Page 4 DUI Omnibus
Thursday September 28, 1989
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Album Charts
Rock PooTop Ten
1. Red Hot Chili Peppers
Mother's Milk
2. Rolling Stones
Steel Wheels
3. Pixies
Doolittle
4. B-52S
Cosmic Thing
5. Various Artists
The Bridge
6. Fugazi
Margin Walker
7. Hoodoo Gurus
Magnum Cum Louder
8. Pogues
Peace And Love
9. The The
Mind Bomb
10. The Cure
Disintegration
WXYC
1. Soundgarden
Louder Than Love
2. Bad Brains
Quickness
3. Shellyanne Orphan
Century Flower '
4. The Fluid
Roadmouth
5. Camper Van Beethoven
Key Lime Pie
6. Half Japanese
77 Sand 77a Would Be King
7. Various Artists
The Bridge
8. Red Hot Chili Peppers
Mother's Ui3(
9. Various Artists
Mashing Up The Nation
10. House of Large Sizes
One Big Cake
Soulful Belle explores new depths
Regina Belle
Stay With Me
Columbia
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The spotlight shines again on
rhythm-and-blues vocalist
Regina Belle with the release
of her latest album Stay With Me, a
collection of sultry after-hours tunes,
can be heard on the "Quiet Storms,"
and "Mellow Madness" periods of
nighttime radio.
All By Myself, Regina's debut al
bum, received rave reviews from
mesmerized audiences when it was
released in April 1987. Her first single,
"Show Me The Way," became a pop
hit and went to No. 1 on the rhythm
and blues charts. Her follow-ups, "So
Many Tears," "How Could You Do
It To Me" and "After The Love Has
Lost Its Shine" kept the album on
the charts in both the U.S. and Brit
ain for more than a year and a half.
Today AU By Myself is still a strong
and steady seller.
Maintaining the tone set on her
debut album, Stay With Me utilizes
Regina's distinctive and expressive
vocal style. The opening bars of this
week's No. 7 hit on the rhythm and
Birshari Greene
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blues charts, "Baby Come to Me,"
have a hypnotic and intriguing sound
which invokes an intimate mood.
Regina has already placed a second
tune on the R&B charts, her duet
with James "J.T." Taylor, former lead
singer of Kool and the Gang, called
"All I Want Is Forever." The duet is
from the soundtrack of Taps and was
No. 1 earlier this year.
On Stay With Me, Regina contin
ues her romantic theme with "This
Is Love," "Make It Like It Was" and
"(It's Gonna Take) All Our Love."
For those who like to dance, "Good
Lovin" and "When Will You Be
Mine" are two upbeat selections for
a party mood.
She decided to take a bold step by
covering two veritable soul classics,
and combining them in a medley.
"I've always loved Marvin's Gaye's
'Save The Children,' and Donny
Hathaway's 'Someday We'll All Be
Free," Regina said. "They are two of
my all-time favorite singers. I actu
ally got the idea to do the medley in
a dream, and I do feel that the track
is important because it contains a
message for today."
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Regina Belle is back, inviting us to 'Stay With Me'
Regina admits that this second
release is an exploration into new
depths.
The songs on this album were
harder for me vocally, more of a chal
lenge. Yes, it was hard work doing
this record, but I think I achieved a
higher level quality on this album,"
she said.
The Ratings
O lame
OO-just O.K.
OOO workable
OOOO quite good
OOOOO excellent
Not-so-new
album catches on
Sidewinders
Witchdoctor
MammothRCA
OOOO
The Sidewinders' most recent release has
been around a while since April, to be
exact. But this tasty little slab of college radio
vinyl is finally achieving mainstream notice.
On Witchdoctor, the Sidewinders solidify their
image as the leading voice of the "Tucson
sound." As singetsongwriterguitarist Dave
Slutes has said, "Everything about us is desert."
The architects of the Sidewinders' spacious
sound are Slutes and guitaristsongwriter Rich
Hopkins. The two started the band in 1985,
but the first incarnation lasted only two years.
The Sidewinders reformed later in 1987 with
a lineup consisting of Slutes, Hopkins, drum
mervocalist Andrea Curtis, and bassist Scott
Garber. Slutes owns a recording studio and
Hopkins owns a record label, so the band started
working on an album right away. Garber's
departure and his replacement by Mark Per
rodin complicated the release oCuachal (slang
for "chicken excrement"), but it was met with
an almost universally warm response by critics.
One year later, the band's follow-up, Witch'
doctor, was picked up by RCA Records. Per
sonnel difficulties marked this album also, with
Curtis leaving to have a baby. Diane Padilla
was hired as a replacement, finishing the re
maining half of the album.
