearly straight-ahead covers, with some meandering solos or protracted introductions thrown in to shake things up slightly.
The Bad Plus are without doubt one of the best contemporary jazz outfits playing today, but Prog just didn't excite me the way I hoped it would.
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