WILLY DEVILLE - Love & Emotion

WILLY DEVILLE Love & emotion (The Atlantic years) cd 1996 320 kbps
1 Harlem nocturne /2 Love and emotion /3 Demasiado corazon /4 Each word's a beat of my heart /5 Around the corner /6 River of tears /7 Lilly's daddy's cadillac /8 The moonlight let me down /9 Stand by me /10 Maybe tomorrow /11 Teardrops must fall /12 She was made in heaven /13 End of the line /14 So in love are we /15 You better move on /16 Let me dream if I want to (Amphetamine blues)*/17 Change it comes* /18 Cadillac moon* /19 The moonlight let me down ('96 radio version) /20 Stand by me° /21 Empty heart /22 Dust my room" /23 Angel eyes°.

*Live at CBGB'S - °Live at the Olympia, Paris - "Live at the Bottom Line

Songs : 2,10,11,12,13,14 & 15 produced by W. DeVille & J. Nitzsche - 3,4,5,6,7 & 8 produced by R. Albert, H. Albert & W. DeVille -21 produced by J. P. Shenale & W. DeVille.

Mink DeVille : Willy DeVille : vocals, rhythm guitar, slide & lead guitars / K. Margolis : keyboards, accordion, & vibraphone / R. Borgia : rhythm guitar, lead guitar / L. Cortelezzi : saxophones / J. Vasta : bass guitar / T. Price : drums.

On a good night in the New York underground around 1976 or '77, the band led by Willy DeVille (New York native William Borsay, who had arrived back in the city via London and the Bay Area) could be the coolest cats on the scene. Willy dressed like a pimp and played a guitar covered in leopard skin; swagger and soulful strut was a brisk rejoinder to the sloppy punk and wimpy power pop bands they preceded and followed on stages.

When the independent Omfug label included three of their songs on the multi-artist compilation "Live at CBGB's", recorded at the influential New York punk club, their punk connection was assured. With Atlantic acquiring national distribution rights to the album, Mink DeVille became one of the country's top punk bands.

After the band was discovered, producer Jack Nitzsche got them on the lean, tough R&B beam for a first LP "Cabretta" that sweats and smokes through and through as a classic of such fully and lovingly assimilated music should.

"Return to Magenta" is more of the same but less. On the first LP, a cover of Moon Martin's "Cadillac Walk" was one of many highlights; here, Martin's inferior "Rolene" is pretty much it. "Le Chat Bleu" 's arrival ended a prolonged absence from recording, but it confirmed that stagnation had set in. The band was, by then, a couple of Minks plus sessionmen; it seemed Willy was looking to become the soul crooner of his dreams without providing the songs to fuel ours (despite some collaborative songwriting with Doc Pomus, hitsmith for Joe Turner, Dion, the Drifters, etc.). "Savoir Faire"(see Eternally yours blog) collects tracks from those three albums.
Evidence that DeVille had lost touch with the trash/sleaze aesthetic (not to mention Louie X. Erlanger's lowdown guitar) is even plainer on "Coup de Grâce". Despite a new, young band and a reunion with Nitzsche (Mink saxist Steve Douglas produced the third LP), the magic is still largely absent. Tracks like "Maybe Tomorrow" offer traces of the old bite almost as a concession.

"Where Angels Fear to Tread", produced by the hitmaking team of Ron and Howard Albert (who ruined a Gang of Four album that same year), is a fine record of new DeVille originals, starting with the soulful and sweet "Each Word's a Beat of My Heart." This uncluttered and uncomplicated tribute to DeVille's chosen forebears — Sam Cooke, Phil Spector, the Drifters, Joe Tex, James Brown — also includes forays into Spanish Harlem and other wondrously nostalgic time warps. DeVille's songwriting and singing have returned to top strength, and the record burns with sincerity and warmth. Simply, elegantly excellent. Trouser Press
On this cd the 13 tracks from the two original Atlantic albums are complemented by live recordings from the CBGB's , the highly atmospheric "Harlem nocturne" (instrumental opener at countless DeVille gigs ) and Ben E. King's classic "Stand by me". Both of these songs originally appeared on the mini-lp "Each word's a beat of my heart" (& on a single) and were previously unavailable on cd worldwide.
Don't forget part 2 here!