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© St. Petersburg Times, published June 30, 2002
DAVID BOWIE, HEATHEN (ISO/COLUMBIA) Good news for Bowie freaks -- and count me in: Heathen is way better than 1999's tepid hours. Bowie freaks understand the stakes of anticipating an album from the Everchanging One, the artist who delivered 15 years of genius (Ziggy Stardust, Young Americans, the Berlin trilogy with Eno, Let's Dance) followed by 15 years of crud.
Heathen, like all of Bowie's outings, is a moody affair. Written mostly pre-Sept. 11, it's steeped in Bowie's favorite themes: alienation, the apocalypse, and the sort of cautious optimism found on the similar-sounding "Heroes."
In fact, much of Heathen recalls his earlier work. Is Bowie recycling himself? Why not? Lots of other artists recycle him. Doesn't Sunday sound like an outtake from Low, all chilly and remote? Same with the icy 5:15 All the Angels Have Gone.
Slow Burn, with zippy, Frippy guest guitar courtesy of Pete Townshend, is another "Heroes" flashback. (Foo Fighter and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl plays guitar on other cuts). Certainly Slip Away could have been found on the studio floor after the Hunky Dory sessions.
The instruments themselves are eerie echoes, the murky synths, which really work again now in this age of electronica and Moby, whom Bowie joins on the Area:2 tour. Ominous strings wash over other cuts.
While recycling himself, Bowie finds time and energy to cover other artists such as the Pixies and Neil Young, setting a playful mood -- hey! just like he did on 1973's cover fest Pin-Ups.
Bowie reunited with old pal producer Tony Visconti, the wizard behind the knobs on most of Bowie's 1970s masterpieces, and the pairing works again. Like the oft-uneven 1970s works -- remember the mostly brilliant, Orwellian Diamond Dogs? -- Heathen must be added to the Bowie pile of concept albums with more hits than misses. B-plus
LOS LOBOS, GOOD MORNING AZTLAN (MAMMOTH RECORDS) Perhaps the best thing that can be said about a Los Lobos release is that it sounds like Los Lobos. Good Morning Aztlan does that, with its signature blend of Mexican folk and East L.A. rock that harkens back to the band's early days.
The group also continues to shed light on its part of the world through insightful vignettes. Tony y Maria, for instance, offers a glimpse into the lives of two Mexican migrants who have long given up their dreams to sweep floors and wash dishes so they can care for their family.
On the title track, Los Lobos paints a picture of a little town that's home to the sharp-dressed man playing the fiddle and the girl with the ring on her toe. It's a place from which, no matter how far they stray, they're never too far away.
Sadly, though, the band has played long enough to have much to lament. They encapsulate that message most overtly, though a little too heavy-handedly, in The Word: "What will you say or do/ when a child asks of you/ 'What kind of world have you left here for me?' "
Still, there's always room in the Los Lobos world for dancing (Maria Christina), love (Luz de Mi Vida) and a romping good time (Get to This). The CD also includes a second disc with two previously unreleased live recordings and a QuickTime documentary. B-plus
-- JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK, Times staff writer
COUNTING CROWS, HARD CANDY (GEFFEN RECORDS) Adam Duritz has one of the most recognizable voices among contemporary rockers, a gingery mix of brooding angst and soulful reverie. Duritz's voice, his emotive instrument, is the centerpiece for much of the Counting Crows' material.
Hard Candy is an album steeped in painful memories of summers past and unrequited romance. Though Duritz pines away for much of the album's length -- it's sad how desperate he is -- the album never becomes too melancholy, thanks to the upbeat acoustic music and catchy tunes.
Duritz's voice has a downside, though, as many Crows songs sound the same. Despite predictability, Hard Candy is enticing; just forgive stale "mood pieces" such as Goodnight LA and Holiday in Spain.
Butterfly in Reverse is a charming collaboration with former Whiskeytown singer-turned-pop-sensation Ryan Adams. It's cinematic, with sweeping orchestrations, and jaunty as Duritz sings to his perfect girl, "Marianne/ you're better than the world." First single, American Girls, is delectable -- a great summer song. B.
-- BRIAN ORLOFF, Times correspondent
MARY TIMONY, THE GOLDEN DOVE (MATADOR RECORDS) Somebody has been reading too much Tolkien. Mary Timony, former lead singer of indie rock darlings Helium, proudly boasts her influences on The Golden Dove, her second solo outing. Scan her song titles: Look a Ghost in the Eye, Blood Tree, Dr. Cat, Magic Power.
Not that it's a bad thing, but too much of Timony's music is esoteric, rooted in fantasy worlds. It makes it difficult to connect with the Boston-born singer's music.
The Golden Dove is patchy. Timony sounds grand on some songs, like an amateur on others. She plays nearly all the instruments, including guitar, piano, synths, viola and Akai sampler instruments.
On many songs, Timony crafts ethereal, almost mystical atmospheres over which she narrates tales of sprites and ghouls. Opener Look a Ghost in the Eye shines with Timony's syncopated vocal delivery. But listen closely to the lyrics and try to restrain your laughter: "Look a specter in the face with no disgrace / some will fly away, and some will chase"
And folks, Timony's serious. (Timony's other minor pretensions include footnoting her lyrics in the album's liner notes.) C-plus
-- B.O.
DOHNANYI: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1; RURALIA HUNGARICA; HOWARD SHELLEY, PIANO; BBC PHILHARMONIC/MATTHIAS BAMERT, CONDUCTOR (CHANDOS) The Dohnanyi revival continues with the latest offering from Matthias Bamert and the BBC Philharmonic, playing works from the beginning and middle of the pianist-composer's long career.
The piano concerto, with Howard Shelley as the elegant soloist, has the dimensions of a symphony, running almost 45 minutes. Written by Dohnanyi when he was 20, it displays the influence of Brahms, whose romantic tradition was carried on by the Hungarian master, very much against the tide of 20th-century compositional trends in the music of Schoenberg or Stravinsky. Ruralia Hungarica, an orchestral suite in five movements, is a mature work that exemplifies Dohnanyi's consummate gifts as an orchestrator.
Today, with the rise of a so-called new romanticism, Dohnanyi is being rediscovered and re-evaluated, as in last winter's festival and scholarly conference at Florida State University, where he taught for 11 years until his death at 82 in 1960. Bamert, who led a performance of Dohnanyi's symphonic cantata Cantus Vitae at FSU, has become one of the composer's champions. This is his fourth Chandos release of Dohnanyi orchestral works.
Dohnanyi was incapable of writing anything but beautiful music, and nowhere is that more apparent than in his Ruralia Hungarica, a transcendent arrangement of five folk songs for orchestra. Who cares if it does not sound especially Hungarian? That was sometimes a criticism against Dohnanyi in comparing him to his Hungarian contemporaries Bartok and Kodaly in the politicized atmosphere of their homeland after World War II. But now the music can be heard on its own terms.
The concerto is a virtuoso vehicle in the grand style, brilliant but somewhat generic in its use of all the standard pianistic flourishes: dramatic scales, arpeggios and the like. The slow middle movement, introduced by a creamy French horn solo, is a highlight. A-
-- JOHN FLEMING, Times performing arts critic