Monday Nov. 13, 1997
RECORD CAPSULE REVUES:
Should be called "Nearly Good", this very weird follow-up to Tricky's accalimed 'Maxinquaye" comes across as music a very, very high d.j. might make spin around 6 am to a bunch of half asleep but still very stoned-on-psychedelics partiers as they try and fall asleep spread out on the floor at somebody's weekend party in the woods of Vermont. a lot of weird vocals, odd choices for samples, and general incoherence pervade. Might be worth purchasing if you plan to, or happen to, have a chachet of mind bending drugs, and want suitable music to accompany your crashing. C
MELTING HOPEFULS "Viva La Void"
Excellent tunesmithing from a bunch of Northern New Jersey folk heroes. Renee, the lead singer, has a subtly sexual, breathy voacal style, and all the songs succeed effortlessly at what other girl-helmed alterna-pop bands can only try for. A
ANI DIFRANCO "Dilate"
This uncompromising folk-punk Buffalo gal has been around for a long time, self-producing albumns that are blends of feminine angst poetry and trenchant folkie insight. This time around she seems to be trying to co-opt Alanis Morrissette's patented style of expletive-enhanced sexual yowling. Sometimes it's bracingly raw and emotionally honest. Sometimes it's just obnoxious. B
SONIC YOUTH "Washing Machine"
Though no longer youthful by any stretch, these guys are still quite sonic. This time around Breeder Kim Deal makes a cameo, bringing a touch of warmth to one song, and Lee Renaldo's patented psychedelic warrior jams provide relief between Thurston Moore's and Kim Gordon's sometimes pretentiously deconstructionist thrashings. The end piece, a 24+ minute extravanganza called "The Diamond Sea" sums up their appeal and simultaneous lack therof most poignantly. B
PATTI SMITH "Gone Again"
Old Patti crawls out of retirement for this record, one long moan of grief over the recent deaths of her husband and brother. At times it sounds like she's been listening way too much to Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks" , other times she's corny and pretentious, but on the whole this is a satisfyingly depressing album that belongs right next to to Lou Reed's BERLIN in the collection of any potential suicider. B
BEATLES ANTHOLOGY- Vol. 2
Aside from the priceless "You know my Name" and maybe one or two other rarities, this is basically a "you-can-miss" albumn. There's the awful "Free as a Bird" and then the rest of it is "out-takes" which basically are the same as the final verisons of such classics as "Strawberry Fields Forver" except maybe minus a track here or there, and a slightly different Ringo cymbal crash. The recording is, of course, shoddier than the finished draft, so unless you're a serious audiophile, and rich, and a Beatlemaniac completist, why not forget all about this particular cash-cow? C
TRACY BONHAM - "The Importance of Being Upright"
Blood and guts Tracy belts out a nice collection of minimalist poppy punk alterna-thrash folk that falls somewhere short of interesting, but is still good driving music. C
SOUL COUGHING - "Irresistible Bliss"
In this phat, funky free follow-up to their self-accalimed debut "Ruby Vroom", these boys demonstrate the absolute cool that is a well-miked, stand-up double bass. Once again the rest of the instruments are fine; good drumming and guitars and keyboards and whats-his-name doing his nasal poet schtick. An excellent sophomore effort that manages to keep their unique sound fresh, as in not the same as last time but not a departure either. B+
POLLY JEAN HARVEY & JOHN PARRISH - Last Dance at Oak Point