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The Firm The Album (Columbia)
Moby I Like to Score (Elektra/Warner) This would be another Moby throwaway if it weren't for the inclusion of some reworked early classics: the memory-tackling, dream-techno oldie "Go" and the romper-stomper "Ah-Ah." Sublime songs, those are. The rest of this stuff--all bits made for movies like Scream and The Saint--sound exactly like, well, movie tracks (the boring kind, not the neato kitsch kind). So this collection's got more pad than passes. Although Moby's new James Bond theme "inspired" by Tomorrow Never Dies is pretty decent, considering how painful his last album was. 6.5/10 (Mireille Silcott) Those Norwegians Kaminzky Park (Paper) Glasgow's Paper Music release the laboriously deep sound of "nu" U.K. house (actually made by a bunch of Swedes here), inadvertently becoming upholders of quality in a country recently overtaken by speed garage's crass oompah. Of course, there's nothing much "nu" about smooth, "classic" track-house and references to MFSB, except that for the past months the Brits seem to be doing it better than the Americans. Took them a while to understand their Jersey sound records, but Jesus, they've got it now. 8/10 (Mireille Silcott) At Storm Sat., Nov. 8. Info 94-STORM. Baby Bird Ugly Beautiful (Echo/Atlantic/Warner)
These full-band versions of songs from Stephen Jones' first five U.K. solo albums bring North America up to speed with the wonderful thing that is Baby Bird. A little of their original lo-fi charm is lost here, and some take on an opaque '80s-Britpop veneer (Echo? Wah? Julian Cope?), but the melodies and sentiments are so poignant ("It's not that you've gone away/It's that I've never met you" laments Jones in "Dead Bird Sings") that their treatment almost doesn't matter. 8/10 (Chris Yurkiw)
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The potent combo is back with more drama than you can shake a stick at. Nas, Foxy Brown and AZ head up an excellent play on the whole mafia-family-business tip, even if it's been done to death by now. Tracks like "PhoneTap," and "I'm Leaving" depict the hectic tightrope walk of a family operation working above the law with lyrical perfection. Dr. Dre shines as the Godfather of production, burying his West Coast sensibilities in favour of East Coast bump and hustle. 8/10 (Scott C.)