Music Meltdown

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Arizona Daily Wildcat

Babybird, Ugly Beautiful (Atlantic Records)

Babybird is responsible for the famous pub song, "You're Gorgeous," which made the Top 5 in Europe earlier this year. The question on many minds was, or is, if whether the rest of the album would be equally good. The answer is here, and it's far less straightforward than a "yes" or a "no."

The first track, "Goodnight," starts the compact disc in a manner similar to "You're Gorgeous," which is easy on the musical palate. "Candy Girl," the next track, rings with monotony, though, and is somewhat dull from the start.

The lyrical content of many of the songs is great, with a sense of wit and devilish humor; track titles include "45 and Fat," "Too Handsome to be Homeless" and "Jesus is My Girlfriend." The music leaves much to be desired, though, as many songs resemble "You're Gorgeous" a little too much. The others are generally too slow and boring to even bother listening to.

The best of the bunch are "Cornershop," "July" and "Too Handsome to be Homeless." The first of the three is pretty good, although it, too, reeks suspiciously of the hit single. The other two are all right, although a little too slow.

All in all, this CD isn't worth paying for, unless your stereo has a memory function to skip all the mediocre tunes. It's probably best to just go out and buy the "Gorgeous" single, as it's by far the best track on a somewhat melodramatic and repetitive release.

-James Casey

Lili Haydn, Lili (Atlantic)

Lili Haydn is no newcomer to the pop-music scene. She's played violin with No Doubt, Hootie and the Blowfish, Porno for Pyros, Bush and Tracy Chapman, along with The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Page and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. How's that for diversity? Her mother once called her a "jam slut." So it's not surprising that her self-produced solo album sounds like a conglomeration of pop-music styles. The songs are like her entourage of illegitimate children.

"Real" is the loud feminist punk daughter: "My tits are real and I am tired of pretending." "Salome" and "Wants Deep" are the manic classical musicians (think David Helfgott in "Shine.") "Take Somebody Home" and "Faithful One" are the emotionally oversensitive poets who feel the pain of humanity. "Baby" is the depressive goth: "No one can save her / but no one enslaves her."

Haydn is like Fiona Apple, except not as jazzy. She's got that same waif-elfin thing going, only Haydn's voice is a lot higher. Her violin sings over studio musicians playing guitars and drums and bass and keyboards, so the songs/children are very well-adjusted. It is possible to be emotional and well-adjusted at the same time, you know.

I get exposed to a lot of female solo artists these days, and usually they're so bad I run screaming with my hands over my ears to the stop button. But Lili won me over. The coolest thing is that she sings, too. I wonder if she plays violin and sings at the same time when she performs. If she does, then she's even more special.

-Annie Holub

The Jerky Boys, The Jerky Boys 4 (Ratchet Records/Mercury)

Years ago, a friend played me a copy of the bootleg tape that exposed the Jerky Boys to the world. For the first time, I heard the voices of Sol Rosenberg, Frank Rizzo, Tabash, Kissel and the other characters created by the guys who would go on to become the world's most famous prank callers. It was new, it was underground and it was hilarious.

See, that's the problem. Today, everyone knows who the Jerky Boys are. To actually catch an unsuspecting victim off guard is almost impossible, especially since the Boys' initial success inspired so many copycat pranksters.

Their first official album was great, true, bringing them to the ears of the general public. Even by the second, they were still funny. By the third, things were beginning to wear a bit thin. Now, even they seem to have realized the joke is over.

To try to make up for it, there are a couple of gimmicks on Jerky Boys 4. One is that they placed various phony ads that prompted people to call them. That's one way to catch them unaware. However, even these people mostly figure out the joke too soon.

There's also the inclusion of older, unreleased calls from the "pre-bootleg" days. The reason they haven't been released before, though, is most likely because they aren't funny.

And this is true for most of this compact disc. Talking into the line while someone's put you on hold, or having a conversation with someone who doesn't understand what you're saying is not funny. It's not what the Jerky Boys were originally about.

And why they're subjecting us to "Jerk Baby Jerk (Bass Mix)," an actual Jerky Boys song, to top it all off, is beyond comprehension.

- Doug Levy

David Bowie, I'm Afraid of Americans (Virgin)

The title of Bowie's new remix EP, I'm Afraid of Americans, seems to assure a great listen and the cover art reinforces that belief. It's a charcoal drawing of a man, possibly Bowie, screaming in fear of a man hanging from a tree. The stars and stripes can be seen blowing in the wind in front of the whole scene, since, naturally, Americans are scary and if you mess with them, you gonna git lynched boy.

The music itself could actually be more frightening than the Americans, as it is over 35 minutes of the same monotonous track, with only slight changes to the ghastly lyrics.

The EP was remixed by Trent Reznor, of NIN fame, who actually threatens his own career by remixing this crap. The beats are loud and misplaced, whereas Bowie's watered-down yelps are no more than a call to the ASPCA for help.

Every cloud has a silver lining but it's hard to find even a glimpse of one in this release. Rupert Parkes, or Photek as he's commonly known, does shine through with his help on one track. Outdated rapper Ice Cube also makes an appearance, which does not work, and he and Bowie proceed to make even bigger asses out of themselves, which in Bowie's case seems pretty hard to do.

This could actually be one of the worst releases of the year. What is David "I'm-pretty-old- now" Bowie doing? He should have retired a long time ago. Maybe when Ziggy played guitar.

-James Casey

Retro Review - 1995

Shane MacGowan and The Popes, The Snake (ZTT/Warner Bros.)

Ask any Irishman what the quintessential Irish band is, and he'll tell you: it's the Pogues. These masters of drunken pub jigs and epic musical sagas detailing tragedy and triumph in Celtic history have been as influential and important in the land of the leprechauns as Guiness stout and potatoes.

A few years ago, though, the Pogues suffered a terrible loss - lead singer Shane MacGowan. No, he didn't die; he just left the group. Sure, they carried on, but they haven't been the same since.

That's because Shane is inimitable. His drunken, bawling vocal style and incredibly ripped-up sounding voice separate him from every other singer out there. Think Tom Waits with a sore throat and about six pints of lager in him. The Snake is Shane's debut album with his backing group, the Popes, and it delivers everything one would expect from the former Pogue and more.

Instruments abound on The Snake, including banjo, fiddle whistles, Irish harp, uilean pipes, horns and everything else it takes to keep you dancing while you drink. And there's some celebrity guests, too. There's a credit that reads "Special Teen Idol Johnny Depp - guitar weird noises."

Sinead O'Connor joins MacGowan for a rousing duet on "Haunted," creating a vocal contrast that actually conjures up images of an angel and a devil, singing side by side.

Shane should have a new album coming out soon, although he can take his time with these things. It'll be worth the wait.

- Doug Levy