Who would have thought 25 years ago, when Gayle was seductively purring her way through "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue," that she would evolve into such a splendid singer of songs for children? This collection of 17 original kids' tunes is a marvel of warmth, melody and security—the kind of thing a child and his or her parents will retreat into over and over. If there is a weakness, it is that writers Steve Ivey and Denny Jiosa overdid it in the warm, fuzzy department. And although Ivey and Jiosa, who also produced, may have miscalculated by including eight New Agey instrumental tracks, there are more hits than misses. The title track is a classic tune about a mother considering her child's infinite potential, even as she holds him. And throughout, Gayle, who has two teenage children, displays a sweet yet purposeful approach to even the most stubbornly puerile of the album's lyrics. Not many albums for kids are this musical and this comforting.
Bottom Line: If you don't have a child to play this for, you'll wish you did
The Offspring (Columbia)
Album of the week
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Home of Disneyland, bastion of staunch conservatism, Orange County, Calif., has acquired new and unexpected cachet as a hotbed of adrenaline-fueled pop sounds. Led by punk rockers like Social Distortion, Lit and the ska-influenced No Doubt, the O.C. invasion was buoyed back in 1994 by Offspring, the four-member band from Anaheim that sold a whopping 11 million copies of its breakthrough CD, Smash, Then, two years ago, came Americana, which sold 10 million copies and scored a mainstream pop hit with the faux hip-hop, just-for-laughs track, "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)."
Now on their sixth album Offspring turns out more novelty songs, including "Original Prankster," an antiestablishment, good-time track that blends front man Bryan "Dexter" Holland's half-shouted vocals and Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman's thrashing guitar. A sinuous Latin beat provided by drummer Ron Welty enlivens "Living in Chaos." Teen angst and leavening gobs of humor highlight "Dammit, I Changed Again." Even "Special Delivery," a tune about stalkers, is played for laughs when the "ooga chaka" riff from Blue Swede's "Hooked on a Feeling" is laced into the mix as a sonic joke.
Bottom Line: Pretty sly, for white guys
Jay-Z (Roc-A-Fella/ Def Jam)
Sure, his current video "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)" might feature minimally clad models and classic cars, but there is more to Jay-Z than the usual celebration of the high life. After all, this is the same hipster who made his name with the rockin' but socially conscious rap "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" in 1998 and who openly rhymes about his rough-and-tumble past. So it is no surprise that the Brooklyn-raised Grammy winner has an eye for the grit beneath the glamor. For every song about slurping Cristal champagne, Jay has one about struggling to get out of misery.
On his fifth CD, he offers raps that sometimes sound like therapy sessions as he expresses a deep, cathartic anger. "Where Have You Been," in which Jay trades rhymes with rapper Beanie Sigel, is about the pain caused by a deadbeat dad. "Do you even remember the tender boy/ You turned into a cold young man?" Jay emotes. On "This Can't Be Life" he violates street creed and confesses self-doubt.
Bottom Line: Searing self-examination, propelled by hot beats
>Dido
"It was chilling but at the same time very beautiful." Pop's new It Girl, Dido, is talking about the first time she heard "Stan," the unsettling hit by shock rapper Eminem in which he incorporates vocals from "Thankyou," her own much sweeter-sounding single. "I like the darkness it adds to my song," says Dido (pronounced Dye-doe). "And the attention is kind of nice too."
So is the notice Dido, 28, has garnered thanks to her tune "Here with Me" from her now platinum 1999 debut album, No Angel (Arista), which provides the eerie theme for The WB's teen sci-fi series Roswell.
A late-blooming pop star who studied to become a British barrister and worked as a London literary agent before turning to a music career, Dido Armstrong (Mum's a poet, her father is in publishing) adopted her singular stage name in the mid-'90s when she became a guest vocalist with the Brit trip-hop group Faithless, which happens to be led by her older brother Rollo. "I was very sneaky about it," says Dido, who also plays guitar, violin and piano. "I would just show up when they'd record, and they'd need a singer, so I'd innocently volunteer. Okay, maybe not so innocently."
- Contributors:
- Ralph Novak,
- Sona Charaipotra,
- 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!
