Moore displays the kind of powerful, passionate chops that make comparisons with departed Texas guitar wizards Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddie King inevitable. At 24, he is a veteran of the Austin blues and rock club scene, and last year he toured as lead guitarist with roots-rocker Joe Ely while working on the 11 songs in this stingingly soulful debut album.
Moore has a remarkably mature voice, which can range from high and keening to low and languorous. That said, he may be just too young to have found his own sound yet, whether he's doing a sinewy slide tune like "Nothing" or a slow-burning rocker like "How Does It Feel."
Moore's work suggests a laudable knowledge of the great rock and blues guitarists preceding him, and he cites Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy as strong influences. Watching Guy play in Austin as a teenager, Moore says he learned Buddy was "not playing notes, [he was] playing emotions." Much the same can be said of this musician on this promising inaugural outing. (Capricorn)
Barbara Cook
Okay, here's the deal. Play Cook's cover (with Tommy Tune) of "The Way You Look Tonight." Good. Now, play it again. And again. Now, as soon as you're able to wipe that giddy grin off your face—it's hard to conjure a more fetching rendition of this classic—you're on your own to take the Cook's tour of songs featuring lyrics by Dorothy Fields. (Just a hint: The bouncv "Don't Blame Me" is a must hear, as are the heart-stopping "Make the Man Love Me" and "April Snow.") This is a truly alluring pairing: lyricist Field's tender, witty, very female view and Cook's lush vocal instrument. Long a Broadway musical star, Cook is no Sunday school soprano. Hers is a voice of distinct richness with a quite uncommon warmth and generosity. If it has darkened a bit over the years, that's all to the good; it just lends emotional heft to this captivating collection. (DRG)
Djur Djura
Djura, lead singer of the French/ Algerian band Djur Djura, was an outcast from the moment she was born (her mother, distraught because she wasn't a boy, refused to feed or care for her). Her struggle to survive and express the plight of Berber women provides the subject matter for this passionate collection of songs.
The music is deceptively sweet and childlike, employing the folkloric poetry and entrancing minor-key melodies of Berber tradition. Djura describes her mission as "sing[ing] aloud what our mothers hummed under their breath," and although the lyrics are subversive, the sounds she creates are filled with gentle rhythms, lush choral interplay and subtle shadings. This is a music of longing and sadness—and music that Djura is barred from performing in Algeria. (Luaka Bop)
Kate Bush
British-born Kate Bush, perhaps the queen of ethereal pop, has been spinning exotic rhythms and esoteric lyrics into space for 15 years. Which is great if you want a huge cult following. But what if you also want listeners closer to the mainstream? Simple. You make The Red Shoes.
This is the best and most conventional of all Bush's albums and even includes a couple of potential Top 40 singles: the happy-skippy dance number "Rubberband Girl" and the Prince-like "Why Should I Love You?" (which features The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, the Human Hieroglyphic himself, on keyboards). There are still plenty of unique twists and turns to Bush's music, however, and on the title cut, a mandolin, some whistles and a tidal wave of vocal overdubs come close to aural theater.
The one constant that will both appease the Kate cult and entice new fans is Bush's voice. She coos. She sighs. She seduces. Her soft and sensual vocals have always cast a sirenlike spell, and on this outing the magic feels too good to resist. (Columbia)
Jodeci
The last few years have seen an avalanche of sharp-dressed, smooth-talking, hip-hop-flavored R&B acts, and the kings of the heap are Jodeci. Their 1991 debut, Forever My Lady, went multiplatinum, and their recent cover of Stevie Wonder's "Lately" hit the Top 10. All of which makes Diary of a Mad Band one of the more anticipated R&B records in a longtime. DeVante Swing, chief architect of the quartet's sound, lives up to his surname, giving Jodeci's soaring harmonies a rock-solid foundation of bass lines and making cuts like "You Got It" or "In the Meanwhile" leap from the speakers.
But something here leaves a bad taste. Despite Jodeci's lush ballads, a few of their ballistic, up-tempo tracks are laced with a lyric swagger that sees women as objects of ridicule or simply prey. When you have Jodeci's skill, it seems dumb lo squander it on theme music for the Spur Posse. (Uptown/MCA)
>Kate Bush
ENDING THE ISOLATION
"PEOPLE TELL ME THEY FEEL IT'S quicker and easier to get into this record than some of my others," Kate Bush says of her new CD, The Red Shoes. "From the beginning, I wanted to make this an album of songs rather than a concept album. I wanted a more straightforward approach, to not be so experimental with my arrangements."
After tasting success with her lush 1978 debut single, "Wuthering Heights," the 35-year-old vocalist has dabbled in straight-ahead rock, breathy ballads and even world music. Until now, most of her recording was done alone, with accompanists laying down their tracks separately. This time Bush avoided that isolation by spending the past 2 ½ years working with other artists at her home studio, a process that gave the disc more spontaneity.
"I work in a very contained environment, usually," she explains. "So I took more of a band approach to the tracks this time. To actually work with human beings again was wonderful."
Some of those humans were Eric Clapton, Prince and ex-Procol Harum keyboardist Gary Brooker. Each was invited to play on a Red Shoes song for which Bush felt they were particularly suited.
"My guitarist [Alan Murphy] died a few years ago," she says. "Rather than look for a replacement, I went the other way and thought about who would be my ideal person on each track. It was interesting how quickly they responded. I was very flattered that they'd be so positive about working with me."
Famous names lending a hand on a few songs. Songs that have plenty of hit potential. Even rumors of a concert tour, her first since 1979. Can a beer commercial be far behind? Don't count on it. "It's not my ambition to be a big star," she says. "I'm just lucky to do what I like for a living. That's all."
- Contributors:
- Lisa Shea,
- Joanne Kaufman,
- Anthony Kosner,
- Craig Tomashoff,
- Amy Linden.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
