The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 05, 1997, Page 5, Image 5
SITE OF THE DAY
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SOUND A DVICE
MARCIJS AMAKER Staff Writer
EARLY RECORDINGS Joan Osborne
Perhaps the most intriguing
aspect of the 1995 year in music
was the multi-platinum success of
Joan Osborne's Relish. An album
rich with eclecticism, Relish was
everything popular music dainta to
be. Lost in the attention surrounding
that album's biggest hit, "One Of
Us," was the fact Osborne was
already an established artist. Prior
to Relish, she released two albums,
Soul Show (1991) and Blue Million
Miles (a 1993 EP), on her own labeL
The demand for these two
unavailable records led her to release
Early Recordings, which compiles
some of the best songs from her pre"One
Of Us" days.
Osborne's rags-to-riches story
owes a lot to the New York club
scene. She was a regular at the same
clubs which featured then unknown
acts like Blues Traveler and the
Popular 4pun
SOUND ADVICE
DAVID BISHOP Staff Writer
Violent World Variout Artists
Many people's familiarity with
the legendary punk band the Misfits
extends only to recognition of their
mascot, a cloaked skeleton
representing 1930s serial hero the
Crimson Ghost. So, to clarify: the
Misfits are one of punk's most
enduringly popular bands whose
work spans from the new wave-ish
demo Static Age (available only in
1995's Misfits boxed set) to the
anthem-laden classic Walk Among
Us to the band's final album, the
thrashy Earth AD. Each album has
inspired countless bands. But, like
the Dead Kennedys, are defined by
Jello Biafra's unique voice. No band
can truly sound like the Misfits
without intentionally copying the
vocals of their distinctive lead singer,
Qlenn Danzig (though this hasn't
stoped the Misfits from reforming
without Danzig).
Which is why Misfits fans?
my^ included?approach a tribute
to the Misfits with trepidation. No
one is interested in carbon copy
caver versions, yet anything straying
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d offering
Spin Doctors. Soul Show was
recorded entirely live at Delta 88,
one ot the infamous clubs m New
York's underground music scene.
Most of the songs on Early
Recordings come from these live
shows, which gives us an intimate
and revealing look at Joan Osborne
before she became a star. The fact
the majority of the songs are
presented live lets us hear Osborne
the way she was meant to be heard,
without the perfection of a studio.
On stage, Osborne has no
boundaries. "Wild World" is almost
unbearable because of that fact, but
"Dreamin' About The Day" and
"Fingerprints" are Osborne at her
best. Songs like "Flyaway," "Match
Bum Twice" and "4 Camels" show
her Motown-meets-Joplin vocals
which would later evolve into "Right
Hand Man" and "Dracula Moon"
from Relish. A soul singer at heart,
Osborne is right at home with a
cover of Dusty Springfield's classic
"Son of a Preacher Man."
k' bands sland
too far from the original is heresy.
I was especially nervous when I
read the lineup of bands, which
includes some of the worst that
today's scene has produced: The
annoyingly generic Pennywise, the
pretentiously artsy Tanner, the
heavy metal band
, . . A TRIBUTE TOT
in disguise
Snapcase and the
dogma-spewing
Krishna core band
admit that some QjKLvKflu
tracks were better
than I thought they 1^^*" "W
would be. Deadguy has to be making
many of the more hardcore fans
happy with their ultra-evil rendition
of "Horror Business" (inspired, as
are many Misfits songs, by a horror
movie; in this case, Psycho). Farside
doesnt stray too far from the original '
version of "Return of the Fly," but
their exaggeration of the song's
lounge quality makes it one of the
comp's most original and memorable
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The best tracks on Early
Recordings come from the songs
that were originally on the Blue
Million Miles EP. In these songs,
we can hear the progression she
was making as an artist en route
to Relish. The somber "His Eyes
Are a Blue Million Miles" and "What
You Gonna Do" are precursors to
songs like "Lumina" and "Ladder."
Naturally, hearing an artist's
musical past can sometimes be an
ler memory of
tracks.
Still, the negatives far outweigh
the positives. On "Last Caress,"
NOFX repeatedly go into their brand
of pseudo-ska which I swear they
invented just to annoy me. Shades
Apart drain all the life out of "20
I Eyes," and Prong
HE MISFITS ' '
. dare to make
1 "London Dungeon
g % into a quasiindustrial
song
of Goldfinger and
Earth Crisis, the twin anti-Christs
of punk rock. Goldfinger, the ShaNa-Na
of punk, make "Ghoul's Night
Out" so squeaky clean that I can
hear it rolling off Kennedy's tongue
right now.
