POP MUSIC REVIEW : Wilco Stands Apart From the H.O.R.D.E.

H.O.R.D.E. stands for Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere. In the fourth annual H.O.R.D.E. tour’s stop Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills, the horizon-seekers went mainly for retrograde developments and wound up spending lots of time in the rock ‘n’ roll past, circa 1972-75.

Playing to a capacity crowd Saturday at the Olympic Velodrome, the four bands on H.O.R.D.E.’s main stage offered lessons on the use and abuse of rock history, with Wilco the ablest user, the headlining Black Crowes the worst abuser, and Blues Traveler and Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers somewhere in between.

Wilco, an unpretentiously dusty bunch of country-rockers occupying the opening slot, excelled because of singer-songwriter Jeff Tweedy’s ability to steer well-chosen musical models down melodically rich and emotionally evocative byways. When somebody in the crowd asked Tweedy to “play one for Jerry,” he was able to respond with melancholy ballads that Garcia himself might have enjoyed singing. “Pick Up the Change” and the boozy “Passenger Side,” both from “A.M.,” the band’s debut album, were graceful laments rendered with a sturdy dignity devoid of histrionics. Wilco showed it could rock on chunky Stones and Replacements-style numbers in which the band didn’t let the frustrations detailed in the lyrics get in the way of good, bash-it-out fun.

The Black Crowes’ singer, Chris Robinson, offered vocally overwrought and compositionally undernourished answers to the question, “What if Rod Stewart had joined the Rolling Stones for ‘Exile on Main Street?’ ” There’s nothing wrong with hewing closely to a Stones/Faces style--witness Wilco’s “Casino Queen,” which sounded like an “Exile” outtake (and included a guest duet turn by Robinson). But Robinson’s brittle, harsh singing didn’t allow for the essential personal spin that can make borrowed styles resonate anew.

Going for large-scale, throaty blues belting, he replicated the basic tone and mannerisms but missed the warmth and nuance of a Stewart or a Free-era Paul Rodgers, another obvious influence. The Crowes’ material was unexceptional, but Robinson’s showy, phrase-stretching reading of Little Feat’s laconic trucker’s lament, “Willin’,” showed that he can deflate prime material too.

There’s still hope for the Crowes, though: The band set aside its strident approach on “Wiser Time,” coupling a weary, chastened emotional tone with uncharacteristic floating rhythms to yield a rewarding, beautifully played moment.

Blues Traveler, the band that has spearheaded H.O.R.D.E. since its humble East Coast-only beginnings, has grown along with the festival: It delighted the crowd with its breakthrough hit--”Run-Around,” a song that borrows cannily from both “La Bamba” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Rosalita.” (Arlo Guthrie, speaking of his father’s penchant for taking new lyrics for a spin in pre-owned tunes, wryly refers to this as “the folk process.”) Front-man John Popper and mates made it a double scoop of tasty ‘70s stuff by using War’s harmonica-driven nugget, “Low Rider,” as a lead-in to “Run-Around.”

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Later in the show, a third visit to the ‘70s was less rewarding. A version of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” an already too-familiar song, received a too-reverent, half-whispered treatment from Popper, who dedicated it to Jerry Garcia.

Blues Traveler’s success is well-deserved. Borrowed bits notwithstanding, the double-platinum success of the current “Four” stems from improved, catchier songwriting. In keeping with H.O.R.D.E. tradition, however, the thrust was jams over songs. One exception, a hymnal, newly written ballad called “Yours,” stood out in a set weighted too heavily toward blazing funk and rock workouts.

In the portly Popper, Blues Traveler has a distinctive, nasal-toned singer (although his attempts at husky ardor usually sounded forced) and an immediately identifiable harmonica stylist, albeit one prone to being too prolific. Popper’s improvisations were merrily appealing when linked to a melody, but they grew tiresome as he turned to fast, tuneless flurries that sounded more like wind-tunnel simulations than anything that could help to push a song along.

Reggae traditionalists Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers compensated for tepid new material by paging back through the family songbook handed down by their vaunted dad.

“Get Up, Stand Up” was the turning point at mid-set, setting the show on course for a lively, crowd-pleasing second half. Before that the four Marley siblings and their sharp, seven-piece band had kept bodies bobbing, but that was about all. A second Bob Marley song, “Could You Be Loved,” helped fuel the good vibrations, and the Ziggy originals, “Tomorrow People” and “Look Who’s Dancing,” held up well alongside his father’s work. Both were released in the late ‘80s, however, when the band showed more promise than it has delivered on its current album, the slogan-flinging “Free Like We Want 2 B.”

Four tiny tots, presumably a third Marley generation, danced happily and capably on stage throughout the show, and prattled to the beat when Stephen Marley gave them each a turn with the microphone during a toasting segment of “Look Who’s Dancing.”

Briefly given chances in the spotlight, sisters Cedella Marley and Sharon Prendergast were soulful singers who seem qualified for more than the backup and call-and-response singing duties they handled through most of the show.