ICE CUBE
THE PREDATOR
1992 – PRIORITY
Produced By DJ POOH, SIR JINX, TORCHA CHAMBA & DJ MUGGS
1. The First Day Of School (Intro)
2. When Will They Shoot?
3. I’m Scared (Insert)
4. Wicked (Feat. Don Jagwarr)
5. Now I Gotta Wet ‘Cha
6. The Predator
7. It Was A Good Day
8. We Had To Tear This Muthafucka Up
9. Fuck ‘Em (Insert)
10. Dirty Mack
11. Don’t Trust ‘Em
12. Gangsta’s Fairytale 2 (Feat. Lil Russ)
13. Check Yo Self (Feat. Das EFX)
14. Who Got The Camera?
15. Say Hi To The Bad Guy
The Predator, the third album from Ice Cube, marked his commercial peak. Released in 1992 not long after the Los Angeles riots, Cube strikes all the right nerves here…racial tensions, life on the streets of LA, problems with the police. It also contains what may be his greatest song, the amazing “It Was A Good Day”, the story of an LA gangster having a day where nothing actually goes wrong, and nothing bad happens. You keep waiting for it all to turn sour, and it just never does…for the one day. The song was a big hit, and for good reason. It’s a side of ghetto life that we rarely get to see…and a side which rarely ever happens. Ice Cube makes it real and believable, and conveys what a sadly rare occurrence a day like that for him really is.
Other strong hits from The Predator are “Check Yo Self” and “Wicked”. On other tracks, he talks about his previously being called an anti-semite, and he has plenty of words about the brutality of the LAPD, particularly as it pertains to Rodney King. Ice Cube has a lot to say here, and for the most part, he’s right on point. After this album, though, Ice Cube started to lose his audience…and even though he’s released seven studio albums since The Predator, he’s come nowhere close to its commercial and critical success. His late 80’s to early 90’s output, both as a solo artist and with the group NWA, is highly important in the history of hip hop. The Predator may be his last real gasp of big time relevance, but it’s also pretty damned good, and well worth a spin or two.
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JANN ARDEN
LIVING UNDER JUNE
1994 – A&M
Produced By ED CHERNEY & JANN ARDEN
1. Could I Be Your Girl
2. Demolition Love
3. Looking For It (Finding Heaven)
4. Insensitive
5. Gasoline
6. Wonderdrug
7. Living Under June
8. Unloved
9. Good Mother
10. It Looks Like Rain
11. I Would Die For You
Jann Arden is a national treasure. In Canada. She’s won eight Juno Awards. She has 17 top ten singles, and a star on Canada’s Walk Of Fame. The most popular TV show in Canada is Jann, which is based on her life, stars Arden herself, and which has kept her star visible in the great white north. Outside of Canada, Arden has to work much harder, and she is not nearly as much of a celebrity. But she has had her moments. Most notable is her second album, Living Under June. In 1994, Arden, a powerful singer, reached international success with the hits “Could I Be Your Girl”, and especially “Insensitive”. The album marked a high point for Arden, at least outside of her home country. And for good reasons.
Aside from Living Under June, the rest of the world has missed out on a fine talent. For this one album, it appeared that Arden was ready for international fame…but it was not to be. That’s okay. We can still enjoy good albums like this one. “Wonderdrug” is a fine song, and a surprise duet with Jackson Browne (“Unloved”) is quite nice. In fact, this album, and her 1997 follow up Happy? Are the high points of her career. Arden should have been a much bigger star outside of Canada, but it never happened. Luckily, Living Under June and Happy? are both easily available. You should pick them up if you see them…Arden makes beautiful music that deserves to be heard, and she is at her very best here.
