THE BEAT
Peter Stone Brown, Deb Pasternak
by Seth Rogovoy(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Aug. 7, 1997)
Peter Stone Brown: Death is not the end
Death haunts the narrator of Peter Stone Brown's songs on "Up Against It" (Tangible Music), a collection of a dozen folk-rock compositions by the Philadelphia singer-songwriter.The grim reaper variously makes his presence felt on songs like "Say Yes" ("You could drive away the death letter that's fallen at my door"), "Before I Go" ("Before I go will I resist, will the prison of doubt disappear in the mist/Will I shiver in the dark, will I know when the light's around me"), the title track ("On my way home I took an unexpected rest/I wound up being put to the ultimate test/They told me I was up against it") and "Insignificant," the haunting, acoustic ballad that closes the album ("The gun went off, they're kickin' up the dust/I'm runnin' my final race").
Considering how death-obsessed the album is, what is perhaps most striking about it is how Brown has pulled off the near-impossible: he has written an entire song-cycle about mortality that, while acknowledging its ultimate triumph, resists any temptation to wallow in death's gloomy grip.
Instead, "Up Against It" celebrates life and the human spirit. Brown's semi-autobiographical album is as much a chronicle of defiance as of pain. While the singer knows what lies in store for him, he does not succumb to self-pity ("I made some mistakes, but I have no regrets, I'll take whatever's comin'"). Rather, he takes his newfound vision and applies it to the world of the living ("What once seemed important doesn't mean a thing/Gotta find the time to stop and hear the church bells when they ring").
Where he formerly saw only darkness and decay ("Here on earth there's problems that can't be believed/Here on earth there's violence and death...hunger, pain, poverty and need"), he now finds hidden traces of Eden ("Here on earth the secret's in a seed...there's everything we need").
Where formerly there was negativity ("So many times I stopped myself, I don't know why I should/I was fooled by superstition and the lies that do no good"), now there is a new outlook that embraces infinite possibility ("Say yes, open up the sky/Say yes, don't ask why").
What is nearly as striking as his ability to find transcendence in mortality is Brown's uncanny ability to couch all this in incredibly catchy, three- and four-minute, hook-laden pop songs. A blend of folk-, blues- and country-rock, Brown's tunes are a rootsy, upbeat fusion of the Byrds and Dire Straits, while his artful vocal phrasing and naked timbre recall Bob Dylan.
Nowadays they are calling this sort of music "alternative-country" or "No Depression," but Brown is no trend-chaser -- he's been a prominent figure on the Philadelphia music scene since the 1970s. In addition to performing with bands including the Others, the Fumblers, the Crackers and the Fulminators, he was a music columnist for several regional papers -- including East Coast Rocker and the Welcomat, an alternative weekly -- and a DJ for Philadelphia's legendary WXPN-FM.
"Up Against It" was recorded in 13 days at Bismeaux Studio in Austin, owned by Brown's boyhood chum Ray Benson, of Asleep at the Wheel. Cindy Cashdollar and Tim Alexander of that group lend their instrumental talents to the effort, as do guitarist Rick "Casper" Rawls (LeRoi Brothers), Ron Huckaby (George Strait Band), Howard Kalish (Don Walser Band). The album was produced and engineered by Frank Campbell, who has played with Levon Helm and Steve Forbert.
Brown is at Milltown Studios in North Adams tonight (Thursday, Aug. 7) at 8:30. Call 662-2725 for more info.
Deb Pasternak's dynamic arsenal
Combine the bohemian folk-jazz leanings of Rickie Lee Jones, the shimmering melodicism of The Story's Jonatha Brooke and the raw, gutsy blues of Rory Block, and you get a rough approximation of where Deb Pasternak is coming from.As for where she's going, that's most definitely uncharted territory. Rarely has an artist come along boasting such a wide-ranging, abundant arsenal of vocal, instrumental and compositional talents and an instinctive command of different styles, with the ability to integrate them into a seamless whole, making it all mesh with a dynamic, winning personality.
As heard on her gripping solo debut, "More" (Signature Sounds), Pasternak is a songwriter of both great power and deceptive simplicity. But it's Pasternak's vocals that are the key to her art. Pasternak's sophisticated phrasing is richly subtle: aching vulnerability rubs up against ironic self-realization. There's no telegraphing of emotion here. Like the greatest jazz vocalists, hers is ultimately an abstract achievement; no one can so clearly conjure up the SOUND of a smile or a frown.
The winner of last year's Boston Music Award for Outstanding New Contemporary Folk Act, Pasternak is a sultry, slinky performer who works an audience and her material for every ounce of tension and release she can find, and always with nimble, consummate grace.
If indeed, as Time magazine recently suggested, the time is ripe for female, folk-pop singer-songwriters playing "coffeehouse pop," a somewhat dismissive term yet one nevertheless which aptly describes a style of music which is catching on with a growing audience, then the time is indeed ripe for Deb Pasternak.
Catch her while you can this Sunday, Aug. 10, at 4, as part of the Stone Chapel Concert Series at St. Andrew's Chapel near Bucksteep Manor on Washington Mountain Road in the town of Washington.
Humorous folksinger Mike Agranoff -- who as heard on his CD, "The Modern Folk Musician," approaches traditional-style folk with a clever, whimsical, post-modern flair -- is also on the bill. For more info call 623-5438 or Email darkmoon@vgernet.net. [This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Aug. 7, 1997. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1997. All rights reserved.]
Seth Rogovoy
rogovoy@berkshire.net
music news, interviews, reviews, et al.
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