The best one-word description of Aaron Neville's new album has to be "eclectic." But, of course, a single adjective won't do.
You might also want to know that these diverse songs - from the gritty to the polished, a baker's dozen by admired songsmiths like Randy Newman, Burt Bacharach, John Hiatt and Allen Toussaint, among others - are given breath and soul by one of the most exotically exquisite voices in popular music today.Aaron Neville is one of New Orleans' Neville Brothers, a brawny former longshoreman with a deceptively silky tenor that can slip, at will, into a delicate falsetto. Linda Ronstadt magnanimously shared the spotlight with him on her 1989 album "Cry Like a Rain Storm . . . Howl Like the Wind," and that partnership resulted in the Grammy-winning singles "Don't Know Much" and "All My Life."
Ronstadt continues her role as mentor on "Warm Your Heart" - the 50-year-old Neville's first solo outing in almost 25 years (he had a No. 2 hit single, "Tell It Like It Is," way back in '67). She co-produced the collection with her long-time engineer and sometime-producer, George Massenburg, and they've given the songs the satiny sheen Ronstadt so favors while somehow keeping Neville rooted in New Orleans, where the album was sporadically recorded.
Because of its eclecticism, Neville's album is impossible to pigeonhole. There's no hard rock to be found here, but otherwise the variety is entertainingly impressive: The Top 10 hit "Everybody Plays the Fool," a remake of the Main Ingredient's 1972 smash, imbues the song with the spirit of reggae; Newman's "Louisiana 1927" is, naturally,
RECORDINGlush and languorously Newmanesque, in a way belying its sad message; Bacharach and Bob Hilliard's "Don't Go Please Stay" is touchingly artful.
Guest artists flavor things nicely. Ry Cooder's doleful slide guitar colors Hiatt's "It Feels Like Rain," Dr. John's New Orleans ivories spice the title tune, and on both songs and more a backup quartet (Donny Gerrard, Willie Greene Jr., Bobby King and Arnold McCuller) adds a touch of traditional soul. Several cuts feature ethereal support by the Grace Episcopal Choir. And with so many helping out, can Linda be far behind?
She's not. Ronstadt and Neville join for a sparkling duet on the Five Keys' sweet, romantic "Close Your Eyes" and her soprano is angelically evident late in the benedictory "Ave Maria," the Schubert hymn she also happens to have arranged. Another duet, on Jimmy Buffett's happy "La Vie Dansante," co-stars Rita Coolidge.
Not everything clicks on "Warm Your Heart" - the atmospheric gem "That's the Way She Loves," for example, is preceded by the inconsequential "With You in Mind" (both, as it happens, written by Toussaint) - but taken as a whole, Aaron Neville's long overdue solo set is a pleasant and often beautiful pop creation.