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by Seth Rogovoy
LENOX, Mass., Aug. 17, 1996 -- Singer-guitarist Jose Feliciano gave an erratic performance at the National Music Center on Friday night. When he wasn't doing his impression of a barrio-flavored human jukebox, offering flamenco-ized versions of hits by a variety of artists, Feliciano spent much of the time complaining about the unavailability of his recordings in the U.S. and blasting his former record label for not reissuing his back catalog.
What Feliciano has apparently missed, and what the small turnout of just a few hundred people suggested, is that time has passed him by. Actually, the 51-year-old singer might have unintentionally acknowledged this when, towards the end of his concert, he thanked his manager for talking him out of retirement a few years ago.
Whether Feliciano's best interests were served by that decision is an open question. With six Grammy Awards and more than 40 gold and platinum records to his credit according to the program (which conveniently ignores the fact that most of those gold and platinum awards were earned outside of the U.S.), Feliciano presumably doesn't have anything left to prove.
Whatever keeps him going, he doesn't seem driven by the love of his music. Feliciano skirted much of his own repertoire in favor of covers of hits by the likes of the Bee Gees, Orleans, the Eagles, Elton John, Bill Withers, Elvis Presley and the Beatles. Toward the end of the show, when he opened the floor to questions from the audience, he turned down several requests for some of his old favorites, saying he doesn't play them any more.
He did offer lackluster versions of The Doors' "Light My Fire" and Tommy Tucker's "Hi-Heel Sneakers," both of which he took into the Top 40 with cover versions back in 1968. His renditions of "Dance With Me," "Take It Easy," "Ain't No Sunshine," "Rocket Man," "Mystery Train" and "Money" were bogged down by a wooden rhythm section: not even two percussionists could kick these songs into gear.
In fact, Feliciano was most compelling on the few solo vocal and instrumental numbers he attempted -- he invested his Spanish ballads with his customary soul and played his nylon-string guitar with virtuosic flair. Unfortunately, those moments were few and far between. Instead he wasted time with what he said were impressions of Bob Dylan -- not that you could tell -- and after harping on the fact that he had just returned from a tour of Israel, he finally showed his true colors when he imitated an Israeli in a mock Yiddish accent. Israelis don't speak with Yiddish accents; to Feliciano, apparently, a Jew is merely a caricature to be baited, no matter where he is from.
In closing, Feliciano played Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt," picking up on another line of commentary that ran throughout the concert: his relative sex appeal. In this case, he offered some words specially written for the occasion -- "I'm not like those blind guys who shuffle when they walk" -- and then he made fun of Stevie Wonder.
Nice guy.
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