BY GLENN McDONALD
Pocket Band
Maggle,
Pierce and E.J.
In the tradition of Peter, Paul and Mary and Crosby, Stille and Nash come Maggie, Pierce and E.J. — three scrapy musicians making a case for folk in the cynical, post-grunge '90s.
"Rolk is the term we've come up with," says E.J., who handles bass duties both vocal and instrumental. "You know, part rock, part folk — whatever."
It's the whatever part that distinguishes Maggie, Pierce and E.J. There's a sense of freedom and playfulness on their eponymous debut CD that makes every song an adventure. Oddball left turns dominate — from soaring three-part harmonies to screechy guitar rave-ups to Death Valley bass runs and back again.
"We definitely don't want to be pigeonholed into one sound," says vocalist-guitarist Pierce. "That's instant death."
He knows whereof he speaks. Pierce and E.J. logged in two albums with the tripped-out hip-hop band The Goats before music business pressures drove them out.
"It's amazing how you can be manipulated by a record company." E.J. says wearly. "They can literally say, 'We don't want this track on the album,' or "Sound like this," you know. But [with the trio], we don't have anyone to please but ourselves."
"We just do whatever we want," guitarist Maggie says.
Which is why the folk approach works so well for them.
"Folk by definition is music by the people," says E.J. "So that can be anything — even grunge is folk."
"But there is a difference," Pierce says. "Folk has always been around. Something like rap, I'd say, will always be around. But grunge — grunge is like disco. It'll pass."
For more information, call the MP&EJ hotline at (610) 527-8597.
Rating system
rating system
★★★★★ Dracula
★★★★ Frankenstein
★★★ Wolfman
★★ The Mummy
★ Swamp Monster
PM Dawn Jesus Wept Gee StreetIsland
When PM Dawn debuted in 1991 with "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss," they seemed to be treading the De La Soul territory of hip-hop flower children bugging on peace and love. Whereas De La have since rejected the hippie-
★★★
hop tag, PM Dawn have embraced it — and expanded their smooth R&B into a deeper shade of soul.
On Jesus Wept, PM Dawn build on the remarkable confidence and depth of 1993's The Bliss Album?. From the propulsive radio pop of the opener "Downtown Venus" to the audacious closing covers of Prince and Talking Heads, Jesus Wept explores the nooks and crannies between pop, soul hip-hop and psychedelia.
Prince Be's melodies are often submerged in waves of ethereal harmony, yet the production remains lucid a testament to the maturity of this exciting and underrated band.
Love Jones
Powerful Pain Relief
ZOOIBMG
★★★ $ \frac{1}{2} $
Love Jones is not a band I'd want to market. First, they follow their croonfest debut (1993's excellent Here's to the Losers) by touring in matching smoking jackets — then they balk at being lumped into the lounge revival
trend. Next, they release a crystal-clear batch of shimmering pop gems that, unfortunately, has absolutely nothing to do with anything currently happening in music. Anywhere.
Ah, well. Such is our lot. Just be grateful that LJ love us enough to share their weird-ass world of funk, swing, retro-pop and doo-wop. Powerful Pain Relief never captures the joie de vivre of Losers, but it does elevate their sound to breezy new heights. "World of Summer" is the standout, a heartfelt paean to the salad days of youth so
One last tip youll never be able to fully appreciate the delicate ego of an LJ recording until you've witnessed the savage id of their live show. Check your local listings.
light and blithe it's likely to float right out of your CD player.
Rare on Air
Vols. 1 and 2
Mammoth
★★★
These two Rare On Air compilations feature 30 live on-air performances from artists on Morning Becomes Eclectic, the syndicated N.P.R. music show out of Los Angeles. Performers include The Cranberries, Jackson Browne,
Tori Amos, Beck, Natalie Merchant, MC 900 Foot Jesus, Los Lobos, Phillip Glass (!) and Evan Dando with Juliana Hatfield. Among lots of others.
