t 8A - The Michigan Daily - Monday. November 5. 2001 6 Motherland, Natalie Merchant; Elektra By Gina Pensiero Daily Arts Writer "This house is on fire," are the opening lyrics of Natalie Merchant's newest album Motherland. This song sets the serious and somewhat political tone, that listeners have come to expect from Merchant, on the album, which is due for release a week from tomorrow. With Motherland, Merchant has shifted from self-production to work- ing with pop. veteran T. Bone Burnett. Burnett's efforts with such successes as Elvis Costello and The Wallflowers have established him as a premier and much sought-after producer. Merchant is a unique solo artist in that she has consistently focused her music around a core band that tours with her and appeared on her previous releases Ophelia and Tigerlily. How- ever, with each new release, she con- tinues to infuse new talent like Tori Amos' drummer Matt Chamberlain or gospel music legend Mavis Staples. As a whole, Motherland has a very calculated and layered sound. Mer- chant is vocally at her best and her lines are filled with a richness and tex- ture that she hasn't achieved for a while. The production is excellent, as is the attention to the detail of tradi- tional sound, which is re-enforced by use of banjo and accordion. Although these generalizations can be made, the songs each have their own vibe. The first track, "This House Is On Fire," is a reggae jaunt that is reminiscent of Merchant's first album Hope Chest with her previous band, 10,000 Maniacs. The song, which Merchant explained was about the WTO protests, is laden with organ and chunky guitar." The aura of the album abruptly changes with the self-titled track, which is equally political, but based in acoustic guitar and the feeling of tra- ditional folk. The record continues to morph with banjo rock-out anthem "Saint Judas" and the cautionary spiri- tual "Build A Levee." Songs like these highlight Mother- land, however, the undisputable best track is the haunting "Golden Boy." The melody is sleepy and winding over buzzy background acoustic gui- tar and keyboard, as well as some excellent lead guitar work. The chorus is koan-like in the stark yet mystical repetition of "golden boy." Merchant's voice is deceptive and harbors aspects of Bjork in its pure simplicity. "'Golden Boy' was a song I wrote without being absolutely certain of its meaning. During the recording the engineer commented that he couldn't get the image of the infamous boys from Columbine ... out of his head. I suddenly realized that I was address- ing the unhealthy tendency we have as a culture to fix our attention upon our deviant and violent outcasts," explained Merchant. Motherland does start with a bang, although the quality of the songs diminish somewhat on the second half of the album. The sleepy "Ballad of Henry Darger" is interesting in its fundamental ideal, but gets old quick. This song is followed by a few more throwaway tracks like the uninterest- ing and repetitive "Tell Yourself" and the over-produced "Not In This Life," which seem to be folk-pop cliches more than anything else. The first single, "Just Can't Last," holds up as poppy, fun and optimistic. However, again, one can't help feel- ing like it's a four-major-chord ditty that's been 'done before. Not to men- tion, done before by Merchant, with her previous airplay darlings "These Are Days," "Wonder," "Kind and Generous" or "Life is Sweet." It would not be unfair to say that this is the best Merchant solo album yet. However, one must consider that even the well-meaning folk-pop god- dess Merchant has her preachy and redundant flaws. Grade: A- 1.~ I r tiii::ti;;fi}:,":;}1;:;; 5 11r: ..v; .. .': .'ti . } ii i t' . '. ' v "" ".1Y PHANTOM ': }:i " :; " S'::1:":' :> JY .:}" 0 Greatest Hits, The Cure; Elektra tracks with various b-sides, thus creating two "essential" albums for Cure fans on two different By Keith N. Dusenberry formats, and doubling the album's sales for the Daily Arts Writer label. Similar shenanigans occurred with the release of their subsequent singles package Galore The holidays must be drawing near. To record --the Cure tacked a "ne'W" song available labels, the festive season means two things: CDs nowhere else onto the end of it and sat back as the as gifts and gift certificates as potential CD pur-( cash registers rang. chases. Thus comes the November influx of great- Instead of placing Greatest Hits' .incomplete est hits packages and video collections. Never collection of original hits on one of its discs and a ones to place their fans over a few extra dollars, companion acoustic version of the exact same this Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/etc. finds the tracks on the other disc, potential Cure fans would Cure being naughty with the release of their latest have been better served by a simple binding of the in a long line of greatest hits repackaging scams. existent singles collections mentioned above. Then The Cure have always attracted a certain sector there would be no redundancy in the introduction, of the