Pizzicato Five Playboy & Playgirl (Matador)
Ben Folds Five The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner (550 Music/Sony)
Elevator Through Vague Premonition (Sub Pop/Warner) Elevator to Hell... Elevator Through Hell... Elevator Through--whatever Rick White calls his band/audio-visual project at a given moment, you know that the name's going to involve motion because he likes to go on a trip (see: Eric's). The third full-lengther from Elevator is less "grunge" and less "lo-fi" than much of White's previous output, and if you can't figure it out from the organ swirls and sprawling songs and red trees on the cover, a Syd Barrett cover tips you off that this is yet another spin-off of psychedelia. 7/10 (Chris Yurkiw) At Jailhouse Rock on Thurs., May 6
Latin Playboys Dose (Atlantic/Warner)
The Robert Cray Band Take Your Shoes Off (Rykodisc/Outside)
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Lovin' the new direction. This is still P5--Konishi Yasuharu and Maki Nomiya, Tokyo's master and mistress of style, excruciatingly elegant and kétaine au bout. But this new one's so much less disco/more gogo. I suspect a misprint in the absence of George Martin's name, as it sounds like the Beatle wrangler has his fingerprints all over this one. Gone are the busy little programmed bossa-beats. Now it's raw, solid electric bass and drum kit, plunking piano, sounding so genuine, so there, y'know? Check out the energetic "A New Song," the irrepressible "Week-end" or the impossibly cool title track. Oh, just check it all out. 9/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Memo to Mr. Folds: don't ever stop being down on yourself. The latest from the Gen-X Billy Joel/Brian Wilson is steeped in self-deprecation, sarcastic ramblings about ditching girlfriends, drinking away his youth (in front of the TV) and his "redneck past." Were it anyone with less backbone then Folds, forget it. This is also the fullest and most focused sound the trio have found yet. The most adventurous, too, thanks to residue from Folds' Fear of Pop solo goof-off. It all makes for another wicked hit of post-ironic, piano-pounding pop. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Remember Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio"? This is the logical extension thereof, and that's not necessarily a good thing. Imagine this Mex-wrecks border bar/lounge rock filtered through dusty transistors and a cruel tequila hangover, and you've got an ugly, abrasive sound that leans more toward weirdo krautrock than either ZZ Top or Los Lobos, from whence two of the Playboys hail. I'll give the Playboys this: the sweet fat Latin shine 'n' grind of "Lemon 'n' Ice," "Latin Trip" and "Paletero" salvage this frequently unlistenable outing. 5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Words could not describe how much I always loathed Cray's tepid Clapton/Buddy Guy take on the blues. This time, though, he has put together a CD chock full of grooves stolen off dusty Stax and Volt records and, by jiminy, I think he's really on to something here. Producer Steve Jordan (Aretha Franklin, Keith Richards) gets a Wilson Pickett performance out of the (former?) bluesman and leaves the sound sparse, warm and raw. Best of all, someone has provided a leash for Cray's sometimes overbearing fretwork. With many people taking stabs at R&B these days, Cray can now easily take on any of these newcomers. 7/10 (Johnson