The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 14, 2001, Page 9, Image 9
CD REVIEW
Jewel goes back to cowgirl roots
THIS WAY
Jewel
★★★★ out of ☆☆☆*☆
BY MARY HARTNEY
THE GAMECOCK
Jewel is back, and she’s
stronger musically and lyrically
than fans have ever seen her—
with the exception of a live show.
This Way, Jewel’s new album,
released yesterday, is a throwback
to her cowgirl roots and finally
captures her onstage presence on
CD. Jewel, the performer, knows
how to play off of a crowd and
show her fans a good time. She’s
quirky, fun and cute—and a
damn good musician. This album
finally shows just that.
If you’re hoping for another
ethereal album wrought with semi
bad poetry, you’re out of luck. If
you’re looking for the other side of
Jewel’s personality in her music,
pick up this one; it’s the best Jewel
album to date. Thankfully, there’s
no spoken word here, and there’s
minimal sappiness with lots of
good rock, at times reminiscent of
the Indigo Girls and Sheryl Crow.
Since 1999’s Spirit, Jewel has
broadened her horizons. She
dueted with Merle Haggard and
acted in Ride With the Devil —
and her versatility shows on
This Way. This is an open-road
album with an out-West feel,
and that’s exactly who Jewel is.
Jewel albums usually require
an adjustment period before they
can be appreciated. Not this one.
The album opener, “Standing
Still,” is the strongest song on the
album. Her guitar playing has
warmed up and she makes work
what would have been sophomoric
lyrics by letting loose her complex
voice. Jewel has finally learned to
combine her signature sound with
pop sensibilities—a relief for fans.
In that same vein, “Do You Want
to Play?” mixes old-school Jewel
with a fun sound. It’s as if she’s
winking when she sings the chorus:
“Oh... you’re so special/Oh... Who
gives a... /Do you want to play?”
Of course, where would we be
without classic Jewelesque love
songs? “Break Me” is a sparse
track filled with her soulful
pining for a lost lover: “So break
me/Take me/ Just let me feel
your love again.” This is her
forte, and she does it well. She has
grown up since her Pieces of You
debut, and her songs reflect it.
What makes this album so great
is its expression of her interesting
history without explicitly stating
it. Her parents are both performers
and she grew up in Alaska singing
in bars with her father, Atz
Kilcher. She has lived in a van
trying to make it as an artist; she
has been “adopted” by a tribe of
American Indians who taught her
to write from her heart; she has
written songs on the beach in
Mexico with fellow musician Steve
Poltz. All of this is manifested in
different ways on the album.
“Serve the Ego” brings in an
Indian feel with a more metal
sound, and her lyrics and singing
explore sexual role stereotypes.
Jewel is bolder here, and she is
much better when she frees up
her old sound to new influences.
She experiments with a
country sound on “Everybody
Needs Someone Sometime.”
Twangy guitars and a solid drum
track give room for her to play
around with the song’s feel, and
she sings like a younger, cuter
Bonnie Raitt with lots of attitude.
“Love Me, Just Leave Me
Alone” has a similar sound, with
guitars like The The and a
cowgirl “Yeah, baby” at the end.
But she sums up the album and
her new rock-feel best in “The New
Wild West”: “Because after all,
what fun is power if you can’t act
like a rock star?” She has let her
background loose, experimented
with new sounds, and she’s headed
in a new direction. This album will
replace her others for serious
Jewel fans, and it’s the best place
to start for new listeners. There’s
only one thing from her concerts
that’s missing on the album -- that
trademark yodel.
Pratt
Named Leader of
Tomorrow by Ebony
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
Live from South Africa was
released in 1997. It was
performed and recorded at the
NICO Opera House in Cape
Town. The lively performance is
a compilation of works by
Brahms, Franck and
Rachmaninov. Transformations
is Pratt’s fourth release and
features his piano transcription
of “Passacaglia and Fugue in C
Minor” by Bach.
Pratt has been extensively
featured on radio and television,
appearing on the National
Public Radio shows Performance
Today and Weekend Edition, the
Today Show, CBS Sunday
Morning, Good Morning
America and Sesame Street. Pratt
has performed at the White
House and as a soloist on the
PBS production Live from
Kennedy Center—A Salute to
Slava.
He has played with just about
every major orchestra in the
United States and has appeared
at the Kennedy Center and the
Lincoln Center. Ebony magazine
named him to their list of the 50
Leaders of Tomorrow.
He is currently touring with
hopes of settling down one day to
open a year-round community
arts center.
-1
ENTERTAINMENT BRIEFS
TV networks starting
to show pop concerts
NEW YORK (AP) - Television
sets are beginning to rival local
civic centers as concert venues.
CBS aired a two-hour Michael
Jackson concert special Tuesday
and begins a run of three week
ly Garth Brooks shows tonight.
NBC presents Jennifer Lopez on
Nov. 20, and *N Sync is on CBS
on Nov. 23. ABC gives Mick
Jagger a prime-time hour on
Thanksgiving, part biography,
part performance.
Largely ignored by network
television for many years, pop
concerts have become a pro
gramming genre of their own.