record buying population, no matter how and the newcomer would get a fuller collection of uneven or downright horrible their records may Cure classics, like "Killing an Arab" and "Pictures have been. These people are usually, in America at of You" -- just two of a number of quality Cure least, quietly obsessive about the Cure and their songs missing from the new Greatest Hits. Releas- discography - sort of like less obnoxious ver- But Greatest Hits isn t essentially a bad record. ing the acoustic, Unplugged-style disc two of Hits sons of The Tori Amos Girl. The Cure po l 'rs po pularCure favorites like "Boys Don't by itself would be nicer for Cure fans, maybe and steadily build a personal librar ofobscure r+. Just Like heavenan t Ifnt ,along allowingthe less maniacal among them to save French import records and discarded tubes oV with radio hits "Lovesong" ant"Friday I'rinInisorme cash by only having to buy a single record frontman Robert Smith'gagscara. Baggi4 l15." L r e co ection also offers, in a classic Cure instead of the double disc. A little present like perhaps simply in the name of having a complete con, two new songs. "Cut lIere"and Just Say sing respect and kindness toward their fans collection or simple masochism, they continue to Yes" can only be found on this $20+ Cure CD. The would be a nice gesture from the Cure during this buy Cure greatest hits albums despite already hav- Cure have been pulling this sort of trickery since holiday season. But that won't happen, and this ing all but a song or two already in their collec- the mid-' 80s and they still think they can get away year Robert Smith can expect to find a lump a tions. And the general public isn't buying these with it, and given the nature of their devoted fans, coal, and not my $20, in his Christmas stocking. hits packages, though they would be far better off they sadly might. The Cure's first singles collec- for supporting the Cure than say, Incubus. These tion CD, 1986's Staring at the Sea, promised sev- Grade: C days, the only non-fan buyers of the Cure hits eral compact disc only songs in an attempt to records are friends of fans attempting to under- promote the then-fledgling format. The cassette --My thanks to SunilSawani, Cure expert, for his stand their friend's obsession. version of the same album replaced the CD only input regarding this album Phantom 51 North Mississippi Allstars; Tone Cool Records By Joshua Gross For the Daily In the blues, raw is god. Raw-dog. Nasty, ugly stuff. Stuff you shield your kid's eyes from. Stuff that makes the old lady faint. Stuff that makes you want to start drinking again. The North Mississippi All- stars have this rawness, evidenced from their incredible debut, Shake Hands With Shorty and their explo- sive live shows. But from the get-go of Phantom 51 it seems that this rawness has temporarily disap- peared. Now, just to be contradictory, I'll admit that this is one rockin' album. It starts with a bang, fizzles out for a few songs, then explodes again, like a complicated firecracker. They've really worked on these songs, polished them and the effect is no different than seeing Kurt Von- negut do a Nike commercial, it is a potent mixture of sadness and happi- ness. The appeal is wider, the songs cleaner You want them to succeed, you tell your friends you want to see them make it; you even almost convince, yourself. The truth is, with a band this special, you don't want them to change. You look on them like a mother looks on her sons, you want them to never grow up, you want them just the way they are, forever and ever. Songs like, "Snakes In My Bushes" sound like fawning love- letters to the Black Crowes. "Mud," the final song, is a strange bird; Slipknot and Mudvayne fans won't be disappointed. "Lord Have Mercy" is the only song reminiscent of the sheer ferocity of the last album, but it is also the only song not written by the band. Luther used to shout into the microphone, now he's singing 20 percent of the time and shouting 80 percent of the time. But that 20 percent hurts. It hurts a lot.' Phantom 51 is proof that the Allstars have many more tricks up their sleeves, some of whichl are more, impressive than others. NMA had a great sound, a beauti- ful, true, unique sound and they should have run with it. It makes you feel awful, like a widow, like an abandoned lover, like you've been thrown in the mud by the one you love. Grade: C ,'" , I' ,, 1A Barnes & Noble Kiosk | MICHIGAN UNION BOOKSTORE 530 S State St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (734) 995-8877 0 It's your life :hoose accordingly. $4999 With Activation Limited time offer. Credit approval and activation of service on 2-year contract for eligible Cingular calling plans required. Offer cannot be combined with any special offers. Early termination and activation fees apply. Night and weekend hours are Monday to Friday 10:01 pm to 5:59 am and all day Saturday and Sunday. Long distance charges apply unless you have also chosen the long distance option. 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