The immediacy of live broadcast, together with the intimacy of a radio studio, creates a unique vibe here. The sound quality is superb, allowing the more delicate numbers to shimmer (Tanya Donnelly, Joni Mitchell) and fuller songs to really stretch out (World Party, Bettie Serveert). Rare on Air is also good for you, in a karmic eat-your-vegetables way proceeds go to N.P.R. flagship station KCRW.
Eve's Plum
Cherry Alive
Sony 550
★★★1/2
Another poppy postpunk band with a female singer. Owes a lot to R.E.M. and Sonic Youth. Name is a campy '70s reference. Still, I can give you seven good reasons to dig Eve's Plum.
One: The ace musicianship on Cherry Alive
is to be heralded and applauded (let's see Veruca Salt try these riffes). Two: Like all the best bands, they remember that rock and roll was originally a euphemism for sex. Three: Sometimes, swear to God, they sound like E.L.O. Four: They have a song called "Jesus Loves You (Not as Much as I Do)." Five: They like to do cool Thurston Moore outer-space things with their guitars. Six: No matter what your sex or persuasion, by the end of the album you will have a mild crush on singer Colleen Fitzpatrick. Seven: No ballads!
More reviews, more releases. plus sound bytes at http://www.umagazine.com
RADIO, RADIO
20. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion,
Experimental Remixes, Matador
1. Primus, Tales from the Punchbowl, Interscope
3. Superchunk, Incidental Music 1991-95, Merge
4. Boredoms, Chocolate Synthesizer, Reprise
5. Luna, Penthouse, Elektra
Southern Culture on the Skids, Soul City, Geffen
7. Natalie Merchant, Tigerfily, Elektra
10. Foo Fighters, Foo Fighters, Capitol
Catherine Wheel, Happy Days, Mercury
. Steel Pole Bath Tub, Scars from Falling Down, Slash/London
Chart based solely on college radio airplay. Contributing radio stations: KRNU, U. of Nebraska; KTRU, Rice U., Texas; KUCB, U. of Colorado; Boulder; KWVA, U. of Oregon; WCBN, U. of Michigan; WFAL, Bowling Green State U., Ohio; WUTK, U. of Tennessee, Knoxville; WVUT, Virginia Tech; WWVU, West Virginia U.
The U. Radio Chart is sponsored by
VIBRANCE ORGANIC CARE
Morrissey Southpaw Grammar
Reprise
★★
On the 11- minute opening track of Morrissey's latest offering, the British pop icon croons, "To be finished would be a relief." Never did such a concise lyric so appropriately sum
up an entire CD worth of material.
Although his solo efforts have always been hit-or-miss affairs, last year's Vauxhall and I masterfully explored lush pop melodies with uncalculated lyrics. Southpaw Grammar, unfortunately, takes the opposite approach.
Overblown instrumentation and extended guitar and drum solos turn many of the eight songs collected here into would-be rock anthems. Even veteran producer Steve Lillywhite (who also produced Vauxhall) couldn't save these songs from becoming Morrissey's most lyrically pretentious and musically inconsequential. What was conceived as a "band project" sadly comes across as a misguided journey to a rock-and-roll graveyard.
Rob Hooper, U. of Southern California
Rapid Fires
Bugs sings the Beatles. Still, it's awfully cool for obvious reasons, so settle in with some good sugary cereal and roll with it.
When crossmarketing and nostalgia meet,
Bugs and Friends Sing the Beatles Rhino
Clannad
Lore
Deep, rich production on their latest outing facilitates Clannad's successful blend of traditional and contemporary Celtic folk. Van Morrison wishes he was still this relevant.
Atlantic
Notes from the Underground Priority Generally on the ass-kicking
side, this two-volume compilation is full of angry young people with guitars. Which is good if you feel you're losing your punk-rock identity. (And you are.)
House on Fire:
An Urban Folk Collection
Red House
Records
For 10 years,
Red House has been signing and promoting all those urban folksters we see
at coffee-house gigs and say, "Damn, I should check some of this stuff out."
Now's your chance.
Electra-fixion Burmed Sire
Before they started believing their own hype,
Echo and the Bunnymen made the pisiest Brit music of the '80s. Bunnymen lan McCulloch and Will Sergeant reunite here to revisit much of the original glory.
34 U. Magazine October 1995