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 TOSHIBA AUTHORIZED SALES & ERVICE T22oo x T33OSL, T4400> T6400, etc 71f>10r i JAl!?Y IN STOCK REPAIQ & WARANTE - 80 MB hard disk, 2 MB RAM - 5.5 lbs, 3.5" 1.44 MB floppy, 386SX processor U ,N/ iit TY D ISCO0UNT S SOFTWARE from 30 top manufacturers. Call for FREE catalog. *VISA, Mastercard & Amtxp Accepted