Bruce Dickinson, Tattooed Millionaire (Columbia/Legacy)
Back in 1990, after eight years of an extremely demanding schedule of album-tour-album-tour with metal kings Iron Maiden, singer Bruce Dickinson settled down with a few of his friends to get back to the basics of simple hard rock, and most importantly, to have some fun. The record, entitled Tattooed Millionaire, was the first ever solo album by a member of Iron Maiden who was still a part of the band, and now, 12 years later, fans have a chance to hear a newly remastered, expanded reissue of the album. Aided by guitarist Janick Gers (who would go on to join Maiden that year), Dickinson revisits the music of his youth, from Mott the Hoople (represented by his good cover of "All the Young Dudes") to Aerosmith ("Dive! Dive! Dive"). The album has its share of throwaway tracks (such as the silly "Lickin' the Gun" and "Zulu Lulu"), but the majority of the album possesses some good tunes that have held up over the years, such as "Son of a Gun", "Born in '58", "Gypsy Road", and the humorous anti-hair metal rant, "Tattooed Millionaire". Bonus track highlights include a fun cover of AC/DC's "Sin City" and "Riding With the Angels", a live version of the song Dickinson sang with his pre-Maiden band Samson. Dickinson's more serious solo efforts, Chemical Wedding and Accident of Birth are more consistent albums, but Tattooed Millionaire is still worthy of being on Iron Maiden fans' shelves.
-- Adrien Begrand
Fania, Sopi (Tinder)
Ever looked up and realized that an entire hour of your life has vanished, pleasantly, but you can't remember what you did with it? That's this record for me: I've listened to it a lot of times, and when it's over I can't remember a damned thing about it. It's not the language difference (Fania sings in four different West African languages); it's not any kind of prejudice against Fania's having been a member of Kaoma (I still proudly own my copy of World Beat with "Lambada" on it); it's not that there is anything on Sopi that offends the ear or anything. On the contrary, these songs are just about all as beautiful as former runway model Fania herself: she has found a perfect way to integrate her Senegalese soul with modern production techniques, and the easygoing swing of tracks like "Nana" and "Setlou" are hard to hate. I dunno: it's probably my fault.
-- Matt Cibula
Hassan Hakmoun, The Gift (Triloka/Razor and Tie)
There's nothing wrong with Hassan Hakmoun as a crossover Arabic-pop idol: he's great-looking, he's got great taste in collaborators (good old Fabian Asultany to the rescue!), and his voice, trained in the Moroccan trance style known as gnawa is crystal-clear and evocative. In fact, I love eight of the nine tracks on The Gift, from the smooth-rockin' opener "Syada Ana" and the raļ jam "Sala, Allaho, Alaik" to the more mystical "Mimouna" and "Lala Aisha". But the one track I hate spoils the rest of the record for me so bad that I can't even hardly listen to the damned thing: "This Gift", his collaboration with Paula Cole, is one of the more appalling things I've ever had to listen to in my entire reviewing career. Its saccharine sell-out-friendly "world music" lope is just yucky, and the "lyrics" are boring, and the whole thing is a mess. So you two are married-big deal. Get a better song, or stay off each other's records.
-- Matt Cibula
isan, Clockwork Menagerie (Morr Music)
Isan make electronic music built around atmosphere, melody, and rhythm in that order. This isn't music made with the almighty purpose of making people dance. Each track is at first a journey into a unique sonic environment, with buzzes and clangs and hard-to-pin down sounds. But there's also melodic movement, a tune underneath that'll get you humming along. And there's always a variety of shifting rhythms, generally more mellow than the beats emanating from your local dance club. Clockwork Menagerie collects songs from 7" singles isan released from 1996 to 1999 on a variety of labels, including Bad Jazz, Wurlitzer Jukebox, Atomic Recordings and Earworm. The fact that all of these singles are out-of-print makes this a must-have release for any isan fan. But even listeners who aren't familiar with the group will likely find this music fascinating, especially if their ears are open to electronic music that tries to create unique aural interiors.