But if 1 could personally kill any
band on this compilation, it would
be Earth Crisis, who cover "Earth
A.D.". How clever! EARTH Crisis
covering EARTH AD! These jocks
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SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
ands empty after residents finunpleasant
experience, and some
of the material on Early Recordings
proves Osborne has improved
dramatically as a singer and
songwriter. Even though Early
Recordings contains some solid
songs, it's likely only an Osborne- enthusiast
will find this album
enjoyable. Still, Joan Osborne's
future is as promising as most Early
Recordings is an interesting look
into her past.
the Misfits
in disguise are today's leading
"straight edge" band, meaning they
don't drink, smoke, have sex, or do
any of the things that fill the average
frat boy's life. My theory on why
they're straight edge is that they
couldnt get into a fraternity, so they
needed some other excuse to beat
up punks. Yeb, Earth Crisis is
renowned in the punk scene for their
tendency to punch smokers and
drinkers?but only if they've got
enough of their mends around to
back them up. Hmmm, another
similarity to frats? Anyway, before
I earn myself a beat down from a
bunch of guys in Big Johnson tshirts,
let me just mention that
Earth Crisis turns in a track that
can best be described as Tantera
if none of the guys could play solos".
The most disturbing thing about
this compilation is that Glenn Danzig
himself endorsed it. Maybe that
shouldn't come as a surprise, with'
the music he's made in the last few
years, I can't help but feel a little
disillusioned. At least there hasn't
been a Clash tribute with No Doubt
covering "Drug Stabbing Time." At
least not yet.
.R
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SOUND ADVICE
MATT CHEVERTON Staff Writer
COMING UP Suede
This is the third album from
the London band Suede, but their
first since the departure of their
much lauded guitarist and
songwriter Bemhard Butler. Around
the time of their critically acclaimed
debut album, Suede was being
hailed as the next big thing by the
music press, but, unfortunately for
them, they went out on tour here
with the Cranberries opening for
them. They suffered the ignominy
of crowds turning up simply to see
the openers and leaving Suede to
play to empty venues.
While the Cranberries have
gone on to sell millions of albums
around the world since, Suede by
contrast has struggled to live up
to the considerable hype that
surrounded them at the time of
their inception.
However, after a self imposed
two year exile from the music scene,
during which time they have
recruited a talented new guitarist
and keyboardist, they have
confounded the skeptics and come
up with an album of rare quality.
Although lacking the musical
intricacy of their previous albums,
this is nevertheless a great guitar
pop album containing ten songs,
all of which seem like potential
singles.
Songwriting is now shared
between singer Brett Anderson,
who writes all of the lyrics on the
album as well as the music on two
of the tracks, and the two new band
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memoers, guitarist rncnara uaites
and keyboardist Neil Codling.
The usual Suede influences are
apparent on this latest album,
namely Bowie, T-Rex and The
Clash, but, importantly, Suede
manages to stamp their own distinct
style on everything that they do.
This is due in no small part to the
powerful and emotive vocals of
Anderson, who, in the words of
that much overused cliche, is
definitely one of those singers whom
you either love or you hate.
Anderson has an amazing vocal
range which is most evident on
songs like "Saturday Night" and
"Picnic By The Motorway," which
illustrate he is a singer in the true
sense of the word and not, as is
often the case in modern bands, a
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Night" even achieves the seemingly
impossible by stealing from Eric
Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" and
still managing to sound cooL Okay,
so maybe its a bit over the top, but
Suede has the panache to just about
pull it off.
Suede's problem in terms of
achieving any level of commercial
success here is perhaps they sound
just too distinctly English for a
music public seemingly obsessed
with U.S. alternative rock. So
although they seem destined to
achieve little more than a small
underground following, give them
a listen and you may be pleasantly
surprised.
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Bat if I coald personally kill
any band on this compilation,
it would be Earth Crisis.
David Bishop
staff writer on Violent World
It
fferent genres.
oming Up'
ack up to par
guitarist who has the misconception
he can disguise his inadequacies
by simply adopting a kind of postCobain
anguished scream. (Refer
to any of the so called modem rock
stations for numerous examples).
Anderson is also a very
intriguing lyricist with his perceptive
insights into modem life and society,
with the focus as usual on drugs,
relationships and alienation.
Importantly he avoids falling into
the tran of either moralizincr or
wallowing in self pity, and his lyrics,
although meaningful, still manage
to contain a certain amount of dry
humor. It certainly takes something
to come up with the lines; "Cracked
up, stacked up, 22, psycho for sex
and glue, lost it to Bostik, yeah.
Shaved heads, rave heads on the
pill, got too much time to kill, get
into bands and gangs." ("Beautiful
Ones")
The above track is also
memorable for its simple yet
unforgettable opening guitar riff
and is one of the strongest songs
on the album. It was the second
single released from the album in
England after album opener
"Trash," a similarly upbeat glam
rocker and another of the standout
tracks.
Elsewhere on the album there
are a mixture of out and out rock
numbers and delicate piano based
ballads. My personal favorite track
is the Anderson composition, "By
The Sea," the first minute of which
featuring just piano and Anderson's
vocals, before being augmented by
guitars, and is surely enough to
make the heart of even the most
ardent alt-rock fan melt.
The closing track "Saturday