R.S. Murthi Reviews Notable Recent Rock Albums
Last Update: Nov. 3, 2000
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BJORK - SelmaSongs (Polydor/32:01): The music from Bjork's film, 'Dancer in the Dark', has a stirring majesty that's best embodied in the rousingly orchestral "Overture" on this seven-track disc.
But being the arch postmodern pop stylist that she is, Bjork also incorporates some intriguing dance rhythms into the mix, making things like "Cvalda" and "The Musicals" sound like a marvellous amalgam of Hollywood show tunes and industrial hip-hop.
The themes of the songs here amplify her role in the movie as Selma, a devoted mother who, when not tending to her son who is going blind from an inherited disease, finds solace in musicals.
Having experimented with orchestral arrangements and jazzy big-band show pieces on her previous albums, Bjork's handling of the material here is admirably assured. The disparate elements in the music blend smoothly, making every tune sound rich and unified.
The more reflective songs, like "I've Seen It All", a duet with Thom Yorke of Radiohead, and "Scatterheart", have a stark poignancy underlined by Bjork's pleading vocals.
It's shame that the music ends all too soon but that ironically makes this a disc you'd want to hear again and again.
(Distributed by Universal Music)
THE ORIGINAL CARTER FAMILY - Can the Circle Be Unbroken (Columbia/Legacy/58:35): It's this legendary group, comprising A.P. "Doc" Carter (1891-1960), his wife Sara Dougherty Carter (1898-1979) and her cousin Maybelle Addington Carter (1909-1978), that more or less established the vocal tradition of country music from 1927 with historic and highly successful records and radio broadcasts.
Before the Carters, and Jimmy Rodgers, country music was mainly instrumental and almost exclusively the preserve of string bands.
The 20 tracks here, 17 of which were recorded over five days in May 1935 and the other three in October 1940, are about the purest and most compellingly austere arrangements of British and Appalachian folk songs, spirituals and cautionary ballads you're ever likely to hear.
With just Maybelle's guitar and Sara's autoharp for accompaniment, the trio create evocative magic echoing the charms and hardships of rural life on such pieces as "Can the Circle Be Unbroken (Bye And Bye)", "My Clinch Mountain Home", "Wildwood Flower", "The Little Black Train", "Worried Man Blues", "Gospel Ship", "The Storms are on the Ocean" and "Blackie's Gunman".
The close harmonies are truly enthralling, and it's illuminating to discover that Maybelle's guitar style, which has her picking the melody line on the bass strings while keeping the rhythm going, was an innovatory approach that would later become a major influence on country pickers.
There's a hypnotic drone-tone to Sara's voice when she sings lead, and while the women's voices are dominant here, A.P. Carter plays a significant role as arranger in shaping the music to its state of beguiling beauty.
If you're serious about discovering the roots of country vocal music, this is one of the first discs you should get. (Distributed by Sony Music)
MARK KNOPFLER - Sailing to Philadelphia (Mercury/60:31): Mark Knopfler's first solo album, 1996's 'Golden Heart', was a mature, moodful, elegantly structured work as much flavoured with folk and country as it was with rock.
This similar-styled follow-up is even more laidback and reflective, with a pronounced rootsy feel that may disappoint Dire Straits fans looking for action in the mould of "Money for Nothing" or "Walk of Life" but should please serious listeners seeking music for thought.
The opener "What It is", a moving evocation of the American frontier spirit, has an arresting if familiar folk-coloured melody, spiced with guest player Aubrie Haynie's violin and Knopfler's own liquidly expressive electric guitar.
And such things as the sweetly melancholy "Sailing to Philadelphia", inspired by the Thomas Pynchon novel 'Mason & Dixon' with Knopfler duetting with James Taylor, and the affecting "Silvertown Blues", a tribute to everyday dream-chasers, evince a vision of life that's focused, incisive and compelling.
Knopfler's writing and singing here are so masterly that the songs never fail to fill your head with all kinds of images. And the grace, conviction and wonderfully restrained emotionalism with which he handles much of the material, including the ballad "The Last Laugh", a duet with Van Morrison, testify to his total grasp of craft.
