ARTS The Michigan Daily - New Student Edition - Fall 2005 - 9D 'Want Two' pulls at heart of Rufus By Alexandra Jones NOVEMBER 24, 2004 Daily Staff Writer MUSIC REVIEW Rufus Wainwright is missing some- thing. The genetically talented, operatically trained (his parents are Canadian folk- singers Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle) and very, very openly gay male chanteuse has released Want Two, the second installment of tracks recorded concur- Rufus Wainwright Want Two Geffen From left, Wilco's Nels Cline, Jeff Tweedy and John Stirrat performed for students at Hill Auditorium in. October. RE TB ORNR CHICAGO'S W ILCO TEAR DOWN H1ILL AUDITORIUM rently with 2003's spectacular Want One. But Want Two, the darker and more intense of the two albums, lacks a clear voice. As a whole, the album's tracks don't support each other to create anything bigger than the best song, "The Art Teacher," and only a few individual tracks stand out from the rest. Both albums feature Wainwright's sub- lime vocals and highly developed orches- tration, but they're maddeningly different from one another: One's ideology revolves around a sort of sophisticated New York glory, underscored by sumptuous baroque trimmings, but Two's ideas are more scat- tered, moving from psych plainchant "Agnus Dei," to soft piano ballads, "Peach Trees," to major-keyed, Mozart-inspired technique pieces like "Little Sister." Listeners may have expected Two to follow One's tonal shifts between poppy exuberance and hyperbolic sensitivity with material that's less clearly polarized, and that's exactly what Wainwright did. However, without these obvious extremes, Wainwright's overarching ideas are lost in the miasma of styles and characters stuck uncomfortably together on Two. The more Wainwright-esque tracks on Want Two, "The One You Love" and "Peach Trees" recall the great songs that appear on Want One - love songs combin- ing piano and a backing band. But others, like "Hometown Waltz" and "Memphis Skyline," sound like almost-there attempts at love songs, not finished pieces of music. Closing track "Old Whore's Diet" is a By Andrew M. Gaerig OCTOBER 12.2004 Daily Staff Writer Wilco's meteoric rise from alt-country also-rans to noise-mongering poster child of underground rock has been well-documented on record: Summnerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and this year's A Ghost Is Born all mixed fruitful Americana Wilco with malignant electronics and eerie white noise. Live, however, the band Sunday, Oct. 10 has failed to make such large strides: Hill Auditorium The ham-fisted, "rock'n'roll" attitude that pervaded the band's early material often rears its head in front of an audience. The band always performs marvel- ously, but the audience is left with an awkward mix of art- school histrionics and rock-show bombast. For the recording A Ghost is Born and the accompany- ing tour, Wilco fleshed out its lineup, adding guitarist Nels Cline and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, which effec- tively allows the band to employ at least one electric guitar- ist the entire show. It seems like a marginal difference on paper, but its impact on the show is tremendous, fleshing out the band's sound and taking the burden of filling space off frontman Jeff Tweedy's voice. These factors - as well as Tweedy's newfound sobriety - contributed to a rejuvenated band Sunday night at Hill Auditorium. The change was notable in longtime bassist John Stirrat, who hopped around the stage and attacked the Misunderstood. microphone with a unique charm and energy. For his part, Tweedy brought his warm, tobacco-stained voice and sev- eral distortion-fueled guitar solos. Cline, however, proved the catalyst. His furious leads and knob-twiddling impro- visations bridged the gap between Wilco's underground ambition and their classic-rock mentality. The setlist choices were typically excellent, with the Ghost material taking. on -a life that it mostly lacks on record. "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" was transformed into the classic-rock centerpiece it was meant to be, while the gui- tar solos on "At Least That's What You Said" burned and twisted around the room. "Hell Is Chrome" benefited great- ly from Stirrat's excellent harmony vocals, which are far more noticeable in the live setting. The band also dipped into its back catalog. "A Shot in the Arm" was far more aggressive, and "Via Chicago," long absent from the band's live repetoire, was rejuvenated by Cline's piercing guitar and drummer Glenn Kotche's simple, inventive rhythms. The band did fall into the "clas- sic rock" mode during the first encore with the laughable "Kingpin," but mostly just turned up and rocked out. Clos- ing with a cover of little-known folk artist Bill Fay's "Be Not So Fearful" was a savvy move coming from a band that heretofore had trouble identifying its own best material. Wilco's transition as a studio band has outpaced their live show - until now. The audience Sunday night was treated to a feverish show put on by a veteran band finding its second wind. Wilco's new lineup isn't a dramatic transformation so much as an essential tune-up. Watching them pull from their increasingly impressive catalog and translate it into a gor- geous, invigorating whole is nothing less than thrilling. cyclical, rumba-inspired duet with a vocal- ist only identified as "Antony." The track, clocking in at nearly nine minutes, detracts