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Thursday, November 11,1993
Chairman’s TimelessAppeal Continues onEclectic ‘Duets’ Disk
In a musical world filled with too manygrunge wanna-bes and a plethora ofrap-pers shouting “Whoomp! There ItIs!,”it’sgood to know some things will disappearfrom memory while others willendure thetest of time. Some things don’t change.Things like the music ofFrank Sinatra.
Iknowyou’reprobably thinking, “Hey!I don’t want to read about some guy mygreat-grandparents thought was ‘just the jjjf y '
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FRANK SINATRA teams up withartists such as Aretha Franklin.
R&B appeal missing in previous attemptsat classic tunes like “They Can’t TakeThat AwayFrom Me”and “Witchcraft.”
Despite these hits, my favoritetrack onduets is Bono joiningSinatra on “I’veGotYou Under My Skin.” Recorded whileU2’s front man was still in his lounge-lizard period from the Zoo-TV tour, heand Sinatra sound like two seedy Las Ve-gas saloon singers crooning away the earlymorning hours after a boisterous night ofwine, women and song. They cover theCole Porter classic in a way that invokesimages ofthe two trading stanzas in WayneNewton-esque showmanship.
And what duet album would be com-plete without Julio Iglesias? Sinatra’s man-agement gets the nod for selectingeveryone’s favorite Latin lover to sing“Summer Wind.” Another great choice.
In fact, the only song I don’t get is theduet withKenny G on “Allthe Way/OneMore For My Baby.” Come on, can youreally duet with an instrument? Isn’t thatillegal in most states?
Ifthis collection takes off, who are thelogical choices for future duets? MaybeSinatra can joinPrince, Garth Brooks,Nirvana and those “Whoomp! There ItIs!” guys. What about Sinatra, RuPauland Nirvana covering Ray Stevens’ clas-sics such as “TheStreak” and “Guitarzan”?
On second thought, maybe some thingsare just never meant to be. ......
gitchiest.’ Iwant to readabout some-body who’scool, like thoseguys I saw last
ION RICH
Mmk Review‘duets'
B+night on ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’!”
Sorry, even though Sinatra’s new al-bum may be titled duets, there’s little chanceofWhite Zombie turning up on this latestcompilation. What you wiU find, though,are pairings of Old Blue Eyes with LutherVandross, Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett,Barbara Streisand and even U2’s Bono.
These collaborations form a classic col-lection of Sinatra hits well worth the de-tour down the alley of easy listening.
What’s interesting about this album ishow even the collaborations on Sinatrastandards remain undeniably his. The voiceis still in good shape, even though signs ofaging are beginning to show. His swankpresence on “New York, New York”nev-ertheless overshadows Tony Bennett (nostranger to bigband ballads himself), mak-ing it seem as ifthe junior statesman ofswing were merely singing back-up.
Liza Minnelli’s addition to “I’ve Gotthe World On a String” allows both per-formers to thrive in their element, andBarbara Streisand’s work on “I’ve Got aCrush On You” likewise brings light-mu-sic heavyweights together for a great track.
But how do today’s contenders comeout against the champ? Well, they techni-cally never get into the ring. Despite mas-terful mixing, itbecomes apparent on sev-eral tracks (most notably Carly Simon’s“Guess I’llHang My Tears Out toDry”)that the Chairman recorded his vocalsseparately. I guess his rationale is that,being who he is, he doesn’t have to accom-modate other artists. After all,he’s Sinatra.Who cares ifStreisand gets a little miffedat his demands?
Fortunately, the soulful performancesof Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, AnitaBaker and Luther Vandross rise above thetechnical difficulties. Their work adds an
You can tell james is a band that drinksa lot oftea. Not justbecause they’re British
the Rolling Stones, in their pre-Eviandays, probably drank coffee, black and
strong and administered intravenously.But Ithink james drinks tea, and maybe alittlered wine in the evening, when theylike to talkand cuddle up withtheir friends.
Tea is a very reassuring drink. Ithasvery few unpleasant surprises. Itis alwaysthere for you, and you can’t really drinktoo much of it. It keeps you warm andhappy when it’s windy, cold and rainingPACINO
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outside. Tea isthe beverageequivalent of achat with anold friend,james’ new al-
ALEXMi MILLAN |Music Review
"laid"A
bum laid serves much the same purpose.For instance, the album’s second track
“Sometimes” (which is somewhat bi-zarrely subtitled “Lester Piggott,” afterthe English race horse jockey convictedfor tax evasion) refers to the monsoon andthunder and endless rain “picking up fish-ing boats and spewing them on the floor. ”But james is much more interested in thefact that “Sometimes I look in your eyesand see your soul.” Forget about the rain,thenuclearfallout; ‘whataboutyou?’jamesseems to ask.
laid is intense but chatty. Itis, despite itstitle, largely a platonic type ofsound, likeabetter Lloyd Cole oramoredancy 10,000Maniacs. They have an acoustic soundnot afraid to branch into keyboards andwhirligig, funky bassiness. Dance-folkmight be the best label for laid, but thatdoesn’t really do it justice.
