SOUND CHECK.MADONNA/``Music'' (Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) .) Fans of Madonna's last great album, ``Bedtime Stories,'' will yearn for the warm, pulsating grooves of that superior 1994 collection while wading through the cold electronic blips and bleeps that populate the often tepid ``Music.'' In this gimmicky, blandly titled set, our Maddy - pictured in cowgirl getup on the cover - has been consumed by electronics, almost to the point where it's difficult to tell where her vocals end and the vocoder (VOice CODER) Same as speech codec. (communications) vocoder - Hardware or software which implements a compression algorithm particular to voice. gadget begins. The real problem, though, is the lack of outstanding material. Aside from the title track, a lively dance cut that will probably outlast out·last tr.v. out·last·ed, out·last·ing, out·lasts To last longer than. outlast Verb to last longer than Verb 1. the songs that come afterward, the disc doesn't hold together - you aren't compelled to play the whole thing to see what develops. Uninspired numbers such as ``Runaway Lover,'' ``I Deserve It'' and ``Amazing'' lack not only melody, they suffer from some of the most feeble lyrics since Britney Spears' tour de force, ``Dear Diary.'' Ultimately, Madonna may have leaned too heavily on her primary collaborator, the single-named French nudnik nud·nik also nud·nick n. Slang An obtuse, boring, or bothersome person; a pest. [Yiddish, nudne, boring (from nudyen, to bore; see nudge2 Mirwais, who essentially paints with one sonic color: drab. Two stars - Fred Shuster VICTORIA WILLIAMS/``Water to Drink'' (Atlantic) High-pitched folk-pop crooner Williams is in fine form, though you can't help noting she named her latest album after a song she didn't write, a Jobim-penned bossa nova. As you'd expect, though, there are lots of wonderful numbers here, two-thirds of them written by Williams, featuring the smart, sweet wordplay and gentle pop/alt-country sound she's tramped around in for years. ``Grandma's Hat Pin,'' a pedal steel-drenched ``Lagniappe la·gniappe n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi 1. A small gift presented by a storeowner to a customer with the customer's purchase. 2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. ,'' the brassy ``Gladys and Lucy'' and a torchy torch·y adj. torch·i·er, torch·i·est Of, relating to, or typical of a torch song or torch singer. Sammy Cahn chestnut, ``Until the Real Thing Comes Along,'' reveal Williams' substantial charms, even if her voice sometimes veers into cloying near-baby talk. Three stars - David Bloom ST. GERMAIN/``Tourist'' (Blue Note) Ludovic Navarre, alias St. Germain, is a pioneer of the French Touch, the new electronic music of France France has long been considered a centre for European art and music. The country boasts a wide variety of indigenous folk music, as well as styles played by immigrants from Africa, Latin America and Asia. . Acclaimed Parisian weirdos such as Air, Daft Punk and Dimitri From Paris Dimitri from Paris (born Dimitris Yerasimos in October 1963) is a French producer and DJ of Greek origins. Contrary to his musical pseudonym, he was born not in Paris but in Istanbul, Turkey. owe something to Navarre's work. With ``Tourist,'' his second album in five years, Navarre makes a house record, nine engaging tracks packed with original dance rhythms and melodies. It's no wonder the disc, which features the great Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin, is a huge hit throughout Europe. Three and one half stars - F.S. HANK WILLIAMS/``Alone With His Guitar'' (Mercury) For those who love country's greatest martyr but don't want to spring for that pricey, 10-disc ``Complete Hank Williams'' box set, this nifty little item collects 18 demos and radio show appearances. It showcases the most mournfully mourn·ful adj. 1. Feeling or expressing sorrow or grief; sorrowful. 2. Causing or suggesting sadness or melancholy: the mournful sound of a train whistle. beautiful voice of all time accompanied by just his own strumming. Recording quality varies widely, but the purity and intimacy of these early performances (most circa 1949) of future Hank classics and others (gotta love his take on the western chestnut ``Cool Water'') nonetheless make for a transporting experience. The CD includes extra, enhanced CD/ROM CD/ROM Compact Disk/Read Only Memory goodies like spoken word material. Four stars - Bob Strauss GILLES PETERSON/``INCredible Sound of Gilles Peterson'' (Epic) Peterson could be the most influential DJ in Europe (a longtime BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. Radio One spinner, his show can be heard on the Internet and Saturday nights on KCRW-FM) and here he collects the wildly divergent grooves and remixes that make his air shifts compelling. Segueing seamlessly from Nuyorican Soul to Minnie Ripperton to Pharaoh Sanders to Nick Drake, Peterson is so cool ice may form on your CD changer Changer The name given to a clearing member that is willing to assume the opposite position of a futures contract within a larger alternative exchange, of which it also is a clearing member. . Three stars - D.B. KIERAN KANE & KEVIN WELCH/``11/12/13'' (Dead Reckoning) Two talented singer-songwriters, Kevin Welch and L.A.'s own O'Kanes founder Kieran Kane, met up in Australia last November, grabbed their guitars and sang each other's songs together (along with a few by Hank Williams and John Hiatt) in a club for two nights. This is the record: simple but incisive musicianship, strong and distinctive voices, word stories crafted like finely faceted emeralds. Nothing fancy or pretentious, all as inviting as a good campfire on a crisp autumn night. Three and one half stars - B.S. CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1) no caption (Madonna) (2 -- 3) no caption (CD covers) |
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