‘The art that conceals art’ is the concept that somebody gets so good at what they do that their expertise is hidden and it seems simple to anybody else. An example is this CD.
I love joining in with doo-wop music, especially unaccompanied as here, and eventually start thinking ‘I can do this, I could have been a Persuasion’. Then they cruelly show up my delusions for what they are. It might be the way Joe Russell controls the fire on ‘Steal Away’, a perfect balance between passion and restraint. Or the sense of style Jayotis Washington brings to Percy Mayfield’s gorgeous ‘Please Send Me Someone To Love’, cooler than a penguin’s butt. It could be the innovation they bring to songs I thought were already too much associated with dead singers and stale genres. Who wants to hear another version of ‘When The Saints Go Marching In’? It’s been more exploited than the Amazonian rainforest. But the Persuasions make it sound fresh, capable of making me feel something again. Nearly an hour of moments like these remind me why these men are in the Persuasions and I work in a library.
While the repertoire here is material they obviously feel comfortable with, don’t think they always play it safe. Which other doo-wop groups have recorded albums of songs by the Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa? But if they went out on a limb with those, here they stick closer to the tree-trunk. Wes Phillips’ sleevenote says “To amuse themselves on the road, they sing old favorites: songs they perform in their shows, their own versions of songs of the day, and, of course, the good old stuff they’ve known since they were kids”. And they wear the good old stuff like a pet pair of slippers.
Paul Anka’s ‘She’s A Lady’, Bill Withers’ ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’, Otis Redding’s ‘Dock Of The Bay’ (a duet between Jerry Lawson and Jim Hayes), the Four Tops’ ‘When She Was My Girl’ and Brook Benton’s ‘Rainy Night In Georgia’ all get given the Persuasions’ kiss of life (although some needed it more than others). Jerry Lawson’s notes say “Elvis was a big influence. I thought he was a hell of a fine singer – and I think we do him pretty good”. On the basis of ‘Don’t’, ‘Good Luck Charm’ (with a new bridge added) and Jim Hayes’ stunning take on ‘In The Ghetto’, I think they do him pretty good too.
Chesky’s (www.chesky.com) sound and packaging are excellent (lyrics included) and for a Persuasions CD the playing time is unusually generous.
It’s a lovely album to relax with and a great one to sing along to, if you don’t take your aspirations to be the sixth Persuasion too seriously.
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