Music Reviews

Various Artists

Mercury Records

It's 12:35 a.m. on a weekday night. There are two cures for your comedy-viewing needs: Conan O'Brien or the ever-popular David Letterman.
"Late Night with Conan O'Brien" seemed doomed to remain in the shadow of David Letterman's "Late Show." To try and set the O'Brien show apart, producers struck a deal with Mercury Records to create an album culled from musical performances on the show.

The album "Live From 6A: Late Night With Conan O'Brien" compiles some of the best performances from the show.

"Live from 6A" is for those who can handle a little of the mainstream. A few of the songs are on the verge of being overplayed on the radio and nearly every artist on the album has been featured on MTV.

The album includes tracks from platinum artists such as 311, soulful rhythms from Jamiroquai and Soul Coughing, and critical faves such as Ani DiFranco.

It mixes a little old with the new. Bjork brilliantly performs "Human Behavior," off her first album, "Debut," and Elvis Costello beautifully plays the title track from his new album, "All This Useless Beauty."

Matthew Sweet performs the only cover track. His rendition of the Electric Light Orchestra's "Do Ya" is a fun flashback to the early '70s.

The CD represents what the Conan O'Brien Show tries to do: Give voice to up-and-coming talent. The collection of music is by people who definitely deserve to be seen and heard.

O'Brien suggests that the artists signed to his CD aren't huge - he must be crazy if he thinks names like David Bowie and Elvis Costello won't attract sales.

Other than the classic performers, the unique and unforgettable sounds of Bjork, Jamiroquai and the Squirrel Nut Zippers will undoubtedly catch the public's attention.

The man just seems to want something more to whine about.

Mercury hopes its "Late Night" collection will spawn R&B and country sequels.

- Marquina Iliev

I'm sure that O'Brien will go out and purchase his own copy of Letterman's collection to see the competition's final product. And if Letterman is ever interested in listening to O'Brien's cool compilation, I'm sure he can find someone to give him a copy.

Charlie Parker

Rhino Records

Perhaps Miles Davis said it best when he wrote "... all they could do was try to get Bird's approach, his concept ... Nobody could play like Bird, then or now."

Now, thanks to those re-release geniuses at Rhino Records, the unparalleled alto saxophone playing of Charlie "Bird" Parker can be found in a new two-CD boxed-set compilation, "Yardbird Suite: The Ultimate Charlie Parker Collection."

It truly is a Herculean task to assemble the "best" works of a musician so versatile and highly regarded as Bird. The fact is, there are few recordings of his that are not fantastic.

Regardless, this compilation opens up with "Groovin' High," a tune recorded with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie in typical fashion; the two musicians seem to meld together for a fantastic song. After all, it was playing in the same band that made these two famous.

Some of the best work on the first disc is a session recorded in '46, with an incredible band including trumpeter Miles Davis and tenor-man Lucky Thompson.

This group really grooves on the three classic Bird cuts, "Moose the Mooch," "Ornithology" and the title track, "Yardbird Suite." None of these are especially new, but they all are well played and, more important, they support some of the lesser-known pieces with their classic appeal. Unfortunately, they are placed in the middle of the line-up, so their impact is noticeably weaker.

One reason why Bird is so well respected, despite his extensive drug habit, is that he had a yen for creativity and a sense of humor. This trait is evident in the collection. Bird frequently steps aside to let the younger members of the band have moments alone to wail. Miles Davis, Bird's most famous pupil, comes across well in his, most notably on "Dewey Square." This swingin' piece seems to take off and never come down. One gets the feeling that the musicians are having a ball making this recording.

The second CD lacks a bit of the intense emotion that is prevalent in the first. Still, a handful of tracks stand out as truly incredible. In "Parker's Mood," Bird teams up with pianist John Lewis of Modern Jazz Quartet fame. The ballad moves gently as Lewis, who was classically trained, leads Bird into a more tame rhythm.

If nothing else, this track shows Bird's versatility in the way he can switch from fast-paced Be-Bop tunes to sweeter ballads. "My Little Suede Shoes" is a true change of pace for avid listeners, as Bird incorporates bongos and conga drums into the mix, for an Afro-Cuban sound. "A Night In Tunisia" rings with this same sultry, Latin feeling.

"Yardbird Suite" stands out as one of the best retrospective box-sets in a seemingly growing sea of such pre-packaged gold mines. All sidemen are given fair playing time and the mix of different recording sessions works in the compilation's favor.

The booklet that accompanies the discs is a great resource for casual listeners and ornithologists alike. If perhaps your wings have been clipped or your feathers ruffled, Bird will know how to get you flying again. It seems as if once again the adage is true: Bird lives!

