True Love Waits; Boogaloo to Beck: A Tribute (2003)

There's a long, not-always-noble tradition of jazzbos and classical types interpreting pop (see the Taliesin Orchestra's recent Enya tribute, Thread of Time, etc.). But these alt-rock reimaginings stand out for how well their forms fit the content. A concert pianist, O'Riley is better known for performing Stravinsky and Scriabin; True Love Waits: Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead is a solo recital of Radiohead transcriptions he wrote himself, and despite a few lurches into Liberace territory, the readings are delicate and swooning--especially the stately "Karma Police" and a brooding "Everything in Its Right Place." As Riley divines Radiohead's British high-culture heart, turbaned jazz-funk organist Dr. Lonnie Smith zeroes in on Beck's cheesy lounge-lizard soul. Tenor-sax vet Newman swaggers like a bear in a smoking jacket, guitarist Doug Munro adds some angular riffs, and Smith rocks the Hammond with a trigger-happy hand and the occasional glossolalic outburst ("Devil's Haircut"). WHAT, NO BREAKBEATS? Both sets argue that melodies, not sound science, make the music--a quaint idea that's not untrue. True Love Waits: B+ Boogaloo: B+