Staff Reports
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 26, 1998

Music Meltdown

Common

One Day It'll All Make Sense

(Relativity)

Common, formerly known as Common Sense, has recently dropped one of the most intelligent, brilliant and flowing hip-hop albums of the past few years. One Day It'll All Make Sense is Common's third release and features prominent guest artists. The second track, "Invocation," is a brilliant example of jazzy grooves combined with good lyrical technique. The album progresses from this point onward with the slippery "Real Nigga Quotes" and "Retrospect For Life," featuring The Fugees' Lauryn Hill.

The two best tracks on the album are "Stolen Moments Pt. II" and "Stolen Moments Pt. III." The first has an appearance from Black Thought and the second features the untouchable Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest. Orchestral sampling backs the tracks and adds to the raw-but-smooth appeal that Common radiates.

Erykah Badu makes an appearance on "All Night Long," where she displays her talent and amazing vocal presence. This seven-minute track displays the grace that two artists of real talent can show together, as opposed to the shoddy duets of other artists, like Puffy, Mase and Mariah.

Rising star Canibus also appears on track 15, "Making a Name For Ourselves" and displays what really makes him tick. Simply raw.

Other notable artists featured include De La Soul, Chantay Savage and Lonnie "Pops" Lynn who complement the group with their styles. One should really look at One Day It'll All Make Sense less as the effort of a single group, and more as a compilation that lacks nothing except free money, 'cos this is as good as it gets.

-James Casey

Fretblanket

Home Truths From Abroad

(Polydor)

Fretblanket seems to like travel and things related to transportation. The band's first album, released in 1994, was titled Junkfuel and the bright design of the new CD, Home Truths From Abroad features a powder blue suitcase and pictures of the young Fretblanket lads in airport security metal detectors. Most of the songs deal with travel either directly - "Abandon Ship," "Into the Ocean" (the first single, by the way), "Accident en Route"- or metaphorically- "Killer in a Former Life," "Me and the Stars." On the Fretblanket web site, there's a page dedicated to fan advice on what to do in different cities.

The titleHome Truths From Abroad is rather thought-provoking; the songs are indeed about truths - universal truths that everyone can relate to somehow, a quality which makes a great pop song even greater. (Side note: Fretblanket is currently "abroad"; members are from a small town called Stourbridge in England.) So much to ponder in a mere album title.

The travel theme keeps an interesting consistency; Fretblanket boys are smart boys. They concentrate on the lyrics, and it shows. For example, "Hammers and Tongues" starts out with the words, "Waiting for the sun to come up on the day after the end of the world." Often times you listen to music and don't even notice the words; even when you do, it doesn't enhance the experience that much, if at all. Not the case with Fretblanket. Another point of interest: the songwriter, Clive Powell, is the guitarist, not the singer; that's Will Copley's job.

-Annie Holub

Various Artists

Caught Up: Music From the Motion Picture

(Noo Trybe)

We've all been there, flipping through the soundtrack new releases and finding one that's just loaded with some of the hottest names in the industry. You buy it without knowing too much about it, yet figuring that it just has to be the bomb. Once the first listen is had, you quickly realize that your money would have been better spent on Young M.C.'s Greatest Hits.

Caught Up breaks away from these routine soundtracks with superstar lineups and songs that were probably cut from the performers' own albums, though. Instead, Caught Up offers quality tracks with a nice mix of East Coast and West Coast artists.

Highlighting the album is Snoop Doggy Dogg and Kurupt's "Ride On/Caught Up!," which has already found its way into radio rotation. Also, if there was any question, Joe once again proves that he is the new king of slow jams with his heartfelt "U Should Know Me," while Killah Priest, with the help of GZA and Inspectah Deck, displays that he will be the next gifted emcee to rise from the Wu-Tang Clan with "Cross My Heart."

Not all is golden, however. The Lost Boys offer up a pathetic track, "Ordinary Guy," which is much too similar to their single "Music Makes Me High," and Something For The People bring out the dull "R.U. Down."

The hidden gems are near the end of the album with KRS-One, Mad Lion, and Shaggy's "Ey-Yo! (The Reggae Virus)," which works off "Walk Like An Egyptian" like only Mad Lion can. Also rounding out the soundtrack is AZ and Jermaine Dupri's soon-to-be club hit "Rock Me" and lyrically-blessed newcomer 0's "Made Man."

- Joel Flom

Athenaeum

Radiance

(Atlantic)

Basketball. Tobacco. Michael Jordan.

For many people, these are the only things that come to mind when they think of the state of North Carolina. Until now, that is. The rock-pop group Athenaeum is hoping its latest release, Radiance, will put it and The Tarheel State on the map for good.

Fortunately, the quartet from Greensboro, N.C., led by vocalist/guitarist Mark Kano, appears to be well on its way. With catchy, up-tempo tracks like "Unnoticed" and the band's self-proclaimed "hooky first single," "What I Didn't Know," right alongside some slower, more melodic songs like "Flat Tire" and "Different Situation," Athenaeum (pronounced Ath-a-nee-um) has realized that listening audiences are tired of hearing albums where each song sounds identical to the one before it, and the one before that, and the one before that (commonly known as the "Hootie" syndrome).

Following the band's 1995 independent, self-titled release, it was clear there was still one piece missing from the musical puzzle. Enter Gavin MacKillop, producer for Toad the Wet Sprocket. MacKillop's influence is evident throughout the entire album, but especially on "Lifeline" and "Spotlight" - two very Toad-esque songs.

Between Kano's husky vocals, MacKillop's experienced production and the overall uplifting and crisp accompaniment of the guitars and organ, Radiance is loaded with one solid track after another. From the winsome feel of "Away" to the high-energy of the title track itself, which ends the album, this is a small smorgasbord of musical stylings - Carolina style.

-Eric Anderson