earwax
Season's Greetings Philadelphia (Record Cellar) Christmas records tend to be novelty items full of half-baked
ideas thrown together at the last minute to capitalize on the
holiday season. Local compilations often concentrate on a clique
of artists rather than evenly sampling the scene. Taking both
of those notions into consideration, Season's Greetings Philadelphia, a collection of Philly musicians doing original Christmas songs,
has a surprising number of notable tracks. Sure, not every one
of the 18 cuts is a winner. In fact, a few of the more maudlin
offerings sound like they were written for mistletoe misanthropes.
But why dwell on the negative when there's so much to be merry
about? Buzz Zeemer's head-bopping "Psychedelic Santa" tops garage
rock with late-'60s, San Francisco-style harmonies. Tommy Conwell
goes on a shopping spree in "Kinda Christmasy," a boogie-woogie-dittie
that sounds like Billy Joel at his bouncy best. Jim Fogerty takes
things down a notch for a simmering lounge version of "God Rest
Ye Merry Gentlemen." The Rolling Hayseeds seem to be sighing even
when they've got plenty to be thankful for in the doleful country
ballad "Merry Christmas (This Makes One)." Philly Gumbo's chipper
zydeco number, "Xmas in New Orleans," is brimming with cheer.
Eltro's deadpan discussion of flammable trees, unsafe toys and
other holiday horrors, "Avoiding Christmas Tragedies," educates
while it entertains. The Shimmers - a local supergroup which includes
Eden Daniels, Dave Bielanko, Andrew Chalfin and Mike Brenner -
serve up smooth country swing in the sentimental number "Coal."
It's too bad the bluesy, barrelhouse version of "Silent Night"
by the Mark Boyce Combo comes last, it's one of the best things
on the album. If these aren't enough reasons to buy Season's Greetings Philadelphia, there's one more - a portion of the proceeds go to The Children's
Advocacy Center, an organization that works to protect victims
of sexual abuse. Extreme Honey: The Very Best of the Warner Bros. Years (Warner Brothers) The common perception of this period (1989-present) of Elvis Costello's
oeuvre is that it's largely overarranged and overemotional but
underwritten at the core. The 18 tracks on Extreme Honey make a convincing case for the contrary, shedding plenty of new
light on this former angry young man's recent works. In context even the lone hit "Veronica" reveals new, bittersweet,
glorious layers here. "Kinder Murder" (from '94's excellent Brutal Youth) becomes one of Costello's most unnerving scenarios, filing a
rape scenario with a novelist's sly sense of metaphor and a beat
reporter's unrelenting eye. "Spitting out the words that he put
into her mouth/ See in her silhouette going down south." But the real triumphs on Extreme Honey occur when Costello nudges pop songwriting to new plateaus. On
"London's Brilliant Parade" and the Brian Eno collaboration "My
Dark Life," complex melodic concepts and arrangements snake through
the catchy choruses, as allusive lyrics subtly shift settings
and perspectives. Extreme Honey - which features one new track, an illuminating, trip-hoppy rewrite
of Prince's "Pop Life" entitled "The Bridge I Burned" - presents
Costello's case well. Following his diverse eccentric muse to
increasing mainstream apathy (not that he has much hipster cachet
either), Costello aspires to reach higher ground. And his aim
is still true. - Michael Pelusi Fatal Mambo Fatal Mambo (Tinder Records) At first, a French gypsy salsa band seemed a little curious. For
a native Spanish speaker like myself, hearing an infectious salsa
rhythm and not comprehending the song's lyrics is a little disconcerting.
But Fatal Mambo obviously knows enough about salsa to give it
a feel of home with a European flair. "Malediccion," the stellar first track on Fatal Mambo's self-titled
album, has a syncopated piano and drum section and call-and-response
vocals in the hallmark style of traditional salsa. The second
track, "La Tete a Gaston," is a lilting mid-tempo salsa with a
teasing piano introduction, accordion trills and congo drum accents.
Though the band even does those meaningless grunts and yells throughout
the songs, they still sound good. "Salsaioli" (which lifts the
Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together" melody) is a mismatched
song with salsa drums and rock guitar. Fatal Mambo may not speak Spanish (but when you're dancing, what
does it matter?), but I'd have no problem bringing them home to
Mom. - Elva Ramirez The Moog Cookbook The Moog Cookbook Plays The Classic Rock Hits (Restless Records) The Moog Cookbook, a duo featuring Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (Jellyfish),
is a musician's in-joke that made it beyond the cases of Rolling
Rock and out of the garage. The band's schtick, 1960s low-tech
computer music meets songs we're all sick of, is yet another step
in an unspoken systematic mission to wring every ounce of fetishistic
irony from past musical and cultural fads. Didn't Bill Murray's
lounge singer and The Replacements use up all the bad-bands-covering-worse-songs
cheap laughs back in the day? Perhaps the lady doth protest too much - the mostly instrumental
songs on Plays the Classic Rock Hits, the band's second LP, are worth a couple of listens, a number
of laughs, and a lot of "Why didn't I think of that?" You know
all the songs and you're probably sick of them, but the K-Tel
collection meets Tomita meets The Ventures format does manage
to blow some new life into a few of these warhorses. Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust," with the vocal melody by Yamaha CS15,
is transformed into an almost mournful, helpless meditation; it's
bittersweet in a Hello Kitty sort of way. The vampy version of
"Sweet Home Alabama," with a techno-nod to Moby, will forever
be stuck in your head after only one listen. Boston's "More Than
A Feeling" shakes its "Smells Like Teen Spirit" progeny (which
the band covered on their first album), changing one of the most
lumbersome songs ever into a high-energy number, possibly for
use in a German car ad campaign. - Arthur Lizie Slip Stitch and Pass (Elektra Entertainment) Phish threw one hell of a curveball last year with their Billy Breathes album. Few thought the nouveau hippies were capable of a memorable
album of such cool, economical grace: pop music as architecture.
With their new live album, Slip Stitch and Pass, the Vermont quartet is slowly learning how to work all this
into their infamous concert setting. Recorded at a Germany club
date this past March, Slip Stitch and Pass bypasses the sub-fusion indulgences that marred much of '95's
A Live One. Instead, on an extended jam like "Wolfman's Brother," the emphasis
is more on inspired, intuitive and actual funky group interplay
than musical parlor tricks or goofball theatrics. The band's love
of rock culture helps make their weirder moments more accessible.
The spooky jam of "Mike's Song" parodies Pink Floyd's "Careful
with that Axe, Eugene" and The Doors' "The End," while "Weekapaug
Groove" turns into the Stones' "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'." The
cover of ZZ Top's "Jesus Just Left Chicago" is New-England-white-boy
unbluesy, but Talking Heads' "Cities" is a quirky, perfect fit.
That is, of course, if you actually dig this kind of stuff. Many
will probably still find Phish insufferable. But, when you're
not looking, this album's strengths might sneak up on you, revealing
Phish to be both surprisingly approachable and transcendent. - M.P. Portishead (Go! Beat/London) It didn't seem possible, but pioneering British trip-hoppers Portishead
have managed to concoct an album more ambitious, more tortured,
and more hypnotic than their lauded 1994 debut, Dummy. The band's self-titled sophomore effort defiantly ignores the
mainstream trends in electronica, creating moods for more specific
emotional purposes. As opposed to, say, The Prodigy, these songs are actually about something. Of course, what the songs here are about is utter remorse. As
on Dummy, chanteuse/lyricist Beth Gibbons emphasizes love lost, love obsessed
over, and love sucking altogether. "Never enough/ render your
heart to me/ All mine/ you have to be" she sings on "All Mine,"
as heart-attack horns increase the intensity to undeniable heights.
What makes the album succeed isn't so much Gibbons' themes as
the innovative soundscapes with which her bandmates - main mastermind
Geoff Barrow and new members Adrian Utley and Dave McDonald -
have surrounded her depression. From the greasy trombones on "Mourning
Air" to the near-Bernard Hermann-esque string arrangement behind
"Humming," these fascinating flourishes time and time again send
the music of Portishead beyond the place of pretenders. At the
heart of all this are the trance-inducing dub grooves which add
a sensual chill that truly makes these sorrowful hymns come alive.
Resolutely, the album assumes a dark, gripping luster that leaves
electro-dabblers choking in the dust. - M.P. The Replacements All For Nothing/Nothing For All (Reprise Records) It seems, as the '90s progress, less and less of the general public
have heard of the influential yet still greatly underrated Replacements.
Perhaps this is why Reprise has unleashed, seemingly without any
real provocation, a double-disk compilation of "hits" and the
standby "previously unreleased tracks." The biggest stumbling block here is that it contains nothing of
the Minneapolis quartet's celebrated heyday at the Twin/Tone indie
label. This means no "I Will Dare," no "Color Me Impressed," hell,
not even "Fuck School." Taken on its own terms, however, All For Nothing/Nothing For All does the job, with surging anti-anthems ("Bastards of Young"),
perfect pop ("Alex Chilton"), and acoustic heartbreakers ("Sadly
Beautiful") alike. The rarities that fill out the second disk
of the compilation reveal that at the core of this band ran a
thick reservoir of soul, as shimmering folk-rockers like "We Know
the Night" and slamming punky ravers like "Wake Up" attest. The collection stands as a testament not only to the band, but
also to frontman Paul Westerberg, caught here in some of his finest
moments, effortlessly wringing irresistible melody and dead-on
observations of youthful boredom and hope. All in all, All For Nothing/Nothing For All proves that this band was influential, but, more importantly,
great. - M.P. Various Artists Beats and Rhymes: Hip Hop of the '90's Part I-III (Rhino) Hip-hop has developed so rapidly in the early '90s that more performers
have fizzled while few artists have matured. But the premise of
this Rhino compilation is sincere - showcasing hip-hop as a potent
form of expression; one that's established itself as a marketable,
profitable and, more importantly, artistic and social phenomenon.
The majority of the artists collected are from the New York/East
Coast school; the West Coast style is sparingly represented. A
Tribe Called Quest appears four times in three CDs and Chubb Rock
shows up three times. No one will deny Tribe's or Chubb's influence
on hip-hop, but their representation seems like favoritism. And
then there's the presence of Heavy D and the Boyz and Naughty
by Nature. Rhymesters at best, there is a Top 40 air that envelops
them like a fine mist; while not really bad, should they really
be characterized as the best representation of hip-hop? There are some unmistakable gems that save this compilation: the
Pharcyde's caustic and hilarious "Yo Mama"; Brand Nubian's "Slow
Down"; the ingratiating "Mistadobalina" by Del, Tha Funkee Homosapien;
and a certain nostalgic tune which captures "Summertime" in Philly
by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the artist formerly known as the Fresh Prince.
But Rhino still has a chance to turn a B+ effort into an A grade;
the first three CDs only cover the years of 1990 through 1992.
These years trace the evolution of hip-hop from a new style to
a formative teenage phase to an increasingly complex mature one.
Given the flourishing of this genre, future compilations should
only sound more refined, provided they represent a more broad
spectrum of artists. - E.R. Tard & Further'd (Siltbreeze Records) Various Artists spinART (spinART records) Since the beginning of its stint as Philadelphia's most nationally
revered and locally underappreciated indie label, it's been hard
to pin down a "Siltbreeze sound." But this selective compilation
of the label's singles output between 1989-1995 reveals that at
the very least there is a "Siltbreeze aesthetic." Kicking off
with the label's very first release, a live version of trash rockers
Halo of Flies' "Richie's Dog," and running through a who's who
of artists known for raw brilliance over production sheen, Tard & Further'd flows better than anyone might have expected. Halo gives way
to the twangy folk of the Gibson Bros., which segues into two
pop/punk gems, "French Feelings" and "Now That You Have Left Me,"
by the defunct Philly band Monkey 101. The fiery groove changes
uncannily over the next three tracks to the dour V-3 and the wandering
feedback experimentalism of Dead C's "Hell Is Now Love." If that
lineup sounds impressive, consider, at this point, the 17-track
compilation isn't even half over. Cuts by Alastair Galbraith,
Sebadoh, Guided by Voices, Shadow Ring and Thomas Jefferson Slave
Apartments round things out, all deliciously grimy, unpolished,
unpretentious and unforgiving. spinART used to be a really good label. With a roster of bands that used to include Lilys, Small Factory, Dambuilders and a penchant for
releasing lots of singles by lots of other good bands, the New
York City label was a bastion of perfect pop - light and airy
but subversive. But - and you saw this coming - when the label
signed up with a major which I can't even remember, things seemed
to start going downhill. There were the infamous Lotion shenanigans
with deceptive cover art changes and album re-releases that pretty
much destroyed any credibility the band had amassed. And since
then most of its better talent has fled or been dropped. This
compilation pools together previously released material from these
acts, plus material from their new roster. Unfortunately, save
for offerings from retro-popsters The Apples in Stereo, Holiday
and The Revelers, the new material isn't all that riveting. And
the tracks by Lilys and Small Factory are arguably not their best
stuff. Give it an "S" for Self-Serving.
December
Various Artists 
Elvis Costello 
Phish 
Portishead 
Various Artists