12 • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MUSIC
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2002
Established chart-toppers release new CDs
Paul McCartney, Back in the US., Capitol Records
Paul McCartney fans blessed enough to see his "Back in the U.S." tour should immediately set out on the long and winding road to the record store to pick up the live double-disc.
For what it is, Back in the U.S. is not bad. The b and d sound s good together, and Paul can stillsing. Although it might be more artistically laudable for him to keep writing original music (a la Johnny Cash or Bob Dylan), McCartney seems to just want to have a good time these days with the old favorites, and this CD proves he's doing just that.
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Inevitable classics such as "Blackbird" and the piano-driven majesty of "Hey Jude" sound great and give the listener a good feel for how McCartney sounds at his best. The first disc closes with an upbeat, rhythmic rendition of the George Harrison classic. "Something."
But with John Lennon long gone and George's death just over a year ago, there's something eerie about one of the original Beatles still filling arenas, and some tracks make this more strongly felt than others. For example, "Live and Let Die" sounds like a bad cover of the Guns N' Roses version, and, when the band performs "Getting Better," it's hard not to wonder if the crowd is cheering for the Beatles or for flatscreen televisions.
Still, it's hard to argue with something that makes this many people happy, and judging from the vigor of the band and the strength of McCartney's voice, he may easily be back again. Crowd noise and powerful sound understate the majesty of the whole affair, and there's something neat about the pictures of graying folks clapping along with children. But the most entertaining part of the album is the band's tour memories, which feature gushing praise such as this from guitar play Rusty Anderson:
"To hear a single A string ring out in the arena in tandem with Paul's voice resonating into every ear simultaneously ... is like loitering in the vortex of a recurring supernova as the energy saturates the collective consciousness, gets recycled back to us and mutates into the next wave exchange."
Wow. Back in the U.S. may not be the White Album, but for those who know what Rusty's talking about, it will make a great souvenir. Rock on, Sir Paul.
Lucas Wetzel
The Wallflowers, Red Letter Days, Interscope
Jakob Dylan and the boys of the Wallflowers (Rami Jaffee, Greg Richling and Mario Calire, but let's be honest, no one cares about them) have crafted another pop-rock favorite in Red Letter Days. This new album moves from silky, smooth almost-ballads to angry, snooty full-out rock 'n' roll jams. It's refreshingly different for those sick to death of the genre of the moment, garage rock. This type of album sounds familiar and comforting — the perfect product.
What separates the Wallflowers from other boring rock bands such as Creed or Matchbox 20 is Dylan's distinctive voice. Granted, it's not as distinctive as the elder Dylan's,rock legend Bob,but little Jakob's voice is what makes the 'Flower's new
a l b u m sparkle.
On the first single and album opener "When You're on Top," Dylan's voice is sing-along perfect. It
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reminds the listener of all the chart toppers on the Wallflower's 1996 album, Bringing Down the Horse. Dylan's husky voice takes a turn on "Closer to You," sounding like a much cooler Harry Connick Jr. The best song on the album is the seductive "Health and Happiness," which sounds like a sexy love letter until Dylan sings the biting line, "I wish you health/I wish you happiness/and absolutely nothing else." Ouch.
In Red Letter Days, the Wallflowers aren't breaking new ground — it's more like they're treading on old territory, but that's OK. The album works and Dylan has never sounded better.
—Lauren Beatty
Snoop Dogg, Paid Tha Cost to be da Bo$$, Capitol Records
I usually don't invite myself into a review, but this is an exception. I am a white girl who doesn't watch "Doggy Fizzle Televizze," I haven't listened to Snoop Dogg since the days of Doggystyle and I don't subscribe to Snoop's line of Girls Gone Wild videos.
The 20-track album Paid the Cost to be da Bo$$ was too long to hold my attention span and far from what I most identify him with, Doggystyle. Most of the tracks on the new album are three to five minutes long
and slow. This is different from the early days when Snoop could dish out a catchy rap, keeping a listener interested and entertained. Now it just seems too slow, too mellow and too boring.
Most of the songs on Paid tha Cost to be da Bo$$ have a 1970s air about them. This album is an acid trip gone wrong. Snoop is still preaching to the choir about money, bitches, hos and talking trash, but something is different. Dr. Dre didn't produce it (Doggystyle), and Master P. didn't produce it (Top Dogg). The difference is, Snoop produced this album.
Maybe this is why he chose to use synthesizers and various other instruments. He features 17 artists such as Redman, Ludacris and Warren G on the album
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instead of sampling other artist's work. However, this concept doesn't seem to work for Snoop. It is an album full of 20 tracks with a repetition of four chords. The difference comes in that it is four different chords played in different ways.
Snoop, have you lost it? What happened to the days with Dr. Dre? What happened to the man "rollin" down the street smokin' indo sippin' on gin and juice?"
Maybe he should go back to smoking the chronic. This album lacks the creative genius fans are used to.
— Meredith Carr
KJHKTOP10
ARTIST Recording
1 ARCHETYPE Freehand Formula
2 KOUFAX Social Life
3 SMALL BROWN BIKE/
CASKET LOTTERY Split
4 HAR MAR SUPERSTAR You Can Feel Me
5 SIGUR ROS ()
6 MINUS THE BEAR Highly Refined Pirates
7 THE BLAM The Blam
8 ALUMINUM GROUP Happyness
9 MOUNTAIN GOATS Tallahassee
10 LIARS Fins To Make Us More Fish-Like [EP]