Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday May 1, 2003
Trey Anastasio
Plasma
In his day job, Trey Anastasio is the guitar virtuoso behind the jam flagship that is Phish. There are few guitar players on the planet who can match Anastasio's effortless riffs and originality. The guy can tear through just about any piece of guitar tablature that's been written and take its key elements to dizzying new heights.
After Phish went on hiatus a few years back, Anastasio joined the three-piece Oysterhead along with Primus bassist Les Claypool and Police drummer Stewart Copeland. The band recorded an album, toured behind it and then went on hiatus as well. Somewhere before or after that, Anastasio recorded a self-titled debut solo record. The record was jazzier, funkier and more centered than anything put on wax for Phish or Oysterhead.
Plasma is a double live album taken from fall/summer touring behind the solo material. The album has more in common with Ozomatli and various world/jazz music than anything else. For instance, horns are featured on just about every track.
Curiously, only one song, "Night Speaks to a Woman," is included from his actual debut, albeit thoroughly at 22:50 minutes. Perhaps Anastasio decided not to bog listeners down with songs they've heard many times before. The Phish catalogue is represented with "First Tube" and "Magilla."
A little disappointing is that Bob Marley's "Small Axe" is teasingly played instrumentally for three and a half minutes with no vocals.
For "phans," however, this live-double-disc screams sunshine and will make for an excellent road soundtrack as Anastasio's other band (hint: not Oysterhead) hits the summer tour circuit for the first time in three years.
÷ Kevin Smith
Kelly Clarkson
Thankful
Where's the new Britney Spears? Was I the only one expecting our Kelly to emerge from album-making with bleached locks, tube tops and one-too-many days in the sun? She still looks like a girl with morals and a charming personality ÷ wha?
If Britney is what you're expecting with this album, forget it; this girl's nothing like her. A) She's got talent, B) She sounds a lot more like a mature Mariah Carey/Toni Braxton/Sheryl Crow mix than Spears and C) She's kind of boring.
Yeah, there are definitely some tunes you want stuck in your head ÷ like the spicy "Miss Independent" and the soulful title track, both written with the help of megastars like Christina Aguilera and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds ÷ but most of the songs are dull. Clarkson nearly breaks a lung trying to breathe life into the one by Diane Warren (of hits like "Blame it on the Rain") and makes her "new mix" of "A Moment Like This" about as riveting as paste. Basically, the album's good, but the vocally gifted Clarkson ÷ with a fashion consultant and 10 percent of the amount of people who put this CD together ÷ could do a lot better.
Yet, the original "American Idol" is our reigning pop princess. She meets the "first and foremost, I want to thank God" credential for CD liners, and admittedly, she does have the number-one album in the country. Maybe TV really can make you a star. (Where'd I put that application for "Sorority Life"?)
÷ Eliza Tebo
Franky Perez
Poor Man's Son
Everything in the music world goes in cycles.
In the '70s, rock ruled. Kiss, Aerosmith and the like were what all the kids listened to. But there was a smaller group of singers/songwriters that were making an impact on the music world. Artists such as James Taylor and Simon and Garfunkel became popular because of songwriting and performing.
Today's music is much the same. Rock is the "in" genre of music. But, once again like the Î70s, a small group of singers are carving out a niche of their own. John Mayer, David Gray and with the upcoming release of Poor Man's Son, Franky Perez gain true music fans by the day with their, bizarre as it sounds, music.
Perez, however, has something that Mayer and Gray don't have: a rock and roll heart mixed with Latin blood. These three things alone can make a musician successful, but when put together in a well polished package, it can only mean one thing: superstardom.
Not every song is rock-inspired. Perez mixes a bluesy, southern rock ("Cecilia") with ballads ("Forever 17") and songs that make the listener wonder how Ricky Martin ever became popular ("Bella Maria"), all in such a seamless fashion that he seems like more than one musician.
The only musicians who approach the range of Perez and the Sacred Hearts are the Dave Matthews Band, and they even can't come close to the range Perez shows.
Poor Man's Son is the type of album that makes you think. In this case, that is a very good thing.
÷ Paul Iiams
Andrew Bird
Weather Systems
One of the things that music can do is trigger memories within the listener. Whether good or bad, just hearing the notes being played takes you back.
Do you remember listening to your grandpa or grandma tell rambling, incoherent stories that just went on and on, for what seemed like forever? You don't? Well, if you listen to any or, heaven forbid, all of Weather Systems, you will.
The album is so dry and so boring that the first song is titled - you guessed it - "First Song." The third song, "Lull," lives up to its name. Frankly, every song could have been given this title. In the song, Bird sings, "Please don't get too excited." No problem.
The fourth song fails to live up to the hype of its title. "Action/Adventure" has neither action nor adventure. The two most puzzling tracks on the album have to be, well, in order to say what they are, they would need a title. They don't. They are just instrumental interludes. On an album that has only nine tracks, having two without words is too much. Or maybe in this case, not enough.
But wait, there's more. In addition to being bored to tears by the songs on Systems, you get the added bonus of an eight-minute film that can be viewed on your computer.
What would you expect to pay for this deal? $39.95? $19.95? $9.95?
Whatever it is, it would be too much.
-Paul Iiams
Tongue Dried Sun
Changed Forever
Do you ever sing along with the radio? Of course you do; everybody does. Everybody thinks they are Chris Cornell or Ashanti in the solitude of their own vehicles. It's this generation's version of singing in the shower.
But what happens when you start singing the lyrics before the actual song does? You feel embarrassed, even though you are alone. Even worse, you feel angry, "Why do they take so long to start the song?" This is what you the listener will have to deal with while listening to Changed Forever, the latest release from Tongue Dried Sun.
It's not clear why it takes them so long to start. Maybe their instruments need to re-warm up before every song. Maybe the lead singer needs to hear the music for a little bit in order to remember what song they are playing - who knows?
Whatever the reason is, it's annoying. What is worse is the fact that the intros build the songs up and then the actual songs do nothing but fall flat.
The only song that maintains the quality of the intro is the haunting "Pills." It has the powerful lyrics of a rock ballad without any of the big hair. It is the closest Tongue Dried Sun comes to acoustic, and it is their best work.
Sometimes good intentions, like having long intros to let the listener know what song is coming, fail. Why listen to an album when you can't sing along poorly to it?
- Paul Iiams