-- Dave Heaton
Chris Thomas King, Dirty South Hip-Hop Blues (21st Century Blues)
Dirty South Hip-Hop Blues is what happens when a talented musician lands a role in what becomes an Oscar-nominated movie -- O Brother Where Art Thou -- makes a pile of cash, then decides to go into the studio to cut a CD and do everything his way. Except for a guest vocal appearance by Tabby Thomas, Chris Thomas King's father, King plays all instruments, does all programming, sings, and has produced and mixed every note on the album. The results are sterile, self-indulgent, and terribly unbalanced. There are 20 tracks in all, in itself evidence of faulty judgement or a nasty case of egomania. However, amidst quite a bit of syrupy and poorly executed sentimentalism -- "9/11 Interlude", "Gonna Take a Miracle" and "Ghetto Child, You're Not Alone", which begins with a very out-of-tune nylon string guitar introduction -- and a lot of failed experimentation, there is an album's worth of, if not revelatory, at least solid material. In his attempts to fuse blues and hip-hop, King succeeds on tracks like "Da Thrill is Gone from Here", a souped-up version of the blues classic on which his father sings and King raps, and "Revelations", which contains elements of "John the Revelator" performed by Son House, lyrics from Robert Johnson's "If I Had Possession over Judgment Day", and parts of "Travelogue" performed by Loafer. The problem is that tracks like these are sandwiched between such bad songs that it is difficult to derive much enjoyment from them. Maybe next time, assuming King doesn't run out of cash, he can spare a dime or two on a producer. A pair of objective ears would serve this talented artist well.
-- Chip O'Brien
Kiss, The Very Best of Kiss (Universal)
Well, here they go again, another carefully-crafted attempt to squeeze as much cash as they can from the pockets of the loyal members of the Kiss Army. The Very Best of Kiss is the sixth Kiss compilation in the band's history, and even more amazingly, their third since 1996. And that's not even counting the four official live recordings. Honestly, how many times do we have to hear "Rock and Roll All Nite"? Still, this is a pretty decent collection of the band's finer moments from their undeniably spotty recording career: along with the standards, there are gems like "Got to Choose", "I Want You", and "I Stole Your Love". Unfortunately, most of the tracks are already on the 1978 best-of Double Platinum (still the definitive Kiss compilation), and the five tracks from their post-1978 period ruin the fun, namely the forgettable disco track "I Was Made For Loving You", the schmaltzy, Michael Bolton-penned 1989 ballad "Forever", and their annoying 1992 cover of "God Gave Rock & Roll To You II". If you're just getting into Kiss, make sure you own Alive, the Ace Frehley solo album, and Double Platinum; once you have those albums, you can decide where you want to go from there. If you're a longtime Kiss fan, however, don't waste your money buying this.
-- Adrien Begrand
Midget Jesus, What Would Midget Jesus Do? (Partial Eclipse)
What do Lee Marvin, a headless naked woman with a foghorn, wandering tree trunks, and WWII have in common? No idea? Well, they're all featured on the cover art of Midget Jesus' album, What Would Midget Jesus Do? and, as far as I can tell, alluded to somewhere in amongst its songs. This bizarre juxtaposition of images, fronted by a robotic being trapped inside a colorful vortex, is the perfect introduction to this weird and wonderful band from Boston. A funky quartet of musical misfits, the Midget Jesus boys -- singer and guitarist David Fieldhouse, guitarist John Cullen, bassist Chris Regalia, and drummer Pat O'Shea -- have created an album of short, sharp punk rock tunes, all so completely enjoyable. It's obvious the guys are having a good time doing what they do, and such excitement is infectious. Whether the songs are happy or sad, What Would Midget Jesus Do? is the kind of record that just makes you want to jump around and break stuff. Midget Jesus' brand of catchy pop-punk, reminiscent of the Ramones and early Supergrass, never gets boring. The band's songs rarely outstay their welcomes; hitting their peaks as soon as they begin and maintaining momentum right the way through. "Money", "Mission", and "8 Feet High" are great examples of this. The songs sound almost as if they're just one long chorus each, every line as contagious as the next. The harmonies are complex (which is rare, these days, on a punk record), but thoroughly engaging. On "Money", Fieldhouse sounds as if he's singing a duet with himself. Not as bouncy but just as appealing as the album's other tracks, "Problem" ("You don't seem to recognize / That I can't say no / And I can't disguise / No matter what you say") and "Discotheque" ("She said she likes a man / Who can do a hundred push-ups / I can do 99") are more controlled tunes musically, suggesting that while completely adept at creating three-minute punk gems, MJ can also dig a little deeper and pull out something more sedate, more fleshed out. Whether raging on about the effects of drug addiction ("Coffee"), the dangers of falling in love ("Nevermind"), cheating dames ("Liar") or anxious delirium ("Excited"), Midget Jesus' debut is consistently surprising, refreshing and fun.
