MUSIC BOX |
Josh Bell
Stacy Willis |
CHUMBAWAMBA
(1.5 stars)
READYMADES AND THEN SOME
Do you remember Chumbawamba's last disc, Readymades? Did ya like it? Well, I hope so because the British pop-punk octet is back with ... Readymades. Yep, same, exact disc, except for the addition of a re-worded version of "Jacob's Ladder" to take advantage of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
(It's an odd choice, as the original "Jacob's" dealt with Winston Churchill's decision to let more than 1,000 sailors drown in order to save the king of Norway during World War II.. Not quite the same as deposing Saddam.)
Oh yeah, there's also a DVD included for the $13.99 plus tax Chumba expects its fans to slap down, that includes snippets of their band documentary, Well Done, Now Sod Off; a re-mix of their chart-busting '97 hit, "Tubtumping," by The Flaming Lips and Dave Fridmann; and a re-mix of Readymades' opening track, "Salt Fare, North Sea."
There's more that could be said about Readymades. It's a musical departure from Chumba's previous works. Less rock choruses, more melodic singing. Political history vs. modern social commentary. But really, it was all said, and much better, a year ago by other music critics.
For a band that has always taken an anti-capitalist stance, Readymades And Then Some is quite a brazen cash grab.
Martin Stein
BOB SEGER
(4 stars)
GREATEST HITS 2
As a boy growing up in a predominently blue-collar town on the wind-swept prairies, there was something incredibly right about Bob Seger. His music and lyrics evoked blue jeans, Chevys and stubbies (let others drink their long-necks…those pansies). Sure, there were AC/DC and Rush on one end of the spectrum and some new, weird groups called The Cars and The Police on the other end, but Seger was the comfortable middle-ground, like putting on your favorite leather jacket—you know the one, with the tear on the elbow.
Now, the man who Bruce Springsteen credited as an inspirational source is back with a second disc of his most popular songs, along with a few surprises.
If you're like me and are wondering what happened to the first disc, you can be forgiven. It came out back in 1994. A common complaint at the time was that it should've been a double-disc set, and though it's taken him nearly a decade, Seger has finally corrected the oversight.
Not surprisingly, Seger even stopped the CD's release three weeks before its due date so that he could add some new material. This from the man who once told his label to keep releasing his songs on eight-track because a lot of his fans didn't have the money to get new-fangled cassette players for their 18-wheeler cabs.
The disc has Seger's old AM favs like "Her Strut," "Fire Lake" and the live version of "Tryin' To Live My Life Without You," with the break-beats I still remember from when I was mooning over Kerrie Baker in my tenth-grade social studies class. All the classics have been digitally remastered and still hold up well, though the backing vocals on "Katmandu" sound hollow.
Added to the collection are Seger's work for movie soundtracks, never before released on a Seger album. The disc opens with "Understanding" from Teachers. Also laid down are "Chances Are" from Hope Floats, and of course, "Shakedown," the only good produced by Beverly Hills Cop II.
The pair of new songs, "Satisfied" and "Tomorrow," are what caused the CD's release date to be pushed back. Despite the passing years, Seger's voice is unchanged. The orchestration on both is sparse and raw. Between them, "Satisfied" is by far the better cut, harkening back to The Silver Bullet Band's glory days. As a final gift to his patient fans, Seger has included the music video for "Turn The Page."
If you're a Seger fan, and you likely are or you wouldn't have read this far, Greatest Hits 2 was well worth the wait.
Martin Stein
CRACKER
(3.5 stars)
COUNTRYSIDES
Cracker has had an odd career. Started from the ashes of quirky indie rockers Camper van Beethoven, it somehow ended up a part of the early '90s alt-rock scene with the hit "Low" and a couple of other, less popular singles. But its rambling, part-rock, part-country, part-folk, part-just-plain-weird sound never fit in with other bands of the era. Which means that it's still around, just getting weirder, years after many of its contemporaries have been forgotten.
Core members David Lowery and Johnny Hickman last teamed up with jam band Leftover Salmon for a rehash of Cracker's best-known songs, and now they toss off an disc of country covers from the likes of Merle Haggard and Dwight Yoakam (plus one original). Strangely enough, it ends up their best work in years, without the unfocused meandering they seemed to embrace after leaving the spotlight. Only the original "Ain't Gonna Suck Itself," a lame kiss-off to the band's former recording label, falls flat. The rest is fun in a kind of loose, bar-band way. Hopefully, they can keep that momentum for their next original release.
Josh Bell