Übe iatlij (Ear HM
Cure Bleeds Sadness on New Album
Bv Joanna Pearson
Staff Writer
The Cure has never been known as a
lighthearted band, but Bloodflowers is the
saddest album of all.
Not only are the tracks doleful, in typ
ical Cure fashion, but there’s an overall
feeling that frontman Robert Smith is
worn out after all these years of splendid
sadness.
Listening to £CD REVIEW
this album is ,
akin to seeing a J h *5 ure
favorite grand-
parent in a m' m' m
nursing home § § §
- he seems old
and weak now, but you remember how
powerful he used to be.
Of course, just like with the grand
parent, you have to give The Cure a lot
of credit. It’s the band’s third decade,
and it’s still kicking - pretty good for a
Brit goth-pop band that spawned a
seemingly faddish following.
In fact, The Cure is even trying to
live up to the mastery of earlier albums
Musician Spins Classics Into New Orbit
By Carl Jacobs
Staff Writer
With what began as a project to
entertain friends, William Orbit created
something that will please many more.
Featuring 11 electronic interpreta
tions of classical works by composers
such as Vivaldi
and Beethoven, H| CD REVIEW
Pieces in a
Modern Style is William Orbit
unique. It’s Pieces in a Modern Style
also meditative gg ag ge
and it definite- W W W W
ly has style.
What it’s not, as Rolling Stone
wrongfully states, is a bridge between
classical and Brit-pop. Classical fans will
probably be appalled at the synthesized
instruments and trippy beats.
Sky bolt Lacks Originality,
Mimics Raleigh Rockers
By Josh Love
Staff Writer
Picture tire quintessential Chapel Hill
band. Immediately Archers of Loaf,
Superchunk and Polvo spring to mind,
three bands that epitomized the angu
lar, jaded alt-rock ultimately immortal
ized as “the Chapel Hill sound.”
Now picture the quintessential
Raleigh band. The Connells achieved
remarkable
success, but
never man
aged to grant
Raleigh the
level of nation
wide attention
that descended
H| CD Review
Skybolt 6
The Bells of Bricktown
rr
upon Chapel Hill in the early ’9os.
Essentially, Raleigh boasts a loosely
defined hodgepodge of a scene witn
three faithful but disparate pillars for
support: a minor alt-country movement,
the reliable Connells and an admirable
legacy of bar-band rock.
Skybolt (i seems poised to become
the epitome of the Raleigh scene
through the sheer inclusiveness of its
debut. The Bells of Bricktown. The album
incorporates nearly every niche from
the past two decades of Raleigh-based
rock, as the band liberally borrows from
each of its Capitol City predecessors.
Actually, I failed to detect any hints
of Corrosion of Conformity in Skybolt
6, but aside from the lack of influence
from that hard-rock institudon, the band
seems to have all of its bases covered.
Unfortunately, The Bells of Bricktown
serves as more of a mixed bag of uncon
nected Raleigh reference points than a
cohesive statement from an innovative
artist. Amidst such a single-minded pur
suit of Raleigh-rock mimicry, Skybolt 6
too often forgets to include its own
voice, and ultimately the band can
claim no original voice at all.
The album opens with the title track,
essentially an outtake from a late ’Bos
Connells album, with Skybolt 6 vocalist
Eric West as the less-expressive version
of Connells frontman Doug MacMillan.
But two songs later on “Revolution
Radio,” West metamorphoses into a
wannabe honky-tonker, a half-attempt
ed persona he revisits on “One Shot.”
“Colorado" at least journeys outside the
Southeast to copycat Chicago’s Urge
Overkill for no discernible reason.
Also in the realm of the utterly unex
plained, Skybolt 6 covers Bob Dylan’s
classic “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.”
Not surprisingly, the band downplays
Dylan’s sublime poetry so that West can
emote in his best Southern drawl.
Skybolt 6 boasts that its songs have
been likened to those of U 2 and David
Bowie. But Bono would never allow
himself to wallow in awkward rhymes
Pornography and Disintegration with this
release, the supposed third in a trilogy.
But Bloodflowers fails to live up to its
fellow trilogy albums. Of course, this is
somewhat understandable since it
would be hard to match either of the
earlier albums’ beautiful darkness.
Smith still has the winning combina
tions of tinkling noises, echoing
melodies and tortured vocals. He’s still
delivering Camus-inspired lyrics (“The
world is neither fair nor unfair”). He’s
still wandering through memories of
standing with a girl in the rain.