from the album's, and Wainwright's, musi- cal integrity with the near-constant repeti- tion of "An old whore's diet / Gets me goin' in the morning." Despite the fact that Wainwright has linked the dregs of the Want sessions together so poorly, Want Two contains a few beautiful tracks that rival his previ- ous work. "Crumb by Crumb" features a cool, in-motion narrative voice languor- ously singing "Suddenly you are the one / Who opens the gates to this unruly gar- den / 'Cause baby I got to get through / Crumb by crumb in this big black forest." Want Two doesn't peak with acoustic bal- lad "Gay Messiah" as some listeners may have anticipated, but the innuendo and metaphor behind it are both hilarious and ingenious, and its chorus - "Better pray, for your sins /'Cuz the gay messiah's com- ing" - is utterly timeless. Want Twos finest track, "The Art Teacher,"rivals even the gorgeous "Beauti- ful Child," "Dinner at 8" and "11:11" from Want One. Wainwright's velvety-silver voice tells the story of a private school girl who has a secret crush on her art teacher over a tense, repetitive piano ostinato: "He asked us what our favorite work of art was / But never could I tell him it was him." Occasional horn leaps between verses add a rich sadness to the story. When Wain- wright sings "He told me he liked Turner / And never have I turned since then / No, never have I turned to any other man," his voice alone eclipses the expansive orches- tral production found on the more indul- gent Want One. The DVD packaged with the album - a mixture of concert footage from his show at the Fillmore in San Fran- sisco and short episodes of Wainwright hanging out on the street and visiting his cousin's new baby - includes a live performance of "The Art Teacher" that mesmerizes viewers when coupled with Wainwright's image. While the confident, sophisticated queen leading his audience down Park Avenue on Want One can make any listener feel like a diva, the guy behind Want Two is a "Wiz- ard of Oz" figure, a man behind the curtain who isn't giving up any secrets. Album: *** DVD: **** Nelly's new album splits in two By Evan McGarvey SEPTEMBER 15, 2005 Daily Staff Writer It looks like hip-hop has been tak- ing some nuclear physics classes. For what seems like the umpteenth time, a rapper made like the Greek god Nelly Janus and carved himself into two Sweat/Suit separate personas. Universal With Nelly's new releases Sweat and Suit, there's only one thing left to say: The cyclo- tron is just too full. OutKast managed their way through a respectable - but wildly overrated - double because they are two different men with two very different agendas. Jay-Z's dou- ble was a flop, and let's not even talk about R.Kelly's choice to self-divide. Nelly has always been a great singles artist and it's safe to say that any "best of the 'O0s" collection that gets printed in the next decade will be crammed with plenty of his songs, from "Country Grammar" to "Ride Wit Me." Such mercurial energy is awfully hard to maintain over an album, and both of his full-lengths, Country Grammar and Nellyville, hit dramatic lulls after about four songs. Each of these new releases is, not surprisingly, Nelly's personality split into two separate quarks of his St. Louis energy. Sweat is the bottle-pop- pin', whip-pushin' hoodlum whose sound most closely resembles "Hot In Herre" or "El." Like those party anthems, Nelly pulls a surfeit of sam- ples from the vault. Curtis Mayfield's classic soundtrack from "Superfly" provides the back beat and bubbling drums for the Christina Aguilera/ Nelly duet on "Tilt Ya Head." Hell, he even samples John Tesh's "NBA on NBC" theme and gets help from the Lincoln University Vocal Ensemble on "Heart of a Champion." Don't get your hopes up. Nelly tosses almost everything possible against the wall and precious little sticks. The Neptunes-produced lead single "Flap Ya Wings" has a tinny, cheap drum machine that sounds way too discount for the Pharrell Williams hit-maker In a delightful turn, Suit, the roman- tically loyal, good natured, boy-next- door album is the far superior of the two. Once you get past the diabetic- sweet "My Place," listeners run into some pretty decent tracks. Nelly raps to a recently-single mother, "Please don't despise and hate all brothers/ have hatred and take it out on others." It's not exactly lyrical innovation, but genuine concern is a new thing for Nelly. Give him a chance. The Nep- tunes get back on track with "Play It Off," a jam with deft synth effects and some choice Nelly catchphrases. Maybe the set's ultimate short- comings are in the bizarre guest appearances and lack of a dazzling single. Tim McGraw sings the hook on "Over and Over" like a Super Bowl show and Jazzie Pha on "Pretty Toes" just sounds foolish. Let's chalk this experiment up to bandwagon attitudes and a desperate attempt to reclaim the party throne from the Dionysian Lil' Jon. You have to figure Nelly gets at least two more solid shots to reclaim his posi- tion as partier-laureate. There can only be one. Master writing with reference books From interpreting Shakespeare's sonnets to composing a killer paper, our selection of grammar books, thesauri, and dictionaries will help you write with style. } S S 1 "One of the finest university art museums in the United States." -ARTnews magazine x ~.s ,' ~5 223 North Main Street Pierpont Commons Bookstore Michigan Union Bookstore i II,%__r__ MUI I Piernont Commons