After a strange, public re-introduction-as-introduction to the world, buoyed by the support of such cats as Gilles Peterson, Paul Weller, and Beth Orton, folk-jazz daddy Terry Callier has now settled into the place he kinda should've been all those years he lay retired, lost in the mists of pop-cultural time as little more than an obscure figure, making records to little large-scale acclaim, but for a small, rapturous audience. His third album since his comeback, Speak Your Peace settles down from the grand ambitions that met his famous-friend-heavy Talkin' Loud effort Timepeace and his high-spirited Verve disc Lifetime. With his three essentialist Cadet-era records — Occasional Rain, What Color Is Love, and I Just Can't Help Myself — now reissued, and his place in pop-cultural history assuredly assured, Callier has now been left to make music without all the added accoutrements of expectation, and Speak Your Peace is probably the best of his new trio of efforts. Ever the old folkie, Callier's honeyed soul-singin' voice again voices the most syrupy one-world/one-love sentiments, which seem even more naïve in this era of irony; the hippie-like affection is evident when he lets loose with a courageous, earnest psychedelic-soul cover of the Isley Brothers' "Caravan of Love." With affectionate production from 4Hero, the album harks back to Callier's early new-folk days with its sweeping strings and balladic pace, but is filled with flourishes of entirely contemporary beat-making, effectively bridging the distance between this here and that now.
|
