Tag: 1989

Mickey Hart / Taro Hart – Music to be Born By [1989; Ryko Analogue, Rykodisc]

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Consisting of one continuous 70-minute track, the music of this album is intended for use before, during, and after the birthing process, as a way to imprint on the baby, calm the mother, and unify those assisting.  Built around a looped recording of Mickey Hart’s pre-born son, Taro, with minimalistic bass, flute, and surdo drum accompaniment, the music achieves a neat-hypnotic steadiness of circularity.  The minor variations of each cycle are enough to keep the loops from devolving into utter pointlessness, but the likability of the end product is naturally something of high subjectivity.

The Manhattans – Sweet Talk [1989; Valley Vue Records]

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On their first non-Columbia album since 1972, and their first with new lead singer Roger Harris, The Manhattans fuse their R&B with electro to a significant degree, with practically all of the instrumentation sounding plasticky and synthetic.  It makes for an interesting contrast with their soulful singing, and the beats are programmed with enough liveliness to keep up with the vocal flexibility, but there’s still an odd edge of friction that keeps the two sides from fully coming together.

Where the chintzy sound doesn’t help is in bolstering the sappy and often clichéd lyrics, which frequently devolve into just repeating the same line or word while the song fades into silence.  As such, the music tends to feel like department store fodder (especially in times of smooth sax), with little bite or passion to the music.  There are a few momentary exceptions, but they make up a very small percentage of the content, and the album finishes with very little memorable material.

Here’s the cover art used for the 1993 reissue.

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And for the 2000 reissue.

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