Abandoned Garden - Franks, Michael (CD 1995)

For those of you who may be new to the unique style and craft of Michael Franks, this CD may take some getting used to. His work is difficult to categorize, but it is a sort of jazz fusion with an element of pop. His vocal delivery is not so much singing, as poetic phrasing. He paints still life pictures with his voice and lyrics that are as much a work of art as a Renoir or Cezzanne. Franks' songs are enticing vignettes that often evoke a sense of pain with pleasure

The first track "This Must Be Paradise" combines salsa style with delicate piano work and flute, with guitar interludes and rhythmic percussion. The words ooze intimacy:

"Can you see how, our seclusion is complete?
With the summertime in bloom at our feet
Side by side on the grass
staring up at the sky"

"Tenderly now, allow me to demonstrate,
You need only to undulate, keeping time with the samba
Like this while the stars rise..." I assume this must be paradise"

"Hourglass" is a slower, passionate tune with a smooth melody and quite piano and guitar accompaniment. The words, convey sexual obsession:

"My hourglass, your sensual geography
I live just to explore
Your present, past and
Future incarnations
I adore, the more
We love, the more I know we've loved before"

"Without your Love" is a tender ballad with suggestive lyrics of longing, interspersed with smooth sax and sparkling piano notes like ice tinkling in a cocktail glass:

"The moment that I found you,
I built my world around you,
You changed your name and you became my home,
And I called you my own..."

"Without your love
Will I survive?
Without your love
Will the rainbows chase the rain?

"Cinema" features smooth sax and up tempo piano with a calypso beat. "In the Yellow House" is a lovely duet with Brian Mitchell. It actually depicts a conversation between artistic friends Gauguin and Van Gough discussing canvas and light, and punctuated with muted sax and soft percussion.

This CD is filled with catchy jazz riffs and extended sax solos counterbalanced with classic piano and mellow horns. Joined by all star studio musicians, Michael Brecker, Joe Sample, David Sanborn, Bob James and John Leventhal, this CD is a jazz aficionado's dream and one that any true lover or impressionistic art and jazz should own.

Complete list of tracks:

This must be Paradise (6:10)
Like Water, Like Wind (5:19)
A Fool's Errand (4:35)
Hourglass ((4:45)
Cinema (4:52)
Eighteen Aprils (4:35)
Somehow Our Love Survives (5:00)
Without Your Love (5:22)
In the Yellow House (5:21)
Bird of Paradise (5:39)
Abandoned Garden (5:24)

This CD is dedicated to the late Antonio Carlos Jobim, Michael Franks' longtime mentor and musical collaborator.