 |
 |
 |
Check out
what’s going on
around Winnipeg tonight! |
 |
|
 |
|
Check out
this week’s
online CD reviews by our
music staff |
|
|
|
 |
Method
Man
Tical 0: The Prequel
(Def Jam)
B-
Website: www.defjam.com
|
Sweet Jesus! Has it been
that long since we last heard from Staten Island’s finest,
Mr. Meth? Yep, and the rap god returns from his long hiatus with
this dynamite third solo shot. Believe me this album is well worth
the wait. Just peep how Method Man explodes on these tracks with
a newfound exuberance rarely witnessed — an accomplishment
that deserves recognition considering how many years he’s
been rhyming. Exhibiting new levels of microphone aggression,
the M-E-T-H-O-D Man delves into uncharted territory subject-wise,
displaying an uncanny capacity for rhyme. If you want proof just
check out Rodeo, a track that’s guaranteed to have listeners’
buggin’ out as Method and Ludacris lambaste all “money
hungry hoes and gold-digging beeyotches.” Listen when I
tell you homes to go snag you a copy of this CD immediately. Holla!
Horace Carrington
|
|
|
Gary Moore
Power Of The Blues
(Sanctuary)
B+
Website: www.gary-moore.com
|
One-time Thin Lizzy guitar
god Gary Moore proves that his skills have not diminished with
the passage of time. Moore’s crushing guitar style is reminiscent
of early solo Jeff Beck crossed with the plaintive, airy work
of Peter Green. What makes this album churn so wonderfully is
Moore’s surging, barely contained wail of a tone. There
really is nothing like a thoughtful player of Moore’s calibre
sustaining loud passages through a stack of Marshall amplifiers.
Opening track Power of the Blues is a flat-out rocker with pretty
astute lickery. Moore borrows Led Zeppelin’s arrangement
of Willie Dixon’s I Can’t Quit You Baby to great effect.
Tell Me Woman and Evil crank up the wah-wah menace to the nth
degree — these are really cool versions. At only 10 tracks,
Power is a quick listen, but every lick comes through with a buzz
that can’t be denied. Truly gnarly.
Jeff Monk
|
|
|
Brian Wilson
Gettin’ In Over My Head
(Brimel/Rhino)
B
Website: www.brianwilson.com |
For all his years lost
to “personal problems,” the premier Beach Boy has
shown that he’s got the unadulterated gumption to continue
making his wonderful music. Fans rejoiced when Wilson decided
to head back on the road at the tail end of the ’90s. Recent
live albums and tours have proved that when steadied by a positive
home life and supportive band members, Wilson can readily conjure
his muse. This new album is lightweight fare to be sure. Tracks
such as How Could We Still Be Dancin’, Make a Wish and Saturday
Morning in the City are sentimental and even a bit syrupy. It
doesn’t matter, though, since this is what Wilson fans have
come to expect, and actually dig. Guest appearances by Sir Elton
John, Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney are cute, but hardly necessary.
Hopefully there is more yet to come.
Jeff Monk |
|
|
Burning Brides
Leave No Ashes
(V2 Records)
A
Website: www.burningbrides.com
|
This sophomore disc from
Philadelphia power trio Burning Brides rocks hard right from the
first AC/DC-flavoured riff of Heart Full of Black. Whether throwing
down crackling garage grooves on the title track or drifting into
stoner rock on To Kill a Swan, this band is right on target throughout.
Balanced nicely between fast-paced, sneering songs and slower,
dreamier tracks such as Vampire Waltz, Leave No Ashes is a brilliant
album. Killer instrumentation aside, the overall highlight of
this disc is the voice of Dimitri Coats. Resonating with an energy
reminiscent of Colin MacDonald of the Trews (or even Dexter Holland
of The Offspring at times), Coats can instantly turn on the jets
and let loose an edgy, indie rock wail — just check out
his gritty cries on Alternative Teenage Suicide. If you’re
a fan of anything from AC/DC to Danko Jones to vintage Lenny Kravitz,
get his disc.
