Album of the week
The man who gave Little Orphan Annie some much needed street cred in the 1998 hit "Hard Knock Life" remains an innovator. This album cruises on the strength of another huge hit, "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)." Sampling beats from the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back," its nonsensical rhymes fall somewhere between Dr. Seuss and Dr. Dre: "H to the Izzo/ V to the Izzay/ For shizzle my nizzle/Use to dribble down on V.A."
Another gem is "Renegade," featuring Eminem, which argues that music is not to blame for social ills. The pairing may be a gimmick, but it works. Other tracks get stuck in well-worn grooves: "Takeover" is the obligatory diss of rivals, while "U Don't Know" swells with self-congratulation ("I sell ice in winter/ I sell fire in hell/ I am a hustler, baby/ I sell water to a well"). QVC, are you listening?
Bottom Line: Gifted rap
Elton John (Universal)
In the '70s he was Captain Fantastic, but in the '90s Elton John morphed into the King of Schlock. During that decade his treacly output included songs for the Disney flick The Lion King, another collaboration with King cowriter Tim Rice for the Broadway musical adaptation of Aida and a new version of "Candle in the Wind" dedicated to Princess Diana. Impressive, but hardly a match for his work when he dressed like Donald Duck.
On his new disc John, now 54, tries to recapture some of his '70s sting. And with longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin adding some bite to John's pretty melodies, piano-powered tunes such as "Look Ma, No Hands," "I Want Love" and "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore" hark back to the singer-songwriter's glory days. Best are the homophobia-themed "American Triangle" and especially "Ballad of the Boy in the Red Shoes," a poignant AIDS tale with political overtones. Still, John can't resist all his schmaltzy impulses on cuts like "The Emperor's New Clothes," which will only go over with the kiddie crowd.
Bottom Line: The sun hasn't gone down on Elton
Michelle Branch (Maverick)
The Britney backlash begins here, with this guitar-slinging 18-year-old who writes her own lyrics on this debut disc. Branch, who has a lively, country-tinged voice, is ruling TRL with "Everywhere," a radio-ready rocker that's wistful yet catchy. She comes off as a less jaded version of Alanis Morissette on crunchy, hook-laden tunes like "All You Wanted."
But when you call yourself a singer-songwriter, your words should stand on their own. And on some overly earnest tracks, Branch is still studying for her lyrical learner's permit. She flails through metaphors both weird ("She's his yellow brick road/ Leading him on," in "Something to Sleep To") and tired ("I wanted to fly/ So you gave me your wings," in "You Set Me Free"). Then there's the gratingly chipper "You Get Me," on which Branch announces, "Who wants to be ordinary/ In a crazy, mixed-up world/I don't care what they're sayin'/ As long as I'm your girl." Joni Mitchell she ain't.
Bottom Line: Room to grow
Boz Scaggs (Virgin)
Jazz lovers really hate pop jazz, what with its ear-friendly melodies, its structure, its solos politely excusing themselves after 10 seconds instead of prancing around for 10 minutes. All the better reason to infuriate your favorite chain-smoking beret-wearer, then, by accidentally planting Scaggs's smooth new disc front and center on your coffee table.
Scaggs, who in the 1970s crafted such bouncy rock as "Lido Shuffle," keeps the jazz-R&B-pop mix light here. What with a largely sunny attitude ("Thanks to you, there's a net below/ 'cause otherwise, well I don't know"), a plea to exercise ("Get on the Natch") and drowsy love ballads set to sweet synthesizers, this one needs some sort of reverse warning sticker: If you're not old enough to remember Nixon, you just won't get it.
Bottom Line: That '70s guy still flies
Blake Shelton (Warner Bros.)
Few debut albums are as slick or pack as much punch as this one by the 25-year-old Oklahoman behind the No. 1 country single "Austin," about a romantic relationship caught on an answering machine.
Much of the credit must go to veteran Nashville producer Bobby Braddock. But Shelton, who moved to Nashville at 17 to try a singing career, can shift his high-end tenor from sweet ballads to stompy honky-tonk.
Four of this self-titled set's 10-tracks—which tend more than usual to the political and philosophical—were cowritten by Shelton. While this hat act arrives rather late in the Stetson cycle, Shelton's voice ably lives up to his headgear.
Bottom Line: Ten-gallon hit
Tori Amos (Atlantic)
Who knew empowerment could be so much fun? Here Amos, a pop singer known for her candid treatment of rape and other serious subjects, radically reinterprets 12 songs by men from a woman's point of view. The most chilling is Eminem's "97 Bonnie & Clyde," the story of a man who butchers his wife. Amos turns down the volume and delivers the grisly rap song from the wife's perspective, breathing a bit of gallows humor into the twisted lyrics. Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" becomes a full-on rant, complete with an unearthly accompaniment that sounds like an air-raid siren. Depeche Mode's cool, mechanical "Enjoy the Silence" is transformed into a lush piano ballad. Favorites by the Beatles and the Velvet Underground also are reworked to surprising effect. Yet none of these covers trashes the original. Instead, Amos provides inventive treatments of songs you thought you knew everything about.
Bottom Line: Strange but stellar
Brian McKnight (Motown)
Unlike some showier R&B singers, Brian McKnight has never set out to prove that he can leap one octave in a single bound. His unassuming vocals have mirrored his persona as a soul Everyman, more Clark Kent than Superman. Which makes the immodest title of McKnight's fifth studio album a bit surprising. (At least he lowercased it: Here's to affected humility.) The disc opens with a bombastic classical instrumental, and on another track, the slow jam "Love of My Life," he adopts an unrecognizable falsetto that seems to scream, "Hey, check out my range!"
Mostly, though, the "S" emblazoned on McKnight's chest continues to stand for subtle on tasteful ballads ("Biggest Part of Me") and midtempo numbers ("Whatever You Want"). While superhero lacks a killer cut, it also has few duds. (One is the soft-rock title tune.) And his sugar-pop duet with 'N Sync's Justin Timberlake on "My Kind of Girl" should win McKnight plenty of young Lois Lanes.
Bottom Line: Not super but satisfactory
Smash Mouth's Steve Harwell
Not long after Smash Mouth's hit version of the Monkees' "I'm a Believer" had kids bouncing in theaters every time they saw Shrek, lead singer Steve Harwell's 6-month-old son Presley Scott fell mysteriously ill. "I usually tickled him on his stomach, and I noticed his stomach was really hard," says Harwell, 34, of that late July day. "He had a little fever, so we were giving him warm baths, thinking, 'Okay, he's probably teething.' "
But Harwell and girlfriend Michelle Larocque, 32, learned that their son was suffering from acute lymphatic leukemia. Two days after the couple received the diagnosis, the boy (named after Harwell's idol Elvis) was dead. "It was the freakiest dream," says Harwell, "but it wasn't a dream." To help heal, he established the Presley Scott Research Foundation for Leukemia, which has received support from groups like Barenaked Ladies and Sister Hazel. In August Harwell and Smash Mouth went back on the road; their third disc is due next month. "I got into this business because I love kids and I love people," says the singer. "With Presley's passing, it just gives me more drive to do things right."
- Contributors:
- Ericka Sóuter;,
- Chuck Arnold,
- Sona Charaipotra,
- Kyle Smith,
- Ralph Novak,
- Alec Foege,
- Julie Jordan.
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!
