|
Nazareth Booglaloo (CMC/BMG) Right from the get go on album opener "Light Comes Down," you just know you're in for a downpour of mediocrity without an umbrella. Hearing Dan McCafferty's familiar screech, which is more than just a little worn for wear, is just plain sad. "Party in the Kremlin" and "God Save the South" sounds like Extreme during their "funky" period. What the hell were these old geezers thinking? Who makes these guys drag their carcasses onto a stage or, worse yet, into a recording studio, where their shit music can be digitally trapped for years to come? This is like watching Richard Pryor's current standup act. Slow and painful. For the love of God, please stop. 2/10 (Johnson Cummins) Britney Spears ...Baby One More Time (Jive/Zomba/BMG) Remember when bubblegum was about "Puppy Love" and "MMMBop?" That's the old school. These days kids get through school faster, so super-squeaky-clean, 16-year-old Britney Spears (ostensibly a Debbie Gibson for the '90s... er, '00s) sings not sprightly of sugar and spice but yearns and drives through humped-up R&B numbers, begging, "Hit me, baby, one more time." The deviations are the delights: the dancehall ultra-lite of "Soda Pop," the super, syncopated take on Sonny & Cher's "The Beat Goes On," and the final hidden "track," an ad wherein Britney big-ups label-mates the Backstreet Boys. 6/10 (Chris Yurkiw) The Fiends Gravedigger (Dionysus/Outside)
The Seed's "Pictures and Designs"? Screamin' Lord Sutch's "Jack the Ripper"? I'm sold. These Vancouver garage-dwellers deliver the goods with tales of murder and J.D. Rebellion in the spirit of 1966. DMZ, the Lyres and the Fuzztones all receive the Vox-powered nod and some of the snottiest singing since the Makers. If you dig your garage rock drenched in reverb with a splash of tremolo then the Fiends have come for you. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)
|
Mano Negra Best Of (Virgin)
With last year's wicked Clandestin, onetime Mano Negra frontman Manu Chao kicked his own solo career into high gear. A nice companion is this look back at a band that was, circa '88'94. A crazed reggae-billy salsa-menco dub-hop party, dished out with proper punk rock piss 'n' politics. Obviously, a French band. But Chao rocked the mic in no less than five European languages: French, English, Spanish, Arabic and Football. Classics like "Patchanka," live takes of tracks like the roaring "Indios de Barcelona" and Moroccan-roller "Sidi H'bibi," and unearthed surprises like "Long Long Nite," it's all in there. Y'know something? I think that Mano Negra was the band that the Clash always wanted to be. 9/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)