SOUND CHECK.Bush/``Golden State'' (Atlantic)You could almost feel sorry for this Brit pop-grunge gang that's definitely not named after the prez. A few years ago, singer Gavin Rossdale's slew of tuneful hits - ``Everything Zen,'' ``Swallowed,'' ``Glycerine glycerine see glycerin. ,'' ``Comedown come·down n. 1. A decline to a lower status or level. 2. a. A feeling of disappointment or depression. b. A cause of disappointment or depression. ,'' ``Little Things'' - made Bush the cool name to drop among eighth-graders and, as everyone knows, that's the market driving the record industry. Now, however, those kids have moved on to Linkin Park, and poor Gavin, while still cute and sounding hurt in a cuddly way, has run out of steam. Bush's fourth outing dredges up little that's new or exciting - even from an eighth-grade perspective. ``Golden State'' has moments, but nothing grabs you like those earlier songs. Typically, there's a melancholy feel to ``Out of This World'' while ``Reasons'' merely sounds hyper. Nothing's happening in the lyrics department, either. The trite ``The People That We Love'' boasts that hoary hoar·y adj. hoar·i·er, hoar·i·est 1. Gray or white with or as if with age. 2. Covered with grayish hair or pubescence: hoary leaves. 3. ``speed kills'' cliche. And it's not hard to imagine our Gavin looking back at ``Headful head·ful n. Informal 1. A relatively great amount of knowledge: a headful of baseball trivia; a headful of good stories. 2. of Ghosts'' (``I stand around at American weddings ... At my best when I'm terrorist inside''), wishing he could erase the entire embarrassment. One and one half stars - Fred Shuster Kelly Hogan/``Because It Feel Good'' (Bloodshot blood·shot adj. Red and inflamed as a result of locally congested blood vessels, as of the eyes. bloodshot Vox populi adjective ) Hogan's voice is built for torched twang, and this debut from the former label publicist and guest vocalist gives her ample opportunity to wail about misplaced mis·place tr.v. mis·placed, mis·plac·ing, mis·plac·es 1. a. To put into a wrong place: misplace punctuation in a sentence. b. devotion. Though the general sound here evokes an older Brenda Lee Brenda Lee (born December 11, 1944) is an American pop singer, who was immensely popular during the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1960s she had more charted hits than any other woman, and only three male singers/groups (Elvis Presley, Ray Charles and The Beatles) outpaced her. trapped inside David Lynch's personal echo chamber, Hogan - appearing Nov. 14 at Fais Do-Do - displays a genius for liquid phrasing, while never appearing like she's arting up the awful truth. Three stars - Bob Strauss Roy Haynes/``Birds of a Feather Birds Of a Feather - (BOF) (From the saying "Birds of a feather flock together") An informal discussion group, scheduled on a conference program or formed ad hoc, to consider a specific issue or subject. : A Tribute To Charlie Parker'' (Dreyfus) Drummer Haynes actually played with Parker from 1949-52, which makes this tribute album more than an exercise in nostalgia. But then the lineup Haynes has assembled would guarantee that. Joining Haynes are bassist Dave Holland, altoist Kenny Garrett, trumpeter Roy Hargrove and pianist Dave Kikoski, an all-star group that plays with an urgency in this program of 11 songs associated with Parker. The choices are both obvious (``Yardbird Noun 1. yardbird - a military recruit who is assigned menial tasks yard bird military recruit, recruit - a recently enlisted soldier 2. yardbird - a person serving a sentence in a jail or prison convict, con, yard bird, inmate Suite,'' ``Moose the Mooche'') and obscure (there's a growling version of Gerry Mulligan's ``Rocker'' and a sublime, modal reading of ``My Heart Belongs to Daddy''). Throughout it all, the 75-year-old Haynes plays with the kind of swing and exuberance we've come to expect from one of the finest drummers in jazz history. Three stars - Glenn Whipp Various/``God Bless America'' (Columbia) This set of patriotic and inspirational faves sung by Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen and 13 others topped the charts in the wake of Sept. 11, and it's easy to see why. ``God Bless America'' is a moving collection, right from Dion's heartfelt reading of the title track, which is similar to her performance on the ``Tribute to Heroes'' telethon tel·e·thon n. A lengthy television program to raise funds for a charity. [tele- + (mara)thon. , where she built the song from lullaby to aria. She's Canadian but we'll forgive her this time. All-American Bruce is up next with ``Land of Hope and Dreams,'' snagged from his recent live album, and it's a grabber. Worth noting, too, are renderings of ``America the Beautiful America the Beautiful patriotic song by Katherine Bates glorifying national ideals (1893). [Am. Music: Scholes, 30] See : Song, Patriotic ,'' ``This Land Is Your Land'' and ``Amazing Grace'' by Frank Sinatra, Pete Seeger and Tramaine Hawkins, respectively. The producers take no chances with that most difficult of tunes, the national anthem, delivered here by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is a large choir sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since July 15, 1929, the choir has performed a weekly radio broadcast called Music and the Spoken Word . A portion of the disc's proceeds, incidentally, will be donated to the Twin Towers Fund. Three stars - F.S. Wayne Hancock/``A Town Blues'' (Bloodshot) Wayne likes to be called ``the Train.'' He also likes to be considered the living embodiment of all things swingin', Western, honkin' and jivin', and his enthusiastic self- assurance is a wonder to behold. Which is good, since Hancock doesn't exactly possess what's known in technical circles as a singing voice, something you don't notice so much on the up-tempo numbers but which becomes pretty obvious during key-challenged ballads. Judge for yourself when the singing choo-choo pulls into the Knitting Factory on Nov. 12. Three stars - B.S. CAPTION(S): 5 photos Photo: (1) no caption (BUSH) (2 -- 5) no caption (CD covers) |
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