SOUND CHECK : ROCK.Live/``Secret Samadhi'' Live's third album takes its title from the Sanskrit concept of spiritual joy. Live has always been about seeking, yet seldom has it found what it was looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. quite as well as it does here, both musically and lyrically. Previous CDs ``Mental Jewelry'' (1991) and the breakout hit ``Throwing Copper'' (1994) caught the public's attention primarily due to their familiar sounds - a little U2, some Pearl Jam and R.E.M. With ``Secret Samadhi'' (Radioactive), Live comes into its own. Especially distinctive are the inventive, muscular choruses on ``Lakini's Juice'' and ``Rattlesnake rattlesnake, poisonous New World snake of the pit viper family, distinguished by a rattle at the end of the tail. The head is triangular, being widened at the base. The rattle is a series of dried, hollow segments of skin, which, when shaken, make a whirring sound. ,'' erupting out of tension-laced verses. Lyrically, Live still echoes old U2, clinging to idealism (``Century''), frightening introspection (``Heropyschodreamer'') and creeping sensuality (``Ghost,'' which features Elysian Field's Jennifer Charles Jennifer Charles (b. November 15 1968, Washington, D.C.) is a singer and composer. Along with Oren Bloedow, she co-founded the New York band Elysian Fields. Biography on eerie harmonies). But the self-importance that marred ``Throwing Copper'' (and early U2, for that matter) is nearly gone. Three Stars. ?13- Howard Cohen cohen or kohen (Hebrew: “priest”) Jewish priest descended from Zadok (a descendant of Aaron), priest at the First Temple of Jerusalem. The biblical priesthood was hereditary and male. Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire Veruca Salt/``Eight Arms to Hold You'' Having ace hard-rock producer Bob Rock (Metallica, Motley Crue) at the helm of a Veruca Salt album is like putting a Lexus body on a Tercel engine. That's not to say you won't derive simple pleasures from this Chicago group's second full-length album, ``Eight Arms to Hold You'' (Outpost). Rock puts a state-of-the-art metal sheen on Veruca Salt's post-Bangles pop. Songs such as ``With David Bowie'' (the ultimate fan-letter song), ``Straight'' and ``Volcano Girls'' pack the requisite hooks, but as in the past, Veruca Salt can't seem to craft an album on which the filler material doesn't outnumber the keepers. Two Stars. ?13- Howard Cohen Van Morrison/``The Healing Game'' ``Back on the corner again, back where I belong,'' Van Morrison growls on the title track to his first album of new material since 1995's ``Days Like This.'' To the 51-year-old Irish bard, the spirit-transforming powers of Ray Charles For the composer and conductor of the Ray Charles Singers, see . Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) known by his stage name Ray Charles, was a pioneering American pianist and soul musician who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues. and Sam Cooke have always been a given, and street-corner, saxophone-fired soul music well worth returning to. It can get thee healed. But though Morrison can still pull enough water from the well to wash you clean, he too often indulges in call-and-response vocal trade-offs and r&b vamps that let the magic slip away. ``The Healing Game'' (Polydor), though, does have a gritty, old-fashioned feel that's an improvement over Van the Man's too-easy-listening recent efforts. And occasionally, as with the grandly emotional ``Sometime We Cry'' and swaying doo-wop of ``Do You Love Me,'' he catches fire and takes you away. Two Stars ?13- Dan DeLuca Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire Velvet Underground/``Loaded (Fully Loaded Edition)'' Granted, this is one of the most influential single albums of all time. And part of that beauty was that ``Loaded'' knew when to quit. Rhino Records has gone into the vault and produced a pristine version of ``Loaded'' from the original master tapes, all of it living up to Rhino's usual exacting standards for sound quality and untampered-with history. But given that there was a Velvets box set last year that included the entire ``Loaded'' album plus outtakes, you wonder if this was warranted. Besides the album, there are 23 bonus tracks - demos, alternate takes, early versions, the works. The result is a double disc that only the ultimate fanatic could truly love. We're talking demo versions and outtakes of songs such as ``Ocean'' - a song that never made it onto the original album. For all its good historical intentions, this release takes ``Loaded'' out of the realm of interesting listening and makes it a chore. Consider this an addition to the Velvet Underground box set. And likely the last word. With this, we have what appears to be everything that could possibly be relevant in the Velvet vaults - and plenty that's not. Two Stars ?13- Mark Brown Orange County Register soundtracks Various/``Private Parts'' Whoever came up with the concept