The 1992 pairing of “Jim Motherfucker” and “Spine,” the third release by the Columbus, Ohio, punk quartet Gaunt, is one of the best arguments I can think of for the necessity of the seven-inch single in an era of compact-disc convenience. Probably only a few thousand people around the globe…
You almost could have added the debut album by Miami-cum-Gainesville’s Fay Wray to the ever-growing list of legendary longplayers that have never seen the light of day. It’s hardly the worst list to be on, as the company includes the scrapped or squelched efforts by some formidable names: the Velvet…
Counting Crows Across a Wire: Live in New York (Geffen) Since the initial release of their wildly successful debut August and Everything After nearly five years ago, Counting Crows has managed only one other studio effort. But 1996’s Recovering the Satellites justified the long wait, bringing a harder, more electric…
Brian Wilson Imagination (Giant) After the 1966 release of the Beach Boys’ seminal Pet Sounds, anxiety and substance abuse contributed to a growing sense of inertia in Brian Wilson’s life. His struggle was further complicated by his relationship with a host of toxic personalities, from his dominant, perfectionist stage father…
Kreamy ‘Lectric Santa was the first band I saw after moving to Miami in the fall of 1995 to work for New Times as music editor. Fittingly, they were the last band I saw before leaving in June of 1997 to move back to my hometown of Memphis. I only…
Lenny Kravitz 5 (Virgin) Poor, poor, pitiful Lenny Kravitz. He has spent the better part of the past ten years — and five full-length albums — carefully crafting an artistic persona that, upon close examination, amounts essentially to little more than a cartoon character: the supersensitive, superfunky, supersonic, superstudly superstar…
Jeff Buckley Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk (Columbia) Late singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley was a rarity in this cynical age, an artist who wasn’t too cool to be himself. He had a yearning, confessional style and an uncommon amount of humility and passion. The quavering vocals, bold musical colors, and…
Ritchie Valens Come On, Let’s Go! (Del-Fi) Whether or not listeners understand the Spanish lyrics that follow, the five-second guitar intro that kicks off “La Bamba,” the signature tune of tragic Fifties rocker Ritchie Valens, seems to affect most people the same way. Valens’s joyous reworking of the 400-year-old Mexican…
Garbage Version 2.0 (Almo Sounds) Almost three years have passed since Garbage’s self-titled debut blew a hole through the grunge-obsessed alternative gold standard, selling four million records, grabbing three Grammy nominations, and making an altrock icon of singer Shirley Manson. Garbage was heavy with crashing, burning energy and vital singles…
Jerry Cantrell Boggy Depot (Columbia) After five platinum-selling records with hard rock gladiators Alice in Chains, guitarist/songwriter Jerry Cantrell’s first solo album finds him in the catbird’s seat. The much-publicized drug problems of Chains’ vocalist Layne Staley has resulted in the band losing some steam and touring opportunities in recent…
Public Enemy He Got Game Soundtrack (DefJam/Polygram) Various Artists Bulworth Soundtrack (Interscope/Fox) Rap is dead. It’s tired. It’s wack. It’s no longer phat. The glory years are dead, thanks to the ungraceful aging of early superstars (Run-D.M.C., Eric B. and Rakim, and KRS-One) and the untimely deaths of many of…
Tori Amos From the Choirgirl Hotel (Atlantic) Tori Amos has followed her muse to the end of some pretty thin branches, documenting her soul’s perpetual churning. So far fans have happily crawled out there with her. Little Earthquakes (1991), Under The Pink (1994), and Boys for Pele (1996) made a…
If, as the dear departed Frank Sinatra once claimed, L.A. is a lady, then Nashville must be her sleazy sister — a fickle, powerful, vampiric whore who flits from from one new artist to the next, sucking each dry of all airplay and record sales before casting the pallid corpse…
The Specials Guilty ‘Til Proved Innocent! (MCA) Go figure: After returning to the revivalist ska scene in 1996 with the listless Today’s Specials, the reunited Specials — the Coventry outfit that started the whole ska-punk thing back in 1979 — have rebounded with an album that recaptures much of the…
Gary Numan Exile (Cleopatra) Gary Numan The Mix (Cleopatra) Synth-crazed robot and occasional musical innovator Gary Numan has been responsible for some of new wave’s most laughably dated moments, from “Are ‘Friends’ Electric” and the massive 1979 hit “Cars” to the dreary, sci-fi schlock typified by “Down in the Park”…
Miles Davis/Bill Laswell Panthalassa: The Music of Miles Davis 1969-1974 (Columbia) Listening to Bill Laswell remix, reconstruct, and recycle the work of trumpet legend Miles Davis on Panthalassa brings to mind Natalie Cole dueting with her long-dead father Nat King Cole at the Grammys a few years ago. Dead men,…
Scott Weiland 12 Bar Blues (Atlantic) During Stone Temple Pilots’ short but amazing three-album run, frontman Scott Weiland excelled at fulfilling the expectations of both his fans and his critics. From platinum-selling faux-grunge icon to drug-addled rock star to tortured and rehabbed artiste, Weiland drove public passion and critical opinion…
Bob Marley The Complete Wailers 1967-1972 Part 1 (JAD/Koch International) Although it’s neither as comprehensive as Island’s Songs of Freedom (1992) or as revelatory as Rounder’s One Love (1991), JAD’s triple-disc Complete Wailers collection covers a crucial period in the rich, extensive history of Bob Marley and the Wailers –…
Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers Switching Gears (Blind Pig) A quote from Jimmy Thackery appears on the shrink-wrap of teen guitar sensation Jonny Lang’s 1996 debut Lie to Me: “He plays so good I want to break his fingers.” Thackery plays so great that someone should have taken out a…
Ted Hawkins The Ted Hawkins Suffer No More (Rhino) Ted Hawkins The Final Tour (Evidence) In many ways the late Ted Hawkins, who spent the bulk of his career singing for tips on the Venice Beach boardwalk just outside Los Angeles, embodies the stuff of a blues romantic’s sweetest dreams,…
Although it’s buried near the end of a CD EP and presented as a rough demo, “Happy Hour” may be the song that best explains at least part of the creative drive and artistic aesthetic behind the writing of Everclear auteur Art Alexakis. In it the 35-year-old Portland, Oregon, resident…
Various Artists !Ay Califas! Raza Rock: The ’70s & ’80s (Rhino/Zyanya) To the listening public, new directions in music often seem like Athena sprung fully armed out of … nowhere. But musicians know better. They’ve seen, and often adored, the hidden head of Zeus. For example, few of the musicians…