-- Nikki Tranter
Minus the Bear, Highly Refined Pirates (Suicide Squeeze)
Seattle has long been a haven for the musically adventurous, it's isolation an asset to breeding individuality. From The Sonics to Green River, from Nirvana to Sir Mix-A-Lot, the Pacific Northwest has encouraged a uniqueness to call it's own. This is not to say that the success of several bands in the early '90s didn't spawn imitators trying desperately to cash in (wither Candlebox?). So it should be no surprise that one of the fathers of the ill-defined "emo" genre came out of the area. At its height, Sunny Day Real Estate was the kind of band that didn't fit into a particular genre, but created one. They were a sonic powerhouse. And once again, it is no accident that they would spawn imitators. Minus the Bear is just such an animal. But they don't just stop at the Emerald City's city limits. They also look to math-rock pioneers Fugazi and Helmet to add to their mix of by-the-numbers compositions. It's clear the members of Minus the Bear are talented musicians, but most of Highly Refined Pirates comes off as well-executed wanking. The songs lack the emotion required for emo, and everything is lowered to frat-boy levels by frivolous, nonsensical songs titles and lyrics. But worst of all is the inclusion of expletive-removing radio edits of two tracks, a little too keen and apologetic a move, not to mention deliberately crass.
-- Robert Jamieson
Darryl Read & Ray Manzarek, Freshly Dug (Ozit/Morpheus)
British musician/actor Darryl Read's first foray into the world of recorded spoken word poetry is a fine, albeit unspectacular one. Supported on piano by Doors keyboardist (and spoken word enthusiast) Ray Manzarek, Read channels the likes of Jack Kerouac and Gregory Corso, delivering his own form of Beat-inspired surrealist poetry. While Read has his moments ("Out of the tall stories of petulant liars / And pretenders of the faith / We give you grace tonight"), his speaking voice just doesn't have the strength, that touch of the madman-slash-sage that you heard in the voices of Corso and Allen Ginsberg. Fortunately, Freshly Dug is rescued by the piano playing of Manzarek, who has extensive experience backing up good poets, whether it was Beat stalwart Michael McClure (best experienced True Found Self"), or more avant-garde fare ("The Magic Tavern"). Freshly Dug is a decent album for late nights, but for more on the 1997 film The Third Mind), or that Morrison guy, Manzarek knows exactly how to contribute the right musical touch to spoken poetry, be it boogie-woogie electric piano ("Behind the Beat"), jazz licks (Man O' Jazz"), ambient ("Preparation For Death and accomplished beatnik fun, I strongly recommend This is For the Night People by Canadian pop-jazz-poetry masters Ralph, and for more relevant contemporary British poetry, I strongly suggest The Streets' Original Pirate Material.
-- Adrien Begrand
34 Satellite, Stop (Hideaway)
This record is full of nice power-pop hooks and interesting lyrics, but I'm not sure I would characterize it as a great record. For one thing, it sticks way too closely to its obvious models: Half the tracks here are slavish imitations of that beautiful Teenage Fanclub/Velvet Crush sound I love (and, considering those groups were slavishly imitating {Beatles/Beach Boys/Byrds/Big Star} that puts 34 Satellite into the "twice-removed" category), and the other half give us big dumb Oasis rawk riffs. But singer/songwriter/guitarist Marc Benning is someone to watch, and some of the tunes here manage to transcend their clone status: "Rock Stars Plastic Cars" gets all J.Spaceman on our asses, "There Is Gonna Be a Problem" is intricately textured sadpop, and check out my man's poetry on "Get Out Alive": "I got a tattoo of a tree / In juvenile hall for free". Ace! I'm eagerly awaiting Benning's next (hopefully more original) move.
-- Matt Cibula
— 27 January 2003
