Monday, October 12, 1998
Soundbites
Various Artists, ‘A Night at the Roxbury Soundtrack’
(Dreamworks)
Chocolate, Barbies, Marilyn Manson… and now the new soundtrack
to ‘A Night at the Roxbury’ joins the list of guilty pleasures. You
know it’s cheesy and you know it’s disco-pop music overkill, but
you can’t help bopping your head along with all the club dance
mixes that you hear all over the place and stick in your head for
days. So why live in denial?
‘A Night at the Roxbury’ might not be the blockbuster Paramount
hoped for, but can Hadaway’s ‘What Is Love?’ ever be ignored?
Alongside those visions of ‘Saturday Night Live’s’ Will Ferrell and
Chris Kattan, Euro-dance hits, which have infected dance floors for
years, allow listeners to sit back, laugh and enjoy.
The soundtrack holds all the hits we love and hate including La
Bouche’s ‘Be My Lover (Club Mix),’ Amber’s ‘This is Your Night’ and
No Mercy’s ‘Where Do You Go (Ocean Drive Mix).’ If you need mood
music to entertain the hot lady in your corvette while cruising
down PCH, this album screams your name.
For parties, you have all the nostalgic hits with a new twist,
including 3rd Party’s ‘Pop Musik’ and Cyndi Lauper performing
‘Disco Inferno.’ What corny film would be complete without ‘Da Ya
Think I’m Sexy?’
OK, so maybe you might buy it as a gag gift or simply as the
ultimate aerobic mix, but whatever your reasons, ‘A Night at the
Roxbury’ remains a comedic reminder of the club scene’s
embarrassingly fun tastes.
Michelle Zubiate
Cracker, ‘Gentleman’s Blues’ (Virgin)
Cracker seems to have three musical themes: good, bad and kind
of a lukewarm blend of the two. ‘Gentleman’s Blues,’ their fourth
album after the morphing of Camper Van Beethoven into Cracker, has
a bit of each.
When they’re on a good music tangent, grinding out angrily
countrified rock, it makes you wonder why they’ve never outlived
the CVB shadow.
When they’re stuck in the depths of suckhood, however, you’re
more apt to wonder how they keep getting recording contracts.
Cracker’s not a bad band, really, but their musical mood swings are
wild ones.
The album’s opener, ‘The Good Life’ has Cracker at its best.
With its driving beat, thinly angry vocals and stinging slide
guitar, this illustrates the sort of music the band should stick
to.
And stick to it they do, subsequently turning out ‘Seven Days,’
and ‘Star,’ which find good rock grooves and stick to them. Cracker
can handle slower material, too, such as the vaguely reggae-ish
‘Been Around The World,’ and ‘Lullabye.’
Sometimes, though, they miss the mark, and it’s painful
listening from there on in. ‘James River’ offers off-key vocals
from frontman David Lowery, hesitant instrumental work, and really
not too much else. ‘I Want Out Of The Circus,’ is an interesting
experiment with its psychotic calliope, but it becomes obnoxiously
repetitive after only a few bars.
‘Hallelujah’ has its moments, with great keyboard work from
guest Benmont Tench and beautiful, gospel-inflected background
vocals from Kristin Asbury.
Lowery’s lyrics and vocal work, however, are both half-hearted
and disappointing. ‘Gentlemen’s Blues,’ as an album, is much the
same  unbalanced but with flashes of greatness.
Brent Hopkins
Dr. John, ‘Anutha Zone’ (Virgin) With the pluck of a banjo and a
blow of the saxophone, Dr. John takes the listener to the crowded
streets of New Orleans and the lazy days spent drifting on the
Mississippi River. After a few minutes of zipping through ‘Anutha
Zone,’ it’s quite possible that one might begin to dream that they
are actually sitting in the middle of a swampy bayou, cravin’ spicy
shrimp gumbo and a side of Mama’s cajun jumbilaya.
Blending together the sounds of jazz, blues and a touch of the
Caribbean, the good ‘doctor’ offers a veritable smorgasbord of
pleasure to the ears. By using a wide range of instruments from
conga drums to harmonicas, and singing in his own raspy, Southern
drawl, Dr. John induces an almost trance-like ambience.
The most enticing track on the album is ‘I Don’t Wanna Know
About Evil,’ which deals with an individual choosing to only love
his counterpart and listening to nothing more. In his mind, evil is
something unjustified and to be simply ignored. But what makes this
song noteworthy is its ability to avoid sounding laughable, despite
its use of extremely basic andconventional lyrics. It is a
testament to the singer to be able to prevent himself from sounding
like many others who have moaned and whined about finding lifelong
relationships.