Vocalist TimBooth has a delivery that
James, Tea Offer Reassurance, Few Unpleasant Surprises
British band james has acquired a cult following since its 1983 founding inManchester, England. The band’s latest 'laid,' was produced by Brian Eno.
is for the most part a sing-songy, semi-sung, softly spoken but concise renditionof often very deep lyrics. “P.S.” warns ofthe dangers ofworshipping an idealist, forinstance: “Ihear you whispering such gor-geous stories. Isee you tryingto break free.You liar you can’t live the dreamsyou’re spinning. You liar love to bedeceived. ”The vocals and the music meshblissfully, giving ample vent to both.
james is very earnest most ofthe time.They have a sensitivity to them and areworried about alot ofour modem, confus-ing world. But james know the perils of
gravity; “Knuckle Too Far,” james’ mostbluesy number, warns ofthe perils of tour-ing too much and losing any sense offun.
So their more upbeat tracks show adefinite sense of fun. “laid” discusses arelationship of mutual and intense sexualobsession, always with a sense of humor“This bed is on fire with passionate love.The neighbors complain about the noisesabove. But she only comes when she’s ontop.” And “Low, Low, Low” and“Skindiving” are club-friendly songs, witha psychedelic, jangly sound and oscillat-ing bass.
All in all, laid is an amazingly interest-ingand enjoyable album. Itasks the rightsort of puzzling questions and offers reas-surance when it should, james are originaland unabashedly so. Their friendly tea-time philosophy blends perfectly with theiroccasional splurges of passionate red wine.
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AIDS Benefit Album Rolls Out College Rock CarpetJust when you thinkthat aQuaker Oats
Variety Pack is going to be the only excite-ment in your cold and bleak winter, alongcomes a goody that gives you a livelyholiday step you haven’t seen since youchugged eight cups ofeggnog atyour aunt’sChristmas party and wound up “spread-ing the holiday cheer” all over the poinset-tias.
No Alternative is anew compilation ofpreviouslyunreleasedsongs by alter-native rockers,put out byArista records.
KEVIN KRUSE
Music Review‘No Alternative'
B+Like their previous benefit packages, suchas the incredible tribute to Cole Porter, RedHot + Blue, the proceeds from this set ofrecordings are going to the extremelyworthwhile cause ofAIDSresearch. Wear-ing a cutesy ribbon won’t help cure theAIDS epidemic, but your hard-earned rockdollars might.
Now that I’ve soothed your troubledconscience—what about the songs? Well,the album’s back cover reads like a dreamguest list for MTV’s“120 Minutes,” ex-cept you don’t have to sit through theincoherent butt-kissing of a fawning andpudgy Lewis Largent.
The Beastie Boys offer a live version of“It’sthe New Style,” on which DJ Hurri-cane rocks harder than Gibraltar, pound-ing your face with enough phat beats foreveryone’s favorite rap act to pummeldown some rhymes. The B-Boys, furiousas ever, punch out a mean live track, sobeware.
The California gurus Pavement playone of the funniest tunes I’ve heard in awhile, “Unseen Power of the PicketFence,” which winds up as a pseudo-trib-ute to the glory days ofR.E.M. and a cut-by-cut review of the Athens quartet’s bestLP, Reckoning. Quirky and catchy, it’sprototypical Pavement.
Everyone’s favorite retro-rockers,Chicago’s Urge Overkill, serve up a plateofProzac pop “Take AWalk,” on whichNash Kato lilts a somewhat disappointingwarbler that is reminiscent of the weakercuts on their latest album. Still, it’s Urge—-‘nuffsaid.
As with most albums ofits ilk, there area few cover songs on this compilation.Uncle Tupelo does a plain but faithfultribute to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s“Effigy,”fullof all the back-roads charmof an intoxicated John Fogerty, while the
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Arista's 'No Alternative' includes previously unreleased material in a 'merry-go-round of musical styles.'Goo Goo Dolls ramble through the Stones’“Bitch.”
Soul Asylum, in an attempt to showjust how far they’ve drifted from then-salad days of albums like Clam Dip andOther Delights, butcher Marvin Gaye’s“Sexual Healing. ”Somehow I have night-mares of seeing Dave Pimer crooning thisnumber every time I flip on MTV. Theonly real merit ofthis version is that Pimersings the lines about masturbation clearly,whereas Gaye mumbled them.
No Alternative rolls out the college rock
carpet, with cuts by Matthew Sweet, Buf-falo Tom, American Music Club, Smash-ing Pumpkins, Bob Mould (now of Sugar),Sarah McLachlan, Soundgarden, Strait-jacket Fits, Barbara Manning and the S.F.Seals, the Verlaines, Patti Smith and theBreeders.
The tunes range from fist-in-your-faceaggro-pop and grungy pounders to sweetlullabies and laid-back strummers. Theliner notes go into a master’s thesis expla-nation ofthe compilation’s construction,but you’lljusthave to listen to appreciate
the merry-go-round of musical styles.But that’s not all. The fun just keeps
coming! The CD has a “mystery track,”(pronounced “Nirvana”) andby God it’s akeeper. The cassette, I’m told, has extratracks by rock staple Jonathan Richmanand fuzzgrunge heroes Sonic Youth.
All in all, No Alternative is good cleanfun for a good cause. Regardless of yourorientation on the spectrum ofthe increas-ingly homogenized “alternative” genre,you’re bound to find several cuts on herethat will make you all warm inside.
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