that rock music is a disposable thing must have had something like this in mind. This isn't an album. This is a marketing concept, a movie souvenir with enough hooks thrown in to make fans of the individual bands - Porno for Pyros Porno for Pyros was a US musical group and was Perry Farrell's and Stephen Perkins' next project after their former band Jane's Addiction. History Following the demise of the critically and commercially successful Jane's Addiction project, frontman Perry Farrell and , Green Day, Ozzy Osbourne - have to decide whether to shell out money for this. Plenty will. If just a fraction of Howard Stern's audience goes after this album, it's likely ``Private Parts'' (Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) .) will debut at the top of the charts. So, it might have been nice to offer something substantial. ``Private Parts'' is mostly a metal and alternative sampler, with the mandatory classic rock thrown in (``Smoke on the Water,'' ``Cat Scratch Fever'') and the occasional refreshing pieces such as Green Day's by-the-book remake of the Kinks' ``Tired of Waiting.'' Clearly the highlight is the much-discussed reunion of Dave Navarro “David Navarro” redirects here. For the footballer, see David Navarro (footballer). David Michael Navarro (born June 7, 1967) is a guitarist who has played in the rock bands Jane's Addiction and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. and Perry Farrell <includeonly>|</includeonly> on Porno for Pyros' ``Hard Charger.'' Stern makes his singing debut with heavily processed vocals in a duet with Rob Zombie A computer that has been covertly taken over in order to perform some nefarious task. It is estimated that millions of PCs around the world have been compromised and, under the control of a third party, routinely transmit messages unbeknownst to the user. and a generic Dust Brothers track. Lucky thing his day job pays so well. Two Stars ?13- Mark Brown Various/``The Tarantino Connection'' The cover, which superimposes a smug mug shot of overexposed o·ver·ex·pose tr.v. o·ver·ex·posed, o·ver·ex·pos·ing, o·ver·ex·pos·es 1. To expose too long or too much: Don't overexpose the children to television. 2. writer/director/bad actor Quentin Tarantino Noun 1. Quentin Tarantino - United States filmmaker (born in 1963) Quentin Jerome Tarantino, Tarantino amid a stack of dollar bills, says it all: They're only in it for the money. Don't waste yours. What an insipid concept this is: Combine all the obvious numbers from Tarantino's two legitimate soundtracks (``Pulp Ficton,'' ``Reservoir Dogs'') with some equally obvious tunes from films he worked on in spirit only and whose soundtrack selection he had little to do with (``Natural Born Killers,'' which he disowned dis·own tr.v. dis·owned, dis·own·ing, dis·owns To refuse to acknowledge or accept as one's own; repudiate. and which Trent Reznor compiled and scored, ``True Romance,'' ``From Dusk Till Dawn'' and ``Four Rooms''). So, yes, we get Dick Dale's killer ``Miserlou,'' which kicked off ``Pulp Fiction'' with a jolt. We get Chuck Berry's ``You Never Can Tell'' from that film, as Vwell as Urge Overkill's ultra-cool take on ``Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon.'' And, of course, it has Stealers Wheel Stealers Wheel was a Scottish folk/rock band formed in Paisley, Scotland in 1972 by former school friends Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty. In the beginning of the 1970s, the band was considered as the British version of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and, after two unsuccessful doing ``Stuck in the Middle With You.'' Only here, it's preceded by a snippet A small amount of something. In the computer field, it often refers to a small piece of program code. of a Tarantino interview in which he proclaims that linking the Gerry Rafferty-penned tune with the infamous scene (well, one of many, that is) from ``Reservoir Dogs'' is ``one of the most cinematic things a director can do.'' What does it all add up to? ``The Tarantino Connection'' (Hip-O) offers music that's worthy of four stars, but its inherent money-grubbing gimmick makes it a failure. Two Stars ?13- Ben Wener Orange County Register CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1) Sterling Morrison Holmes Sterling Morrison, Jr. (August 28 1942 – August 30, 1995) was one of the founding members of influential rock group The Velvet Underground, playing lead, rhythm and bass guitar and singing backing vocals. , left, Maureen Tucker Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker (born August 26, 1944, in Levittown, New York) is a musician best known for having been the drummer for the rock group The Velvet Underground. Career The Velvet Underground
(2) Veruca Salt - Stacy Jones, left, Nina Gordon, Steve Lack and Louise Post - return with ``Eight Arms to Hold You,'' produced by heavy-metal specialist Bob Rock. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion