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Paul Is Live
From its people-pleasin' serving of 24 tracks (hits, recent product and two unrevealing jams) to its air of mass nostalgia, this is exactly the ticket to infuriate McCartneyphobes. But through the unarguable strength of the songs captured on this New World Tour disc and the delightful vigor of its master's voice, Paul Is Live should […]
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Janet Jackson
Control (1986) and Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989) went far in wasting any lingering impression of their creator as merely Michael's kid sis. Irrefutably the work of a woman of substance, "janet." completes the makeover. Enlisting whiz producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for Control was Jackson's first flash of brilliance; the duo fused […]
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American Recordings
Among country's old guard, Johnny Cash remains incontrovertibly cool. Arbiters of hip from '60s Dylan to '90s U2 have grooved to the renegade soul of this Arkansas sharecropper's son, this original rockabilly. Aptly, Rick Rubin provides American Recordings a production that's tougher than leather: stark guitar and Cash's wise-as-Isaiah vocal delivery. Songs by writers as […]
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Weezer (Blue Album)
Wafting out of countless college dorms, "Undone — the Sweater Song" seemed only the latest in slacker sloth: Above an ambience of beer-bash chitchat, a sad sack wails forlornly (the title "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" just about sums the album up). But these four young survivors of the Los Angeles club […]
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Healing Hands Of Time
Among country's old guard, Johnny Cash remains incontrovertibly cool. Arbiters of hip from '60s Dylan to '90s U2 have grooved to the renegade soul of this Arkansas sharecropper's son, this original rockabilly. Aptly, Rick Rubin provides American Recordings a production that's tougher than leather: stark guitar and Cash's wise-as-Isaiah vocal delivery. Songs by writers as […]
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From The Cradle
John Mellencamp's's most trenchant work — Scarecrow, The Lonesome Jubilee, Big Daddy — is folksy and ruminative, but the cocky Hoosier made his name as a rocker. Dance Naked is his toughest rock yet: a spare, nine-song, guitar-bass-drums depth charge. A cover, with Me'Shell NdegéOcello, of Van Morrison's "Wild Night" was the chartbuster, but its […]
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Definitely Maybe
Not since the smiths has an Anglo act shaken significant Stateside action. And that's a shame. For while the current cadre is more defiantly British (e.g., insular, cocky, ornamental) than ever, they're also keenly fab. The countless Yanks who never grokked the giddy theatrics of glam will find Dog Man Star revolting. But for jean […]
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World Of Morrissey
Blur, Pulp, the London Suede. Monsters in England but mice stateside, these bands prompt the query "Why hasn't any British band since Duran Duran scored more than fleeting success in America?" The answer may lie in the Morrissey Effect. His '80s group the Smiths galvanized a certain crowd: collegians toying with disaffection who got a […]
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Dance Naked
John Mellencamp's most trenchant work — Scarecrow, The Lonesome Jubilee, Big Daddy — is folksy and ruminative, but the cocky Hoosier made his name as a rocker. Dance Naked is his toughest rock yet: a spare, nine-song, guitar-bass-drums depth charge. A cover, with Me'Shell NdegéOcello, of Van Morrison's "Wild Night" was the chartbuster, but its […]
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Under The Table & Dreaming
In its '70s heyday southern rock was huge but hardly monolithic — under its pillars dwelt the guitar swagger of the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Dixie Dregs' jazz fusion and Sea Level's literate funk. Then, dealt fatal blows by the passing of crucial Allmans and Skynyrd greats, it crumbled, and the region, led […]
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