In fact, all the essentially Cure ele
ments are there, they’re just toned
down. None of the songs on Bloodflowers
are terribly bad, but none of them are
memorable. To borrow and rephrase
one of Smith’s own lyrics, “The album is
neither good nor ungood.”
A true sign of age is when one starts
feeling nostalgic not for past events, but
for earlier songs about past events. In
Bloodflowers, this stagnancy replaces the
fresh wistfulness of previous albums.
Rather than sounding entirely original,
the songs seem like generic versions of
Some might also say that the integri
ty of the compositions has been com
promised, but coming from an ambient
house perspective, this album has a lot
to offer. And that’s what’s important
(People married to the classical genre
are going to ignore this album anyway).
The result is a wonderfully crafted
ambient album. The songs range from
soundtrack-worthy relaxing pieces to
meditative drum and bass works to club
bound European techno mixes.
Although the single “Adagio for
Strings” has already reached the top 5
on UK charts, it seems inappropriate to
single out any of the songs because they
are all top 5-worthy.
Pieces is the solo debut of a musician
who has already developed an extensive
resume in the electronica genre. Orbit
won two Grammys as co-producer of
like “the new synthetic gilded-age/ that
brought us to this final stage,” while the
Thin White Duke would likely rather
re-release Let Is Dance than come within
a time zone of these musical cliches.
The Arts 8 Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
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DIVERSIONS Music
earlier favorites.
Both “Out of This World” and “There
Is No IP are reminiscent of “Pictures of
You,” while “Where the Birds Always
Sing” bears a melodic similarity to
“Why Can’t I Be You.”
More than anything, Bloodflowers
seems like a musical euphemism for The
Cure’s oft-threatened departure from
the musical scene. Nearly every song
conveys a feeling of ending and farewell.
A quick lyrical survey supports this
claim: “And I know we have to go/ I
realize we only get to stay so long,” or “I
used to feed the fire, but the fire is
almost out.”
If, as Smith seems to be claiming, the
long miserable fire of The Cure is near
ly out, then it is a sad day for pop music.
Though Bloodflowers is a more disap
pointing representation of the down
ward slope, it is still unmistakably The
Cure and therefore part of a wonderful
legacy of self-indulgent, extravagant and
darkly beautiful music.
The Arts 8 Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
Madonna’s Ray of Light, he is acclaimed
for work on albums like Blur’s 13.
With Pieces, Orbit proves for the first
time that he can create a successful
album of his own.
The Arts 8 Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
and / 610 West Franklin sweet Chapel Hill. Hotth Carolina 919-929-7643
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Vocals Lighten Lyrical Weight
On Tracy Chapman's Latest
By Carmen Woodruff
Staff Writer
She tells the stories of the dark times and the bright.
Multiplatinum, Grammy-winning Tracy Chapman is back
with another album overflowing with emotion.
The lyrics have a deeper meaning than any catchy pop
tune. Chapman spills her soul quietly, with the background of
acoustic and electric guitar dominating. Telling Stories has a
mellow feel -one can sit back and relax, or listen intently and
absorb the stories of wisdom offered in each track.
In the title track, contrasting beats „
and electric guitar chords underlie & CD REVIEW
lyrics that define the space between **
fantasy and reality. And it’s all spun rac V Chapman
together with a catchy melody. TeWng Stories
The startling beating of drums in
“Nothing Yet” brings back the days § § § §
of slavery. It pounds out images of
hot fields, plows and pain. Bemoaning blacks’ continuous
struggle with prejudice, Chapman sings: “Hands unlied/ but
the same shuffle once again/ running all the time/ ain’t going
nowhere/ It’s anew page in the same book.”
Although her lyrics carry much weight, her light voice
allows the listeners to decide what they want to think for
themselves. It is not in any way preachy.
“Wedding Song” captures the beauty of Chapman’s rich
simplicity with bass background that continues throughout
the song like the eternal vows in the ceremony. It is a pas
sionate, midtempo song that could be successful as a single.
The wedding day is “sacred and holy,” Chapman proclaims,
asking, “ Can I get a witness?” In “Paper and Ink,” she muses
on how people place significance in transient things like
money while ignoring life’s beauty.
Chapman has come a long way in the 12 years since her
first album. But throughout this time, she never lost herself.
Telling Stories is just another project where she has the oppor-
Thursday, March 2, 2000
On her new album, Telling Stories, Tracy Chapman
mixes catchy melodies with soulful wisdom.
tunity to share her experiences and to stay real. As well as
being the sole lyricist, she offers her talents on the acoustic gui
tar, melody harp and electric guitar.
The Arts 8 Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
9