shrieking like a wounded animal. Not the sort of thing which will gain a Radio One playlist position. On the other hand, if you have a taste for The Jesus and Mary Chain or Spiritualised then this is where they are coming from. The package also includes a second CD of a live show at CBGB’s in 1978 and a riot at a concert in Brussels. Heady days. (JT)
HIP HOP
The X-Ecutioners X-Pressions (Asphodel) * 1? it **
Resolutely drawing their inspirations and influences from the sounds and flavours of old skool hip hop, New York's fantastic foursome, The X- Ecutioners set their standards uncompromisineg high on this their debut album. Their choice of mission is simple: to restore the DJ to his rightful place at the top of the hip hop heap. Convention has it that hip hop crews have one DJ so what do you say to a group that boasts four DJs who have won just about every DJ mixing/battle championship worthy of the name? As a demonstration of style, technique and plain bravado, X- Pressi'ons is mighty impressive. This is the almost forgotten sound of the hip hop underground, stylishly hauled from the deep freeze, reactivated, reinterpreted and remodelled to full effect. (LT)
JAZZ
Marc Johnson
The Sound of Summer Running (Verve) ****
Composer John Adams contends that we are now in a post-style musical age, where boundaries have become so blurred as to be meaningless, or simply beside the point. This album supports that contention in the way it transmutes jazz, country, folk and blues elements into a non-genre specific instrumental music which drifts and weaves in understated but highly satisfying fashion. Bassist Marc Johnson is Joined by Joey Baron (drums) and guitarists Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell, both of whom have explored analogous territory recently, Pat with Charlie Haden, and Bill on his Nashville album, and the just-released Gone, Just Like A Train (both Nonesuch, both recommended). (KM)
SOUL JAZZ
Terry Callier Timepeace (Talkin' Loud) * at a: a:
More genre blurring here, but Terry Calliei had the pigeon-holers stumped right from the start, when his classic mid-60$ Prestige album was released as The New Folk Sound. On this album, the spare backings sound much more indebted to a quietly intense fusion of soul and jazz, with Callier’s distinctive, warm vocals floated over sparse, beautifully subtle instrumental accompaniments. Most of the songs are Callier’s own, but he covers Curtis Mayfield's ’People Get Ready' in tandem with his own 'Brotherly Love', and makes a fascinating Latin-tinged vocal version of Wayne Shorter's classic 'Footprints’. (KM)
CLASSICAL
Barbara Bonney and Andre Prevm American Songs (Decca) ****
Barbara Bonney, who is among the cream of contemporary sopranos, turns to her native repertoire for the first time on disc, and makes a glorious success of it. Copland's Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson are the heart of a programme which also features Barber's familiar Hermit Songs and the premiere recording of Argento’s Six Elizabethan Songs. She sings immaculately and with deep awareness throughout, while Previn is not only a superb accompanist, but also contributes two pieces, including the specially composed Sallie Chisum Remembers Billy The Kid (the singer is convinced the outlaw — real name William Bonney — was a relative). (KM)
Rare Seems Like (Pinnacle) **
Former Undertones and That Petrol Emotion guitarist John O'Neill finally offers another rare Rare offering, as it were. Despite some appealing squealing brass arrangements on the Lionrock remix, 'Seems Like’ is a style- over-content trip-hop purr and, unfair though comparisons may be, misses the songwriting mark set by O’Neill's previous bands. (FS)
Hibee Nation
l Sentence You To A Life Of Dance (Eruption) 1k
Irvine Welsh, I charge you with taking the piss. Kris Needs, I charge you with wilful misconduct in the field of house music. Through gross negligence, you pair of reprobates have produced probably the most banal 'celebration' of the dancefloor since "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life". Is it meant to be ironic, likesay? (FS)
Snow Patrol
Little Hide (Jeepster) *‘k** Another commanding single from the Irish ex-pat trio with an erratic bunch of material. ’Little Hide' is an above average slab of distorted indie noise, like a less experimental, more atmosphere-driven My Bloody Valentine. The other three tracks are a positive showcase for their stripped- down melodic abilities. (F5)
The Beta Band
The Patty Patty Sound (Regal) ‘k'k‘k One of the country’s more enthusiastically-tipped new bands waver between nicely understated skunkfunk and vapid self-indulgence on this LP-length EP. One minute they're pushing all the right buttons with the shuffly Beckisms of 'lnner Meet Me', the next sending the listener stir crazy with the minimal dullsville of 'The Monolith'. An aggregate win, though. (FS)
Suckle Cybilla (Left Hand Recordings) * t t
The second single from former Vaselines/Painkillers Frances McKee
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and James Seenan, and the first on McKee's Left Hand Recordings is another mesmerising acoustic mantra with a disengaged monotone vocal which Will bewitch or befuddle. One of those oddities you're glad to have around. (FS)
Mount Vernon Arts Lab William Green (Via Satellite) it
Not entirely sure what this monotonous collection of bleeps, whirrs and drones, which basically amounts to a sound effects library, is supposed to do for the listener.
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Perhaps Drew Mulholland is composing the soundtrack to the ’hero goes mad’ scene of some grainy arthouse flick. (FS)
REVIEWERS THIS ISSUE:
Roger Evans, Kenny Matliieson, Peter Ross, Fiona Shepherd, Lawrie Thomas, Jonathan Trew
STAR RATINGS * i it it * Unmissable * * it it Very ood air at it Wort a shot it it Below average it You've been warned
70
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20 Feb—S Mar 1998 THE U3‘I’45