8 - The Michigan Daily Summer Weekly - Wednesday, June 17, 1992
RECORDS
Continued from page 6
The Meters Jamis the second CD of
unreleased Meters tracks that Rounder
hasmadeavailable(thefirstbeing Good
Old Funky Music). As you might ex-
pect, many of these out-takes are cov-
ers,rangingfromtheirsubtlyfunkedup
and personalized version of "Come
Together," to the mellow sentimental-
ity of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get
Ready." This group's proficiency and
versatility has been recognized by the
Rolling Stones(whomthey toured with)
and sampled from by current rapsters
such as KRS-1,PublictEnemy, and Salt
'n' Pepa.Soeventhough youmightnot
have known, youmayhave been listen-
ing to the Meters all along.
--Chris Wyrod
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Honey's Dead
Def American
Psychocandy, the Jesus and Mary
Chain's brilliant debut album, was cer-
tainly not an indication of things to
come. Supposed "copy bands" like My
Bloody Valentine and Ride,eventually
surpassed the quality of anything the
Mary Chainhadreleasedsincethat first
album. It was with a certain amount of
apprehension, then, thatIlistenedto the
Reid brothers' (William and Jim) first
offeringsince1989'sdismalAutonatic.
For the most part, the Mary Chain
have lightened up which is a good
thing. Their shect of guitars have lost
most of their rank surf city sound that
tainted one too many songs on their
previous works. Songs like
"Tumbledown," and "Rollercoaster",
on the new album, groove unlike the
Reidshaveevergroovedbefore.There's
actually a hint of enthusiasm now be-
hindthe crashing guitars.With thisnew
attitude, even their endless list of con-
stantly changing backup musicians
sound interesting and creative, provid-
ing a pounding, although danceable,
rhythm section.
What reaches out and grabs the lis-
tener most about this album, is that the
Mary Chain sound like they're having
fun. Their morbid, anti-everything
stance is mostly gone, replaced by hu-
morous lyrics such as "I want to diejust
like JFK, with the radio on," on "Rev-
erence," (although the BBC didn't find
the Reids new work any more enter-
taining - pulling the song off their
playlist).
Abandthat'sboredwiththemselves
(the Mary Chain circa 1988), will put
outmusicthat'sequallyboring to listen a repeating pattern. Although all homs
to;maybenow, they'vefmailyrealized play freely atonepoint, itis difficultto
this. The Jesus and Mary Chain have tell whether they are influenced more
some new ideas again, and if the noto- by Armstrong's or Coleman's ideas of
riously uncaring act is behind them, improvisation.
turn that radio on. "The Lost Souls (of SouthernLoui-
-Nima Hodaei siana)" is one of the band's most
adventerouscompositions.Thissix-part
Dirty Dozen Brass Band suite takes the listener down to the
Open Up bayou to feel the spirits who fly around
Columbia in the New Orleans air. It is heavily
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band may arranged, as is most of their material,
look like a bunch of uncharismatic but it is played very freely, so it doesn't
middle-aged jazz musicians, but they sound like the musicians are following
are actually one of the coolest bands in the charts to rigidly.
the world.By combining funk,dixieland Whathasalwaysfascinatedmemost
jazz, second-line marches, and funeral about this band is their use of the sousa-
phone. Kirk Joseph can groove harder
and kick the ass most bass players per-
forming today, with the exception of
Flea,GeorgePorterandlocaliconDave
Miller. The only differences is that
Joseph's instrument can'tslap, doesn't
need an amp, and can't hide anything
with electronic effects.
DDBB is the ultimate minimalist
band. When they play live, the band
could realistically show up five min-
utesbeforetheirscheduledstarting time,
hop up on stage, maybe tunealittle, and
jamaway.They don'tneedalightshow
or a fancy set. Alltheyhave to dois play
whatever and however they feel, and
everyone will be happy.
-Andrew]1 Cahn
6
6
L7
Bricks Are Heavy
Slash
Another brilliant (and necessary)
shot of high-octane estrogen in the
flabby, Neanderthal arm of rock 'n'
roll.No wonderguys getso intimidated
by female rockers; Ladies like L7 kick
somuchtestosterone-saturatedasswith
Ann Arbor's favorite sons, those bad bad boys, have really made good.
Fresh from touring the States with the Beastie Boys, and laying it down
hard at the New Music Seminar, The Almighty Big Chief are bringing their
riff-driven sourmash boogie back to town. Hot on the heels of their killer
Sub-Pop debut, Face, the Chief's set to beseige St. Andrews Hall in Detroit
next Saturday night, June 27. This hell-raisin' homecoming should be well
out of hand, so prepare for some serious wonder grunge stomp. Doors
open at 9 p.m., and tickets are a measly $5.50 (p e.s c) at Ticketmaster.
A small price to pay to see this outrageously slammin' band before they're
taken away from us by MTV and stadium tours.
i
J. Reid, W. Reid
dirges, they, as with many other New
Orleans musicians, transcend all cat-
egories and remain as idiosyncratic as
their home city. This may explain why
many record stores strategically place
these artists in a separate "New Or-
leans" section between the blues and
world beat racks.
Open Up, their third album for Co-
lumbia, represents the music of the Big
Easy quite well. "Use Your Brain" and
"CharlieDozen"are bothexcellent funk
numbers, but are each is arranged dif-
ferently. "Brain" is a straight funk tune
which introduces a set drummer, and
highlights ensemble riff playing by the
horns. "Dozen" features the usual
DDBB percussion set-up, their march-
ing-style bass/snare duo, and much
improvising by individual players over
such ease, the question is, can guys Dead," to the hook-laden mantra, "One
rock? More Thing."
This rip-roaring, fire-breathing, While testing the limits on their
mosh-monster of a record screeches Marshalls, L7 also have something to
out of the gate and doesn't stop 'til it's say.They beratethemasturbatory video-
mowed down everything in it's path. game thrills of the Gulf War,
Out of control, trash and vaudeville ("Wargasm") and explore the psyche
guitars are honed to a fine, serrated of amurderous housewife ("Diet Pill").
edge, while the bottom torques along But above all, this record plugs in,
like 1977 punk meets KISS. Donita turns (way) up, and rocks out. Hard
Sparks gravel-on-glass vocals are the tunes for hard times.
cherry on top of the sourmash, rasping -Scott Sterling
like Brenda Vacarro on glue. From the
Sabbath-on-speed slam-fest"Slide," to The Origin
thepissed-offsnarlof"DietPill,"Bricks Bend
Are Heavy doesn't mess around. Virgin
L7 also display some surprisingly If you want to examine your views
melodic pop sensibilities on tracks like on happiness, fulfillment, and the value
thecatchy, bang-along "Pretendyou're of material security, buy this record. If
-Scott Sterling
you want to hear music you've never
heard before, think twice. The Origin's
second album, Bend, deliversathought-
provoking antimaterialist message
within music thatis,ifnotouttrageously
innovative, at least upbeat enough to
invoke foot-tapping or body-swaying.
Remember, the joy of it all is that the
mind will gyrate wildly in response to
the album's inspirationaland insightful
lyrics.
Often these lyrics reflect the band's
criticism of listeners' apathy toward
life: in the single, "Bonfires Burning,"
leadsingerMichaelAndrewsasks: "Am
I stupid and stoned/to even think that
you care/for the beauty of a sunset sky/
or a dandelion's stare?" And "Autono-
See RECORDS, Page 9
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