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By GINA VIVINETTO, SHANNON McMAHON and HELEN A.S. POPKIN
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 25, 2001
ERIC CLAPTON, REPTILE (REPRISE) -- Last year's stellar collaboration with blues legend B.B. King reminded Eric Clapton fans that he's at his finest when he gets back to roots music. Reptile, a stylistic hodgepodge with blues, samba, funk, even -- gulp -- "lite" jazz, finds Clapton soulful and sounding more relaxed than his usual restless self.
Got You On My Mind -- is that Slowhand singing? He sounds like a man crooning on a porch in N'Awlins. Same goes for the gospel-inflected, Ray Charles-penned Come Back Baby.
Reptile contains many cover tunes -- Stevie Wonder! -- but the originals are startling. How to describe the breezy Believe in Life? Awesome in its optimism. You don't often get this kind of unabashed joy from rock's elder statesmen, especially one whose life has been marked by so many tragedies. Clapton's guitar on Travelin' Light is as heartfelt, but with a lingering sizzle. (Note: his backing band includes Andy Fairweather Low on guitar, Billy Preston on piano, and backing vocals by the incomparable Impressions.) GRADE: A-.
-- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic
KINGS OF CONVENIENCE, QUIET IS THE NEW LOUD (ASTRALWERKS) -- This Norway duo has perfectly titled its debut Quiet is the New Loud, a beautiful collection of gentle songs that really grab you. Kings of Convenience's sound recalls Belle & Sebastian, Nick Drake and Simon & Garfunkel. The two 25-year-old pals that comprise the band write clean pop songs, using spare guitar, hushed harmony vocals and the occasional muted trumpet. I Don't Know What I Can Save You From, like the rest of the album, is stark, melancholy, bittersweetly beautiful. Grade: A.
-- G.V.
DAVE MATTHEWS BAND, EVERYDAY (BMG/RCA) -- The first sign that Everyday is going to be a different kind of Dave Matthews album is the assaulting guitar riffs and instantaneous vocals on the lead track I Did It. For the first time, on the band's fourth studio album, Matthews plays electric guitar, and it's here that the stage is set for a potent mix of in-your-face intensity.
The rest of the album, thankfully, sounds little like the peculiar and annoying I Did It, with its lyrics of "a magic mushroom cloud of care," yet it maintains the same energy and power.
There is no roving on Everyday; each song gets right down to business. We can attribute this to the producer and co-lyricist, Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette, Aerosmith), who completely redirected Everyday, which the band had already been working on. Ballard and Matthews shelved all the songs and started from scratch. The result is a passionate, eclectic and forceful blend of typically chewy grooves familiar to DMB fans. But Everyday condenses it all and leaves off the jams that make their live shows some of the best.
Carlos Santana pays a visit on Mother Father, adding a Latin texture, and South African singer Vusi Mahlasela contributes earthy vocals to the title track.
DMB's evolution is apparent with Everyday, with less violin, less sax and more guitar. It's DMB's most infectious, radio-ready effort. Matthews sings about what he'd do If I Had It All. With Everyday lodged at the top of the charts since his debut, he's finding out. Grade: A.
-- SHANNON McMAHON, Times correspondent
OUR LADY PEACE, SPIRITUAL MACHINES (SONY/COLUMBIA) -- The best thing about Our Lady Peace's Spiritual Machines is the cover art; it's fantastic really -- someone has a grip on good layout. Unfortunately, that's where the pleasure ends. After about a half hour, I felt as though I'd been listening to the same wretched song over and over again. That wouldn't be a bad thing if it were a good song, but lead singer Raine Maida's nasally, whiny voice was driving me completely insane.
The first cut, Right Behind You, is slightly catchy. I finally made it to the last song, The Wonderful Future, and before I was about to go into convulsions at Maida's attempts at high notes, the CD was over. Then I realized, the "wonderful future" is that I don't have to listen to this disc again. Grade: D+
-- S.M.
ALICE COOPER, MASCARA & MONSTERS: THE BEST OF ALICE COOPER (RHINO) -- Alice Cooper's special guest appearance on That '70s Show went unwatched by me. It came on the same night as a new episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Back in the day, I would have stuck pins in my eyes before I missed Alice's special guest appearance on The Muppet Show. But these are different times, and today's discerning ghoul requires a more sophisticated brand of danger.
Same goes for this greatest hits collection, which, according to the press release, "packs the original shock rocker's three-decade-plus career onto a single disc of must-have songs."
I beg to differ. Most of those 30 years weren't very good -- and neither are at least half of the 22 songs collected here.
Teen angst anthems from the first third of Cooper's career, I'm Eighteen, School's Out and Welcome to My Nightmare, deserve the "rock classic" mantle. But for every underrated Only Women Bleed, you've got a monstrosity -- and not in a good way -- like Clones, Cooper's answer to the New Wave of the 1980s.
The formerly frightening Alice Cooper antics don't survive outside their context, on a greatest hits collection, or even on a sitcom. Rhino's re-mastered Billion Dollar Babies Deluxe Edition is a far better specimen. Drop your $20 on that instead, and check out the pure, nasty Alice Cooper they never would have let on The Muppet Show. Grade: C.
-- HELEN A.S. POPKIN, Times correspondent