It's not a work that will reveal itself in all its full glory on the first few hearings. But the subtleties that gradually emerge will often prove epiphanic to listeners who chart their lives by the music that moves them. (Distributed by Universal Music)
RICHARD ASHCROFT - Alone With Everybody (Hut/59:52): The debut solo album by the former frontman of the Verve is an introspective, moody exploration of love that may lack his old band's adventurism but still has enough rockingly melodic energy to lift the spirits.
Most of the songs are suffused with strings which on tracks like "A Song for the Lovers", "I Got My Beat" and "Crazy World" not only have an enhancing effect but also underline contrasting shades.
Ashcroft's cliche-free lyrics and freshly conceived instrumental touches, like the "wah-wah" on "New York" and "Money to Burn", also have strengthen the songs' appeal.
And it's a testament to his highly evolved artistry that even on potentially drippy ballads like "You on My Mind in My Sleep" and "Slow was My Heart", both of which have some lovely pedal steel work by BJ Cole, Ashcroft hardly sounds sentimental. (Distributed by EMI)
EVERCLEAR - Songs from an American Movie/Vol. One: Learning How To Smile (Capitol/45:25): The fourth album by Everclear, the alt-rock trio led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Art Alexakis, tackles typically American themes -- divorce, hero-worship, nihilism etc -- in a refreshingly spry folk-pop style.
The cover of Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" may be somewhat over-the-top in its dense arrangement, but most of the original material here has a rippling charm, especially "The Honeymoon Song", which has echoes of the Beach Boys, and the acoustically-charged "Thrift Store Chair".
There's also an evocative recollection of past glories on "Otis Redding", and such things as "Unemployed Boyfriend" and "Now That It's Over" examine everyday obsessions with infectious tunefulness. (Distributed by EMI)
WILLIE NELSON - Red Headed Stranger (Columbia/Legacy/42:58): Willie Nelson's acclaimed 1975 album, a stripped-down effort that redefined the roots of country music, has never sounded better than it does on this remastered and expanded format.
This was one of the first recordings to herald the arrival of the country outlaws, a posse of performers mainly from Austin, Texas, whose rough style stood in direct contrast to the mechanical smoothness of Nashville.
Whether he's exploring the codes of the Wild Wild West on originals like "Denver" and "Bandera" or delving into age-old country themes on things like "I Couldn't Believe It was True", "Red-Headed Stranger" and "Hands on the Wheel", Nelson is always in inspired form.
There's a hard, quiet grace about many of the pieces, and the four previously unissued tracks here, including a very short but delightful rendition of Bach's "Minuet in G", add to the value of this mid-price CD. (Distributed by Sony Music)
BILL MAXWELL - The World Through My Window (WLM/40:39): Bill Maxwell is a Tennessee-based independent singer-songwriter with a knack for blending country, rock, pop and blues influences in entrancing melodies.
Romantic ballads are his forte, as "Burnin' Her Bridges", "Trail of Tears", "Make Me Believe" and "She Got Everything (I Ever Promised Her)" on this album demonstrate, but he also lets things rip effortlessly on tunes like the fiddle-spiced 'That Girl Can Dance', the Southern rock-flavored "She's Mine All Mine" and the rollicking "I Know Enough about Being Lonely".
Maxwell also has the kind of rich, deep voice that will remind you of top contemporary country crooners. Though his singing may lack distinction, he makes up for it with an often soulful approach.
There's quite a bit of real country flavor here -- more than you will find on an average country-pop album these days -- courtesy of musicians like Steve Thomas (fiddle), Gary Morse (steel guitar) and producer/multi-instrumentalist Kevin Wicker.
Much of the music is quite fresh and invigorating, and the sunny appeal of such songs as "Dark Clouds", the "King of My Castle" is hard to resist.
(Bill Maxwell mailed me a review copy of this CD which is available from Amazon.com. You can also order it from Bill Maxwell, c/o Top Of The World Productions, 649 Olive Branch Rd, Smyrna, TN 37167.)
NEIL YOUNG - Silver & Gold (Reprise/39:17): Young's first solo album of the new millennium is a strikingly sincere and unvarnished work, a recording that takes you back to the rustic glory of his most introspective period.
It's a country-tinged acoustic exploration, a trip of redisovery into the past that may seem like an extension of 1992's brilliant Harvest Moon but is actually more a continuation of the inward journey on the classic After the Gold Rush.
