by Greg Imprint
K&chick staff
It seems rather ironic th a It Massive Attack are currently re C :eiving some attention stateside (wide domestic release of the album, radio airplay) due in great part to the evcrgrowing popularity of the similar sounding Portishcad. Ironic because Geoff Barrow and Beth Gibbons’ main musical progenitors arc fellow Bristolians Massive Attack, whose 199 1 Blue Lirzcs was a benchmark of mixing movlc soundtrack atmospherics with slight hip-hop beats. W hatcver the impetus, any albums they sell arc well-deserved, as this shows some very strong musical innovation. If one wanted to be banal about it, they could say that if you love Portishead, you’re likely going to like Massive Attack too. Many of the same characteristics that make the former band enticing - strong vocals, moody overtones in the music, and so forth - are what make the latter just as special. There are differences between the two of course, which stem mainly from the soul element in
I
:” . .The Jerky Boys sq4&mck: Arlant@$&eti ; Aldworth staff
TheJ~rkyBqsisamovicabout prank phone calls. Sounds like it has tons of promise. Yeah right! While the movie looks like it will hit video shelves quicker thanLast Action Hero, the soundtrack seems like it has some staying power. With a wide variety of current artists like Green Day, House Of Pain, Superchunk and Collective Soul contributing tracks this is not as big a bomb as the movie. The Jerky Boys manage to follow the example set by the Reservoir Dogs and Pu@ Rction soundtracks. Character dialogue (this time prank phone calls) is found interspersed between songs and even in the songs. Given the topic of the movie, TheJerky Boys Soundtrack is perfectly suited to this type of treatment. Too bad it is poorly done and for the most part ruins some otherwise good songs (the Coolio song is just one). Johnny
Brennan
(one
half
with vocals that, oddly enough, sound like they belong in some old James Bond flick from the sixties. Both tracks are based around Bontempi drum beats and, with “Sly,” on light mystical strings that set a very strong mood. You can almost picture Goldfinger dancing around Bond with her seductive short cuts from their ‘hilarious’ prank phone calls. While inventivc, this track is hardly listenable. As is the trend of late with soundtracks, a number of the tracks reflect the theme ofthe movie. L7’s cover of an old Blondie t‘une “Hangin’ On The Telephone” and “Dial & Jam” by Coolio & The 40
VariouS Art&&
by Chris Imprint
Massive Attack. Both “Karmacoma” and “Eurochild” have the pair of rappers 3D and Tricky, who exchange thoughtful words on the state of the world back and forth amongst one another, all to extremely sedate but ultimately fascinating beats. Even better are the two tracks led by singer Nicolette, who draws the listener in
c>f
the Jerky Boysj opens the soundtrack with the expected joke prank cut “Accordions & Keyboards.” The closing bonus track “(You Got Me) Sick As A Dog” is yet another warped Jerky Boys original. It combines heavy altemo-music with
are the heat of this lot. Cover songs abound on this soundtrack. L7 rips through the aforementioned Blondic song. Helmet does a highly imitative, although very credible, version of Black Sabbath’s “Symptom OfThe Universe” and Tom Jones does a
Thevz
metallic skin. Or something like that As if this wem’t enough, the single “Protection” and album track “Better Things” utilize the (cucrently) wasted talents of Everything But the Girl’s Tracy Thorn, Her voice rings out true and heartfelt like it hasn’t in years, and the juxtaposition of her pop/easy listening instincts, and Massive Attack’ssmooth hip-hop groove make for the album’s cornerstones. Now all she has to do is dump Ben Watt, and move on to what seems to be her true calling (yeah, like that’s likely). By now you might be getting the sense that this album is like a supergroup collective (I haven’t even mentioned the two instumentals on here, one with what sounds like a close sampling of the Halloween theme music), and in many ways this is exactly the feeling you get. Mixing hip-hop, Petula Clark, and Tracy Thorn appears to be a very disparate combination, yet Massive Attack pull it off fantastically, making it an entirely organic mix of styles. Aside from an awful cover of “Light My Fire” at the close, this album is quite definitely brilliant. A must-have for hip and happening cafes and coffee houses everywhere.
horribly jazzy version Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way .” What the hell is a horn section doing on this Kravitz song? What a complete pile of crap. Songs by Green Day, Superchunk and Collective Soul keep this soundtrack afloat despite some painful moments (due in most part to the movie cuts). Green Day contribute “2,000 Light Years Away,” a highlight from their indie debut Kerplunk. The Collective Soul song “Gel” is so damn catchy you just want to hate it. The derivativepounding guitars sound like every other guitar band out there but “Gel” is a fine song regardless. North Carolina’s Superchunk remake an old tune of theirs. “Shallow End” is given a mellow treatment. Theirjangly guitar rock is quite enjoyable and is easily the best tune here. The Beastie Boys sometime-DJ Hurricane recreates the B-boys style on the peppy “Four Fly Guys,” but House Of Pain’s “Beef Jerky” is plain 1y bormg. The Jerky Buys contains a wide disparity in the song quality. It does manage to gather a wide range of artists spanning many genres of music. Just like the Jerky Boys comedy albums though, the soundtrack is fine in small doses but all at once it proves way too much.
