The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 13, 1996 - 9

"Don 't be a Menace to South
Central While Drinking Your
Ju in the Hood "Soundtrack
Island Records
If the soundtrack title doesn't take
nr greath away, the 17 cuts it con-
is will. The opening song, "Winter
Warz" is a follow up to the hip-hop
bulets the Wu-Tang Clan gang banged
the 9- with. Producer RZA does a phat
job ofcreating the eerily thumping beats
Ghostface Killer, Masta Killa, U-God,
Raekwvon and Cappadonna spit their
hit-making lyrics to. "Don't be a Men-
ace . . ends with "Don't Give Up," an
Upbeat gospel collaboration by Kirk
ranklin and the Family, Hezekiah
alker and The Fellowship Choir,
Donald Lawrence and The Tri-City
Singers and Karen Clark-Sheard.
Afresh, hardcorebeginning and aposi-
tive, uplifting end bookend an urban-
music sandwich that will satisfy the big-
gest appetite. And if you think the bread
is the stuff, wait'll ya get a whiff of the
ham, salami and bologna ("Don't be a
Menace" isn't for hip-hop vegetarians).
Adding to the LP's hip-hop flow, the
lost Boyz get alittle deep with "Renee."
The song's opening message - "This
here is dedicated to ... everybody who
lost somebody that was very special to
them. This is about my queen; her name
was Renee. I'll call this one my ghetto
fairy-tale" - tells you this song's tale
is worth hearing. Hip-hop's newest prin-
cess, Lil' Kim of Junior Mafia, strikes a
pose with her slow, deep-bass on "Time
to Shine" while Mona Lisa, who makes
few vocal "whoa!"'s on this song, has
l er own cut, "Can't be Wasting My
Time," which also features Lost Boyz.
All's cool with the singing portion of
this album thanks to contributions by
the men freaks of Jodeci ("Give It Up")
and sex-u-up balladeers R. Kelly
("Tempo Slow") and JOE ("All the
Things"). The most pleasantly surpris-
ing addition to the "Don't be a Menace"
soundtrack is surely The fsley Broth-
s' "Let's Lay Together." Thirty years
in the business, and they can still out-
woo the younger whippersnappers out
there. R. Kelly and JOE best respect.
Eric Sermon, The Luniz and Mobb
Deep are among other rappers whose
songs are scattered throughout this al-
bum to remind us that they may not
have the best singing voices, but when
it comes to making def beats and mega-
hit rhymes, forget a balladeer.
Beginning with the release of the
Above the Rim" soundtrack in '94,
people have begun to take black-movie
soundtracks more seriously. "Don't be
a Menace ... " is a living proclamation
pf~why that interest shouldn't wane.
Black music veterans Hiriam Hicks and
"Buttnaked" Tim Dawg have assembled
talent as diverse as it is raw. What
comes of it is straight-up dope.
- Eugene Bowen
0
Adam Sandler
What the hell happened to me
Warner Bros.
It's hard to imagine that someone,
even without a great sense of humor,
would not laugh at some point during
40OKS
Continued from Page 8
Brookner does do a nice job develop-
ing George's character. Here is a man
unwilling to form serious relationships,
whose thoughts constantly turn to memo-
ries of his unstable home life and the lost

friendship of Putnam, and who escapes
from his boring life with art and books,
nlytoeagerly return to this life at the end
feach endless day. Katy Gibb, we think,
will help him escape from this empty life.
Butsheisnotmuch differentthan George:
Her great hope is to start her own busi-
ness, yet she spends all day in the apart-
ment of the vacationing friends, bare-
footed and vague. The two spend most of
their time together drinking tea and an-
noying each other.
Maybe if Brookner had thrown in a
ychotic sea captain, or maybe a tat-
savage, this novel might have
moved somewhere. But there is no
.movement in this, except for George's
afternoon walks through the streets of
Lndon. The book is full of what feel
-likefreeze-frame moments: He opens
-his door and there is Katy Gibb, and
thetatwo pages full of his contempla-
tioiiof her.
rZially, he asks her in for tea. Katy is
4ver fully revealedto us,nor to George,
tndperhaps this is part of his fascina-
tion. Her personality is oddly devel-
oped, for she is inconsistent in her at-
tempts at appeal, and her history, what
there is of it, is vastly uninteresting. The
reader recoils when George suddenly
thinks about his love for her. George

this album. Adam Sandler is one funny
man. This graduate of "Saturday Night
Live" has proved himself to be a multi-
talented comedian who specializes in
stupid, yet hilarious, comedy. Some-
how, Sandler has managed to become
one of our generation's favorite guys to
laugh with. Besides the 13 new comedy
sketches, this new recording contains
seven original songs, including the
ever-popular "Chanukah Song." These
simple and effective tracks really hit
home, ranging from soft to medium
rock, with a little reggae represented in
"Ode to my car."
Sandler's act makes use of multiple
marijuana references, plenty of bizarre
sexual inferences and a bunch of strange
situations involving a talking goat and
a hypnotist with bad gas. This album
seems to satisfy expectations as the
follow-up to his 1993 debut album

"They're all gonna laugh at you." How-
ever, "What the hell happened to me"
falls just short of greatness due to the
lack of entertaining comedy through-
out the entire album. Even though the
first half is somewhat funnier than the
last part, Sandler's humor will no doubt
amuse even the most melancholy of
them all.
--Aaron Huppert
The Goops
Lucky
Kinetic/Reprise
Along with every other female-
fronted, punk-pop outfit around, the
Goops want to be Blondie really, really
badly. While it's doubtful that this band
will reach that level of platinum perfec-

"Hard Candy," W hitledge and the rest
of the Goops toy with loud guitars and
sexual innuendoes in a way that's
almost irresistible. "One Kiss Left"
and "What Did I Do?" even sound
like lost Blondie tracks.
But when the Goops try to rock harder,
it doesn't work as well. Though the
band certainly sounds genuine when
they're attempting a more hardcbre/
punk sound, Whitledge's voice simply
sounds better when she's singing in-
stead of screaming. "Yeah, I Know"
and "You Wish" speed along in a tired-
sounding grunge overdrive.
When the Goops focus on their solid
pop songwriting skills and intriguing
vocals, "Lucky" is the next best thing to
a lost punk-pop classic from '79 -
you'd have tobe deaf, dumb and Blondie
not to appreciate it.
- Heather Phares

Here we see the Goops, hanging out on the beach, getting ready to lambada.

tion, they manage to crank out some
halfway decent three-minute thrashers
on their newest album "Lucky."
One asset the band has is the pres-

ence of lead singer Eleanor
Whitledge's voice, a hybrid of Debbie
Harry's croon and Joan Jett's yowl.
On songs like "Vulgar Appetites" and


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Touched by their undying love, you spare them further expense.
You dial 1800 CALL ATT.

Know the Code. 1 800 CALL ATT.

That's Your True Choice:"'

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