6
Thursday, December 6, 2001
Crow, Snoop Dogg Provide Fresh Air for Otherwise Dreary Kid Rock Return
By Kristen Williams
Staff Writer
Kid Rock introduced himself in his
1998 single “Bawitdaba” with his infa
mous line “My name is Kiiiiiiiiiiiid
Rock!” In his new effort, Cocky, the
world gets to know him a little better.
But that might
not be a good
thing.
Yes, there is
more talk of his
exploits with
women, drinking
/rev/ews)
Kid Rock
Codcy
★★★☆☆
and drugging. Tiring as this mixture
might be, Rock manages to make it
interesting for at least part of the album.
Scatterbrained Phi Previews Upcoming LP; Croban Falters on Pop-eratic Debut
Hie Rat Pack
Live at the Sands
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy
Davis Jr. They were all famous singers
and entertainers in their own right, but
when they joined forces in the early
weeks of 1960 at The Copa Room night
club in New York, they became known
as the Rat Pack.
They were a fraternity of chauvinists,
racists, drinkers, smokers and they cared
not what anybody had to say about it In
their heyday, it was the Rat Pack’s world
and everyone else was just living in it
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In the first single “Forever,” Rock
raps about his mixture of rock and hip
hop, his wealth and best of all, Oprah
and A1 Roker.
Rock boasts of his huge rhymes and
quips, “thick like A1 Roker/pumping out
hits getting chips like Oprah.” - there
are few things more frightening than
hearing America’s talk show matriarch
evoked through the wiles of “Kiiiiiiiiiiiid
Rock!”
His social commentary adds some
humorous lyrics to the album, but his
collaborations with Sheryl Crow and
Snoop Dogg make it something a little
different from other rap-rockers.
Crow joins Rock on the country
tinged “Picture,” while on “WCSR”
Our generation, however, did not
grow up to their music or movies, yet
they still manage to represent the defi
nition of hip.
The music industry and Hollywood
have caught onto this fact, and coinciding
with the release of “Ocean’s 11 ” (a remake
of the Rat Pack film of the same name),
Capitol records has released a live show
from the height of the Rat Pack’s fame.
What hits you immediately as you lis
ten to this historic recording is the pris
tine sound. The clear, dynamic sound
quality, from the punch of the hom to the
clinking of glasses in the audience, real
ly transports you to that night This seems
to be the real triumph of Live at the Sands.
Many classic recordings are here:
Martin’s “Volare,” Sinatra’s “Luck Bea
Lady,” “Guys and Dolls” and Davis’
“The Lady is a Tramp,” but most of the
show is the Rat Pack joking around.
Whether they are making up songs
(“Nothing could be finer than to shag it
with a minor”), making fun of their clas
sic tunes or just ribbing each other
between songs, it is obvious that the boys
weren’t taking anything too seriously.
While it certainly must have been a
thrill to see them in their heyday, some
of their jokes have lost their kick in the
38 years that have passed since their
telling. Their bawdy humor certainly
isn’t politically correct and, at times,
isn’t funny either (Sinatra: “How do you
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DIVERSIONS
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Rock raps with
Snoop Dogg.
While Crow’s
song might be more
thoughtful than the
sex-driven tune
with Snoop, both
songs provide evi
dence of Rock’s
diversity.
Although he did
n't collaborate with
Lynyrd Skynyrd,
Rock meshes a gui-
tar riff from “Freebird” into the funky
“You Never Met a Mother****** Like
Me.”
Beginning with slow, bluesy melodies
make a fruit cordial?” Martin: “I don’t
know. Be nice to him?”).
Davis, who was often bemoaned as
an Uncle Tom figure to Sinatra and
Martin’s racist humor, proves that he
could dish it out as well as take it. He
makes it clear that just because he’s
laughing, doesn’t mean he thinks racism
is funny: “You guys have a ball, because
you ain’t got many rights left.”
Times changed and the ball did final
ly end for the Rat Pack, but for one
night at The Sands, the kings of cool
were in rare form swinging, singing and
defining hip.
By James Russ
Kidneythieves
Phi in the Sky
It’s obvious that the Los Angeles
based Kidneythieves have yet to serve a
main course of their current sound, but
they have put out a pretty tasty sample.
The industrial group’s new EP, Phi in
the Sky, consists of six tracks. Two are
original versions and four are remixes of
songs that will soon appear on their LP,
Zerospace, slated for a February release.
While it’s not “the real thing,” so to
speak, Phi in the Sky nevertheless has its
own high points.
The two originals, “Black Bullet” and
the version of “Zerospace" that will
appear on the LP of the same name, are
infused with deep
bass beats and elec
tronic sounds, the
song sounds like a
departure from
Rock’s style.
But when the
chorus begins, so do
Rock’s raspy
screams, which is
disappointing con
sidering the song’s
potential. Wasted
opportunities
abound throughout Cocky because on
many tracks he uses the same formula of
slow exposition leading to a screaming,
hard rocking chorus.
the EP’s strongest tracks. Both are dis
tinguished by the group’s metallic guitar
fuzz and by Free Dominguez’s captivat
ing vocals. While they aren’t as concep
tually ambitious as anything by stand
outs such as Nine Inch Nails, they are
still delicious slices of industrial rock.