Young reflects on his childhood days (Red Sun), his relationship with his parents (Daddy Went Walkin') and even revisits his early days as a musician (Buffalo Springfield Again). There's an austere beauty about the songs, and Young's uncompromisingly guileless approach makes almost every track a triumph of raw emotionalism.
There're plenty of recognizable echoes from After the Gold Rush, but there's also a reinvigorating freshness in the new songs, though such a thing will at times seem oddly unlikely, especially when the album is so invariably but engagingly laidback.
Young gets some great support from steel guitar player Ben Keith, pianist/organist Spooner Oldham, bassist Duck Dunn and drummer Jim Keltner who breeze through the proceedings like they're strolling through an enchanted forest.
Every Neil Young fan should have a copy of this, and if you're a young listener who values stark expression in music, you shouldn't hesitate to check Silver & Gold out. For track-by-track commentary of the songs by Young, click here.
(Distributed by Warner Music)
COLDPLAY - Parachutes (Parlophone/41:42): Although Coldplay has invited obvious comparisons to Radiohead with its atmospheric, richly melodic guitar rock, this debut album suggests a band genuinely seeking to travel down little-explored pathways.
The first thing that grabs you is singer/guitarist Chris Martin's pleading vocals. His is a voice so full of romantic yearning and so rousingly expressive of emotional fragility that it wouldn't be effective in a musical setting that's not sensitive to subtle dynamics.
That's why the empathetic support Martin gets from his mates -- Jon Buckland (guitar), Guy Berryman (bass), Will Champion (drums) -- is so pivotal in defining the mood of the pieces here.
The group can rock out if it wants to, as the rollicking Shiver demonstrates, but it's the songs that combine moments of ruminative grace with passages of slight ragged glory, such as Spies and Yellow, that really make Coldplay stand out from the slew of recent Brit-rock outfits.
And when Martin and his cohorts really get into ballads, as on Sparks and the piano-propelled Trouble (shades of '70s prog-rock band Caravan here), the mood is often an infectious combination of melancholy and bliss.
Lyrically, there's not much to distinguish the band from other introspective, soul-baring rockers but there're some clever lines on things like Parachutes and High Speed.
(Distributed by EMI)
SONIC YOUTH - nyc ghosts & flowers (Geffen/42:09): Sonic Youth's latest outing is sometimes so uncannily tuneful that the first thought that runs through your head is that the band has gone soft.
But that's really just an impression created by surface gloss. What you hear is the full mature power of one of the most inventive guitar-noise bands in contemporary rock.
The richly textural opener, Just to Be Loved, may seem like an alluring pop song. But the criss-crossing rhythm guitar patterns that fuel it and the crescendoing out-of-time ending demonstrate that things are not always as they seem.
It's the same mix of order and chaos that characterizes pieces like Renegade Princess, a multi-tempoed tune that starts off with a gamelan-like pattern and concludes with industrial noise, and the title track which builds into a huge massed-guitar riot.
As far as the lyrics go, things are pretty much in surreal territory, which is great since this is music that mirrors not so much the joy of life as the madness of the world.
There's even some sensitive, thoughtful poetry on Small Flowers Crack Concrete though it's the beauty of noise, especially as typified by the free-jazz workout Lightnin', that really keeps you in thrall here.
(Distributed by Universal Music)
CHANTAL KREVIAZUK - Colour Moving and Still (C2Records/53:00/LP): Canadian singer-songwiter Chantal Kreviazuk further explores states of romance on her second solo album, a work that highlights her strong voice -- sort of a cross between Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morrisette -- and her gracious gift of song.
Typical of much of today's confessional female folkies, there's a bit of moaning and mewing about insensitive males in a few of the songs.
But thankfully Kreviazuk doesn't make a habit of it. And on such things as the New Age-like Souls and M, she moves into a realm of alluring dreaminess that recalls the Cocteau Twins.
The CD includes three bonus cover tracks -- generally inspired interpretations of John Denver's Leaving on a Jet Plane (from the Armageddon soundtrack), Randy Newman's Feels Like Home (Songs From Dawson's Creek) and Lennon/McCartney's In My Life (the theme of the TV series Providence).
SINEAD O'CONNOR - Faith and Courage (Atlantic/55:50): There's an unmistakable tone of repentance about Sinead O'Connor's latest work. It's as if she has finally realized that she's been angry at the wrong people and things for the wrong reasons.
