Album of the week
Long before the current boy-band boom exploded with such young bloods as Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync and 98°, there was Boyz II Men. The Grammy-winning quartet were launched in 1991 with the multi-platinum Cooleyhighharmony and sent girls swooning with their lush harmonies, fancy footwork and unabashed romanticism.
But the Boyz–who first got together as choir members at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts–find themselves returning as elder statesmen on this, their fifth release. Consummately delivering what they do best–classic and classy soul ballads–the album peaks midway through with the candlelight suite of "I Finally Know," "Pass You By," "Dreams" and "I Do." The latter, with its doo-wop a cappella opening, reestablishes this fab foursome as a vocal group for the ages. Bottom Line: II good II be ignored
Loretta Lynn (Koch)
For those of you who may have thought Loretta had gone salsa, perhaps, or become the house mother/ live-in singing coach for the Backstreet Boys...think again. At 65, Lynn is still in strong voice, still vital and still the best woman around to sing the clever Larry Cordle-Betty Key-Larry Shell tune "Country in My Genes."
Nashville veteran Randy Scruggs, who produced the album, includes one of his own tunes, "On My Own Again." Scruggs also draws on the diverse composing talents of bright country lights like Matraca Berg, Vince Gill and John Prine. Lynn herself wrote "God's Country." The latter is only vaguely preachy, but if anyone has earned the right to preach a bit, it's Lynn, who's up there with Kitty Wells, George Jones, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and the rest of Nashville's reigning royalty. She's not ready for emeritus status yet, though. This first-class album is proof of that. Bottom Line: Still something!
Greg Brown (Red House)
Veteran singer-songwriter Greg Brown's wry observations about the wandering life have earned him a devoted following on the folk-rock circuit. On Covenant, his 17th album, he stays closer to home, testing love's thorns. It adds up to a singular collection of melancholia and quiet celebration.
Brown's bass vocal and Appalachia-flavored acoustic gems tell of loneliness ("Blue Car"), of children ("Rexroth's Daughter") and of marriage's sweetest lulls ("Lullaby") and deepest sorrows (" 'Cept You & Me Babe"). Helped by a sensitive quartet that includes longtime guitarist Bo Ramsey, Brown constructs deceptively simple tales of love always sought, sometimes found and often lost. Bottom Line: Poetic Covenant
CAN THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN
The Original Carter Family (Columbia/Legacy)
Country's first crossover act, the Carters, transcended genres and cultures with these haunted mountain hymns, rocking train songs, English folk and blues ballads.
LA LUNA
Sarah Brightman (Angel)
The ethereal soprano gives full theatrical treatment to operetta works by Beethoven, Handel, Dvorák, Rachmaninoff and, yes, Procol Harum ("A Whiter Shade of Pale"). Her ex, Andrew Lloyd Weber, would be proud.
SWIMMING IN CHAMPAGNE
Eric Heatherly (Mercury)
With his Sun-kissed Memphis sound, this young rockabilly cat has scored a hit with his cover of the Statler Brothers' "Flowers on the Wall." The rest of the self-penned CD is as inviting as its title.
- Contributors:
- Chuck Arnold,
- Ralph Novak,
- Marie Elsie St. Léger.
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!
