Until the summer of 1953, when an 18-year-old Elvis first walked into Sam Phillips's Memphis Recording Service, the studio's motto ("We Record Any Thing—Any Where—Any Time") had been a beacon only to black musicians in segregated Memphis. And so, this collection of Elvis's entire output on Sun Records is a doubly historic collection that marks the arrival of the rock King and a vital bridge across pop music's racial divide. The first of the album's two discs includes 18 polished tunes released by Sun in the two years before Elvis left the label in 1955. Incandescent as those tracks are, disc two's collection of unreleased tracks and outtakes is the real marvel. From the scratchy sound of Elvis's first-ever recording—"My Happiness," a soggy 1940s pop song—to the liberating, hip-shaking glory of his debut single, "That's All Right," we are privy to the first cries of a new creation.
Bottom Line: History you can dance to
TLC (LaFace)
Album of the week
Years before it became a marketing slogan, Girl Power was being championed by TLC. The Atlanta-based trio's fly-girl feminism (a sexy combo of vulnerability and in-your-face attitude), plus pop and R&B hits like "Creep," "Waterfalls" and "Baby, Baby, Baby," made TLC the biggest-selling female group in the U.S. After being AWOL for five years due to a litany of legal and internal problems, Tionne Watkins, Rozonda Thomas and Lisa Lopes are back, and they have been worth the wait. Among FanMail's 17 cuts, the trio's softer side emerges on the more subdued, acoustic, mid-tempo ballads, of which "Unpretty' "Dear Lie," both cowritten by Watkins, are the best. As for attitude, the CD is peppered with it. On tracks such as "Silly Ho" with its hyped-up bass and drum, "I'm Good At Being Bad" with its lip-smacking nastiness, and the title song, with its futuristic clang and bang, the trio blends old-style girl-group harmonies with edgy, electronic background noise. The result is a modern sound with sass, and it has made Watkins, Thomas and Lopes cyber Supremes for a new generation.
Bottom Line: Radio-friendly girl pop for the 21st century
John Lithgow (Sony Wonder)
Backed alternately by a sparse rhythm section and a 30-piece big band, TV's 3rd Rock from the Sun star sings for the small fry on this often charming CD. The best tracks are familiar children's tunes: "At the Codfish Ball," "Swingin' on a Star" and "The Inchworm." The original songs are more mixed in appeal. "Everybody Eats When They Come to My House" has what even the youngest child will find the dumbest, most forced rhymes this side of "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover": "Try the salami, Tommy...try a tomato, Plato...taste the baloney, Tony." Mostly the tunes are glib, silly and child-friendly, and Lithgow, to his credit, sings with kids, not at them.
Bottom Line: More fun than a rubber duck
George Strait (MCA Nashville)
What Strait's 24th album lacks in pleasant surprises, it more than makes up for in reliability. Strait is an always warm, always graceful singer who never seems to try too hard, and he has developed a shrewd ear for tasteful country melodies that suit his style. This album includes a characteristically varied mix, from the swingy "Write This Down" to a mournful divorce ballad, "4 Minus 3 Equals Zero." While Strait gets his best instrumental support from pianist Steve Nathan and steel guitarist Paul Franklin, his vocal backing is undistinguished. Some day it would be nice to hear a duet between Strait and, say, Faith Hill or Suzy Bogguss.
Bottom Line: Another pleaser from the new Eddy Arnold
Bill Wyman & the Rhythm Kings (Velvel)
Former Rolling Stones bass player Bill Wyman has maintained a fairly low profile since quitting the band in 1992. For help on his second Rhythm Kings CD, the ex-Stone again turns to his friends, and what a stellar lot they are: ex-Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, the band's part-time piano man Nicky Hopkins, Procol Harum keyboardist Gary Brooker and former Squeeze vocalist Paul Carrack. Oh, yeah, and that's Eric Clapton and Peter Frampton making guitar cameos. The Kings play an appealing form of R&B, supper-club swing and even the occasional jug-band ditty (Dan Hicks's "Walking One & Only"). No Jagger, Wyman wisely leaves vocal duties to '60s pop star Georgie Fame and to a wonderful blues belter, Britain's Beverley Skeete.
Bottom Line: An old Stone rolls out a winner thanks to some sterling sidemen
- Contributors:
- Steve Dougherty,
- Amy Linden,
- Ralph Novak.
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!