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PIXIES
TROMPE LE MONDE
1991 – 4AD
Produced By GIL NORTON
1. Trompe Le Monde
2. Planet Of Sound
3. Alec Eiffel
4. The Sad Punk
5. Head On
6. U-Mass
7. Palace Of The Brine
8. Letter To Memphis
9. Bird Dream Of The Olympus Mons
10. Space (I Believe In)
11. Subbacultcha
12. Distance Equals Rate Times Time
13. Lovely Day
14. Motorway To Roswell
15. The Navajo Know
The first two Pixies albums, Surfer Rosa and Doolittle, were the sounds of a great band pulling it all together. The last two Pixies albums, Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde, were the sounds of it all falling apart. By the time they made Trompe Le Monde in 1991, the members were barely speaking to each other, the record was recorded with everyone in separate rooms, and Kim Deal was so absent that the album is sometimes referred to as the solo debut of Black Francis. The truth is, this album is nowhere near as great as the first two albums by the band…it’s also far from terrible. The saddest thing is that, so quickly, there came a point in the career of Pixies where they became just average. This is that point.
There are some highlights. “Head On” is an interesting Jesus & Mary Chain cover. “Planet Of Sound”, “Letter To Memphis” and “Alec Eiffel” are all very good. The verses with the guitar riff on “U-Mass” are excellent, but the rest of the song is mud. What made this band so great was their ability to be so together…that simply doesn’t exist here, and the music suffers because of it. Pixies did get back together in 2004, and have released four albums since 2014…but none of those feature Deal. And the thing with comebacks and bands…it pretty much is never the same the second time around. Pixies caught lightning in a bottle for two exceptional albums, and they haven’t found it since. Trompe Le Monde is good Pixies…but it’s just not GREAT Pixies.
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THE SCREAMIN’ CHEETAH WHEELIES
LAMANAMANUMI
2001 – SELF RELEASED
No Production Credit
1. Boogie King
2. Shakin’ The Blues
3. One Big Drop Of Water
4. 25 Miles
5. People
6. High Time We Went
7. More Than I Can Take
8. Right Place Wrong Time
9. Little Red Rooster
10. Love Is The Color
11. Leave Your Pride At The Front Door
12. Rubbermaid Fiancee
Not so much as jam band as they were a Southern rock band with loud and long guitar solos. The Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies may have had my least favorite band name of all time, and this somewhat obscure live album adds one of the least attractive album titles ever. Different versions have the songs in different order, but it’s all the same tracks. The album was later released in Europe as Shakin’ The Blues Live, a somewhat better title. The band had enjoyed a bit of minor chart success in the mid to late 90’s, but by the time of this set, they had all but ceased recording The story of this band is very apparent here: the guitars are everything, and must be much louder than everything else. At times, you have to strain to hear that someone is actually singing.
There are plenty of covers here for a band that had released three studio albums. “Little Red Rooster” is a predictable blues jam. “High Time We Went” is a Joe Cocker classic without the soul. And their take on Dr. John’s “Right Place, Wrong Time” is just loud. If you just want to hear loud live guitar solos one after another, then this might be for you. But what you’re basically getting with the Wheelies by this point is a loud bar band. Yeah, they can play…but this set lacks the soul of Southern rock jammers like The Allman Brothers Band and even The Black Crowes. I would recommend their studio work over this set, which is ultimately sloppy and out of control way too much of the time. Some of the jams are tasty, but in the end, it’s just too much volume over too little substance.
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SOULS OF MISCHIEF
93 ‘TIL INFINITY
1993 – JIVE
Produced By DOMINO, DEL THE FUNKY HOMOSAPIEN, A PLUS, CASUAL & JAY BIZ
1. Let ‘Em Know
2. Live And Let Live
3. That’s When Ya Lost
4. A Name I Call Myself
5. Disseshowedo
6. What A Way To Go Out
7. Never No More
8. 93 ‘Til Infinity
9. Limitations
10. Anything Can Happen
11. Make Your Mind Up
12. Batting Practice
13. Tell Me Who Profits
14. Outro
One of the maddening things about hip hop is that its history is, more than any other kind of music it seems, covered in one hit wonders. Either acts with one great track or one great album. Welcome to Souls Of Mischief, a west coast act that has been together since 1991, and has one critically acclaimed album (this one) and a history of also rans. Too bad…93 ‘Til Infinity is a pretty terrific album. Consisting of three vocalists and a DJ, Souls Of Mischief have here a true group effort: they trade vocals pretty much equally, and their songs are upbeat and smart and just the right amount of bass heavy. Unlike a lot of rap albums from this time (and later), this one relies not on gimmicks, but on good solid songwriting and solid instrumental tracks.
