From PEOPLE Magazine
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OK; the Dublin quartet wins weirdest album title of the year. (Is it a cryptic reference to Dick Shawn's beatnik Hitler in the Mel Brooks film The Producers?) But what's in the grooves? More strangeness. Most of this odd, often intoxicating concoction would not be identifiable as U2 were it not for Bono's distinctive voice. The group's other trademark, Edge's high-tensile guitar, is all but absent.
The compositions are as mainstream as anything U2 has ever recorded. But combine these with the group's still evident moral passion and producer Daniel Lanois's echoes, subtle distortions and brooding percussion overdubs, and the result is U2's most exotic collection.
There are just a few disappointments: "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" and "Mysterious Ways," for instance, bring to mind the soggy solemnity of Simple Minds. A more interesting influence—the Doors—can be heard in "Even Better than the Real Thing." ("You're honey child to a swarm of bees/ Gonna blow right through you like a breeze/ Give me one last chance/ We'll slide down the surface of things") A '60s shadow looms, in fact, over the whole album. From the wah-wahing guitars on "One" to the trippy vocals of "The Fly," the style can only be described as psychedelic. And that turns out to be wunderbar, baby. (Island)
Drink Small
A former member of the popular '50s gospel group the Spiritualaires, bluesman Small here works not-so-small wonders by teaming his gravel-pit vocals with his quicksilver style on electric and slide guitar.
As the title suggests, this is Small's second recording for the Atlanta-based Ichiban label. His first, The Blues Doctor (1988), was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award in the traditional blues category. Small again establishes his command of several blues idioms, including country blues, jump blues and soul. Small's gospel-rich voice bears comparison to Taj Mahal and Lazy Lester. While "Can I Come over Tonight?" is no pearl of the love-talk genre, Small's vocal nevertheless has the roomy, relaxed quality of Lou Rawls or that earlier, big-voiced tempter Joe Turner.
With this fine release, Small makes less likely the fate he contemplates in "I'm Tired Now," where he sings, "I've been playing the blues for a mighty long time/ If I don't soon make it y'all/ I'm going back to South Carolina/ I'm gonna sit right down on my behind." (Ichiban)
The Shamen
Get ready for techno-rave, a new dance music already busting eardrums in Europe but still largely an underground pleasure over here.
Techno-rave's furious synthesizers, assaulting rhythm and unrelenting speed are simply not Club MTV-ready. This heavy-metal disco can damage the senses. Nonetheless major labels are signing such techno-ravers as Belgium's Quadro-phonia and L.A. Style, and T-99 from Britain.
But the Shamen, from Scotland, seem most likely to lift the genre into the mainstream. On En-Tact they do what LL Cool J did for rap: use pop hooks, sly vocals and easy, gliding melodies to soften the style's hard edges. A choir of synthesized guitars propels "Make It Mine" into Jesus Jones terrain. Third-world chants add color to the otherwise lackluster "Lightspan." The Shamen will need more than pop-friendly hooks and caged aggression to make it. But they're off to a promising start.
A Tribe Called Quest
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Black Sheep
Wait! Don't give up on rap! Open your ears to these two fun, innovative albums.
With a jumpy solo by jazz bassmaster Ron Carter, the second disc by Quest kicks off on an original note and then stays fresh. Instead of basing their music on the same old tired funk, this New York City trio stitches together unpredictable sounds, especially jazz. One of the more conventional songs, "Check the Rhime," draws on pop music, combining a catchy bass line from a Minnie Riperton song with a distinctive horn melody by Average White Band.
Quest's free-form lyrics don't require careful study. It's the delivery that matters. Good friends Q-Tip and Phife generate a rare chemistry as they trade raps over deejay Ali's offbeat beats. Q-Tip, with a slightly husky voice, exudes confidence and charm, while Phife comes across as a completely unpretentious regular guy.
Clearly influenced by Quest, Black Sheep's Dres and Mista Lawnge (pronounced Long) are childhood friends who rap in a gentle style, backed by some infectious jazz. When it comes to lyrics and vocal delivery, they outdo their mentors. Dres and Lawnge have a knack for crystal-clear articulation that can put a sardonic spin both on straightforward and pun-packed phrases. "U Mean I'm Not," a hilarious sendup of the N.W.A. gangsta style, parodies the voice of a thug who pummels and shoots his own mother because she breaks the yolk in his breakfast egg. "Black with N.V. (no vision)" effectively describes the alienation of a young black man who tries to succeed in business.
A few of the Sheep's songs get mired in sexism, obscenity and adolescent fantasies. Dres and Lawnge have the skills to avoid such easy attention-grabbers. Deftly merging rap and pop, the Black Sheep count not as outcasts but as leaders of the rap pack. (Quest: Jive; Sheep: Mercury)
Black Sheep
Wait! Don't give up on rap! Open your ears to these two fun, innovative albums.
With a jumpy solo by jazz bassmaster Ron Carter, the second disc by Quest kicks off on an original note and then stays fresh. Instead of basing their music on the same old tired funk, this New York City trio stitches together unpredictable sounds, especially jazz. One of the more conventional songs, "Check the Rhime," draws on pop music, combining a catchy bass line from a Minnie Riperton song with a distinctive horn melody by Average White Band.
Quest's free-form lyrics don't require careful study. It's the delivery that matters. Good friends Q-Tip and Phife generate a rare chemistry as they trade raps over deejay Ali's offbeat beats. Q-Tip, with a slightly husky voice, exudes confidence and charm, while Phife comes across as a completely unpretentious regular guy.
Clearly influenced by Quest, Black Sheep's Dres and Mista Lawnge (pronounced Long) are childhood friends who rap in a gentle style, backed by some infectious jazz. When it comes to lyrics and vocal delivery, they outdo their mentors. Dres and Lawnge have a knack for crystal-clear articulation that can put a sardonic spin both on straightforward and pun-packed phrases. "U Mean I'm Not," a hilarious sendup of the N.W.A. gangsta style, parodies the voice of a thug who pummels and shoots his own mother because she breaks the yolk in his breakfast egg. "Black with N.V. (no vision)" effectively describes the alienation of a young black man who tries to succeed in business.
A few of the Sheep's songs get mired in sexism, obscenity and adolescent fantasies. Dres and Lawnge have the skills to avoid such easy attention-grabbers. Deftly merging rap and pop, the Black Sheep count not as outcasts but as leaders of the rap pack. (Quest: Jive; Sheep: Mercury)
"Divine Intervention" MATTHEW SWEET
THE BEATLES (CIRCA REVOLVER) MEET Neil Young in a grungy guitar rave-up by a popster who belongs in the big time.) From Girlfriend (Zoo)
"Caribbean Blue" ENYA
The Irish singer's angelic vocals lift this elegant and avant-garde waltz heavenward. From Shepherd Moons (Reprise)
"America the Beautiful" LIGHTHOUSE ALL STARS
Pete Jolly's pastel piano intro kicks off a saucy rendition that swings from sea to shining sea. From America the Beautiful (Candid)
- Contributors:
- David Hiltbrand,
- Lisa Shea,
- Jeremy Helligar,
- Michael Small.
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!
