- The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 28, 2000 Bounce soundtrack, Various Artists; Arista Ladies and Gentlemen... The rateful Dead Fillmore East - New rk City -April 1971; The Grateful 1 Dead, Arista Records Ben Oxenburg ily Arts Writer This new and highly anticipated ease by the Grateful Dead showcases best of a five night run in April, 1971 Fillmore East in New York City. The ur CDs are a necessary addition to any Illection and are almost certain to wet pallet of both seasoned Deadheads first-time listeners who often create ntempt and rolling eyes with questions e, "The Dead who?" Those who know the history of the ad and-its ever-changing lineup know at the 70s was arguably the greatest :cade for the band. They will also like- be surprised to find a fresh, united and uberant spirit in the music. This energy obvious and uncompromising. The -e looks bright and the band has an e career ahead of them. They know at they are part of something special d different and the band takes full vantage of this fact. They are playing a respective audience which appreci- es both their unique fusion of rock, &B and bluegrass and their ability to vitch genres with ease. Jerry Garcia, ob Weir, Phil Lesh, Ron "Pigpen" IcKernan and Bill Kreutzmann all >und tighter than a pair of unbreakable iese fingercuffs. Perhaps the disc's Latest asset is the loud and throaty >und of Pigpen's voice, which, strange- enough, has a robust characteristic that ves no indication that he would suc- imb to a lifestyle of drinking and drugs less than a year. The discs contain many old favorites hich were relatively new back then) id excellent covers of some of the Dead's contemporaries. "I'm a King Bee" features outstanding performances by Pigpen on harmonica and vocals and Garcia on electric guitar. It is played and sung with all of the ache and need of a true blues-band. Fans of "The Big Chill" will no doubt enjoy disc one with a fer- vor. The versions of Smokey Robinson's "Second that Emotion" and The Rascal's "Good Lovin" (which just happens to segue in and out of a fantastic "Drums," courtesy of Kreutzmann) are remarkable and show how well the Dead is able to translate Motown and '50s rock into new, different and thoroughly enjoyable music. Disc three shines with a musical iri- descence and a smorgasbord of segues. A soft "Dark Star" jams.into "St. Stephen," which morphs into "Not Fade Away" and, just when the listener is confident there will be a break, the band dissolves it into "Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad." Somehow, someway, this melts back into "Not Fade Away" to end the disc. This CD set proves that the infamous and anonymous quote which has been uttered in amazement so many times before still possesses veracity: "There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert." By Luke Smith Daily Arts Writer Tumbling down the trail of love songs comes the music from the motion picture "Bounce." One can't expect too much diversity on an album from a movie about falling in love. Opening track "Need to Be Next to You" feels like the anthem for the entire movie, the song whose melody will be rearranged and replayed throughout the picture over and over again. Sixpence None the Richer vocalist Leigh Nash lends her smooth pipes to the track. The next two songs however, carry no such driving melody to keep the ship from "bouncing" right into an iceberg. Beth Orton and Dido's songs are lazy and typical, not invoking the feel good warmth of the first track. The sharp dip in quality isn't helped at all by Tara MacLean's "Divided." Sarah McLachlan appears on "Silence," joining Delerium for a number that sounds slightly out of place in the beginning with monk- esque chanting. Then the beat enters, and with it comes McLachlan. The album's digression continues to slip south. Anika Paris is more than right, she "Is no ordinary girl," but what she has put on this album is an ordinary love, song. Ben Affleck is probably sitting on a chair in a room with his head between his hands thinking at this point in the movie, while the scenT cuts to Gwenyth every few seconds. Morcheeba lends their mild radii hit "Rome Wasn't Built in a Day" to the soundtrack. For the sake of the rest of us, this song should be. - returned to whomever borrowed it. Records like this are so hard to "s review, because there is nothing unpredictable about them. The songs seem to blend together with nothing sticking out in particular. In fact,that may be exactly what the director wants. The one good song on this album lends one alternative: Napster Grade: C- -> I I I The Reunion, Capone-N- Noreaga; Tommy Boy Grade: A By W. Jacarl Melton Daily Arts Writer With the release of The Reunion, Capone-N-Noreaga try to start where their 1997 debut, The War Report, left off. War Report ended with Capone making a phone call from behind bars where he was serving a two-year bid on a weapons charge. "Phonetime," the new album's first track, tries to create the similar "behind bars" effect but, like the rest of this album, does- n't match its predecessor. There are two highlights on The Reunion, though. Number one is "Invincible." This is probably the best track on the album, but then again, DJ Premier produced it. It's hard to go wrong with Premo on your side, yet C-N-N almost do this when Noraga repeats the same line back to back. Needless to say, lyrics aren't a strongpoint at any time on the album. The second "bright spot" is "Bang Bang." This track is a prototype song from New York City's "thug haven," Queens. It offers a lyrical beatdown for anyone who comes weak. This onslaught is decent but the best part is when Foxy Brown takes her turn on the mic. She goes off on fellow sexpot rapper Lil' Kim. All I can say is watch out for the catfight that's sure to fol- low. The problems of The Reunion may not fall totally on Capone-N- Noreaga, though. Quite simply, the subject matter is worn out. People like DMX and the "pretty boy thug", Ja Rule have saturated the rap mar- ket's "thug section," which C-N-N occupy. However, I could be wrong. If the