Don't Worry About Me
Santuary/EMI
Hearing
the late Joey Ramone sing "What a Wonderful World" puts a smile
on your face. He appreciated life and you just know he's having a
blast in rock 'n' roll heaven. Back on earth, the impact this punk
legend had on the world is immeasurable, and, listening to his final solo
album one hears why -- it's simple, it's passionate, it's juvenile and it
rocks from the nursery rhyme singalong "Mr. Punchy" to the more
serious "Venting" (It's a Different World Today). Recorded
before he succumbed to cancer last year, Don't Worry About Me is a
proud goodbye.Night Bugs
Atlantic/Warner
The
girl doesn't fit in with the now. Songs like "Eliot" and
"Duncan" are cabaret without the camp, dramatic like love scenes
from old films. She's 24, down to earth and hip. But sounds
like she should be entertaining gentry in Europe, clad in a sequined gown
and smoking a long filtered cigarette. Where did she get this flair,
this sensibility -- especially in Toronto? One is immediately drawn
into her imaginative world, sometimes sad, sometimes fanciful and
sometimes grand.Ecstacy
Magic Johnson/MCA/Universal
My
Thoughts, the debut from this Cleveland, OH, artist signed to Earvin
"Magic" Johnson's label, went platinum in the U.S., signifying
sales of one million units. For his follow-up, Ecstacy, he
has re-teamed with producer Steve Huff and co-written an assortment of
sensuous R&B ballads and hip hop-inflected grooves. The opener
"Call On Me" has an even flow and doesn't really do the album
justice. Better are the first single, "Makin' Good Love,"
as well as the flavorful urban pop tracks "No Limit" and
"Six in Da Morning," which would do Nelly proud.
Slightly Happy
Aporial/No
Originally
formed as 100 Moments in the U.K. by four Canadians, now back in their
homeland, the space-rock band's first full-length disc is an ethereal,
dream-like offering with moments prone to rock and explode.
Enlisting the help of producer/mixer Rudy Rempel, who has worked with
Sloan and Nefarious, one could call the results "beautiful,"
though that's hardly cool -- and Mellonova is cool, a 21st-century Floyd
in a way; an aural drug or chill-out aid. From the opening
"Frightening Commuters" to "Hide Yourself," this is
one glorious tranquilizer in a world of stress and strife.The Full Nine
Mammoth/Universal
Sick
of guitar-pop, punk-pop, rap-rock and Creed-alikes? The Full Nine is
a heavy alternative, not what one would expect from Canadians. While
the songs aren't typically radio-friendly, save "Coffee," the
closest the band comes to a pop track, the material is made for a live
setting. The four-piece signed to Mammoth with little fanfare last
year and have included many songs from its hard to find self-titled
independent album that impressed the label. Best cuts are the
psychedelic "Look At You," the head-thrashing fun of "Worn
So Thin," inventive "Stained Glass Roof" and the Radiohead/Beatlesque
"Crawling."
In Search Of...
Virgin/EMI
Pharrell
Williams and Chad Hugo, aka The Neptunes, are one creative force.
The hip-hop production team behind such artists as Jay-Z, Mystikal,
Backstreet Boys, Janet Jackson and No Doubt join up with their friend Shay
as N*E*R*D and man, is it wicked. The album is an unrestricted
sponge of sounds, hip-hop on the whole, but embracing soul, rock, pop,
blues, R&B, even classical. Leading off with the menacing crunch
of "Lapdance," what follows grooves all over the map, from the
funky "Things Are Getting Better," the soulful sex fantasy of
"Tape You" and smooth confessional "Run To The
Sun." These guys are keeping the good stuff for themselves.
- Karen Bliss