- Aaron Rich

The Sundays

Geffen
Not much has changed since the last Sundays album. That's OK, though. Would we want Harriet Wheeler screaming against a ripping wall of thrash rock? No, of course not; we want The Sundays' music to spill through our toes like cool-mountain stream water in the summer or softly float down onto our heads like orange leaves in autumn.

"Static & Silence" ethereally billows as much as The Sundays' previous efforts and happily skips along sans the additional augmentations or unnecessary experimentation connected with so-called musical progress - and that's just fine.

Shootyz Groove

The Sundays' patented hap-pop (happy pop) maintains its candy-coated luster and luscious naiveté while further exploring the sugar-pop niche in which it comfortably hibernates.

"Summertime," the first song and single from "Static & Silence," dunks its drunk fuzzy bee bum into your pollen cup and creates instant honey. The warbling wah-wah guitars and staccato horns accompany Harriet Wheeler's beautifully clear vocals, leaving the listener satisfied and stung by the sweetness.

The chorus in "Summertime," "And it's you and me in the summertime / We'll be hand in hand down in the park / With a squeeze and a sigh and that twinkle in your eye / And all the sunshine banishes the dark," waxes romantic and reckless while remaining optimistic of things to come in future relationships.

"Folk Song" rambles along with an acoustic melancholy and sunny disposition not seen since the late John Denver's early balladeering days. The finger-picking guitar and fluttering flutes float like a kite in the clear-blue orchestral sky. "Folk Song" reminisces of summer skies, gold fields, dusty lanes, silver trees, whispering breezes and other warm things of memories past. This is mellow goodness at its best.

In another acoustic-influenced tidbit, "I Can't Wait," sounds of chirping birds whistle around rich six-string strummings and waves of golden horns. Once again, Wheeler's pure voice peacefully wanders up and down the instrumental periphery. The Sundays appear to be a musical beach covered in aurally smooth stones that beckon to be skipped on your conscious waters.

"Cry" cries and flies through melodic skies above weightless wonderings and slides on moonlit clouds of sighs. "Cry" is secretly delicious and deeply moving. I guarantee this song will be the next single off of "Static & Silence" because it's simple, refreshing and wonderfully listenable.

Once again, the welcomed orchestral accompaniments flow around The Sundays' basic "guitar, bass, drums" composition causing it to glow like fireflies in the night. This song wafts through dreamy melodies, lulls you to loll and leaves you light-headed.

"Static & Silence" is a symphony of pop caressing and undressing your inhibitions waiting for emotional acceptance and recognition.

This well-rounded album pumps and pulses under a savory membrane of brightness and lightness. These 12 organic compositions will put you in desirable positions and weave a musical fabric meant to cover you like a warm quilt on a cold night. With this album in your collection, any day will be a good day for The Sundays.

-Chris Felax

Shootyz Groove

ROADRUNNER Records

Shootyz Groove, a young band coming straight out of the Bronx, needs to find its own style.

Although its latest album "Hipnosis," has its moments, these guys sound like 311 with a little New York attitude. Unfortunately, Sense, Season, Donny, Paul Freaklove and Dose are not quite as talented or original as 311, one of the bands for which they have opened in the past.

Sense, one of the emcees for the band, claims, "As a band we listen to every kind of music there is. Basically, it all comes to the table when we record and write. The 'Respect' EP and 'Jamming In Vicious Environments' has straight-up MCing, beats and rhyming along with hard-edge guitar and funky bass. It's definitely a big melting pot of styles."

Sense, I hate to break it to you, but the bass is in no way funky, and your melting pot has been stirred much more successfully by 311.

But "Hipnosis" does feature some decent tracks when the "hard-edge guitar" isn't ruining it.

The album opens up with "Regardless," a solid tune based on a pretty funky guitar riff and a simple hip-hop beat.

The chorus actually sounds like Rage Against the Machine, and if it weren't for rhymes like, "State of mind beats and rhymes / Combine multiple jiga byte / Nigga bite proof roots deap leap" to show Sense and Season's creativity, the Rage impression would ruin the song. The rapping on this album is actually not that bad, but it becomes repetitive a few tracks into "Hipnosis."

The main problem with this album is its lack of diversity. Sure, Shootyz Groove knows how to mix different styles of music, but the group seems to only know one way to mix.

Every song opens the same way except for a few cheezy ballads. The guitar riffs are similar, as are the beats, and almost every chorus unleashes the wannabe Rage-distorted guitar mixed with weak lyrics.

If I could give one peace of advice to Sense, Season, Donny, Paul Freaklove and Dose, it would have to be to lose the cockiness evident throughout the album, and stop touring with 311. These guys sound like a cover band.

- Sharad J. Khemani

David Gavurin and Harriet Wheeler are The Sundays.

11-04-97