SOUND CHECK.THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS: ``The All-American Rejects''(Doghouse/DreamWorks) - Three stars Like labelmates Jimmy Eat World, this clean-cut Okie quartet has hit upon an engaging hybrid that combines Weezer, the Cure and Sum 41. It's a genre all its own - malice-free pop-punk. The songs deal lightly with crushes and breakups, high school's big topics, and are refreshingly without venom. It doesn't get any deeper than, ``Do you think that I would cry on the phone?/Do you know what it feels like being alone?'' (And good for them. There's plenty of time to turn into Limp Bizkit) A dash of non-ironic synth synth n. 1. Informal A synthesizer. 2. A style of light popular music made with synthesizers. Also called synth-pop. and a smidgen of sampling brings the well-named Rejects up to date while singer Tyson Ritter emotes straight into the flushed faces in the front row. Radio was right to add instant fave ``Swing, Swing,'' and equally catchy numbers ``One More Sad Song'' and ``My Paper Heart'' are expected to follow. - Fred Shuster NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS: ``Nocturama'' (Anti/Mute) - Three stars ``Release the Bats'' would have been an appropriate alternate title for the latest outing from Cave and longtime backing unit the Bad Seeds. But of course Cave recorded that ditty dit·ty n. pl. dit·ties A simple song. [Middle English dite, a literary composition, from Old French dite, from Latin dict 22 years ago, and it wasn't until recently that the duke of despair came to grips with his inner creepy crawlies. Here, the tall, thin one is in an elegant, elegiac el·e·gi·ac adj. 1. Of, relating to, or involving elegy or mourning or expressing sorrow for that which is irrecoverably past: an elegiac lament for youthful ideals. 2. mood - even crooning at times - as he works through a set of mature, moody music. It's not his most accessible disc (that would be 1994's ``Let Love In'') but pensive pen·sive adj. 1. Deeply, often wistfully or dreamily thoughtful. 2. Suggestive or expressive of melancholy thoughtfulness. tracks like ``Wonderful Life,'' ``There Is a Town'' and ``Bring It On'' prove a detoxed Cave retains both his wits and dark perspective. And as the 43-verse ``Babe, I'm on Fire'' drones on, you'll conclude he's still got a few bats in the belfry belfry Bell tower, either freestanding or attached to another structure. More particularly it refers to the room, usually at the top of such a tower, where the bells and their supporting timberwork are hung. . - Theo Douglas BURRITO DELUXE: ``Georgia Peach''(Lamon) - Three stars This latest bunch of self-proclaimed heirs to Gram Parsons' musical spirit includes original Flying Burrito Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . pedal steel prodigy Sneaky Pete Kleinow and the Band's Garth Hudson. Six songs familiar to fans of country rock's martyred mastermind - ``Wheels,'' ``Hickory Wind,'' ``Streets of Baltimore'' - get respectable if hardly inspired retrofits. Originals, mostly conceived by, well, project conceiver Tommy Spurlock, resemble good Firefall or indifferent Eagles. The album's closing elegy elegy, in Greek and Roman poetry, a poem written in elegiac verse (i.e., couplets consisting of a hexameter line followed by a pentameter line). The form dates back to 7th cent. B.C. in Greece and poets such as Archilochus, Mimnermus, and Tytraeus. is titled (what else?) ``G.P.'' - Bob Strauss MICHAEL BUBLE ``Michael Buble'' (Reprise) - Three stars You have to have a lot of chutzpah chutz·pah also hutz·pah n. Utter nerve; effrontery: "has the chutzpah to claim a lock on God and morality" New York Times. to tackle such signature pop songs as Peggy Lee's ``Fever,'' Van Morrison's ``Moondance'' and two Frank Sinatra classics - ``Come Fly With Me'' and ``Summer Wind'' - on one album. Even more chutzpah if you are a 25-year-old Canadian who looks like he belongs in a boy band. But Michael Buble (pronounced boo-blay) has the chops, a warm, expressive voice and great phrasing. The production by David Foster, who has worked with Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand, is a bit too slick at times, and there are a couple of songs that should have been dumped. Overall, though, it's a strong effort. If you can make ``The Way You Look Tonight'' sound like it's yours, as Bouble does, then you're someone whose talent can't be ignored. Purists may prefer the originals, but isn't it cool that a hot, young sexy guy sizzles on a sexy classic like ``Fever''? - Rob Lowman MOLOTOV ``Dance and Dense Denso'' (Surco/Universal) - Three stars Don't like being called a gringo grin·go n. pl. grin·gos Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a foreigner in Latin America, especially an American or English person. , or worse? Maybe you ought to skip ``Frijolero,'' then, where racial epithets go flying from both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border. This scathing bilingual barrage of words and accordion-flavored oompah-oompah is no milder than the rest of this 11-track sociopolitical so·ci·o·po·li·ti·cal adj. Involving both social and political factors. sociopolitical Adjective of or involving political and social factors slam from the fierce Mexican rap-rock quartet fittingly called Molotov. So now you know. Other highlights include the funky ``Here We Kum,'' the hard-core ``Queremos Pastel'' and the alternative rap-rock closer ``Hit Me (Gimme gim·me Informal Contraction of give me. adj. Slang Demanding material things or especially money; acquisitive: today's gimme society; tired of gimme letters. n. Tha Power II).'' - Sandra Barrera CAPTION(S): 5 photos Photo: (1) THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS (2 -- 5) no caption (CD covers) |
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