SOUND CHECK.PEARL JAM: ``Pearl Jam'' (J-Records) - Two and one half stars Pearl Jam made one terrific album - before they were Pearl Jam. The short-lived, volatile pre-Eddie Vedder ensemble, Mother Love Bone, was on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of the big time in 1990 when the singer pricked himself with a fatal overdose. Then came Vedder, and everything got silly - and conventional. In the four years since PJ's last studio effort, tastes and formats have evolved. The essence of the band - hard rock touched by punk, dour ``power ballads'' and Vedder's humorless bellow bellow one of the voices of cattle. Usually refers to the arrogant call of the bull used to announce territorial rights. Abnormalities of the voice include hoarseness as in rabies, or continuous repetition as in nervous acetonemia. See also low, moo. - seems especially mild, like the comfort food on classic-rock channels, in light of more useful sounds from pop's Arctic Monkeys or intense, edge-of- darkness acts like Avenged Sevenfold sevenfold Adjective 1. having seven times as many or as much 2. composed of seven parts Adverb by seven times as many or as much Adj. 1. . ``Pearl Jam,'' the band's eighth album (in stores Tuesday), has moments, to be sure. The driving, full-on opener, ``Life Wasted,'' bares all that's still great about the firm - solid rhythm, charging beat, memorable melody and one of Vedder's best-ever performances. Further standouts are ``World Wide Suicide'' and ``Comatose co·ma·tose adj. 1. Of, relating to, or affected with coma. 2. Marked by lethargy; torpid. comatose (kō´m ,'' among a handful of tracks addressing the current political climate, and PJ rages like lives depend on it. Elsewhere, a sameness sometimes prevails. But what's great about PJ are the great parts of ``Pearl Jam.'' It's not the pits, but there's half an avocado on the cover. - Fred Shuster MINDI ABAIR: ``Life Less Ordinary'' (GRP GRP Group GRP Group (file name extension) GRP Glass Reinforced Plastic GRP Gastrin-Releasing Peptide (biology) GRP Gross Rating Point (advertising) ) - Three stars Smooth jazz usually contains lots of smooth and very little jazz, but alto saxophonist Abair tweaks the formula on ``Life Less Ordinary,'' turning down the smooth quotient in favor of more-adventurous backing tracks, while retaining the r&b core of her sound on the horn. Her band has actually heard artists like Radiohead and their ilk, and the presence of such modern sounds leavens the pop-instrumental elements considerably. While every track is of radio-friendly length, with no solo lasting more than eight bars, Abair and company actually play it kind of cool on ``The Joint.'' Abair's tone on the saxophone is strong, and it would be nice to see her play some ``real'' jazz, but as far as these kinds of records go, she has done a fine job while expanding the genre's sound ever so slightly. - Steven Rosenberg DANIELLE HOWLE ``Thank You, Mark'' (Valley Entertainment) - Three stars Not sure who Mark is (record producer Mark Bryan, maybe?), but one thing's certain: This South Carolina South Carolina, state of the SE United States. It is bordered by North Carolina (N), the Atlantic Ocean (SE), and Georgia (SW). Facts and Figures Area, 31,055 sq mi (80,432 sq km). Pop. (2000) 4,012,012, a 15. singer-songwriter has a clear, throaty throat·y adj. throat·i·er, throat·i·est Uttered or sounding as if uttered deep in the throat; guttural, hoarse, or husky. throat voice that's commanding in a wide variety of music genres. She can really write all kinds of songs, too; the only cover on this 11-cut collection is Etta James' ``If I Can't Have You.'' Also a multi-instrumentalist, Howle lends pen and pipes to stirring new takes on torch, country, blues, soul, scat and even a more-than-decent opening pop tune, ``Roses From Leroy's.'' - Bob Strauss VARIOUS ARTISTS: ``That's Entertainment!'' (Rhino/WEA) - Four stars Back in 1995, Rhino released a six-disc set that compiled the music from the three hugely popular ``That's Entertainment!'' movies. MGM MGM in full Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. U.S. corporation and film studio. It was formed when the film distributor Marcus Loew, who bought Metro Pictures in 1920, merged it with the Goldwyn production company in 1924 and with Louis B. Mayer Pictures in 1925. musical fans were in heaven until the set went out of print about five years ago and proved near impossible to find anywhere. Well, it's back, with sound upgrades to roughly 30 percent of the original box set and a new disc of unreleased rarities that replaces the old batch of rarities. It goes without saying that the main body of the collection - spanning MGM's golden era, 1929 to 1957, and including songs from ``The Wizard of Oz Wizard of Oz reaches and departs from Oz in circus balloon. [Children’s Lit.: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz] See : Ballooning Wizard of Oz false wizard takes up residence in Emerald City. [Am. Lit. ,'' and ``Singin' in the Rain Singin’ in the Rain downpour doesn’t dampen singer’s spirits. [Pop. Music: Fordin, 355] See : Cheerfulness ,'' and performances by Astaire, Crosby and Sinatra - is essential. And some of disc six's unreleased material - Fanny Brice singing ``My Man'' and the entire version of Sophie Tucker's ``Some of These Days'' from ``Broadway Melody of 1938'' - is fantastic. So, if you missed the box the first time around, my advice is: Don't wait too long. It's got rhythm and then some. - Glenn Whipp JUNKIE junkie Popular health A popular term for a person, usually an IV narcotic abusing addict, whose life is disorganized vis-á-vis family and societal structure, whose existence revolves around obtaining–often through theft, prostitution or other illicit XL: ``Today'' (Ultra Records) - Three stars If his last release in 2004, ``Radio JXL - A Broadcast From the Computer Hell Cabin,'' was an ambitious edict on progressive house, ``Today,'' like its name, is a scaled-down leaflet on the state of Junkie XL's mind now. In moving from Amsterdam to Venice Beach, he's left behind the heady prog v. i. 1. To wander about and beg; to seek food or other supplies by low arts; to seek for advantage by mean shift or tricks. [ imp. & p. p. os> ( ) r>. p. pr. & vb. n. os> (jargon) newbie Nathan Mader melt seamlessly over simple layers of Junkie XL's (aka Tom Holkenborg) signature drum rolls and guitar riffs. And in a sense, that's the point: to just melt and be true to his own sound. CAPTION(S): 6 photos Photo: (1) no caption (Pearl Jam) (2 -- 6) no caption (CD covers) |
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