The remixes are weaker, but not by
much. DJ Merritt’s take on “Zerospace” is
the most impressive - it’s danceable with
spacey keyboard effects, steady beats and
a smooth bass line riding underneath.
While the remixes are all interesting
enough to begin with, they have their
faults. In general, they go on for too long
without diverging into new directions
and don’t fit extremely well with the
rock-metal of the originals.
Since it’s essentially a jumbled col
lection of dissimilar tracks, Phi in the Sky
lacks the type of cohesion that a careful
ly produced Zerospace would do well to
benefit from. When heard all the way
through, the EP does sound like a pre
cursor to something else. In the end, it’s
merely a big appetizer, undermining the
power of some of the tracks.
It’s unfortunate, because the individ
ual parts of Phi in the Sky are in good
working order - if only they had a real
connection with which to form a full
fledged industrial machine.
By Elliott Dube
Josh Groban
Josh Groban
★★★☆☆
It’s easy to make a star, but making
an album with sincerity and solid musi
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“You Never Met a Motherf**ker Like
Me” speaks of Rock’s love for being at
home, and his fame, including the lyrics
“Now I been on the cover of the Rolling
Stone/Now I met the president when I
was half stoned.”
This song isn’t the last interaction
between a president and Rock. In the
closing track of the album, Rock kicks
his “sex rhymes” with Snoop Dogg and
tells a tale including a stewardess, Bill
Clinton and himself. The lyrics aren’t
printable, so this one you’ve got to hear
for yourself.
Initially, the mixing of Rock’s intense
raps with Snoop Dogg’s laid-back sound
make for a great song, especially with
the funny sexual references to Clinton.
cal ideas takes more than marketing.
In the rush of young, classically
trained musicians not finding enough
fame in the world of classical music,
Josh Groban has joined the ranks. His
debut album is a personal attempt to
break into the mainstream without
breaking away from his roots.
A cherubic face and a tenor voice to
match, Josh Groban has a warm tone, a
wide range and good managers. He is a
marketing dream, landing one of his
tracks “To Where You Are” on the hit
television show Ally Mcßeal.
But while he has the makings of a star,
what’s missing in this self-tided LP is char
acter - Elis album is the audial equivalent
of a chick flick. Instead of attempting to
gamer listeners with his musical sensibil
ities, Groban falls back onto blatant lyri
cal sentimentality and comes off as trite.
Trying to appeal to too many audi
ences at once, the first track “Alla Luce
Del Sole” is a musical soup. World beats,
Italian aria, a full choral background and
even hints of techno samples appear,
occasionally clinging to the ends of a
few choice phrases.
Although the album is overproduced
and predictable, it has its redeeming
moments when Groban’s good, but
masked, musical instincts sneak in.
He knows what suits his solid tenor,
like the respectable cover of the love
theme from “Cinema Paradiso.”
Groban’s rich voice fills the song’s deli
cate melody like red wine into a crystal
glass, and it’s probably the most satisfy
ing track on the album.
©Ejp latly QJar MM
But after the lyrics Snoop and Rock
serve up, the song slowly descends into
a headache-inducing, dronipg beat with
too many references to ecstasy, weed
and Cristal champagne.
Aspects of Rock’s new album are
great, but in a few ways it falls short. The
various tempo changes diversify his
songs, but the album contains too many
of them matched with too similar subject
matter. It’s like three-day leftovers -
Rock made way too much of the same
thing.
After all, you can only have so much
T & A before getting bored.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artdesk@unc.edu.
Unfortunately, he chooses to round
off his album performing a duet with the
poster child of over-marketed classically
trained vocalists, Charlotte Church.
“The Prayer” is not intrinsically flawed,
it’s just overdone.
And that’s where the album goes
wrong. Groban has a voice that can
stand on its own, he just needs the con
fidence to allow it do so and leave all the
bells and whistles at home.
By Brooks Firth
Shannon McNally
Jukebox Sparrows
★★★☆☆
Shannon McNally’s debut album,
Jukebox Sparrow, is a classic example of
production gone wrong.
The New Jersey-bom singer-song
writer is the newest addition to the line
of blue-eyed-soul singers spawned from
the recent successes of artists like Fiona
Apple and Shelby Lynne.
Her voice is smokey and emotive in
the vein ofjoan Osborne, and at its best
on tracks like the slow-burning opener
“Down And Dirty” and the haunting
“I’ll Always Be Around.”
But Ron Aniello’s tepid and monot
onous production unfortunately renders
her fiery delivery and compositions
helpless. Especially on “Now That I
Know,” as it drowns in Aniello’s mid
tempo soup of keyboards and bells.
It’s a crime, because McNally is one
artist who seems capable of channeling
blues and soul into pop music.
By Michael Abernethy