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Compay Segundo Calle Salud (Gasa/Warner) Damn close to 100 candles on his cake and the grand old man of the Cuban trad revival sounds just grand. 9 (RB) Pat LaBarbera Deep in a Dream (Radioland/Universal) A gorgeous disc of (obscure) ballads by a very together quartet. 8.5 (LD) Reach The Sky So Far From Home (Victory) No-frills hardcore. Proves that if it ain't broke then don't fix it. 8 (JC) Burt Bacharach Promises, Promises (Ryko/Outside) Swingin' Broadway antics from the '68 Neil Simon musical. A requisite dose of Bacharach-tion for the faithful. 7 (RB) Todd Terry The House Music Movement Mixed by... (Master Dance Tones) Tee doing what he does best, and even that's questionable at times. But at least it's not drum & bass (see above). 7 (KE) Various Music for Our Mother Ocean 3 (Surf Dog/Universal) 'Nuff cool tracks (the Bs: Beasties, Buttholes, Beck, Buffett and Brians Wilson & Setzer). Tender odes to man/porpoise love. 7 (RB) Red House Painters Retrospective (4AD) Right. Retrospective. Which means I'm glad this kind of sad-sack ambiance is behind us. 6 (CY) Billy Crawford Self-titled (V2/BMG) The V2 label: home of Moby, The High Llamas, Mercury Rev... and a 16-year-old, one-man Hanson?! 5 (CY) Battershell Luv Punks (Ng) Cutesy cuddlecore crap. 5 (JC)
The Verve Pipe Self-titled (RCA) A self-titled follow-up. Just so we can enjoy that name one more time. 4 (CY)
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