SPECIAL CONSENSUS

SPECIAL CONSENSUS
RIVERS AND ROADS

Compass Records
747092

The press material accompanying the latest CD from Special Consensus proclaims that the band has “never sounded better” in its 40-year career. After a good listen, it’s awfully hard to argue with that bold assertion. Rivers And Roads, produced and arranged by Alison Brown, is top-notch from start to finish.

The CD opens full-throttle with a supercharged rendition of the late great John Hartford’s “Way Down The River Road.” (There’s another imaginative tip-of-the-hat to Hartford on the band’s rendition of the traditional fiddle tune “Squirrel Hunters,” which opens with a vocal intro and fiddle passage from Hartford’s earlier version of the tune.) One of more than a few show-stoppers here is the rollicking and soaring “She Took The Tennessee River,” co-written by Becky Buller and Jon Weisberger and featuring guest lead and harmony vocals from Bobby Osborne. It’s a tongue-in-cheek heartbreak song driven by cascading lyrics and dazzling vocal arrangements.

The stark, almost macabre, traditional gospel ode “Travelin’ Shoes” also packs a heck of a punch with its thrilling a cappella arrangement and its chilling portrayal of death as a stranger who comes knocking on your door without warning. It’s apt to send chills down your spine. (Compass Records, 916 19th Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37212, www.compassrecords.com.)BA