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CD SPINS (Cd Reviews)

by Staff

JESSICA RIDDLE
Key of A Minor
(Hollywood Records)

    Jessica Riddle is a rare animal in the world of teen pop culture. Unlike the Britneys and the Mandys and the Christinas, this 19-year-old artist has more 'substance' than 'show' pushing her forward.

   At the end of the day, that substance will sustain Riddle's career when today's top teen queens are fodder for "Where Are They Now" magazine articles.

    This talented young woman wrote or co-wrote all but one of the eleven tracks that fill her impressive debut release. Moreso, she designed the album's subtle packaging and conceived it's clever title.

    After repeated listenings to key of a minor, this writer can only say that Riddle is emerging as the Carole King of her generation. The deep-rooted conviction, the soul-stirring sensitivity and the way her songs reflect that delicate balance of strength and weakness in women, recalls King's Tapestry era.

   Riddle can be as sexy and sassy as rest of the pack when she wants to be, as the opening lyric to her lead track - "I want to suck on your lips..." - clearly makes evident.

    Yet that even that song - "I Want You" - which is shout out to teenage desire, takes on a unique tone. It is delivered with a refreshing "coming of age" sense of developing maturity rather than the kind of hormonal-driven lust we would expect from a teen confessing a longing for love.

    The songs filling Riddle's debut collection are subtle and laid-back, but with enough pop sensibility running through each track to prevent the songs from wearing thin.

   This pop essence is evident on "Indifference," with it's George Martin-inspired phased orchestral beds. It comes through best on "Symphony," a fun number with a sashaying chorus loop yanked out of Jean Knight's old AM radio hit, "Mr. Big Stuff." The marriage of those two songs works perfectly.

   The most poignant moment comes with the disturbing "I'm Sorry," striking out at the subservient role many women play in relationships where testosterone sets the rules.

   Riddle is a solid talent who has the misfortune of being confused as part of the pre-fab culture now dominating music. Until you pop her CD into a player! Credibility problems disappear once the music begins.

    When all the chaff is blown away from the current bumper crop of teen pop stars, I guarantee that Jessica Riddle will be standing tall like a golden stalk of wheat.

- Tom Lounges

TEMPEST
10th Anniversary
(Magna Carta)

    Tempest is a Celtic Rock Band. The melodies they sing are often very pretty, but the prettiness is balanced by hard, biting guitar playing and stinging fiddle work, along with hard rhythms and passionate vocals.

   The lead-off track, "You Jacobites by Name," a song about a particularly bloody period in Scottish history, grabs one's Celtic sensibilities by the mid-section and holds it there.

    It's not all blood and guts though. We also have "A Kiss in the Morning Early," a song one might hear performed at an Irish bar in Chicago, yet Tempest gives it a sort of edge that's hard to pin down.

   The instrumentals have the same quality, in that the beautiful mandolin and violin work sound indeed like traditional Celtic music, but there's something in Tempest's playing that takes these songs to a different, less comfortable place. It's this edginess that makes this album a raging success.

    For those who favor heavier music, Dave Parnall's guitar work is as heavy and unyielding as any good metal guitar playing I've ever heard. Michael Mullen's fiddle work alternates between beautiful and menacing, creating moods of medieval joy and terror, often in the same song. The rhythm section of John Land and Adolfo Lazo comes down like a hammer when it needs to, and Lief Sorbye's vocals are as urgent and heartfelt as any hard rock singer who's wielded a microphone.

    Although traditional Celtic music does not necessarily come from anger, it does come from the mood of a people who faced not only many of the same beautiful and moving things, but also crazy, cruel, and nasty stuff. Many of the songs Tempest plays have been handed down from generation to generation, and what they do is interpret them for today's audiences, making sure that the passion of the past doesn't get swallowed up in the commercialism of the present. Things haven't changed much, and the passion of Tempest helps us to remind us of that.

