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Tuesday, December 8, 1998
THE MAROON TIGER
PAGE 14
kRTS & ENTERTAINMEN
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Quick hits . . .
The Globe Sessions /
Sheryl Crow
After two popularly
acclaimed albums (Tuesday
Night Music Club, Sheryl
Crow), Midwestern-born and
bred Sheryl Crow returns for
a third go-round with The
Globe Sessions.
This time, though,
instead of using her usual
"narrative through the eyes
of another" style, she's
created an album that is far
more personal... with mixed
results.
While it's hard to
compare either of her latter
two albums with the success
of Tuesday Night (which
could have easily spawned
seven platinum singles), The
Globe Sessions doesn't quite
have the presence of her
debut.
"My Favorite Mistake"
and "The Difficult Kind"
both showcase the subtly
seductive vocals that got
Crow where she is today.
And the Gaelic "Riverwide"
is an interesting experiment
in voice, string and bass.
It's when Crow
meanders into pop squared
that the albums falters. "It
Don't Hurt" and "Members
Only" have nothing
distinctive enough to
separate them from the usual
radio drivel.
Lacking the pop
brilliance of Tuesday Night or
the upbeat tempo of her
sophomore effort, Globe falls
somewhere in between. A
little better than average —
not her best effort.
— Jonathan Howard
Celebrity Skin / Hole
Courtney Love is a
chameleon.
To some, she's a
drugged-out cliche of a
rocker who gets far too much
publicity; to others, an
untalented media hog, living
off the acclaim of her late
spouse.
And with the release of
Celebrity Skin, Love — the
queen of the underground
alternative rock scene —
further muddles her
categorization by going
mainstream.
Going pop can be a very
tricky ordeal; many a group
has tried and failed to turn
underground success into
top spots on the Billboard
charts. But Love's band,
Hole, makes this transition
almost effortlessly.
These are some of Hole's
best songs to date. The band
still exudes the same gritty
edge that it exhibited on their
earlier works (they're still the
musical equivalent of Alanis
Morissette on steroids), but
here the song structures are
more defined.
Amidst sizzling guitar
riffs, Love's angst-ridden
voice cryptically tackles love,
hate, and death. Her pain
becomes increasingly
tangible with every
electrifyingly potent
delivery: "And I cry and no
one can hear/Inhale/The
blinded eyes that see/The
chaos."
While one may never be
quite sure who Courtney
Love is, Celebrity Skin
certifies on thing: Love's an
artist, and a damn good one!
— Almasi Hines
Mutations/Beck
Beck has done it again.
Abandoning the art of
sampling in favor of
harmonicas, acoustic guitars
and a vast collage of other
instruments, the musical
genius has managed to make
the best folk-pop album since
the time when hippies
roamed the earth and Bob
Dylan was worshipped as a
god.
Fans of Beck's previous
album, the Grammy Award-
winning Odelay, may be
dissapoinfed
to find
that his
new
album
isn't
nearly as
progressive.
But while
Mutations
is a
departure
from the
eccentric,
cutting
edge style
of Odelay,
it's still
notable in
its own
right.
Beck exhibits a much simpler
sound on this album, which,
at the same time, is
astoundingly unique.
Mutations finds Beck
with better-honed lyrical
skills, allowing him to
overcome his propensity to
use cryptic, if not incoherent,
phrases. He incorporates
vivid vocal imagery
unparalleled by the majority
of contemporary song
writers.
Beck artfully explores
three main themes on this
album: death,
disillusionment, and
isolation. His voice never
rises over an apathetic moan
as he croons lyrics such as,
"There is no one, nothing to
see/The night is useless and
so are we." His delivery is
detached, which only
polarizes the emotions of
loneliness and desperation
inherent in each song.
Beck has once again
crafted an extraordinary
album, showing that he is a
multi-talented, eclectic artist
that can do pretty much
anything, whether he's using
a piano and acoustic guitar or
two turntables and a
microphone.
— Almasi Hines
Season’s Greetings
from
3 ,
The Maroon Tiger
HOPING THAT YOUR HOLIDAY
SEASON IS FILLED WITH THE
LOVE AND JOY THAT FAMILIES
AND FRIENDS PROVIDE.
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