And while a hint of defiance still manifests itself on tracks like The Healing Room and No Man's Woman, O'Connor is generally in a joyous mood, celebrating the importance of being fiercely individual and paying homage to Ireland, the homeland that had previously inspired mixed feelings in her.
Daddy I'm Fine, an autobiographical ditty about growing up in Dublin, is probably one of the most heartfelt songs she has written. Such lines as "Sorry to be disappointing/Wasn't born for no marrying/Wanna make my own living singing/Strong independent pagan woman singing..." and "Got my hair shaved off and my black thigh boots/Wanna stand up tall with my pride upright/And I feel real hot when my makeup's nice..." ring with a naked sincerity that's rare even in confessional folk-pop.
Her Irish connection is also conjured up in the choice of sonic flavors that lend an evocative elegance to such things as 'Til I Whisper U Something, and The Lamb's Book of Life, the other notable song about Ireland on the album.
O'Connor's vocals have never soared with such power and grace; she's really irresistible on the Robert Hodgens composition Hold Back the Night, and she reaffirms her faith on a whisper-enhanced reading of the traditional devotional tune Kyrie Eleison.
Faith and Courage does need several hearings to be fully appreciated but once it has won you over, you'd want to stack it up with your other pile of favorite discs.
(Distributed by Warner Music)
ROY GAINES - I Got the T-Bone Walker Blues (Groove Note/53:09): Texas bluesman Roy Gaines is pretty much the real deal. He plays the blues like it was in its early state of electrification -- no flash, false fire or faked fury; just a whole of lot of feel, taste and soul.
This tribute to T-Bone Walker, the seminal electric blues master, is not only wonderfully inspired but also reminds you how inseparable blues and jazz are in their pristine form.
Gaines, a shouter with just a touch of gruffness, handles such Walker favorites as Stormy Monday, T-Bone Shuffle and I Got a Break Baby like he has been playing the tunes all his life... which is true in a way considering that it was Walker who moved Gaines to take up the guitar. His solos are so infectiously fluid and chatty and the purity of tone of his Gibson 175 is so alluring that you'd wonder why many other blues guitar slingers distort the voices of their instruments.
The horn embellishments on most of the pieces add much to the power of the music. Trumpeter Will Miller, who takes some rousingly lusty, full-throated solos, is truly outstanding.
Gaines also goes beyond the blues on a slightly country-colored arrangement of T-Bone Blues that features violin and pedal steel guitar.
But his version of Hank Williams' Honky Tonk Blues, featuring some fine sax work by tenorist George Parker, is bluesier than you'd ever expect a country classic to be.
If you've been hungering for some terrific authentic blues that won't leave you feeling bruised and bloodied by a relentless six-string assault, this is the disc you should check out.
(Distributed by Ponycanyon Music)
TRISHA YEARWOOD - Real Live Woman (MCA/47:56): Country-pop may be the blandest of hybrids but in the right hands it can occasionally sound positively enchanting.
That Trisha Yearwood makes it sound entrancingly delectable through a whole album is a testament to her accomplishments as an interpretive singer of the highest order.
This new album works so well not only because of Yearwood's glorious singing but also because of the diverse and well-selected material that includes Kim Richey/Mary Chapin Carpenter's Where are You Now, Bruce Springsteen's Sad Eyes and Linda Ronstadt/Andrew Gold's Try Me Again.
She really digs into the emotionalism of these pieces with hardly a trace of treacliness, creating aching, exquisitely poignant drama out of Tia Sillers/Mark Selby's Some Days and Spady Brannan/John Nance Sharp's I Did.
A lesser singer would have made total marshmallow of the love songs here. But there's such power and conviction in Yearwood's readings that she makes it seem like the songs were made for her.
Of course, it's not all inspired cryin' and moanin'; Yearwood gets down to it in style on Too Bad You're No Good, with lilting accompaniment from fiddler Stuart Duncan and mandolinist Sam Bush. But it's the bittersweet love songs sung with such a rush of feeling that will you keep you coming for more.
(Distributed by Universal Music)
EAGLE-EYE CHERRY - Living in the Present Future (Superstudio/45:42): Stockholm-based Eagle-Eye Cherry, the son of the late American jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, made his debut in 1998 with Desireless, a folk-rock outing that was somewhat reminiscent of people like Hootie and the Blowfish and Ben Harper.
