Yhea Uinhitsnn n9iltt - IA/ntinnnrinir An-l 4 r) 4 Pitta n RECORDS Continued from page 8 tures just as many guest artists as their fine debut, "More Songs" does away some of the jazz and classical lean- ings, trading them for a rootsier feel though still leaving a door open for new musical possibilities and the in- fluence of other styles. Mandolinist Jim Ryan, who also works with the Blood Oranges, deliv- ers his original songs in a lonesome, *plaintive voice that suits their subject matter perfectly. His playing is as good as it gets, able to blend the best of tradition with his own ideas. John McGann, a master flatpicker, is rock- solid on guitar and dobro but his occa- sionally incredible guitarwork seems buried in themix. BassistJim Whitney not only anchors the trio with his swinging bass but he steps out to lead with a handful of amazing solos. *"More Songs of Love and Murder" shows that there is still room for inno- Ii ne iYniUIIndI Ladl)'- vwearnesay, iApri.l , 199 - 0 vation within traditional bluegrass and that playing with the form just a bit can bring incredible results. - Dirk Schulze Various Artists Encomium - A Tribute to Led Zeppelin Atlantic Records No matter how big a Led Zeppelin fan you are, you have to admit that they only reason "Encomium - A Tribute to Led Zeppelin" exists is to make money. Zeppelin certainly isn't an unknown band - their records have never stopped selling - and they are not underappreciated. Nev- ertheless, with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page out on the road to sup- port an artistically fruitful but com- mercially disappointing reunion, "En- comium" arrives at a perfect time. Audiences are aware that Plant and Page have returned, so they'll buy the record and radio will welcome it with open arms, since they can be hip and traditional at the same time. When all is said and done, "Enco- mium" is really a cash cow for Atlan- tic Records. Atlantic owns the rights to the Zep albums, the Page/Plant record, "Encomium" and a signifi- cant portion of the tribute's featured artists (4 Non Blondes, Hootie & the Blowfish, Stone Temple Pilots, Blind Melon, Never the Bride and Tori Amos are all on Atlantic proper, and Helmet and Rollins Band are on At- lantic subsidiaries, for a grand total of eight out of 12 artists). "Encomium" pushes both Zep and the artists pay- ing tribute, so Atlantic keeps making ridiculous profits. The record com- pany realized this when assembling the album; if they-didn't, there is no plausible reason for the horrible new Atlantic signing Never the Bride to be included. Even with all the blatant commer- cial engineering, "Encomium" could have been an enjoyable album. How- ever, the unimaginative assembly of the album has been replicated in most of the performances on the record. Stone Temple Pilots move "Dancing Days" to an acoustic and it works. Cracker plays "Good Times Bad Times" like they were a punk band from '66 or '67, and it rocks. Shery Crow slows down "D'yer Mak'er," makes it bohemian and it almost works. Then again, Robert Plant and Tori Amos make "Down By the Sea- side" a bloodless funeral dirge and it is appallingly misguided. Every other artist plays it straight. Hootie & the Blowfish's "Hey Hey What Can I Do," Blind Melon's "Out on the Tiles," Big Head Todd's "Tan- gerine" and 4 Non Blondes' "Misty Mountain Hop" are virtually indistin- guishable from the orginal. Henry Rollins' bone-headed take on "Four Sticks" accentuates his inherent lack of funk, as does Helmet and David Yow's "Custard Pie." At least Hel- met had the sense to recast the song as proto-typical grind-metal, making the riff hit with all the precision of a drill press. Still, there's no erasing that there are only two solid tracks among 10 xeroxes. Profiteering this shameless and music this bland gives tribute albums a bad name. There's simply no reason for an album this character- less to exist. - Toni Erlewine Guided By Voices Alien Lanes Matador Let us sing the praises of four- and eight-tracks and various living rooms and basements in the Dayton, Ohio metro area. Sing of a 38-year old fourth-grade teacher with a head full of as many song ideas as gray hairs. Sing of faux British accents, simple chord progressions, crappy recording equipment and the most obscure song titles on the planet. But sing loudly; you'll have to shout over the crowd of critics who have been praising Guided By Voices hissing, hummable lo-fi re- cordings all along. The band's tenth album "Alien Lanes" shows Robert Pollard and crew at their batty best. Typically bizarre lyrics like "I want to start a new life / with my