- Ben Likens

RED RADIO FLYER
Gettin' Somewhere
(Mother West Records)

   "Gettin Somewhere" is the first release from New York's Red Radio Flyer, a
quartet with a sound that falls somewhere in the vicinity of Blues Traveler, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Meatloaf, but with a zesty style of their own.

    Their album features 12 tracks of contemporary rock. A few of which are rather catchy, such as "The Story of Angel," which is fast to grab attention from the listener.

   Other such songs include - "I Got A Way" and "Don't Ask Me To Explain" - which both include strong chorus parts driven by upbeat melodies that rock. A few other highlights emerge as well and have titles like "San Antonio," "Fading Away" and "The Last Time."

   Unlike many rock songs which are filled with senseless lyrics, Red Radio Flyer's songs are insightful about life and those thoughts are delivered in an ear-pleasing fashion with very soothing vocals.

    The only problem with this album is that it rolls along with a similar rhythm throughout. This is the same problem that bands like Neve and Matchbox Twenty also suffer from in my opinion.

    None of the songs disappoint on this notable first effort. Red Radio Flyers are a promising indie artist who just might develop into something special in time and with a little better marketing.

- Brad White

HOMECOOKIN'
Afrobilly Soul Stew
(Blue Dot)

     Throw in some Louisiana swamp boogie, a pinch of Chicago blues, a Memphis shuffle, Kansas City swing, and just a touch of gospel and a whole lot of fun, and you'll get the San Francisco Bay-area quartet, "Home Cookin."

   Listening to their second disc, Afrobilly Soul Stew, I flashed on the Chicago Rhythm & Blues Kings: fans of Blind Pig artists CBRK will boogie along with this West Coast import just like were Chicago's own.

   "Brick House in Memphis" highlights Tyler Eng's light touch with a brush on the drums and Jim Pugh's piano, all behind Brenda Boykin's sultry vocals and Anthony Paule's guitar.

    My personal favorites include "Five O'Clock Blues," a longer version of the Gerry Goffin-Carole King nugget "Chains," and a version of Jimmy Cliff's reggae classic, "Rivers of Babylon," that brings chills to my spine with it's great harmony.

   Go get some Afrobilly Stew from Home Cookin'. It's musical soul food that is just flavorful enough for a blues fan to find palatable.

- Eric Steiner

FLYBANGER
Outlived
(Gotham)

    It's very rare that I will ever give an EP more than a few words, because in all honesty, they are normally a ripoff. There is almost never a time that I would recommend buying an EP, because they cost more than 1/2 the price of a full length release, yet rarely feature more than 20 minutes of music. What a gyp!

   But for once, I'll actually recommend one. Why? I'm really not sure.

   Flybanger is a band that none of you know anything about. Further, they have a new, full-length release coming out on Columbia Records in January of 2001. So why should you buy this? Two reasons. First, they will be out on tour with Union Underground before then, and second, because this is simply one of the very best nu-age "metal" bands I've heard in a long. long time.

   These guys really rock. They're not overly heavy, but have more of a Sevendust type vibe to them, for those of you who need clarity.

   There are no bad elements about this disc, sans the fact that it only has five tracks. This is actually a very cool introduction to this band.

    Formerly known as Jar, Flybanger is essentially what you would want from a power rock band. The music is intense, angry, spirited, and tight as a fly's ass!

   They key ingredient to this band would have to be vocalist Garth. It's a pretty safe bet that this guy is difficult to deal with, because his vocals are absolutely schizophrenic in presentation. He starts off with a baritone croon on songs like "When Are You? (Gonna Die)," before exploding into a frenzy that leaves you wondering just when he got so damn angry. But it's good, trust me...

    Adding to the assault is guitarist Bryan Fratesi, a power player to say the least. He rages on songs like "Mind Alone," while showing more of a graceful, less roaring approach on "Bleak." His riffs on "Freeze Up" are some of the coolest, most memorable I've heard in some time. This guy can play, period.

    The same can be said of the band's underbelly, comprised of bassist Tom
MacDonald and drummer Rob Wade. These guys are extremely tight and work
very well together, be it on the slow, driving pace of "Bleak" or on a rocker
like "Outlived."

