Sound Bites
Iggy Pop tribute is mostly good
We Will Fall: The Iggy Pop Tribute
(Royalty Records)
Compilation albums are
cool, because usually they're in memory of someone or some group. Is it
cool, though, when the artist is still alive?Yes, it is.We Will Fall is
filled to the brim with some of today's most popular and influential bands
who credit Ig with being one of the forefathers of rock. Included on the
album are the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sugar Ray, the Lunachicks, Adolph's
Dog (aka Blondie) and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, among others.Some of the more funky
songs include "Ordinary Bummer" by Adolph's Dog, "Lust For Life" by New
York Loose -- which provides a very synthetic drum beat that keeps you
boppin' -- and "Sell Your Love" by Extra Fancy, a haunting rendition
lulling the listener into a dreamland. New York City's Lunachicks have one
of the most hilarious songs with "The Passenger," a more mellow sound than
they're used to, but still the grrrl-punk sound they've conquered.The Chili Peppers prove to
be a small disappointment, but their version of "Search and Destroy" is
still classic Peppers. Probably the most irritating and disappointing song
on the album is "Real Wild Child" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. The
attempted harmonies and harsh Jett-esque edge put on the song don't do it
justice. Sugar Ray doesn't quite deliver, either, with "Cold Metal."With 22 songs on the album,
though, it's definitely more good than bad. And a big karmic bonus is that
100 percent of the proceeds will benefit LIFEbeat, The Music Industry
Fights AIDS, a not-for-profit AIDS resource and awareness organization.
B -- Rad Probst /
Staff WriterEverclear
So Much For The Afterglow
(Capitol)
The opening track of this
album begins with a straight-out ripoff of the Beach Boys. For a second, we
think, maybe -- just maybe -- Everclear, one of the few remaining bands
left from the grunge era, is branching out, and maybe, the band is actually
going to try to screw with the hard-rock formula and breathe some life into
commercial rock. Then the song kicks in, and that idea is thrown right out
the window. It's good ol' grunge-dried punk -- formulaic and safe.Some of the songs have
hooks, and maybe if lead siner/guitarist Art Alexakis had something
interesting to say, we could put up with it. However, the whines and
frustrations Alexakis lets out are thinner than Fiona Apple. His victims
range from a people-pleaser ("Everything to Everyone") to an abusive dad
("Father of Mine") to a girl who uses self-inflicted pain to grab attention
("Normal Like You"). There's no irony, sarcasm or any digging beneath the
surface. The characters are just kind of handed to us in a blatant
manner.Worse yet is when Alexakis
tries to take a cut at upper-class America. He sings, They have never
had the joy / of a welfare Christmas, and wants to give to give the
song a biting satire, but it's impossible to take Alexakis as a voice of
the working class when he thanks "the good people" at "Converse" and "Dr.
Martens" in the linear notes. Talk about freedom and rebellion. D
-- Todd Martens / Music
EditorThe Slide Project
(E Pluribus Unum)
Teeny-bop goes `90s -- this
could be the most exact description of Neilson Hubbard. His album features
peppy rhythms, sugary vocals and an overall bop-along-with-me sound that
will no doubt soothe some and annoy the hell out of others. With a vocal style that
fuses Michael Stipe with the Lemonheads' Evan Dando (but at the falsetto
end of the spectrum), Hubbard is a dose of `60s beach-music nostalgia, to
which you can easily envision carefree teens with beehives or letter
jackets smiling and bouncing right along.Sometimes moody but
frequently upbeat, Hubbard, who opened on one leg of this summer's
Wallflowers-Counting Crows tour, has constructed about as pure of a power
pop album as possible. It's really nothing more than ear candy -- with
about as much substance as a fluffy wad of cotton candy. C-- Clay Marshall / Staff
Writer