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Andre Cymone at 7th St. Entry
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After some 27 years away, a little rust to shake off is more than forgivable.
Singer-songwriter Andre Cymone returned from Los Angeles, to his Minneapolis hometown, for a rare 74 min. show at the small 7th Street Entry, to promote The Stone (Blindtango), his first full-length release since 1985’s A.C. Acknowledged as one of the architects of the so-called Minneapolis Sound, he and Prince formed their first band together in high school and the Purple One lived with Cymone’s family, from age 14 to 21.
Though an early collaborator and working as Prince’s bassist, creative differences and a desire to be his own artist, had Cymone leave the fold to create three solo albums during the 80’s, inspired by the local scene and the pervading New Wave sound of the era.
After that, he more or less disappeared from performing stages, acting as producer for then-wife Jody Watley and others, became a L.A. father to his children, and occasionally re-surfaced with more socially-conscious single songs in the last few years. His latest effort, for better or worse, has little evidence of the 80’s Minneapolis sound he helped cultivate, and is more influenced by late 60’s/early 70’s West Coast straight ahead rock and soul, and done direct-to-tape, resulting in a more natural sounding, end result.
Opening was Brooklyn’s Sharief Hobley then locals American Youth, an indie Americana four-piece with EP, Sojourner, available. This may have seemed odd on paper as an opener for Cymone, but given his current sound’s direction, turned out to be an appropriate appetizer for the later main course.
Plenty of family and friends were in the audience to see Cymone’s hometown return and creative re-birth, including a who’s who of the area music scene as Bobby Z, Jellybean Johnson, Matt (Dr.) Fink, and even Prince’s first drummer and cousin, Chaz Smith, were among the sighted.
“I’m back at it again, and I still need my hometown behind me”, Cymone remarked after stepping on stage and before even strumming a note. Playing the new album almost in its entirety and in sequence, the still-refined quality of Cymone’s voice brought that Eagles-esque “peaceful, easy feeling” to the new songs that have more in common with Lenny Kravitz, than anything he and/or Prince had done in the past, including set opener and album’s first single, ‘Rock and Roll’.
A mostly West Coast-based backing band (which was made up of opener/lead guitarist Sharief Hobley, Mike Torres- bass, Ric'Key Pageot- keys, Nick Adams- drums, Devon Pangle- guitar) ably backed and kept up with the singer as tempos ebbed and flowed throughout the set. ‘American Dream’ was one of Cymone’s more recent and more socially-conscious songs; partially inspired by, and with proceeds dedicated to President Obama’s re-election.
An early set highlight was an extended, grooving ‘Naked’, Cymone’s mind/body Zen piece about climbing to a mountaintop for some natural reflection. ‘It’s Alright’, about his life, had a very country feel to its melody, and hearing the Jeff Buckley version of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ recently on the radio, inspired his sped-up, soulful cover of the track.
“I kind of forgot how hot these lights get” and “right now, I feel like there’s cactuses in my throat” reminded us of how long Cymone has been away, and songs like ‘Mary Jane’ (w/ harpsichord!) showed off the creeping psychedelic influence in his new material.
After shouts during the encore for “Dance Electric”(to which he replied, “no way”), Cymone closed with a re-invented version of one of his older songs, 1982’s ‘Kelly’s Eyes’, with the prefacing disclaimer that “Kelly’s married somewhere, with four or five kids… she evolved, so the song has to evolve”, and proceeded to strip away any New Wave synth influence, converting it into a barroom stomper, complete with tinkling piano from Pageot, and mean rhythm guitar from the man himself.
And with that, the re-birth has officially begun; still embraced by the same community that initially bore him, and evolving, like Andre Cymone’s sound itself, to reflect the times of an older but wiser artist, getting back in the music saddle once more.
Singer-songwriter Andre Cymone returned from Los Angeles, to his Minneapolis hometown, for a rare 74 min. show at the small 7th Street Entry, to promote The Stone (Blindtango), his first full-length release since 1985’s A.C. Acknowledged as one of the architects of the so-called Minneapolis Sound, he and Prince formed their first band together in high school and the Purple One lived with Cymone’s family, from age 14 to 21.
Though an early collaborator and working as Prince’s bassist, creative differences and a desire to be his own artist, had Cymone leave the fold to create three solo albums during the 80’s, inspired by the local scene and the pervading New Wave sound of the era.
After that, he more or less disappeared from performing stages, acting as producer for then-wife Jody Watley and others, became a L.A. father to his children, and occasionally re-surfaced with more socially-conscious single songs in the last few years. His latest effort, for better or worse, has little evidence of the 80’s Minneapolis sound he helped cultivate, and is more influenced by late 60’s/early 70’s West Coast straight ahead rock and soul, and done direct-to-tape, resulting in a more natural sounding, end result.
Opening was Brooklyn’s Sharief Hobley then locals American Youth, an indie Americana four-piece with EP, Sojourner, available. This may have seemed odd on paper as an opener for Cymone, but given his current sound’s direction, turned out to be an appropriate appetizer for the later main course.
Plenty of family and friends were in the audience to see Cymone’s hometown return and creative re-birth, including a who’s who of the area music scene as Bobby Z, Jellybean Johnson, Matt (Dr.) Fink, and even Prince’s first drummer and cousin, Chaz Smith, were among the sighted.
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Cymone Setlist
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Cymone and mostly West Coast-based backing band
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An early set highlight was an extended, grooving ‘Naked’, Cymone’s mind/body Zen piece about climbing to a mountaintop for some natural reflection. ‘It’s Alright’, about his life, had a very country feel to its melody, and hearing the Jeff Buckley version of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ recently on the radio, inspired his sped-up, soulful cover of the track.
“I kind of forgot how hot these lights get” and “right now, I feel like there’s cactuses in my throat” reminded us of how long Cymone has been away, and songs like ‘Mary Jane’ (w/ harpsichord!) showed off the creeping psychedelic influence in his new material.
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Andre Cymone
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And with that, the re-birth has officially begun; still embraced by the same community that initially bore him, and evolving, like Andre Cymone’s sound itself, to reflect the times of an older but wiser artist, getting back in the music saddle once more.
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Andre Cymone at 7th St. Entry, Minneapolis (16 March 2014) |
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