MUSIC RECORD REVIEWS
how Young — like James Brown - can
:lzit‘tihi‘flzl‘ NEIL vouuc liters: :3:2.;“:::':;:;:::::i;‘ t Mirror Ball (Reprise) mould them into a crack unit for
Essential sliver of Scotpop We thought Bagged Glory and Weld delivering his songs. With Pearl Jam, this fortnight is Ball 0’ were pretty raw, didn’t we? Well, it doesn’t sound like he’s had to exert CWWS'QH’S ‘_S<t"wt“tf‘ . ‘ perhaps spitting ‘You ain’t seen too much pressure. it‘ilrlfshciff \k‘iiiltih "um", Yet’. Ne“ YOItng Squared his It’d be interesting to hear how songs 0‘. A‘fghanewhigs Wm and shoulders, muscled into a Beanle. like ‘l’m The Ocean’, ‘Throw Your swoops in“) a ginning studio with Pearl Jam as hrs backing i Hatred Down’ and ‘Truth Be Known’ I ChowS before mm 5 band and now emerges with Mirror ‘ would sound with the full studio pre- : brief sidestep into Ball, skimpin rehearsed and sparkling production treatment, but they’re Wellerland for the bridge. a with first-take spontaneity. The vocals 5 great as they are, as repeated Hear it. Mcztntt'hilc. ; are mixed too low most of the time, ' listenings confirm. Initial snapping all}: its?“ : and it rambles slightly less pointedly uncertainties be damned. This isn’t (‘¥3‘c’cr:':(::t‘) The than last year’s Sleeps With Angels, going to be placed in the ‘Five All- WEE! Whéel‘ 5 Chin“. but this has more live atmosphere ' Time Best Albums Of Neil Young’ poll, View“. of mmpmvfi MC . than most live albums. And - hurrah! - but it’s fine stuff all the same. Wm, pmmncm (01mm, Eddie Vedder is largely absent. This (Alastair Mabbott)
and a rolling roots-pop
gait.
i the mother of his child.
i I Still, can’t win ’em all and the good
i GURU news is that beyond the lyrical
' Jazzmatazz Volume II (Cooltempo) i minefield is a rich musical rump. The The premise of Jazzmatazz Volume! beef of the album is European;
was wonderful. Resuscitate a form of i although that could have something to
Edinburgh band The heads ‘So It Seems' lil’ (Dell Discs) will prove a little sugary for some tastes. but that won’t turn the radio programmers against it. Melodious and
unrummg, so it scum» music that’s dying in smoke-filled do with the fact that half the roster of is unlikely to appeal to rooms with classy New York hip hop. ' Cooltempo appears in various guises. fans of Derry-s Schtum. The result? Jazz firmly back on the I The tastiest fillets are with the
map of respectability and the honour American masterchefs. The
of being List readers third-favourite combination of Chaka Khan and
album of 1993. This year, there’s more Branford Marsalis on the scrummy
of the same, almost. In terms of scat of ‘Watch What You Say’ is philosophy, Jazzmatazz II is about the inspired, while Donald Byrd’s virtuoso family, but contradiction is the name horn on ‘The Traveller’ melts juicin in of the game as Guru slam-dunks guys the ears. With such quality meat being
whose invigorating ‘Skydiver‘ (Columbia) shows that they understand the value of fractured riffs and bug- eyed vocals. Further south. in Dublin. The Prayer Boat release their
first single in {our years. for not being proper role models served so delightfully, you can ‘Dark Green‘ (Alino before admitting that he’s too much of overlook Guru beating his own. (Philip Sounds). it‘s more than a lay-deez man to set up home with Dorward)
palatable. with a
(Celtically) soull'ul singer I perched somewhere m : A Call’. Full credit to Grohl, though, for E between Paul Heaton and I
; ploughing a different furrow - albeit a i