There's no drastic change in direction on this follow-up, but the 29-year-old singer-songwriter's grasp of folk and blues elements is so assured on the best cuts here that, had he decided to trim the pop garnishings for a starker sound, he wouldn't have sounded less compelling.
It's obvious that the more pop-inflected tracks, including the anthemic and upbeat single Long Way Around featuring a duet with half-sister Neneh Cherry, are not what Cherry is really fired about.
It's on such pieces as the slow-burningly bluesy One Good Reason and Together and the reflectively folky Promises Made (shades of Nick Drake and Duncan Sheik here) that Cherry's emotional commitment makes an even match of medium and message.
Actually, on the whole his message may not amount to much; he limits himself to the typical pop hack's themes of romantic disappointment and loneliness. But at least he writes and sings with conviction.
Most of the songs have a sweetly evocative '60-ish feel that's underscored by acoustic guitar or Hammond organ, and while he's not exactly the most original-sounding of vocalists, Cherry holds his own rather impressively throughout.
(Distributed by Universal Music)
STEELY DAN - Two Against Nature (Giant/52:26): It's hard to believe that this is Steely Dan's first new studio album since 1980's Gaucho. The abiding appeal of the band's older music may have been a consoling factor, but many hardcore fans of these contemporary masters of the School of Cool have been for almost two decades hungrily awaiting another new group project to elevate pop from the stultifying morass of blandness it's been stuck in.
So is this the long-anticipated masterpiece that's going to upstage all previous masterpieces including Countdown To Ecstasy, Pretzel Logic and Aja?
Hardly, although Fagen and Becker's cruelly ironic observations on ultraurbanism and fashionable decadence, which have always defined the majesty of their songcraft, seem sharper and more refined here than ever.
A first hearing of the album will put you in mind of Fagen's second solo effort, the highly acccomplished but rather uninspiring Kamakiriad. The rhythms reflect the same superslick sense of craft-conscious sophistication, and most of the tunes feature involved arrangements and clever horn charts.
But the themes are more varied, ranging from romantic anxiety that alternates between torture and bliss (Janie Runaway) to incest between an older man and his younger relative (Cousin Dupree). You also get some pointed numbers about self-immolating nymphets (Negative Girl and Almost Gothic) and empty high-living (West of Hollywood and Jack of Speed).
There're times when Fagen's singing, Becker's languidly bluesy guitar solos and the spot-on backing from the first-rate session musicians verge on vapidity. But there's a fluid, pulsating energy to the music (play it loud on the best stereo system you can find!), especially on the funkier pieces, that keeps you glued to the groove, though it takes a few listenings to really appreciate the melodic and harmonic subtleties.
There're hardly any big-name players here but that doesn't mean Fagen and Becker have compromised their fastidious search for perfection. Indeed, the shifting line-up of musicians on every tune should tell you how earnest modern pop's most celebrated Beat sophisticates are in getting a fresh sound for every round of recording.
Definitely an album Steely Dan fans and anyone looking for classy, jazz-informed pop should check out. It probably won't get played as often as Aja or Pretzel Logic but with time it should prove just as enduring and beguiling.
IRON MAIDEN - Brave New World (EMI/66:57): The best rock is not about originality or form expansion. It's really about time-tested ideas being reworked in an inspired way.
That's why a group like Iron Maiden, which has always been more concerned about making music with the power to excite rather than pushing the boundaries of heavy metal, remains a compelling force.
And on this fine new set, singer Bruce Dickinson and his mates sound like a bunch of truly revitalized power-riff purveyors, ready to demonstrate to the world that metal is anything but dead.
Never mind that the songs about the Devil, death and destruction are sometimes spoilt by platitudinous lyrics, even though you can't deny the fact no other music mirrors modern man's existential paranoia as brutally as dark metal of this kind does.
What really grabs you here is how tuneful the music is, even when it has a rambunctious charge with most of the tracks averaging six minutes.
Indeed, the guitar lines on things like The Wicker Man, New World, Blood Brothers, Dream of Mirrors and The Nomad display British metal's Celtic roots and underscore the depth of the band's musical vision.
It's even more remarkable when you consider that such depth of vision in heavy metal is now almost unheard of.
There's plenty to thrill to here: intriguing start-stop rhythms, rousing mid-song meter and dynamic changes, cascading guitar choruses and the kind of bracing, invigorating verve that defines rock in its ultimate state.