Witchdoctor tempers its basic rock sound with
country and power-pop touches. The title track
fuses three killer hooks in an electric guitarfest
of voodoo mysticism. "Bad, Crazy Sun" is a
powerful acoustic-tinged number, noting the
fate of illegal aliens left to die in the desert. As
Slutes sings, "Your worn-out tears and your
precious sweatI haven't drank them at least
not yetBut the bad, crazy sun will make you
think like that." The jangly "Cigarette" offers
up the interesting comparison, "Ain't gonna
live my life like a cigarette."
"What Am I Supposed to Do?" is the song
which most invites the obligatory "Athens
sound" comparison, with exquisite vocal inter
play and crunching guitar. With "Solitary Man,"
the Sidewinders give a brooding cover of the
Neil Diamond tune. 'Tears Like Flesh" is a
rip-roaring rocker not far removed from the
Jesus and Mary Chain. Metallic guitar and re
lentless drums make up in energy what the
song lacks melody-wise.
Evidently, the centerpiece of Witchdoctor is
"What She Said," a nine-minute-plus epitaph
to a relationship. The constant breakdown and
rebuilding of sound help to keep the song inter
esting until the accelerating finish.
It's not difficult to see why this album has
shown some staying power, waiting for the
music public to catch up. Almost everything
here could be a hit single. Although the album
is comfortable and somewhat familiar, to the
Sidewinders' credit it is also distinctive, due in
- large part to the pervasive crunch guitarwork
of Rich Hopkins. On both albums, the band
has displayed a knack for intelligent, irresist
ible rock without resorting to the riff-retreads
of most commercial hits. We can hope that
the critical success of Witchdoctor will moti
vate the band to move futher on, although
we'll probably see a new Sidewinders' product
before Witchdoctor finishes its sleeper commer
cial course. Brian Springer
Guitarist rules
band's sound
Sister Ray
No Way to Express
Resonance
OOOO
On No Way to Express, Sister Ray spins 17
twisted yarns, all draped in a furious guitar
assaultThough taking its name from a classic
Velvet Underground tune, Sister Ray doesn't
attempt to recreate the white noise of White
LightWhite Heat. Instead, the band takes a cue
from the Ramones, packing melody and guitar
crunch into concise two-minute packages.
Sister Ray hails from Youngstown, Ohio,
where the members reportedly still live with
their parents. No Way to Express is the band's
first domestic release, although the acclaimed
album Random, Violence was released last year
in the Netherlands.
Guitarist Mark Hanley rules Sister Ray's
sound, running a complete range from brain
melting riffs to soothing harmonics. Sam
D'Angelo proves equally versatile as a vocal
ist, whether screaming or crooning. Drummer
Vince Colucci and bassist Joe D'Angelo pro
vide a solid foundation for Hanky's riffing.
Just after the album was recorded, however,
Joe D'Angelo was replaced by Michael Fabian.
Even on the most intense cuts, the band never
sounds sloppy, which is "more than you can say
for many of today's leading underground groups.
No Way to Express fittingly opens with a
whining guitar solo. This leads into "Fire," in
which D'Angelo sounds like a young Iggy Pop,
over a manic tempo. "I Don't Want Your Sex"
earns points on the title alone, but it's also a
killer tune that manages to overcome the sex
disease cliche. In "God Me," D'Angelo
searches for a worthy companion, singing "I
wish I could find someone as perfect as I am."
"Mommy's Gone" is an Oedipal anthem, with
D'Angelo complaining that "I never tried to
meet no girls'Cause my mom's the best girl in
the world."
"Miss America" is one man's search for the
"perfect bod." Some might consider this tune
sexist at first, but it ends up being a cutting
description of the Miss America concept. "Just
One Night" contains a haunting melody, with
the chorus, "I didn't mean to cause you pain."
Sister Ray succeeds, even when not covered by
the fuzz guitar curtain. "Beef Pud" sounds like
a mild Black Flag, D'Angelo screaming mildly
obscene phrases throughout. "Sex" has a rock
abillyish flavor, offering the rather pessimistic
view that "Sex is death."
Sure, there are two or three throwaways here,
but virtually everything has redeeming value.
"Sick of Skulls" is initially generic, but lines
such as "Skulls suck!" are funny enough to
prevent the song from being a total waste of
time. "A Day in the Life" (not the Beatles'
song) is another that is saved by virtue of its
humor. "Hey Hey Hey" seems too directly drawn
from the band's influences until a key tempo
change allows Sister Ray to snatch the song
back as its own.
As Sister Ray's press release says, "All good
rock 'n roll should damn well make you un
easy, and the sheer pleasure of this stuff is
undeniable." That seems an apt description, as
even those not grounded in the underground
scene can enjoy this album. No Way to Express
may not be easy to find in record stores, but it
is definitely worth your time and effort.
Brian Springer