At times, Tim McGraw seems to thrive in a rut, spewing out whiny, line-dance-ready songs with sing-songy arrangements. So it's a pleasure to hear him branch out a little on this album. There's a very lively good ol' boy tune titled "Something Like That" ("I had a barbecue stain on my white T-shirt/ She was killing me in that miniskirt"). There's what should become an anthem at 30th-birthday parties everywhere ("My Next Thirty Years" by songwriter Phil Vassar). And there's even a rare appearance by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche—or at least his sentiments ("Carry on/ Carry on/ What don't kill us makes us strong"). McGraw also gets a boost from background vocals by Patty Loveless and the distinctive, if underappreciated, Kim Carnes. Put these elements together, and they suggest that there could be more to this guy than has met the ear so far.
Bottom Line: Nashville veteran shows new promise
Ben Folds Five (550 Music)
Album of the week
Listeners can expect trickery from pianist and vocalist Ben Folds, who chose to dub his trio the Five simply for alliterative effect. Here the joke is that the album's title character is not the Italian mountaineer and author who was the first person to scale Mt. Everest without bottled oxygen but the name drummer Darren Jessee once used on his fake ID. "Reinhold Messner," Jessee says in the CD's press notes, "is the patron saint of underage drinking."
And Messner, despite its heroic, rock operatic overtones, is not a rock opera but a mock opera. Folds, Jessee and bassist-synthesizer player Robert Sledge have fashioned a wall of orchestral sound to accompany Folds's witty, autobiographical tunes about mundane tragedies like being dumped by bands and girlfriends. "Sometimes I get the feeling that I won't be on this planet for very long," he sings dolefully on "Don't Change Your Plans." "I hope I'm wrong." Well, Ben, so do we.
Bottom Line: Average Joe's musings get heroic treatment
Woody Allen (Rhino)
Long before he became a late-night punch line, "Woody" Allen Konigsberg was a precocious Brooklyn high schooler turning out gag lines for the likes of Bob Hope and Walter Winchell. By the 1960s he had become one of the funniest stand-up comics of the day as he polished the persona of the slyly endearing schlemiel he would later feature in his movies. Here then is hilarity in the making, a historic collection of Allen's routines recorded at nightclubs in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Chicago between 1964 and 1968. Rife with references suited to his '60s audiences, Allen's allusions to singers Kate Smith and Lily Pons, draft cards, sugar cubes, Conelrad and a "non-fiction version of the Warren Report" may leave later generations scratching their ball-cap-covered heads. But Allen's timing, his throwaway lines ("I cheated on my metaphysics final; I looked within the soul of the boy sitting next to me") and especially his comic personal woes ("When I go to the beach, I don't tan; I stroke") are timeless.
Bottom Line: Comedy genius at work in his early days
Eric Benét (Warner Bros.)
Eric Benét's 1996 debut, True to Myself, was hardly a chart topper (it hit No. 183 in the U.S.), but it made the Milwaukee singer-songwriter a fave among those who like an edgier form of rhythm and blues. Now with his second CD, Benét shoots for a broader audience with songs that look at the spiritual side of love instead of simply its sweaty sexuality. Not that he doesn't have seduction down cold. With his rich tenor, shaded with hints of jazz and hip hop, Benét can make even Kansas's trite 1978 hit "Dust in the Wind" sound sexy. On this CD, thanks to his inviting voice and songs that feel like songs rather than merely catchy hooks, Benét shows that he's a contender.
Bottom Line: Ready for the big time
>LEARN TO CROON Frank Sinatra & Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra (Buddha) Rare 1940s radio broadcasts sound like brand new studio recordings by the crooner and his big-band mentor.
FISH TREE WATER BLUES Various Artists (Bullseye) Grateful Dead alum Bob Weir, R&B icons Ruth Brown and Etta James, and '90s folkie Ani DiFranco celebrate Earth Day with this benefit compilation CD.
BUZZ ME IN Jack Logan (Capricorn) The Georgia lo-fi rocker (with backing by his band the Liquor Cabinet) goes hi-fi, adding (yikes!) strings without doing harm to his tuneful world-gone-wrong songs.
- Contributors:
- Ralph Novak,
- Steve Dougherty,
- 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!