(Distributed by EMI)
JOE SATRIANI - Engines Of Creation (Epic/53:27): The programmed beats and sequenced synthesizer parts might put off those who like their rock with a full human touch, but guitar ace Joe Satriani is such a natural that even with machines backing him, he manages to make his music breathe.
Satriani, one of the fastest and most melodic of the shredmeisters to emerge in the last 15 years or so, may just be experimenting with electronica here. But like Jeff Beck on last year's Who Else?, he creates a fresh context for the electric guitar as rock's most potent solo instrument in the process.
The mechanical repetitiousness of the rhythms on such pieces as Devil's Slide, Borg Sex, The Power Cosmic 2000-Part I and Engines of Creation may be grating at times, but there's such a striking liquid fire to the guitar solos on the tracks that you remain hooked even when the music assumes a cheap dance glaze.
Of course, it's easier to appreciate something like Until We Say Goodbye, which features real drums (played by Anton Fig) and bass (Pat Thrall), and a melody structure that's reminiscent of Satriani's most lyrical compositions.
But the techno tunes are not without their surprises. At any rate, they're arranged with enough attention to tone, tempo, timbre and texture to make them stand apart from the crass electrodance stuff that's pouring out of the pop music factories these days. (Distributed by Sony Music)
DON HENLEY - Inside Job (Warner Bros./69:58): On his first new solo album in 11 years, Don Henley solidly demonstrates why he remains one of pop's most stimulating and intelligent voices.
A work that's more varied in style than his previous recordings, Inside Job is not a total triumph of music and message. But it has much to provoke thought, especially when it comes to such matters as environmental destruction, human frailty and corporate greed, and Henley's subtler approach to such controversial themes reflects a more mature outlook.
The funky programmed rhythms on some of the upbeat tracks appear to give the impression that Henley is using contemporary touches to appeal to a wide audience, but closer listening reveals a striking sense of irony at work. The bouncy opener, Nobody Else in the World But You, an indictment of narcissism featuring a killer synth solo by Stevie Wonder, best demonstrates this.
And those who've admired Henley's more melodic work with the Eagles won't be disappointed with such ballads as Taking You Home, For My Wedding and Damn it, Rose where he sings in a voice swelling with passion.
Henley falters only when he sometimes substitutes sloganeering for sharp observation on such pieces as Goodbye to a River ("The captains of industry/And their tools on the hill/They're killing everything divine/What will I tell this child of mine...") and Workin' It ("Got the guru, the trainer, the full court press/We got the software, the hard drive, CD-ROM/We got the exploitation.com..."). The music is also occasionally too processed, but Henley has a way of making the fire in his voice burn through even the stiffer tunes.
With a playing time of almost 70 minutes, the album may seem a bit overlong. However, considering how slow Henley works, it's just as well that he didn't restrict himself to a set of eight to 10 songs. (Distributed by Warner Music)
MOBY - Play (Mute/63:16): Although he comes from a techno background, Moby is no beat-crazed synthesist. A thoughtful, often soulful singer-songwriter with a wide musical knowledge, he offers a refreshing set of ruminative ballads, bluesy vehicles and bouncy rock-tinged drivers here.
There's much to admire on pieces like Honey, South Side and the moody Porcelain, and when he really locks into a groove, as he does on Bodyrock, Moby really lets it all hang out.
The programmed parts are highly evocative and tasteful, and there's some nice guitar and piano work on songs that call for soul and grace like Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?
The short self-written essays in the CD booklet show Moby to be a God-fearing vegan, but thankfully there's nothing preachy about the lyrics. (Distributed by Rock Records)
PINK FLOYD - Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live (EMI/1-53:34, 2-51:24/Limited Edition): There's no doubt that Pink Floyd's The Wall (1979) is one of the most stimulating concept albums ever recorded. A rock opera with heart and head, it's the kind of expansive work that opens up exciting theatrical possibilites for live performance.
And during the 1980-81 period that this double-CD boxed set represents, the band effectively turned the concert performance of The Wall into a major theatrical event, with massive props and special effects that added an impressive visual element to the awesome soundtrack. Anyone who caught one of the shows would have every reason to cherish it.
While the release of this live album may seem like exploitation, you can't deny the power of the music to move and provoke thought again. Almost all the songs are faithful to the originals in arrangement and execution, but the pieces gain an extra edge in their live renditions.
