Stereo-Review-1998-08-OCR-Page
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GARBAGE Version 2.0 two recall the halcyon days of the Everly (Ahno Sounds. 50 min) Brothers - proof that Other Voices, Too * * * holds more than its share of surprises. A.N. It would be tempting to dismiss Garbage for making pure ear candy, if only the SEAN LENNON Into the Sun band wasn't so good at it. Version 2.0, like (Grand RoyallCapuol. 49 min) the hit debut album, piles on so many cheap * * * thrills that it's hard to resist. The opening f there's one thing you don't expect to "Temptation Waits" sets the pattern with a 1hear on the first album by John Lennon propulsive rhythm loop, a distorted guitar, and Yoko Ono's son, it's a quote from Paul and a memorable chorus that could have McCartney. But that's what you get in come from an old Phil Spector record. The "Mystery Juice," which makes sly but un- production combines electronic trickery mistakable references to Macca's "Maybe with the edgy guitar sound that Garbage - I'm Amazed." It's a brilliant stroke that de- man Butch Vig perfected on Nirvana's Nev- flates all the expectations surrounding the ermind, and the disc's pop hooks match its younger Lennon's debut and, along with the sonic dazzle. Plus there are some ingenious album's punning title, suggests he's inherit- touches in the arrangements, notably in ed his dad's sense of humor. it's certainly the most varied, with some in- "Wicked Ways," which builds from ZZ Top Sean Lennon neither copies his father's teresting neopsychedelic flourishes (the title boogie to ethereal bridge and back. style nor goes out of his way to avoid it. song) leavening the Nineties folk/rock mix. Singer Shirley Manson, however, knows There are three blatantly Beatlesque tracks The killer track is "Eyes on the Ceiling," only two vocal approaches: sexy and sexier. among the thirteen - pretty much the stan- which mates a great circular guitar riff with The lack of lyrical depth also gets to be a dard total for any new pop artist. Despite modified "Sweet Jane" chords, a chorus to problem. When Manson sings, "I think I'm the eclectic arrangements, Lennon is more die for, a wonderful Beatlesque coda, and paranoid and complicated," you want to of an old-fashioned singer/songwriter at lyrics about ... I'm not exactly sure, but I make like an English teacher and shout, heart. Working mainly with Cibo Matto, the think I know the feeling anyway. The multi- "Don't tell me, show me." And the use of band of his producer/girlfriend, Yuka Hon- media of this enhanced CD includes lyrics borrowed hooks in two songs (the Pretend- da, he updates a Seventies troubadour ap- that illuminate Droge's cheerfully opaque ers' "Talk of the Town" in "Special" and the proach with samples and some lounge -jazz musings in a manner that used to be called Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby" in "Push touches, but he sounds most at home doing Follow the Bouncing Ball. S.S. It," not to mention the "Taxman" bass line proudly sentimental love ballads that recall, in "Special") is just an overplayed gim- well, McCartney. JOE ELY TWistin' in the Wind mick, when Garbage is more than capable Vocally, there's a definite family resem- (MCA Nashville. 58 min) of writing its own hooks. B.M. blance - to his half-brother, Julian. And * * * * his voice is still too wispy (and his musical With Letter to Laredo, his 1996 acous- NANCI GRIFFITH Other Voices, Too instincts too lightweight) to command the tic -driven paean to Mexico, Joe Ely (A Trip Back to Bountiful) spotlight; he needs another album or two to took what he called "a sharp turn and ex- (Elektra. 72 min) develop. But the blend of distortion and plored a different world." Twistin' in the * * * Wind returns to the same landscape but with For this sequel to her 1993 album Other a more electric, rocking beat. Here, Ely is a Voices, Other Rooms, Nanci Griffith man wounded and crazed by love, tracing invited friends and colleagues - among all the mistakes that brought him to his them Guy Clark, Steve Earle, Jimmie Dale emotional precipice. From the plum -out -of - Gilmore, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, his -mind confusion of "I Will Lose My Richard Thompson, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Life" to the love -and -death story of "Be- Gillian Welch - to help her explore some hind the Bamboo Shade," he struggles to re- of the songs that laid her own musical gain his consciousness, his self. foundation of country, folk, and rockabilly. Besides drawing on the religious im- Some of the selections ("Wings of a Dove," agery and vivid language of Mexico, the al- "Walk Right Back") may seem like odd bum explores other areas of Ely's musical building blocks, but, more often than not, past, including his early Dylanesque period Griffith and her partners make something (the title song), his trademark sardonic hu- special of the material (as in the "Wings" mor, and the blues. Itis a beautifully re- duet with Lucinda Williams). corded work with a rich instrumental sound On her last few albums, Griffith has that blends the guitar traditions of his semi- leaned toward a kind of attitudinal approach nal recordings into one, an effect achieved to a song, replacing her once -clear tones by employing the guitarists who appeared with a rough, whiskey -bent -and -hell -bound on them: Teye, David Grissom, Jesse Tay- swagger. She does this repeatedly here, per- lor. Lloyd Maines, and Mitch Watkins. haps thinking it adds a bit of bluster to her What's missing is the straight -ahead Irish -accented arrangements. But the most honky-tonk and the hard -driving country- moving performance, the Johnny Cash tune rock/blues that have always defined the "I Still Miss Someone," returns Griffith to bedrock of Ely's live shows. In the mean- her roots, where she's more interested in time. Twistin' in the Wind is a tense but un- singing than showing off. When she duets forgettable visit to a blue border town of his here with Rodney Crowell, whose soulful Shirley Manson of Garbage: sexy, sexier sly and fertile imagination. A.N. high tenor is country singing at its best, the AUGUST 1998 STEREO REVIEW 81.