Newspaper Page Text
Page 7
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Album Review: Madness
By Bobby Moore*
Editor in Chief
Rmoore 7 @my. westga.edu
Based on my past
buying experiences,
covers albums typically
scare me off. When
The Ramones did Acid
Eaters, I guess it was
a good idea but it was
horribly executed. I am
not even going to
get started on Paul
Weller’s next to last
release.
Last year UK
ska legends Madness
proved to be the
exception to the rule
when they released
The Dangermen
Sessions Volume One.
The band has been
around off and on
since 1976, with the
current seven piece lineup
having come together in
1978. Lovingly referred
to as “The Nutty Boys”
by some fans, they have
always had a decent sized
fan base in the UK.
Their unusual style
did not do the band many
favors in the U.S., since
humor is sometimes lost on
our record buying public.
They did manage one top
ten single with their toe
tapping, coffee selling hit
“Our House".
Other notable songs by
the band include their cover
of “My Girl" and “It Must
Be Love”, which is now
used to sell blue jeans.
The album was a
tribute to the ska, R&B and
Northern soul music of the
1960’5. The band even used
recording methods that
make the album sound like
an authentic record from
that era, a strategy that has
been used since then by
The Aggrolites.
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The first cover. Prince
Buster’s “Girl Why Don’t
You" really sets the mood for
the album, because the band
is true to the original without
trying to completely rip it
oft. It should be no surprise
that a Prince Buster song
starts the album, since the
band took their name from
his hit song “Madness".
After that is the first
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of two Lord Tanamo tunes.
“Shame & Scandal” was
a favorite before 1 actually
knew who originally
recorded it.
Then, they do “I Chase
The Devil AKA Ironshirt”
justice. This is coming from
someone who holds both
Max Romeo and the album
War Inna Babylon in the
highest regard. This song
has typical lyrics by famous
producer Lee “Scratch”
Perry and Romeo. This
of course means that the
lyrics sound like they were
written by someone from
another planet.
After that, there is Diana
Ross and The Supremes
“You Keep Me Hanging
On”. While it is not a bad
cover, whenever an artists
changes references the sex
of the person being sung to it
irritates me to no end. If Patti
Smith can keep all of the
“he" and “she” references
while covering a song, then I
think that lead singerf iraham
“Suggs” McPherson could
have done the same.
Jamaican music fans
will also be pleased to see
the band pay their respects
to Desmond Dekker. For
those who do not know
w ho Dekker was, he passed
away over the summer.
“Israelites” is not
that great on this album,
but that might be
because it is getting
compared to one of
the best songs ever. It
is followed by a cover
of the more obscure
“John Jones”.
The Kinks’ “Lola”
then makes “Israelites"
sound like the original.
I’m not sure why this
cover turns me off, but
1 cannot get into it at
all. A song that was
first recorded by what
I consider to be the first
power-pop group seems
out of place on this album.
Covers of Barbara Lynn’s
“You'll a Gtxxl Thing”
and Jose Feliciano’s “Rain"
also seem a little out of
place.
The album ends w ith
a cover of Bob Marley’s
“So Much Trouble in the
World". I’m not a huge
Marley fan but this is
a beautiful song, and
it is great here. Within
the vast Marley catalog,
it ranks up there with
“Redemption Song”,
w hich of course sounded
great when covered
by Joe Strummer and
Johnny Cash.
Overall, I really like
this album. Fans of two
tone ska and other genres
that lifted a lot of influence
from original Jamaican ska
should check it out. It suffers
from some filler, but it still
has some fine moments.
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continued from page 7
easier.
Many will probably
enter the theatre
wondering how, even
with computer-generated
images and special effects
wizardry. Stone will
manage to recreate the
iconic buildings.
Stone actually
doesn’t rely on electronic
trickery (actually only
using the shadow of a
plane on a building) for
effect. Instead he relies
on historic footage on
CNN. Fox News and that
shot by amateurs around
the scene to, once again,
resurrect emotion from
his audience.
Attention Music Fans:
The West Georgian is currently
considering having a rotation
of staff members do
music reviews.
We have heard from a few
students already, but we are
still accepting applications.
If you are loyal to
one genre of music,
or if you can say that you like
“everything” on Facebook, we
would love to hear from you!
Contact Jesse Duke or
Bobby Moore at
uwgpaper@westga.edu
for more information
Stone also is able
to extract cinematic
elements of some of his
classic films such as
“Platoon” and “JFK” to
turn what could have been
a rather static story into
one with an undeniably
Oliver Stone tone.
The ensemble cast
of Cage, Pena, Bello
and Gyllenhaal works
incredibly well in this
film. Nicolas Cage seems
to have been on a brief
downslide lately, but this
r liTm is a reminder of what
he is capable of. Pena, w ho
broke onto the scene as
the locksmith in “Crash,”
possesses an intensity as
well as sensitivity that
translates from character
to character.
Bello and Gyllenhaal
alje Ulcat Ok'unjiait
are simply superb in their
contrasting spousal roles.
“World Trade Center”
is not a perfect film.
But with all of the
obstacles that Stone
had to work around,
the emotions that had
to be considered and
the difficulty of the
cinematography, it
would have been almost
impossible to do it any
better.
This film serves its
multitude of purposes
well and will (hopefully)
allow people decades
from now to get a sense
of that day.
GRADE: A-