It's as if the prospect of performing the work in a visually enhanced state in front of big audiences gave Roger Waters, from whose vivid imagination the structure and story of The Wall solely sprang, fresh inspiration and impetus to revitalize the music.
Waters is in superb, and occasionally stunning, form, on such numbers as Mother and One Of My Turns, and with David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright and a set of additional musicians almost matching his level of inspiration on most of the tracks, the results are never less than compelling.
There's an almost liquid grace to some of the tunes, especially Don't Leave Me Now and Goodbye Cruel World. And the inclusion of two tracks -- What Shall We Do Now? and The Last Few Bricks -- which the original album didn't have room to accommodate, makes this the definitive version of The Wall.
The limited edition boxed set includes a hardcover booklet that contains enlightening notes on the work by all the band members. Waters' piece, where elequently sums up his feelings about the project and his relationship with the band and its audience, is especially illuminating.
There're also some great concert shots.
The audio quality is nothing to shout about but it has enough depth and definition to please those who like their sound round.
(Distributed by EMI Malaysia)
CHRIS CORNELL - Euphoria Morning (A&M/54:26): As if aware that it'd be futile to go on pursuing the doomy grunge sound of his former group, Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell has fashioned a solid mood-rock album that's as reflective as Soundgarden's music was raucous.
It's not a work that's going to bring much cheer but the dark atmospheric charge is absorbing. And Cornell's unusually-shaped melodies, which alternate between enchanting lyricism and ominous angularity, keep revealing hidden pleasures with every hearing.
There's only a mere suggestion of hard rock on tracks like Can't Change Me, Flutter Girl and Preaching the End of the World, but there's always something intriguingly heavy on these tracks.
And on the depression-fuelled Follow My Way and When I'm Down, the latter an almost bluesy ballad in the mould of the Boz Scaggs classic Loan Me a Dime, Cornell exhibits his strengths both as a lyricist and tunesmith.
The principal mood on these tracks and most of the other pieces is acoustic in nature but their emotional charge is so electric they outclass tunes that seek to capture the same feel with a wailing wall of sound.
There're lots of little surprises, and if you're looking for just one track that best captures the sad majesty of Cornell's songcraft, it has to be the charmingly languid acoustic-guitar ballad Sweet Euphoria. (Distributed by Universal Music)
JARS OF CLAY - If I Left the Zoo (Essential/42:50): Jars of Clay's eponymous debut in 1995 generated much excitement mainly because of the novelty of the band's brand of Christian alt rock.
It sort of signalled a reaffirmation of religious faith with contrasting effect through music that's often associated with the Devil.
There're still very few acts doing a similar thing, which is probably why this latest release, the quartet's follow-up to 1997's Much Afraid, comes across as a really refreshing alternative to the screechy, self-obsessed folk-pop and mind-numbing gloom-grunge that most discerning listeners are eager to take cover from these days.
The sound, which ranges from hard rock to mainly acoustic folk, may have a borrowed feel to it, but it has a persuasive sense of mood and texture that's underscored by the use of instruments like accordion, mandolin, lap steel and Hammond B-3 organ.
Songs like Collide, No One Loves Me Like You and Famous Last Words are soothingly familiar and inspired even though they owe much to late '60s and early '70s folk-rock. And singer Dan Haseltine, who has a common yet expressive voice, knows how to make every line count without resorting to the false dramatics favored by many second-rate alt-rock purveyors.
Even the lyrics are strikingly pointed: "A flower for your vanity, A penny for your thoughts, About the world's insanity and how we've gotten lost..." (Goodbye, Goodnight).
You'd think that a whole album of songs in praise of God would tend to sound a bit too preachy after a while, but nothing of the sort happens here.
And that's a testament to Jars of Clay's ability to convey spiritual grace within a medium that's more often used for self-glorification. (Distributed by BMG Music)
GUNS N' ROSES - Live Era '87-'93 (Geffen/1-59:53, 2-73:05): They may have been no more than accomplished boogie merchants with an attitude, but Guns N' Roses, at least in the period represented here, were one of the most exciting live rock acts. ever
The 22 tracks here, recorded at various venues, capture that excitement brilliantly. And the fact that the rough edges have been left untouched makes this an even more prizable concert document.
