Thursday, November 18, 1999
The University Daily Kansan Entertainment
Section A · Page 9
New Etheridge album terrific
Breakdown caters to old, new fans
By Melineh Kurdian Kansan guest critic
With fire and passion, the ultimate female rocker is back on the music scene.
Melissa Etheridge's sixth and latest album, Breakdown, brings her sound to a higher, more complex level, with the same maturity that always has graced her lyrics. The story Etheridge tells and the emotions she conveys create a complete album. Etheridge's voice soars throughout the 11 tracks, emitting raw emotion as her lyrics touch on universal human issues such as love, loss and confusion.
Being happily settled with two children and her partner, filmmaker Julie Cypher, has been a positive influence on this album. Such personal contentment does not make for boring music. This new sense of being grounded seems to have allowed Etheridge to search further outside of her own immediate surroundings for inspiration.
One result of this search is the eighth — and arguably the most powerful — track on the album, "Scarecrow," which deals with the tragedy surrounding the murder last year of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student.
The song, which pays tribute to Shepard as well as reprimands the individuals responsible for his death and the mindset that contributes the propagation of hate, is one of Etheridge's finest. Coupled with her forceful voice,
the lyrics prompt one to reflect on the tragedy and how such an event might be avoided in the future.
From pulsating, hip-hop-influenced rhythms in "Angels Would Fall" (which always makes me jump up and down, screaming the lyrics) to the romantic ballad, "My Lover," *Breakdown* follows a natural, logical progression.
"I wanted the album to go somewhere."
Etheridge recently explained in an Oct.
99 article in the Atlanta Express. "I want
Title: Breakdown
With this as her aim, she is surely successful. Etheridge ends with a soft, slow song called "Sleep," bringing
CD facts
Artist: Melissa Etheridge
Breakdown to a natural denouement. I opted for the fancier limited edition CD with three bonus tracks, the best of which is "My Beloved." If you have a few extra dollars, I would recommend you do the same.
Fortunately for us, this album is more musical than her past efforts. Staying true to her rock roots is mostly positive, except for when it becomes stale and overused in a song such as "Touch and Go," the first bonus track. But this is an exception.
Etheridge includes a broader range of instrumentation, such as a pedal steel guitar and a mandolin. One of the best additions, though, is the solid bass backbone, played by Pino Palladino, which adds a sensual feel to songs that might not be the same without the heavy-
ier bass rhythms.
Etheridge's experimentation with a drum machine and her break from regular rock beats also makes Breakdown more musically pleasing. One is inclined to listen to a song in its entirety and let it seep in, rather than skipping forward a track because of the music's tedious repetition — something this album definitely does not have.
Breakdown is an album that old, diehard fans and newcomers alike can listen to repeatedly, each time hearing nuances previously unnoticed.
After being discovered more than 10 years ago, Etheridge still is coming on strong and promises to continue to give audiences what they need; solid rock 'n' roll from a woman who is unafraid to bare her soul.
Breakdown is available at local music stores for $17.99.
You can catch Etheridge's tour at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan., tonight.
Live's new album fails to last in the long haul
By Bryan Anderson Kansan music critic
The first thing I think about when someone mentions the band Live is the awful song "Lightning Crashes," off of the band's sophomore release, Throwing Copper. Even if it had not been played to death, its boring musical progression and annoying lyrics send my hand toward the dial on the radio to change the station.
After a disappointing third record, Live is back with a fourth album, The Distance to Here. The impressive first single, "The Dolphin's Cry," is a dramatic departure from "Lightning Crashes" and gave me hope that this album would be an innovative rock record. "The Dolphin's Cry" starts out languidly, with a simple guitar line and delicate vocals. Both crescendo in unison to an intense climax without being overpowering.
But that is as good as it gets. The rest of the CD is like a road trip through Kansas. There are a couple of highlights, like the world's largest hand-dug well and the big ball of twine, but otherwise it is boring and
uneventful.
One of the few highlights is "Sparkle," a sparse bass-driven song that starts out promising, and then suffers from a conventional, drag-on ending. "Run to the Water"
is a mellow ballad that is reminiscent of "Turn My Head," one of the highlights on Throwing Copper.
The rest of the album is bland. "The Distance" is a stolid rock song with a pretentious harpsichord solo. The song, "Sun," has boring lyrics to go along with the boring music. On it Ed Kowalczyk sings, "let the world be the world/ let the girl be the girl/ let her beauty move ya." You know you are in trouble lyrically when the lead singer uses "ya" instead of "you."
"Meltdown" almost sounds like Oasis, but Live does not have the bad-boy swagger or the pop sensibility to pull it off. And "They Stood Up For Love" is a quasi-funk number with preachy, but unimportant, lyrics.
Except for a few and far between decent moments, this album is bland and boring. It is an example of why rock music is in a slump right now, because most of it is unadventurous and uninspired.
CONSPIRACY
Live365.com
Internet Radio's "Dirty" Little Secret
Unregulated Unformatted and Downright UN-AMERICAN
Attention upstanding citizens!!
Be warned that a new form of radio -- digital crack is more like it -- is about to be unleashed upon an unsuspecting nation. Called Live365.com, it is nothing less than a plot to lure an entire generation of young hearts and minds into an incredibly hypnotic world of sonic addiction. Once they've got us hooked, the powers-that-be will start pumping the happy juice into the water supply and using our fillings to manipulate our brain waves.
?????? coincidence???????
Think again, comrades.
*****Will you sit on the sidelines
while the radio revolution rages???
*****
Stand up for America!!!
Give those vermin a piece of
your mind at www.live365.com!
Be sure to stuff cotton in your ears
(And DON"T look directly at the
monitor).
↑
As this confidential document clearly shows, Live365.com's Internet radio scheme just may be the brainchild of the Freemasons (the government behind the government).
FACT1
Live365.com is many times more powerful than regular radio!!!!!!! Regular radio plays the same music over and over and has big blocks of commercials to break everything up. There's no way you can listen to it for any extended period. Live365.com, on the other hand, has a ungodly amount of stations with something for everyone. Any time, day or night. Plus, they even let you broadcast your own radio. With no license and no rules. Probability of moral
decay??? 100%!!!
FACT2
Live365.com is FREE to broadcasters and listeners alike.
Hmmm, can you think of any other place where everything is free?
Say, Russia for example!!!!
FACT3
***Live365.com begins with the
word live and live spelled
backwards is evil!!!
LIVE
That's right, pure evil 365 days a year. And don't even get us started on the "com" part. Can you say Audio Abomination!?!
Paid for by the citizens against live365.com
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