10” Buckley. fittings i E furrow that crisses and crosses the “Nine In FIGHTERS ; 70$ big:dumb-heart.groove of fellow ' , Foo Fighters (Capitol) j Seattlertes The Posles. Most culpable Who’d have thunk it, that grunge’s ; here, and most brilliant, is ‘Big Me’. Back on this side or the death rattle would sound so, well, Least culpable is the sinister swing lrish Sea. Natalie Robb of alive? And, frankly, so well-written? of ‘For All The Cows’, wherein Grohl High Road fame joins the Dave Grohl was the drummer, the proves he has a voice coolly capable ranks of SOHDMWS flailing Animal in Nirvana’s Muppet of lurching from mellow croon to . ' 4 ‘lfl"l‘°flecka’::'f‘%. “"“S” show. Before Foo Fighters, proof of his ragged bowl, and a dynamic-grasp that E?" . ‘ , L f’.‘ writing ability was confined to one sees Foo Fighters following a aradisc (l llnllLllL). A . . . . {cw Choice words semi-decent track on one of the switchback trail from maudlin regarding the day job band’s B-sides. Now comes the whole acoustics to trashy, Jellyfish-esque might not be entirely out deal- Pop'ope’a- Less depth than Nirvana: l of order. There‘s a greater At its slackest, Foo Fighters, natch, but perhaps more width. Nope Grohl chance of Top Ten fame gives props to Grohl’s former band - in doesn’t find his own Lady Macbeth ‘ for ‘Occatt DtiVC' (Wild the ranting venom of ‘l’ll Stick and doesn’t have a dicky tummy. :Jgg‘ggfiylhého ,Around’, in the flaming pop of ‘This Is (Craig McLean) they are and whence they came I know not. but this www.‘ ' m:- found voices are worked organically Pct-Wilmer Mtkc [’Cdcn- «132;?19‘5. into the mix. Henderson swigs deep
produced track is featured in the film Jtit‘lt' .‘lll(/
>3 _ 9 from the bile jar in order to loosen up
. _ I g ‘ . . that uniquely innocent cynicism.
. /.. . ‘ g . .
8‘7"” ‘lmfN 3"“,l'f'l‘: ” Saint Jack (Postcard Recordings of ‘couldn’t Phone Potatoes’ builds a “m” “ml”? ”‘ "SCI" Scotland) around a relentless guitar figure to Soul II Soul s Love - - ' . , . , Emma (Virgin) w“, of Centatn Underground Strikes Back. approximate the Velvets of The out , coma dug, bu, Junie B Flies hatch out,.things curdle and from eventually reaching a seemingly sounds like he‘s toiling. $0m8Wh8te behind an BChO. Davey endless plateau stage of torn organ
Henderson joyoust proclaims, ‘I can sheaths and tambourine. play “Kandy Korn’"; The Nectarine No. ‘Unloaded For You’ comes in like a 9 return with fragments of Beefheart whispered prayer only to end in
Far from unpleasant. ‘l.ove Enul’f‘ is still moribund when compared
“’ h“ be“ all" the VBlVetS in tow. and an album triumph, while Beefheart’s shadow
that represents a huge evolutionary flits viciously around ‘My Trapped “5|??le ‘tgtl’tcsnglc leap on from the only occasionally Lightning’. Despite the hairy smell of (; ‘f‘nur h‘gpinés wonderful 0“. the title, ‘This Arsehole’s Been Burned of something which niav Where that [Fcord was "‘9 result at i I00 many Times Before, Shl'dde's With or may not be termed " . "endetson Items '9“ alonetoo long ' a pure redemptive pop. We live in hope progressive techno. | Wlth a head?“ Ol Ideas. 58!”! Jack has of McEwan’s Lager building an ad Onomatopoeic. crisp. ' the sound of a band relaxed and campaign around either this or ‘Just unrelenting. it's what the ~ l confident after a few years’ live work. Another Fucked Up Little Druggie 0n kidS want Probably l Guitars slide and swarm, samples and The scene', (Damien Love)
40 The List 14-27 Jul 1995