It might seem a bit presumptuous at first: a live solo album by a member of a regional cult band that is, shall we say, between record contracts. But Cool Blue Halo, by Richard Barone, guitarist, lead singer and main songwriter of the Bongos, handily satisfies whatever terms you might wish to set for it. Spare, elegant arrangements deftly recast the Bongos songs Barone performs on the album; cover versions of relatively obscure tracks by the Beatles, David Bowie and Marc Bolan reveal distinct aspects of his pop sensibility; four new tunes amply demonstrate his ongoing development as a songwriter; and the spontaneity of the stage nicely counterbalances the careful sense of craft evident in all of Barone's work.

Playing electric guitar himself and backed by Nick Celeste on acoustic guitar, Jane Scarpantoni on cello and Valerie Naranjo on percussion, Barone fashions a kind of rock chamber music on Cool Blue Halo. This mode is well suited to both his breathy tenor voice and his highly literary songs, which rely on evocative imagery drawn from sources as diverse as the Old Testament ("The Bulrushes") and TV shows ("Numbers with Wings"). The ease with which the lyrical wail of Barone's guitar melts into the arcing lines of Scarpantoni's cello on the dreamy "Sweet Blue Cage" and the effortless way their instruments interweave on "Love Is a Wind That Screams" intimate a more fertile musical fusion than dozens of labored "classical rock" projects ever suggested was possible.

The covers on Cool Blue Halo are the Beatles' trippy "Cry Baby Cry," Bowie's "Man Who Sold the World" and Bolan's poignant "Visit." Barone offers smart, straightforward readings in each instance, revealing the verbal and musical intricacies of those tunes for our pleasure, and he negotiates them with utter confidence. That Cool Blue Halo is as notable for Barone's own refined songs as for his eloquent homages proves how fully that confidence is earned. (RS 513)

ANTHONY DECURTIS