Mike Warkentin |
|
|
W.C. Clark
Deep In The Heart
(Alligator)
B
Website: www.alligator.com
|
While blues inflected
soul music is not a rarity, it is rarely done with the kind of
real spirit that an old hand such as Austin’s W.C Clark
pulls out of each track on his latest Alligator release, Deep
In The Heart. Clark plays like the journeyman he is throughout,
and his guitar style is tidy and touched with a warmth and personality
that is rapidly becoming a rarity. As a mentor to Stevie Ray Vaughan,
his brother Jimmie Lee and Texas belter Angela Strehli, Clark
really is an icon of sorts. True to form for this kind of golden-age
soulman, Clark has picked a cool combination of horn-driven movers
and patented blues wailers. His versions of The Fabulous Thunderbirds’
Twist of the Knife, John Hiatt’s Tip of my Tongue and Delbert
McClinton’s Ain’t Lost Nothin’ enjoy sparkling
review at the hands of Clark and the cooking band assembled by
producer Kaz Kazanoff.
Jeff Monk |
|
|
Metallica
Some Kind of Monster
(Elektra)
B
Website: www.somekindofmonster.com
|
This latest release from
seminal thrash lords Metallica is a collection of live performances
of six ancient tracks bookended by two versions of the title track.
Those who have St. Anger may balk at the idea of buying more modern
Metallica, but the value of this disc is purely in hearing live
performances of songs that haven’t been played in 15 years.
Recorded during one of three Paris club shows on June 11, 2003,
SKOM’s live tracks feature nothing released later than 1986’s
Master of Puppets. Get ready to bang your head to amazing versions
of Hit the Lights, Motorbreath and The Four Horsemen. Even if
Hetfield is sometimes out of breath and screws up the words to
Ride the Lightning, he might be forgiven because he is 40 after
all and these tracks offer some serious thrash and speed metal.
Instrumentally, this disc reveals why Metallica shows are always
sellouts.
Mike Warkentin |
|
|
Rush
Feedback
(Anthem)
A
Website: www.rushfeedback.com
|
Finally. It took a hardy
Canuck progressive hard rock band with a definite love-’em-or-hate-’em
reputation to step back into time and bring forward a batch of
inspirational songs. Naysayers will want to lump this unfairly
into some prejudicial category that is categorically unfair. Rush
looks to their collective past, on their 30th anniversary no-less,
to pay homage to the bands that populated their teenage playlists.
Whether they were jamming under blacklight to The Who, Cream,
Love, The Buffalo Springfield or The Yardbirds, it all came down
to the sound of loud electric guitars seething with the anger
of youth. What Rush has humbly done is what more bands of this
generation should do — treat these aged diamonds with respect
and hopefully draw some positive attention back to some of the
best music of not only the 1960s, but any era. Play loud for full
effect.
Jeff Monk |
|
|
Scorpions
Unbreakable
(Sanctuary)
C+
Website: www.the-scorpions.com
|
Once you rocked us like
a hurricane, but what have you done for us lately, Scorpions?
Well there were a couple of crummy albums, a live acoustic (shiver
in horror) album, an orchestral disc, a plugged-in live album
from a concert in 1978 and a three-disc box set — and here’s
studio album No. 20 for the Scorps. Recorded live off the floor,
Unbreakable is actually better than the Unlistenable moniker that
has been floating around since the disc’s release in June.
Klaus Meine’s voice is still as energetic as ever, and the
Scorps can still throw down some solid riffage when the spirit
moves. That said, tracks such as New Generation and Someday is
Now are far better than much of what falls in between. It’s
hit or miss on Unbreakable, and unless you’ve got a Scorpions
patch on your jean jacket, stick with Love at First Sting.
Mike Warkentin
|
|
|
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lyve-Celebrating 30 Years of Rock ‘n Roll
(Sanctuary)
B+
Website: www.lynyrdskynyrd.com
|
With the opening lyrical
salvo of “Where I come from it’s grits and gravy not
champagne and caviar,” classic redneck rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd
deliver two discs worth of a brawling live set in front of a very
large and appreciative Antioch, Tenn., crowd. With only two original
members remaining, LS is pretty much a cover band at this point
— but they tread through a seriously entertaining set of
oldies and new thangs with plenty of southern-rock juice. Singer
Gary Rossington nearly channels his late brothers’ boisterous
spirits, and with support from a huge band (including a horn and
string section), these good ol’ boys and gals handily achieve
a kind of trailer-trash transcendence. The set moves from Bic-inducing
ballads (Freebird, Tuesday’s Gone) to grinding guitar boogies
like nobody’s bidness. Anachronistic as heck — and
one damn fine party record. Y’all get some, y’ hear.
Jeff Monk |
|
|
Uptown
Magazine - Winnipeg's Online Source for Arts, Entertainment & News