Staff Reports
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 16, 1997

Music Meltdown

Bjork - Homogenic

(Elektra)

The other night I was sitting in my bedroom drinking wine and reading Wordsworth.

I was listening to Bjork and I felt like a college student.

A college student like the college students who my former babysitters became when they went to school. Hardwood floors, futons and boxes of wine.

Toad the Wet Sprocket albums, Paul Simon and Bjork.

So what.

-The album, you bastard, tell me about the album.

Well, let's talk title.

Homogenic, from the Greek, meaning "of the same family."

And, indeed, every song on this album comes from the same place.

The album generally makes one yearn for the light-hearted days of the Sugarcubes.

After the monontony of song after electronic song, you want that weird guy in the snow cap from Bjork's former band to pop up and speak his nonsense.

There was a time when Bjork was the saving grace of alternative female-rock acts. She was cuddly and intense in a very Jungian way. Sort of a warped, elfin Tori Amos without all the bile. She was the huge-bounding-teddy-bear-video girl.

Then she was the gleeful, high-kicking, big-band broad of previous album Post.

Now she's more atmospheric, almost Enya.

Which is not a bad thing. It's hard to say a bad thing about this record. Obviously it's hard to say anything at all.

I'm a college student and I look like a lot of other college students and if you come by for some wine, you'll hear some Bjork. Then we'll hang out on the futon, read Wordsworth and neck.

-Tom Collins

Jonathan Fire Eater - Wolf Songs for Lambs

(Dreamworks)

The members of Jonathan Fire Eater have known each other since elementary school. Not only are their personal relationships tight and cohesive, so is their music. Maybe it's Walter Martin's catchy organ that complements the guitar chords, or maybe it's Stewart Lupton's wacky takes on song titling (example: "I've Changed Hotels"). The combination of cool drum beats and bass provide a low end that gets you dancing around the kitchen even with only three hours of sleep.

Jonathan Fire Eater can sound a little like Make-Up at times, except a lot more melodic; they have that same funky '70s punk simplicity worked into a complex framework. The fourth track, "There's No Love Like That," is a perfect example. Lupton drawls the chorus along with a guitar, sans distortion, which makes the song seem like the typical pop verse/chorus/verse standard when, in fact, it's more interesting than that.

The most common word used to describe Jonathan Fire Eater seems to be "theatrical," and that's very evident in the dramatic drums on "Everybody Plays the Mime" and the lyrics in "This is My Room." You can almost see the stories being acted out through Lupton's poetic descriptions: "the silence of the atoms that are swimming in the air, between the taxi driver."

The album was recorded with Tucson's own Jim Waters in New York. Waters also records with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and Jonathan Fire Eater is of that same cool innovative rock genre. Maybe it's all in the name.

-Annie Holub

Retardos - "Come On Back" backed with "Shame" (7-inch vinyl)

(Super*Teem! Records)

San Francisco's Retardos have released another outstanding single, with "Come On Back" being the standout track. This time around, the Retardos distance themselves a little from their previous '60s sound, moving more towards the rock `n' roll sounds of the mid-late '70s that bands like the Real Kids and DMZ produced out of Boston. With every release and tightly wound live performance, the Retardos defy the mediocrity of the current garage scene, working to create/maintain their status as more than just "revivalists" of decades past. They are a band influenced by the best music of then to make the best music now.

Ditching the usual organ, the Retardos tear through "Come On Back," a love-song rock `n' roller, under the influence of John Felice-like riffs. The Retardos demonstrate their superiority by creating an upbeat, hopeful head-shaker about human heartbreak. "Come on back/I'm still in love with you/ Come on back/ Nobody else will do/ Come on back/ Just give me one more try." Through simplicity and a determined catchiness, the Retardos make one of the saddest predicaments into a heartening, full-blown rave-up.

"Shame" is a little weaker than "Come On Back" (the record doesn't tell which side is the a or b-side), which reaffirms the Retardos can stand on their own without the "garage" genre backup.

- Fen Hsiao

Retro Review

Perez Prado and his Orchestra - Mambo Mania/Havana, 3 a.m. (Bear Family Records)

In the 1950s there was a name inevitably linked with mambo music, and it was Perez Prado. At a time when vacationing Americans were just discovering the wonders of Cuba, bandleader Prado was a hit on the big band scene.

The EPs Havana 3 a.m. and Mambo Mania, re-released in 1990, are a nostalgic look back to the days when TV meant Lucille Ball, politics meant a New Deal and music meant dancing. Prado combines intricate Latin rhythms with big-band brass to create music that even the most trepidacious wallflower will feel compelled to tap a toe to.

The flamboyant melodies are instantly hummable, largely due to Prado's use of high, piercing trumpets that carry the melody in songs like "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White."

Other times the trumpets rise and fall, coming in on top of the sax-driven woodwinds to add accent or to redirect the melody completely, as in songs like "April in Portugal." Underneath everything are the syncopated percussion rhythms, accented by wood blocks, congos and cow bells.

Prado's music isn't traditional mambo. He popularized it for his American audience by adding the big band sound, so purists of the genre might not find it to their liking. But for those who are looking for some fun dance music with some beautiful melodies, this CD will be a welcome addition to any collection.

-Curtis P. Ferree