While the lyrics in ‘Anutha Zone’ can be initially somewhat hard
to understand, it is truly a treat to anyone who feels like taking
a chance on a relatively unknown artist. It’s a throwback to the
old days of when jazz and bluegrass ruled the club scene, and from
which present-day rock and R&B would spring. Not since Credence
Clearwater’s ‘Born On The Bayou,’ has blues-rock sounded
oh-so-good.
Teron Hide
Dance Hall Crashers, ‘Blue Plate Special’ (MCA Records)
Upbeat, cheery and as tooth-achingly sweet as Bubble Yum, Dance
Hall Crashers (DHC) put together another mix of catchy tunes to
keep your head bopping until delirium. ‘Blue Plate Special,’ their
most recent album since ‘Honey, I’m Homely,’ sticks to the same
infectious beats and rhythms that made their last album a must-have
for the ADD at heart. ‘Lady Luck,’ DHC’s surf-inspired contribution
to the ‘Meet the Deedles’ soundtrack, remains the perfect example
of how singers Elyse Rogers and Karina Denike blend terrific
harmonies while deviating very little from the formula of almost
all their other tunes such as ‘She’s Trying.’
If all else fails, the energy of the album stays true to the
loyal fans of the Berkeley band. The only new sound added to their
resume includes a new remix of ‘All Mine,’ a track from ‘Honey, I’m
Homely.’ Slower, darker and a little more sultry, the new version
has added electronic background and piano to give the tune a
different, appealing feel.
Although the album only contains six songs, each one remains
packed with the traditional DHC spunk, vitality and humor.
This includes their humorous track ‘I Did It For The Toys.’ An
amusing Christmas tune, it jokes about kissing Santa Claus in order
to get some rewards.
For DHC fans, the album adds to the growing collection of
successful tunes which, though lacking creativity at times, reflect
what DHC do best. Michelle Zubiate
Joni Mitchell, ‘Taming the Tiger’ (Sony)
Don’t come looking for a ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ or a ‘Chelsea
Morning’ on Joni Mitchell’s new album. Known for her haunting,
complex melodies, penetrating, scale-defying soprano and poetic,
provoking lyrics, Mitchell has secured her status as a musical folk
icon. Yet, ‘Taming the Tiger,’ a follow up to 1994’s critically
acclaimed ‘Turbulent Indigo,’ comes across as flat, uninspired and
tired.
Mitchell has gone through several transformations since her
classic early albums from the late ’60s, such as ‘Ladies of the
Canyon’ and ‘Blue.’ She has experimented with disco, jazz and
heavier rock in subsequent albums.
Mitchell has frequently expressed her desire to expand from the
conventional folk musician mode. It only makes sense that after 30
years an artist might be tired of the old playlist. But when it’s
classic, why mess with a good thing?
All the songs are heavily instrumentalized with layers of sax,
bass and guitar orchestra. It all sounds vaguely new-agey, fused
with cool jazz. The simple folk sound of past albums has all but
disappeared and has been replaced by a sound with no tangible
core.
Over the years, Mitchell’s lithe and mercurial soprano has
descended into a husky, weary alto. Her voice, always full of
vibrant potency, still arrests the listener but does not seem to
convey the same gentle urgency of her younger soprano. Instead, her
new voice and phrasing try too hard to convey emotions that the
songs simply do not hold.
Mitchell’s lyrics focus on all her usual suspects.
Jessica Holt
Moe. (CQ), ‘Tin Cans and Car Tires’ (550 Records)
It’s hard to categorize Moe. into a particular genre. Their
sound varies from country blues to jazz-laced rock, with a bit of
funk tossed in every now and then. ‘Tin Cans and Car Tires’
explores all of the group’s various depths with abandon.
It all sounds like a freewheeling jam session, with the band
members sounding relaxed and at peace with their instruments. It’s
a good album. It’s also nothing new.
Moe. has put together a catchy collection, but it lacks in
originality. Their melodies are pleasant, the liner notes are
amusing and there’s a cool picture of a dog on the back of the
jewel box, but they really don’t cover any new territory,
musically.
They come off as Dave Matthews Band-lite, with the same
laid-back feel, but lacking in the DMB’s biting charisma and
deeper-edged musical experimentation. Some songs avoid this trap
 most notably ‘Happy Hour Hero.’
On this bar-life anthem, Moe. is far from the
Matthews-Phish-Grateful Dead sound the rest of the album is minted
from, cruising along easily over a strong bassline and piano vamp.
Staying in this vein would do them well.
‘Tin Cans and Car Tires’ is not a bad album by any stretch of
the imagination, but it’s not the place to look for anything
different.
Brent Hopkins
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