Samba In The House Various (Kickin) *‘k‘k
Picking up on the lasting influence in quality underground house particularly evident in work by the Masters At Work, Kickin Records present a compilation of Latin-based tracks. Featured artists include Davidson OSpina and Italian American producer That Kid Chris, who is currently enjoying sucess with 'Feel The Vibe'. Elsewhere, deep tribal beats meet Latino chants and sweet rhythms. For lovers of real experimental hOUse music and for those who seek something new and exCiting. (Jim Byers)
Kathy Mattea
Love Travels (MCA) * * t *
Mattea's new album exemplifies the wholesome face of the contemporary NashVille sound. Her clean, natural voice is framed in a rich but not too slick production, and the material is varied almost to the point of parody, incorporating a taste of jUSI about everything that she might do. That's no bad thing, and makes a welcome change from the monolithic country- pop albums currently flying off the MUSIC City production line.
Sweethearts Of The Rodeo
Beautiful Lies (Sugar Hill) st * it ‘A' Another fine album from Janis Gill and Kristine Arnold, better known as those sweetly-harmonising Sweethearts. Their formula is straightforward enough - pick a set of very good songs and fine backing musicians, and Sing them really well with a clean, no-frills acoustic sound. Tried and tested, certainly, but it continues to be a wrnner.
The Picketts
Euphonium (Rounder) * *‘k v:
The Picketts hail from Seattle, but their tone is kick-ass country rock rather than anything more typical of the local scene. This exuberant, high-energy album mixes originals (mainly by singer Christy McWilson) with such unlikely covers as The Who‘s ’Baba O'Riley’ and The Clash's 'Should I Stay Or Should I
Go'. The rhythms have a classic country-swing feel, and the no- nonsense musrcal treatments are refreshingly free of affectation
Asylum Street Spankers
Spanks For The Memories (Watermelon) * air
The Spankers take a rough and ready, free-wheeling approach to the occasionally irksome parody of this album, recorded on basic egwpment for an authentically gritty sound. They reflect the scatter-gun eclecticism of the Austin scene (blues, country, [827, vaudeville, and Western swmg all go into the mixer), and while their Vibrant good-timey feel is fun, it is probably a lot more so live than on disc, where it palls quite quickly.
Rice, Rice, Hillman and Pederson
Out Of The Woodwork (Rounder) ****
The modern bluegrass giants who make up this quartet are captured in fine newgrass style on their latest immaculate collaboration. They come up With an unexpected cover version of Richard Thompson's 'Diinining Of The Day' amid much excellent picking and sweet vocal harmonies Herb Pedersen is also one of the great and good featured on True Life Blues (Sugar Hill), a slick tribute to the music and memory of the late Bill Monroe.
Mike Dowling
Beats Workin’ (Strictly Country) ***
Dowling plays some lovely, lightly
‘ swinging acoustic guitar on a set
which defies the label's prescription by crossing happily from country to folk, bluegrass, blues and jéiZZ, and never quite settling on any of them. Simple, enioyable, gOrgeously played, slightly old-fashioned (or maybe iust timeless) mUSlC.
Delbert McClinton
Delbert McClinton (Raven) * at i
A welcome re-issue of two hard-
rocking mid-70s classics from Delbert, l With Victim Of Life’s Circumstances
and Genuine Cowhide included complete, and four additional tracks from Love Rust/er for good measure. Two decades on, they still sound pretty good. (Kenny Mathieson)
The Jennifers Yesterday (Human Condition) * * sir
On the reverse of the sleeve, The Jennifers look like a trio of awkward, mild-mannered wallflowers though their schoolboy mugshots reveal decadent rockstar tendencies . . . What The Jennifers sound like is the kind of no-nonsense muscular rifferama we've come to expect from Edinburgh's Human Condition Records. it might be nice for once to get something we didn't expect . . . Still, Supergrass used to be called The Jennifers and look what happened to them.
Mogwai New Paths i0 Helicon (Vi/urlitzer Jukebox) * t t 1?
Another tiiptastic odyssey from the ever-so-tastet'ul and prec or ioiis Mogvtlai which builds and resonates With a Cocteaus/Lowlife grace and -- dare it be said -- recalls the. much— maligned shoegazers of the early 908
Monaco
What Do You Want From Me? (Poiydor) fir tr
A (I()".\’Il-()!‘-illS-ILK I; Iv‘iaiicuiiiaii iriiiSic‘al titan rises iike a sparrox‘v from the ashes \VIIIT a liiiip new combo l/loiiaco feature New Order's Peter Hook and a vocalist sounding so similar to Bernard Sumner that one has to ask - are we the obiect of a Brass Eve-style hoax7
FEE TANGERINE
NEW SINGLE RELEASED 24.02.97
record reviews MUSIC
Mogwai: triptastic odyssey
‘ Kula Shaker
hush (Columbia) tat *
I l Hold the mystic mince — Kula Shaker i go rocking out like the pseudo-
; Charlatans they are on this cover of ' the Deep Purple 'standard' which is I indeed equal to the standard set by Such wobbly mantras as ’Govinda'. Right or wrong? Ask Claire Rayner.
Sneaker Pimps Spin Spin Sugar (Clean-Up Records) it
An inconsequential sub-Garbage (now that hurts) ever-so-90s nothingness of a song, only partially redeemed by a version of a gorgeous traditional ballad 'How Do' (as sung by a starkers Britt Ekland in The Wicker Man). (Fiona Shepherd)
2 x CD 0 Limited Edition 7" Vinyl All formats available for under £5.00
Live in February
26TH GLASGOW BARROWLANDS
FEEDER WILL BE MAKING THE FOLLOWING INSTORE
APPEARANCE:
‘ WEDNESDAY 26TH FEBRUARY. HMV GLASGOW. UNIT 5&6 LEWIS'S BUILDING.
ARGYLE STREET. TIME: 3PM
HMV
For more intormation on FEEDER write to: FEEDER CENTRAL, FREEPOST (LON 8530). LONDON. WIE 78H.
21 Feb-6 Mar 1997 TIIEIJBT“