“The mainstream, middle
American television audience in
the year 2001 are people who grew
up going to concerts and for whom
concerts remain a regular part of
their entertainment,” said Bill
Flanagan, a VH1 executive. “That’s
different from what it used to be.”
The concert specials have
filled the niche that variety pro
grams like The Ed Sullivan Show
had in the 1960s, Flanagan said.
They don’t necessarily get big
ratings. A one-hour condensed
version of the United We Stand
concert on ABC on Nov. 1 drew
6.2 million viewers, a fraction of
the 27 million who saw Friends
the same night. CBS ran high
lights of the Concert for New York
City the night before and attract
ed 5.6 million viewers.
The concerts generally bring
in a younger audience than typi
cal prime-time network fare, en
abling the networks to sell time
to different advertisers, said Jeff
Gaspin, head of alternative pro
gramming at NBC.
That’s particularly important
at CBS, which traditionally has
the oldest audience on network
TV. CBS has been the most ag
gressive of the four major broad
casters in airing concerts; Celine
Dion, Shania Twain and Ricky
Martin have all done CBS spe
cials.
Since CBS’ parent company,
Viacom, also owns MTV, VH1
and Country Music Television,
musicians are eager to do busi
ness with the network.
The three Brooks concerts
this month will surely draw a
bigger audience for CBS than
Wolf Lake, the struggling drama
whose time slot is being filled. In
a ratings “sweeps” month, that’s
money in the bank.
Brooks had announced that
he wouldn’t be doing any more
concert tours.
“CBS has given me the oppor
tunity to take the music to the
people in a new way, to have the
fun of performing it live, and do
it in such a way that I don’t have
to be away from home for long
periods of time,” he said.
He’ll do one show from the air
craft carrier USS Enterprise and
another at The Forum in Los
Angeles. The third show, on Nov.
28, is at a site yet to be announced.
For the most part, seeing a
concert on television is a lot like
watching fireworks on TV — it’s
just not the same as being there,
Gaspin conceded. Yet the price
of concert tickets is getting steep,
and many fans don’t have the op
portunity to see their favorite
acts, he said.
Billboard announces
performers for Awards
NEW YORK (AP) - Alicia Keys*,
*N Sync, Tim McGraw and Shaggy
are scheduled to perform at the
2001 Billboard Music Awards at
the MGM Grand Garden Arena in
Las Vegas on Dec. 4.
The 12th annual ceremony
will honor the year’s top artists
and songs, as determined by
record charts, sales and radio
airplay. The show is scheduled
to air live on the Fox network
from 8-10 p.m. EST.
Victoria’s Secret hits
prime-time television
COLUMBUS, OHIO (AP) - As
Victoria’s Secret marketing di
rector, Ed Razek is responsible
for the sexy commercials that
have appeared on television for
years and the fashion show that
crashed a Web site.
Yes, Razek said, he knows them
all by name. Yes, they’re his friends.
And yes, he gets to be with them at
glamorous locations worldwide.
“It is a spectacular job. It is a
terrific job. I really enjoy doing
it, but it isn’t running in the
ocean with supermodels. It’s a
big business,” Razek said from
his office at the Columbus head
quarters of The Limited Inc., 84
percent owner of Intimate
Brands, which includes
Victoria’s Secret.
And it’s a big business ready
for prime time.
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion
Show airs as a one-hour special
at 9 p.m. Thursday on ABC — the
first-ever network broadcast of
this annual event.
Rupert Everett will be the host
of the $5 million holiday-themed
production that was taped
Tuesday at New York’s Bryant
Park. It will include Andrea
Bocelli, a 50-piece orchestra,
comedy skits and, of course,
Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum and 23
other models wearing Victoria’s
Secret lingerie.
Teen Show
Show is searching
for new panelists
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
DeRose said, “We respect
each others’ opinions. Nothing
I
said is taken out of the studio.”
DeRose was nervous when
she first went on air but after a
few months she found her on
air time a lot like a “regular
conversation.”
“I have really made great
contacts and had a lot of
different experiences. I’ve met
and worked with such a diverse
group of people, and we’ve
become a lot like family,”
DeRose said.
The Teen Forum Show is
currently looking for more
panelists. Anyone interested is
encouraged to contact the
show.
-1
sponsored by Shandon baptist Church and iriffaa
And donl miss the Post-game events
Sunday, November 18
Shandon Baptist Church Gym
10 am College Bible Study
Featuring Adrian Despres,
Chaplain USC football team
11:30 am Contemporary Worship Service
Free lunch after Worship Service
For more information email college@shandon.org or call 782-1300 ext/105
Ticket Outlets: All area Christian Bookstores and Shandon Baptist Churd
sponsored by Shandon Baptist Church and
, SemestlfService
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA BICENTENNIAL"
Celebrate USC's bicentennial and your service contributions
to the Carolina community by registering your hours or
your organization's hours with Semester of Service
Registration forms can be found in
the Russell House University Union,
West Wing, Lower Level or at
www.sc.edu/bicentennial.
Hours must be registered no later
than December 10 at 5p.m.!
\
For more information, call 777-1801
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