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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 27, 2002
STEVE EARLE, JERUSALEM (E-SQUARED/ARTEMIS RECORDS) Nashville outcast Steve Earle's take on the post-9/11 world has garnered a lot of attention for its tale of the American Taliban, John Walker's Blues. Earle has been criticized for being sympathetic to Walker and for being anti-American. Both charges miss the mark. Earle, no apologist for Walker, digs deeper than the easy label of traitor. His John Walker's Blues is a haunting song, told in Walker's voice, of a teen who has "seen all those kids in the soda pop ads/But none of 'em looked like me."
Elsewhere, Earle's tales of American outcasts play out against a backdrop of immoral capitalism in Amerika v. 6.0 (The Best We Can Do), Vietnam-era ghosts in Conspiracy Theory and apocalyptic visions in Ashes to Ashes. Earle, who sometimes paints with too broad a brush, does find reason for hope on the title cut. In the end, though, Earle is out to afflict the comfortable, and he succeeds. B-plus
-- PETER A. COUTURE, Times staff writer
HOW SWEET IT IS, JOAN OSBORNE (WOMANLY HIPS/COMPENDIA MUSIC) Joan Osborne could have taken the easy route in putting together this collection of soul standards.
She has the tough, bluesy voice capable of ripping through Aretha Franklin's Think and Edwin Starr's War. Instead, Osborne goes soft and interpretive on us, turning these classics into reflective slow burns that challenge the listener to forget where other stars have taken us before.
Sometimes, she succeeds. Her version of Otis Redding's These Arms of Mine, for instance, adopts just the right approach to convey the longing and loving inherent in the lyrics. And her take on War, though initially distracting, offers a thoughtful interpretation of Starr's anthem.
The CD is not without its miscues. Osborne should have left the Band's The Weight alone. It just doesn't work with a '70s funk sound. And she adds almost nothing to the Spinners' I'll Be Around, except for an unneeded back beat and some annoying "wah-wahs."
This CD is a bold step for this talented vocalist, one that's worth at least a listen. B
-- JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK, Times staff writer
THE STREETS, ORIGINAL PIRATE MATERIAL (VICE-RECORDINGS) You need not be British to bop to the beat on the Streets' first album, Original Pirate Material, a deliciously fun-loving hip-hop album that has bowled over the British press and public. Streets mastermind Mike Skinner raps like a more genial Eminem. He possess the same lyrical prowess and fires his poetry with intent that belies the frivolously orchestrated backdrop of pianos, tinges of horns and techno-bleated funk that pepper witty sketches full of urban imagery.
The music is girded by frenetic rhythm and searing social commentary, including a fierce attack on British drug laws and a caustic take on generation gaps. The Streets pose intelligent questions in seemingly innocuous pop. A
-- BRIAN ORLOFF, Times correspondent