The dual guitar attack of Slash and Izzy Stradlin leads the charge on most of the selections, including Mr. Brownstone, Welcome to the Jungle and Dust N' Bones. The former's scorching in-time/out-of-time solos bristle with the kind of distinctive raw energy that characterizes the playing of classic rock axemen.
Axl Rose tends to bluster a bit too often for comfort but he sings his heart out on the most effective tracks here, especially the ballad November Rain which is preluded by an evocative piano solo and features live string accompaniment.
There're also creditable versions of the hit Sweet Child O' Mine and Bob Dylan's Knockin' on Heaven's Door. (Distributed by Universal Music/03-9835633)
TRAVIS - The Man Who (Independiente/47:30): There's a laidback, almost lazy appeal in this Scottish quartet's music that at once conveys a sense of broody melancholy and a quietly celebratory spirit.
The electric guitars do reach a screaming intensity at times, but the songs are mainly reflective, engagingly melodic pieces that have more to do with pop, folk and country than hard rock.
Indeed, it's this gentle, often exquisitely blue mood of the music that galvanizes your attention from the start, and singer-songwriter Fran Healy has just the voice to make romantic misery sound like a transcendent experience.
Gorgeous ballads like The Fear, Turn, the strings-enhanced Why Does it Always Rain on Me? and the harmonica-embellished Luv are so simple and yet so sophisticated-sounding, so sad yet so balmy that they put you in mind of those wonderful moments of self-pitying romantic yearning in our lives.
And the songs are so dynamically charged that just when you think it's all getting a bit too soft and pretty, a fuzzy guitar lick or an unanticipated beat break brings in a moment of well-timed contrast.
And in an age of overlong CD albums, it's refreshing to hear such a tightly-structured recording, though the uncharacteristically rough and gritty hidden track, Good Feeling, does stretch it out somewhat. (Distributed by Sony Music Malaysia/03-4523233)
CROWDED HOUSE - Afterglow (Capitol/47:04): This "collection of orphans and strays" -- rare and previously unissued tracks -- is so compelling that any serious fan of the now-defunct Australian band would be wondering why it was not released earlier.
Dating from 1985 to 1992, the 13 selections encapsulate Crowded House's finest traits -- an alluring melodic approach, evocative vocal harmonies and wry, richly narrative lyrics.
And a lack of studio gloss makes many of these tracks the kind of rough jewels that have become all too rare in this age of digital perfection.
Singer-songwriter Neil Finn is still a major presence here, making tunes like the enthrallingly breezy I Am in Love, the exquisitely melancholy Help is Coming and the Lennonesque I Love You Dawn sound like lovingly crafted pieces of art.
Finn is such a natural balladeer that he sounds at least interesting even when he's at his most sentimental.
Humdingers like Anyone Can Tell and Recurring Dream and almost every other song on this excellent set demonstrate what a big gap Crowded House has left since it left the scene.
There's a bonus interview disc which has Finn telling the stories behind the songs. (Distributed by EMI Malaysia/03-9455033)
SHAM 69 - The Masters (Eagle, 1-39:27, 2-44:30): This repackaging of two of the British punk rock band's "hard-to-find" albums -- Soapy Water and Mr. Marmalade and The A Files -- captures its most accessible and polished (which is contrary to punk's raw-power ethic) moments.
The 24 tracks have an infectious drive, and Brit-life clips inserted in between some of the tracks serve to underscore the biting social message in the songs.
Lead singer/songwriter Jimmy Pursey, who started out as a rabble-rousing proletariat, knows exactly how to encapsulate the emotions of the disenchanted, the dispossessed and the despondent in the anthemic numbers.
He does a great job of telling it like it is on pieces like Listen Up, Girlfriend, Otis Redding, 14 Years, Trainspotter and Student Head.
And despite coming from the school of punk that promoted the virtues of raging, inspired sloppiness, Pursey is quite an accomplished performer, sounding smoother than any punk singer you might have heard.
It's also interesting how he and the band introduce brief moments of high culture only to immediately smash the illusions behind them.
But above all, the music here is absorbingly rocking and rollicking. Basic, brief, brash and blunt, it just holds you from start to finish. (Distributed by PonyCanyon Music Malaysia/03-2923133)
( These reviews were first published in the New Straits Times )
* 'Rock Solid'
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