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| The Mighty Mighty Bosstones serve up a winner with their latest, "Let's Face It." |
While the ska seems to have overpowered the Boston band's punk and hardcore roots for the majority of the album, the Bosstones pulled off their most musically interesting and fresh-sounding album. Vocalist Dicky Barrett's raspy growl continues to show up more frequently in "sing" mode, as opposed to his harsher blood-curdling screams that trademarked earlier Bosstone records. It's not even until the album's fourth song and also first single, "The Impression That I Get," that Barrett lets loose a scream in his traditional-Bosstone voice.
Like "Impression," the majority of "Let's Face It" resumes the band's style of more radio-friendly songs, like those from 1993's "Don't Know How to Party" and its predecessor, "More Noise and Other Disturbances." Somewhat forgotten are the attempts at more serious and abrasive material like the songs on the band's disappointing last record, "Question the Answers."
The poppy "Noise Brigade" kicks the record off with a bang, featuring the band's tighter-than-ever three-piece horn section. The still poppy and ska-influenced "The Rascal King" continues the record in the same vein, with "Royal Oil" going unusually light yet refreshing for the band.
Halfway through the record, "That Bug Bit Me" starts to ease the album into harder-edged songs, with "Numbered Days," "Break So Easily" and "Desensitized" pushing back to the punk side a bit, but still falling short of the band's earlier hardcore and heavy metal sound. The final track, "1-2-8," starts off sounding like the album's hardest track, but goes into a syrupy-ska chorus for a nice, but light overall feel.
"Let's Face It" clocks in at a mere 33 minutes, leaving the listener feeling like the album ended somewhat prematurely. The record's cohesiveness and quality make up for any shortcomings in the length department, however, and help to create an album that is solid from start to finish - an oddity in today's music world.
- Brian A. Gnatt
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| Want a free Mighty Mighty Bosstones sampler? The Daily is giving away FREE Bosstones tapes with the band's hit single "The Impression That I Get," along with the track "Noise Brigade" from their new album "Let's Face It." The sampler also includes the two Bosstone classics "Someday I Suppose" and "Where'd You Go?" all courtesy of PolyGram. Come by the Daily Arts Office on the second floor of the Student Publications Building, 420 Maynard St., after 3 p.m. today to pick up your free tape. Quantities are limited, so don't hesitate! |
The Saint: Music From the Motion Picture
Virgin
The summer blockbusters have begun early this year, and in the vein of past hits like "Mission: Impossible" and any James Bond flick, "The Saint" promises more action than you can point a sub-machine gun at. But, what distinguishes "The Saint" from other edge-of-your-seat films is the soundtrack. Successfully blending everything from alternative rock to cutting edge electronica, "The Saint" manages to jump on the trendy techno bandwagon right as it heads out.
The playlist reads like a list of who's who in current electronic music: Chemical Brothers, Orbital, Moby and Underworld, to name but a few. Of course, not to forsake fans of the classics, Duran Duran and David Bowie also make an appearance. The only unfortunate thing about "The Saint" soundtrack is that most of these songs can be found on other albums; very little of the material was created specifically for the movie. The exceptions to this are Orbital's "Saint Theme," a drum-heavy techno romp based on the original TV show theme, and Moby's "Oil," which will please Moby fans who have little interest in his new jaunt into the world of hard rock. More similar to Moby's work on "Everything Is Wrong," "Oil" is destined to be a club hit.
Other featured songs on the soundtrack are Duran Duran's new single "Out Of My Mind" (which will appear on their upcoming album "Medazzaland") a lushly orchestrated yet enigmatically catchy tune, which proves that the band will continue to be successful even without John Taylor. Daft Punk, a Parisian duo who have taken the European music scene by storm, contribute "Da Funk," an analog-created song with pulsing bass and raw house beats, and "6 Underground," a trip-hop radio-friendly single with chilling vocals by Sneaker Pimps Kelly Dayton, has already brought the British trio much acclaim. Stateside, girl group and Beastie Boys protégés Luscious Jackson deliver "Roses Fade," a near-acoustic tune with a strangely Latin melody, while Duncan Sheik's "In The Absence of Sun" explores little new territory for the artist. Like "Barely Breathing," this contribution is intimate, yet far too bland for a soundtrack that prides itself on its progressiveness.
"The Saint" soundtrack provides a fairly complete introduction into the up-and-coming world of techno. With its inclusion of chart-toppers like Chemical Brothers "Setting Sun" and Underworld's "Pearl's Girl," this soundtrack might not appeal to the die-hard techno fan for lack of new material, but would certainly introduce a little variety into the average alternative rock collection.
- Lise Harwin
True to Myself
Warner Bros.
First came D'Angelo. Then came the trio Bass is Base. And now, last but certainly not least, is Eric Benet continuing the newest R&B craze of bringing out '60s and '70s psychedelic styles with a '90s R&B flava.
What makes "True to Myself" so interesting is Benét's ability to contort his vocals in ways gold-medal gymnasts could only dream of. Listen to "If You Want Me to Stay," and answer this: Is that really Benet or Al Green and Zapp Roger together? And on his "Let's Stay Together" cover, can you be completely sure that the voice singing isn't just D'Angelo at a higher key? And as for his "Femininity" remake? Tell me you can't feel the spirit of comedian/singer Jamie Foxx surrounding every word coming out of Benet's mouth.
While he does sing a few songs with more of a style all his own, Benet will undoubtedly receive more than a little well-deserved criticism for releasing an album of mostly covers. From the ballad "While You Were Here" to the more upbeat "Spiritual Thang," Benet seems to have a handicap when it comes to using his obvious singing gift to push his own style. This is so sad, because - as he shows in the original cut "Chains" - if he were to do something on his own instead of incessantly biting off of that which other music artists established, Benet could quite possibly set the R&B world on its ear.
- Eugene Bowen
Just Add Ice
E-Squared Records
What hath these four guys from Knoxville wrought? Unfortunately, not much. While the back cover of the CD case suggests something polished with the band's members clad in sport jackets and ties, the music inside is anything but. Instead, it is the sort of rough, good old rock 'n' roll feel that has been done to death by just about everybody. And the worst part is that the V-Roys don't even do it that well.
Lead singer Scott Miller sounds a bit like Tom Cochrane, only with five times the nasal twang and half the mediocre conviction. Occasionally, he even sounds a bit like something that escaped from The Nashville Network.
But the music doesn't follow its singer's voice. It occasionally leans toward a country feel, but it is more often reminiscent of the Cars. The V-Roys overuse the usual stock rock 'n' roll guitar riffs and are nearly devoid of anything interesting in the instrumentation.
Almost all of the songs are near carbon copies of each other. The trio's synthesis is usually awkward, raising the hair on the back of the neck when they try to sing in the higher range of their voices.
The mood of the album is somewhat melancholy and employs many of the all-too-overdone song themes like drinking, trying to get a girlfriend back and being a loser.
One of the few high points on the record is the track, "Around You." Miller sings nearly the whole thing alone and his voice is accentuated by the acoustic scrawl of the guitars. Unfortunately, the climax doesn't hold for long, and soon the sound returns to its former state.
The V-Roys are true to their roots, but that doesn't excuse their genuine lack of originality. They attempt to replicate something both classic rock-like and poppy. Unfortunately, their style doesn't quite fill the bill.
- Jack Schillaci