rap connoisseur isn't tired of this cat- egory yet, C-N-N will do fine. Otherwise, Capone may have been better off staying "up-state" a few more years until this segment of the rap population thinned out. Grade: C Fozzy, Fozzy; Megaforce Records By Christian Hoard Daily Arts Writer I have a confession to make: I did- n't listen to this album, and with any luck, 'Il die without ever having to. Which isn't to say that is devoid of Erit Farfrom it. In fact, I'm willing to wager that For. is the comedy record of the year, ample proof of which can be found in the accompa- nying CD booklet. The cover shot establishes that Fozzy is a band of leg- endary proportions - physical pro- portions, I mean. Singer Moongoose McQueen is clearly the Ivan Drago of frontmen, a tough guy who honed his craft in a foreign country while bassist lawn "Sports" Pop is the road-war- .r, an on-stage anchor, a team player guy who could be the gang's body- guard if he had to, not unlike Bubba Smith in the "Police Academy" films. The liner notes, written by a maga- zine editor named "Shoji Mochizuki," tell the tale of Fozzy's bittersweet suc- cess: Having found that the only way to escape a raw record deal was to leave the States, the group spent 20 years in Japan, where they wowed audiences, made timeless records and became "like Emperors." After catch- ing wind that every pop-metal super- star from Ozzy to Skid Row had ripped off their material, Fozzy returned stateside and now hopes to claim their rightful position as the kings of Sports Metal. Not bad, guys, butIahave a feeling that this record will have folks won- dering on what day did some record company ad wizard, come up with Fozzy, and couldn't he have rested on that (lay, too' GET YOUR ROCKS OAF NEXT WEEK WITH A REVIEW OF THE BEST OF BLUR' IN THE SECOND-TO-LAST BREAKING RECORDS OF THE SEMESTER, Grade: N/A Mana's Gun, Erykah Badu; Motown ly W. Jacari Melton >aily Arts Writer been a long time since Ms. Badu released an album f original material. I was a senior in high school when aduizm dropped and now I'm a senior in college. )espite the time lapse, Mama s Gun gives me a feeling imilar to that of her debut. With Baduizm, I could hear a voman seemingly singing from her soul, a feat other U&B singers could only dream of doing. In this respect, lama s Gun takes off from where Baduizm finished, in a rightengly similar R&B landscape. Although other singers, most notably Jill Scott and kmel Larrieux, have bucked the trend of formulaic and adio friendly R&B, Badu has stood out even from this rn1 with lyrics that could be compared to those of an OC. She slips in an occasional swear. She speaks in street lang. You'd usually associate these traits with someone ke Common or Mos Def, but in her own unique way, 3adu makes it work for herself. Mayfbe this can be attributed to her position as the "first lady" of the Soulquarians, an association of hip-hop and R&B vanguards who stress the need for music to have soul or a purpose in its performance greater than "flash and cash." The first single, "Bag Lady," has received heavy radio play in its remix format. The album version. though, focuses on Badu's words as opposed to the beat. If you haven't noticed, the song is about losing emotion- al baggage and realizing the positive aspects of life. Sure it's a simple concept, but you don't often hear it expressed this way. "Cleva" is another track that stands out. It sounds sim- ilar to the Roy Ayers' classic "Searching, and with good reason: Ayers blesses the song with his distinctive vibra- phone playing. In "Cleva," Badu states some of her flaws and imperfections. She's quick to point out that these faults are nothing when compared to her creativity. True indeed. If one negative comment needs to be made it's that Badu's musical accompaniment is too good. I found myself occupied by sounds reminiscent of Ayers, Wonder and Marley more so than by her words. On a perfect album, the balance may have been better. However, small imperfections can be discarded. I have to remember the Grade: A- premise of "Cleva." The faults cannot overshadow the album's entirety, especially when Badu has created some- thing this tight. Black and Blue, Backstreet Boys; Jive Records By Chris Kula Daily Arts Editor The Backstreet Boys are shivering under their new haircuts: N'Sync's Justin, J.C., Lance, Chris and Joey the Fat-One are clearly the reigning kings of the boy band realm - and this fact cannot be changed, no mat- ter how long the Boys grow out their bangs. Nevertheless, BSB felt it necessary to release Black and Blue, an album of Swede-produced, harmony-laden vocal pop. The 13-track product went platinum in one week, but it was essentially an insult to pop music fans everywhere. The album, which BSB has alleged is a step in a more "mature" direc- tion, cannot hold a candle to the more energetic teen-pop records released by N'Sync, 98 Degrees, Boyzone, Sive, Cleopatra, All Saints, B*Witched and the now-defunct Jackson Five. The current single, "Shape of My Heart is the kind of saccharine claptrap that might fly in the nation's basements and snack bars, but it will not stand the adult contemporary test of time like Paula Abdul's "Straight Up," Michael Bolton's "Time, Love and Tenderness" or Ace of Base's "The Sign." Not surprisingly, the Boys them- selves contributed songwriting cred- its on six of the album's tracks, proVL ing that Nick Carter is a wordsmith comparable to Jody Watley, Kylie Minogue and Fab of Milli Vanilli. The only real winner on Black anc Blue is superstar producer Max Martin, who's previously created tight beats and phat grooves for both N'Sync and Britney Spears. Even bogged down by the Boys' asinine lyrical content, his studio smart$ shine - if Martin would ever put out an album of his own material,-I would line up at a record store to get my own copy at midnight sharp. Grade: D NEED A CLASS? T rnin v 389 1. The center or origin of rapid, intense activity or change... 2. A college Ministry program involv- ing discussion, connection with other 1432?Washtenaw Ave. students and drinking coffee.