    The individual elements of this band are superb, but in reality, it is
the meshing of this talent that makes this band must listening.

    Flybanger is a very solid band, and depending on what their live show
sounds like could be another fast riser like Static-X or Union Underground or
(insert your favorite "nu metal" band here). Good stuff.

- Chris Akin

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JULIE V
Something New
(Indie)

    Our local scene has been hit with a jazz vocalist of incredible talent.
Her name is Julie V.

    Recorded locally at Sheffield Studios, her debut disc contains several
standards, along with the original title track, co-written with her tenor sax
player, Bernard Scavella.

   Every track is lovingly styled by Julie, to bring it as close to
perfection as possible. The sensuous tracks "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Peel Me
a Grape" are countered by the aggressive "My Funn(k)y Valentine" (my personal
favorite) and "Stolen Moments."

    Julie's voice is her instrument, and she has learned to use it so
effectively that at her performances, her audiences are literally pulled from
their seats and into the song.

    Her band - Scavella on tenor sax, Hunter Adams on keyboards, Neal Alger
on guitar, Rocco La Broi and Buddy Pearson on bass, and Dennis Natarelli and
Darren Scorza on drums - is in top form on every track.

   Engineer Mike Sheffield's work at the soundboard makes this disc
uncommonly beefy for a jazz recording, with the bass and drums really pushing
the other instruments along. From beginning to end, Something New is an
enjoyable experience. The accompaniment is flawless and Julie V's vocal
stylings are pleasing to the ear.

   Julie V performs October 14 at The Woodhollow Loft, 221 Indianapolis Blvd.
in Schererville (inside Omni 41 Sports Center).

- Ben Likens

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TIM BUCKLEY
Once I Was
(Fuel 2000)

    Once I Was, is a collection of BBC sessions from 1968 and 1974 from Tim
Buckley, one of America's most talented, sadly lesser known,
singer-songwriters.

   Tragically, Buckley is best remembered by today's media as having been
the biological father of the late Jeff Buckley, who after drowning two years
ago in the muddy Mississippi River, has become a cultural icon to Generation
X-ers.

   The elder Buckley's star shone brightly as a young man, but was eclipsed
by a heroin overdose in 1975. Few singers have mastered the crooning pop
song, brooding love song, or jaunty fantasy tune like Tim Buckley. His
forceful, hypnotic "Honey Man" recalls the Lizard King himself, and there's a
few others on Once I Was that will take you right back to the Summer of Love.

Check out the East Indian-tinged "Hallucinations/Troubadour" or the wistful
"Morning Glory."

    Once I Was does more than capture one of America's great folk rock
troubadours: it documents a musical era built around blues rock jams and far
away love songs.

   For me, the highlight is the never before released recording of "I Don't
Need It to Rain," a jazzy, rambling 12-minute live cut from Copenhagen in
1968.

   Rest in peace, Tim. If we can't hear you again, we're lucky you left these
tapes behind.

- Eric Steiner

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DEICIDE
Insineratehymn
(RRD Records)

Deicide take the standard death metal elements of fast, heavy guitar riffs
and incoherent vocals and add Christianity hating lyrics to make for an
overall disturbing listening experience.

It's true you can't understand the lyrics until you read them in the album
liner notes, which have 666 scrawled on each page, and a sad-looking
Caucasian Jesus on the last page, his crown of thorns burning.

   As is the experience with death metal, or hate metal, or atheist
god-bashing metal - whatever you want to call Deicide's music - one song
bleeds into the next.

Each song sounds the same as the one before it. Some bands in the genre,
like Solient Green, occasionally sprinkle their albums with melodic,
uncharacteristic outings, which, in Green's case, set them apart from their
peers. Deicide, however, do not offer such songs on Insineratehymn.

Overall, nothing about Deicide is original. Their music is undifferentiated
from anything else in the genre. Their message is old and tired. People have
hated Christianity since Jesus' time, so what they have to say doesn't shock,
nor stir up any new thoughts.

- Todd Hamm