valuable hunting knife" abound on this LP's 28 tracks. And while the sheer number of songs on "Alien Lanes" amazes, even more incredible is the fact that GBV man- age to make every single track matter. Their most recent effort "Bee Thou- sand" featured beautiful, tightly struc- tured pop gems like "I Am a Scien- tist," "Echos Myron" and "The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Di- rectory," but left several ideas and songs undeveloped. Finding the dia- monds amid many tracks worth of roughness was one of the most frus- trating elements of listening to GBV's earlier work. "Alien Lanes" breaks new ground by retaining all of the dissonance, all of the excitement of experimentation cap- tured on past albums while remaining virtually filler-free. Featuring some of Pollard's most fully realized songcraft to date, "Alien Lanes" overflows with delicious pop hooks and sweet vocal harmonies soaring above the fuzzy, dis- torted guitars. New bassist and former Spin editor and critic Jim Greer shines on the album's opening track, "A Salty Salute." Pollard's thin, careening vo- cals perfectly complete his songs of insecurity, alienation and life's stranger moments. His and multi-intrumentalist Tobin Sprout's vocal harmonies lend a sweet, Beatlesque feel to "A Good Fly- ing Bird" (written by Sprout) and "Watch Me Jumpstart." Other standout tunes on "Alien Lanes" include "As We Go Up We Go Down," with it's REM-like jangle wonderfully fetching down to the rat- tling keys at the song's end, and the spooky acoustic "The Ugly Vision." The breezy "Motor Away" and "Blimps Go 90" approach (dare we say) radio-friendliness with their lovely melodies. The jump from itty bitty indie Scat to the much larger, richer Matador cer- tainly hasn't suppressed Pollard's cre- ative spirit, as many feared. Ifanything, Guided By Voices have improved on the formula they nearly perfected with "Bee Thousand." "The club is open," sings Pollard in "A Salty Salute." "Alien Lanes" throws open the doors. - Jennifer Buckley Guided By Voices new album 'Allen Lanes' is a great collection of songs. Vanessa Williams The Sweetest Days Mercury Records Vanessa Williams sure has changed; just look at the cover of her newest LP "The Sweetest Days." No longer is she the sultry, seductive young vixen who once posed nude. She's still very beautiful, but in a more down-to-earth way. Williams' music has undergone a similar, yet not as dramatic, change. She performs more "fluffy" stuff, as songs like the title track and "Higher Ground" will show. No longer will we be welcomed into the "Comfort Zone," and no longer is she "Saving the Best for Last." Sadly, "The Sweetest Days" is not as sensational a CD as we would hope; in fact it is somewhat of a let- down. Surely Williams could have done better. This isn't to say the songs in this CD are entirely bad; in fact, they sound pretty good - for a fresh- man performer. But, Vanessa is no newcomer. She must know that the reason so many of her previous songs topped charts was because they had a certain flair to them. "The Sweetest Days" lacks this spark; there's no tingle. Vanessa still has a rich voice, and she doesn't hesitate to use it full throttle. I can't explain what went wrong with this production, but it better be corrected if she hopes for her next release to gain the popularity of her previous ones. - Eugene Bowen Lois: Playing the 'Strumpet' Here's Lois (above right), the leader of the lo-fl love-rock revolution. Formerly a rock critic and a deejay on an all-girl punk rock radio show, Lois formed the cool but all-too shortiived group Courtney Love. Although the actual widow of Kurt Cobain was not In the band, Courtney Love put out three great singles (including 'Don't Mix The Colors' on the 'Kill Rock Stars' compilation) before breaking up. Lois has been doing her own solo acoustic thing since, releasing her debut 'Butterfly Kiss' in '93, and 'Strumpet' in '94, both on the legendary K record label. Her latest, 'Bet The Sky,' follows in the vein of her previous records: emotionally charged, ( usically honest punk-folk. All of her songs, like 'Press Play and Record' nd Wet Eyes' deal with bittersweet emotions and stories, in a matter-of- fact way. Lois is playing tomorrow night at the Blind Pig, opening for the leader of the Red House Painters, Mark Kozelek. Also playing at this folk- a-rama is local singer-songwriter Stephen Budd. Tickets for this show are a measly $5; doors are at 9:30 p.m. Call 996-8555 for more information. a: s .-" , i- (1~ 4-' EXAI VI NAT tON BOOK Being a student is hard. 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