by Sandy Atwal Imprint staff
It has often been said that The Beautiful South is a one-trick pony. While this may be true, it is equally true that their one trick is very good. By uniting the sappiest ofmelodies with the most caustic of lyrics (and by doing both extremely well) The Beautiful South have fashioned a career out of being pop music’s first truly post-modem band. They don’t just write songs about writing songs, but rather they write songs about why writing songs is stupid. (There are five such songs on this compilation.) curry On up the Charts collects more than its fair share of The Beautiful South’s singles, and in a special Canadian-only edition of this CD, tacks on another CD with sixteen b-sides - all for the price of a normal CD. The track selection for the Asides would have been a more interesting collection for both fans and for those wanting an introduction to The Beautiful South, if the compilers had decided upon better album tracks instead of sticking strictly with singles. Songs like “You Keep It All In” and “We Are
Each Other” are good songs, very good, but their inclusion leaves out obviously superior tracks. While the selection from WeZcome tu the Beuuriful South, the band’s first album, is fairly representative, the band’s second (and best) album., Choke, is represented with only three tracks (one of them, “Let Love Speak Up Itself” is a bit of a throwaway) as opposed to four tracks for all the other albums. Equally redundant are the four singles from the band’s last album, which was rleleased less than a year ago. The obligatory extra/bonus track “One Last Love Song” is, happily, a fine work as opposed to the cast-offs usually included in such compilations. The B-sides CD is reason enough to buy this greatest hits package both in terms of quality and quantity. Only five of the sixteen tracks are covers, including one by the brothers Gibb(!) and tracks like “They Used to Wear Black” and “In Other Words I Hate You”easi ly rank up there with the band’s best work. The Beautiful Southare a love them/hate them band. Many people simply can’t get over the radiofriendly sound that the band embraces in order to parody. Fans, however, will find more than enough in the band’s lyrics to keep them interested.
meis a difference. Not joes each of the eleven gs on the album have catchy melody, somevhat-intelligent-butnot-too-profound lyrics (man, I hate it when I have to think a@&s :. about what the words .., ...x mean!), and energy to spare, but - and herein lies what separates them from any other power-pop ;roup oui mtxc - me .illjoys are actually )od. That is, you can ‘tl the volume down ess than ear-splitting levels, and they still rise above mediocrity. The album starts out with the energetic “‘Today I hate Everyone,” which has already become a mainby Natalie Gillis stay of CFWY play lists (so it must Imprint staff be cool). The energy level pretty much continues in the same vein Yeah, yeah, I know this althroughout the rest of the songs, bum’s beer) out for a while, but giving way only on the final track. there’s a reason why you’re seeing Although “Someplace” takes this review now as opposed to someits place as the obligatory slow song, time last g$ar. “; ..Starv was ori& i j_.t&z&jll&~~: have pulled it off withr: an i~d~~;~e~ei~~,1, ;,~~~~~‘~of~-.!i’;”cdin&~n;; ~it%qn just that. lnL,+: ..I( ‘2;iiI ,.:>, you who pay c~~$~~~&@fi’ig &$$ ’ .$&ad &@@iqg “G&, :. >:we know this things wil&a&noti$d tl&:$&nep ,I “‘“ii :; ,,~~:~fe&~ @$y, ,,gopgbut we’re music logo ‘~~~~~~~~~,c~ort::~~~~e.~ a$":thfe~ingii,t :$fi .:jeit, $0 you know :>,./,..‘:x : edition, rnarki’~~:~~~~~:?,.~lljo~~,~~~.. .+i. :r;uhat caring, sensitiye’ guys we re: i.::. .k~... 1. ,: s.3:; _j > v::“” ‘::; :;i#: . . (. label debut. ,.lt/:i.:“y;.‘, :<< ally are,” the song simply rounds Unfortunately, that’s the only out the album and adds a tone of difference between the new and old finality to the whole thing. versions ofslurPy (they could have All in all, this is a great collecincluded a bonus track or sumetion of sungs f101u d baml on th rise. And, oh yeah, before I forget thing!) but, given the overall strength of the album, this is nothto throw in that all important coming to cry about. parison to some big American band, if you like the Lemonheads, you Admittedly, the Killjoys do sound a lot like just about every and the Killjoys will get along just other power-pop group out there, fine. na]ly
jar