Album of the week
When not trying to persuade dictators to free political prisoners or the world's leading industrial powers to forgive Third "World debt, Bono and the lads like to pick up their guitars and play. And this album is enough to make fans wish U2 would hurry up and save the world already. Music this unique and passionately felt is something to be treasured. As usual, this is big-statement, anthemic gospel rock. But despite a clumsy title (wouldn't the opening track "Beautiful Day" have rolled more easily off the tongue?), liner-note pleas to do good ("Remember Aung San Suu Kyi, under virtual house arrest in Burma since 1989") and some lyrics that might have been lifted from Kahlil Gibran ("And if your way should falter/Along the stony pass/It's just a moment/This time will pass"), All That never sounds strident or self-righteous. Bono's voice is as emotion-packed as ever; guitarist the Edge avoids falling into his habitual, Bo Diddley-on-Prozac riffs, and a nice balance is struck between coproducer Daniel Lanois's dark stirrings and counterpart Brian Eno's spacey tweedling. Every track is a tour de force, but "Elevation," "Wild Honey," "Peace on Earth" and "Grace" are especially gorgeous.
Bottom Line: Bono sings; you, too, will follow
Evan & Jaron (Columbia)
It must have seemed like a marketer's dream: Take a pair of talented, pretty-boy rockers from Atlanta, throw in a little song and dance, and, presto, you've concocted the next 'N Sync. Well, maybe.
Fraternal twins Evan and Jaron Lowenstein, 26, don't dance, but they do write their own songs, play instruments and entertain ambitions more lofty than becoming the next boy band du jour. Heavyweight backing from guest drummer Mick Fleetwood and, on six of these tunes, jazz keyboardist John Medeski, anchors Evan &c Jaron's harmony-rich, neofolkie sound. The rootsy acoustic-guitar playing of the brothers, who wrote or cowrote all 12 songs, gives the album a handcrafted feel. And tunes like the catchy "Crazy for This Girl" ("She was the one to hold me/The night the sky fell down)" and the hippietrippy anthem "On the Bus" are delicious.
Bottom Line: Double the pleasure
Travis Tritt (Columbia Nashville)
Having recorded 11 No. 1 singles and sold 17 million albums, Tritt didn't need to wreak any major changes in his gritty, neo-honky-tonk singing style. Yet after taking 18 months off (which included the birth of his and wife Theresa's second child, a son), Tritt emerges sounding strangely like Kenny Rogers, right down to the hokey catch in the voice and the melodramatic story song, in this case an ill-advised tribute to a couple of sadistic thugs, "Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde." Tritt's slightly gravelly voice has always resembled Rogers's, of course. But that hardly obliges him to emulate the schmaltzier, least admirable aspects of the Gambler's style. Happily, Tritt sounds more like himself on the trenchant "Southbound Train" (cowritten by Tritt and Charlie Daniels) and "Just Too Tired to Fight It" (by Tritt and Stewart Harris). Heretofore the least derivative of modern country singers, Tritt doesn't need to evoke any other singer. We liked him just fine the way he was.
Bottom Line: What's next, Travis Tritt Roasted Chicken?
Tamia (Elektra)
On her sophomore set Tamia, a featured vocalist on Quincy Jones's 1995 album Q's Jook Joint, sets out to prove that she's more than just a good singer on other people's records (such as last year's hit duet with Eric Benet "Spend My Life with You"). But on A Nu Day, as on her 1998 self-titled solo debut, the wife of NBA star Grant Hill again struggles to distinguish herself as an artist in her own right. In fact, the hip-hop tracks "Can't Go for That" and "Wanna Be," two of four songs produced by rapper Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, are more Missy than Tamia. Slow jams like "Stranger in My House" and her DeBarge cover "Love Me in a Special Way" seem more her speed.
Bottom Line: Still hasn't found her own voice
>Lenny Kravitz
Lenny Kravitz's biggest hits usually get written in a hurry. He scribbled the lyrics to his 1995 single "Are You Gonna Go My Way" on a brown paper bag. Even his 1999 breakthrough song "Fly Away" was written in a flash of inspiration. "The songs that happen quickly are the ones," he says. "They happen so fast you don't have time to ruin it."
Both tracks, along with 13 others, are collected on Kravitz's new Greatest Hits CD (Virgin). After five albums and two Grammys, the stylish rocker figures now's the time to take a short look back. "It's an accomplishment just to be around for 11 years at a time when careers are very short and disposable," says Kravitz, 36, who lives in Miami. "A lot of people have giant hits and then it's like, 'See ya.' "
Kravitz—who is divorced from actress Lisa Bonet (with whom he has a daughter, Zoe, 11)—still has issues with the music press. "A magazine said I hit on Gisele Bundchen," he says. "I never met her. Most of the stuff you read about yourself is bull."
Read Chuck Arnold's Music Buzz column at www.people.com or AOL (Keyword: People)
- Contributors:
- Steve Dougherty,
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- Chuck Arnold,
- Joseph V. Tirella.
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!