The title track is also the group’s biggest (and really only) hit. Also of note are “That’s When Ya Lost” and “Never No More”. The lyrics here are smart and never sell out with cheap hooks or phrases. The best part of 93 ‘Til Infinity is the consistent, non stop bass and drum interplay, along with cool jazz fills and just enough scratching. There are no out of place sound effects, and not a moment that sounds out of place. It’s one of those real rarities…a truly consistently good hip hop album. This album has carried big influence over the years, and for good reason: this is a guide for how to do hip hop right. They’ve made five albums since, the last in 2014…and they’ve never matched the power and excellence of this, their debut. This one is really worth hearing.
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BABBLE
ETHER
1996 – REPRISE
Produced By TOM BAILEY, ALANNAH CURRIE & KEITH FERNLEY
1. The Circle
2. Just Like You
3. Sun
4. Love Has No Name
5. Dark
6. Tower
7. Come Down
8. Hold The Sky
9. Into Ether
10. Dreamfield
Babble was actually the continuation of the 80’s New Wave band The Thompson Twins. Tom Bailey and Allanah Currie made the switch in 1992 as a way to escape the expectations that they produce hit singles. Their music switched from radio friendly pop to a more chilled version of trip hop, and it seemed for a moment that Babble was onto a winning formula. The first album, The Stone, was met with good reviews and did pretty well: the band was hoping for a bigger result with Ether. But Ether showed little growth. In fact, it was beginning to seem that they had run out of ideas. The album did not outshine The Stone, and when their label later decided to drop them, that was the end of the Twins / Babble saga.
The best song here is “Love Has No Name”, which is sung by Teremoana Rapley. The rest of the album, with its Indian sounds and trance-like electronics, sounds great…but there’s really not a lot of substance here. The songs are weaker, and the energy of the Thompson Twins is pretty much gone. After a while, the songs all sound the same, and Ether becomes nothing more than background noise. Babble started out as a promising project, but ended ultimately in disappointment. Bailey and Currie, who divorced in 2003, have not worked together since this album. Bailey recently released his solo debut album. Currie is an artist, and has been away from music since the end of Babble. Of their two albums, The Stone is by far the better choice.
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BECK
MELLOW GOLD
1994 – DGC
Produced By BECK HANSEN, TOM ROTHROCK, ROB SCHNAPF & CARL STEPHENSON
1. Loser
2. Pay No Mind
3. Fuckin’ With My Head (Mountain Dew Rock)
4. Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997
5. Soul Suckin’ Jerk
6. Truckdrivin’ Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat)
7. Sweet Sunshine
8. Beercan
9. Steal My Body Home
10. Nitemare Hippy Girl
11. Mutherfuker
12. Blackhole
13. Analog Odyssey
Nobody noticed Beck Hansen until “Loser” exploded in 1994, making this innocent looking blonde kid the hero of alternative music. “Loser” was the instant national anthem for every pimple faced kid who had ever walked the halls of any high school in America. It was also cool as hell, drenched in a mixture of hip hop, anti-folk, alternative rock and awesome alt poetry. And just like that, Beck and his third album became sudden hits. But Mellow Gold was so much more than its one hit…this album made being geeky, white and awkward somehow cool, and it showed that there were still plenty of really great avenues we had yet to explore musically. Mellow Gold stands today as one of the awesome albums of the nineties, blurring genre lines and tearing down stereotypes along the way.
“Loser” is worth having this album for alone…and it’s likely the reason why so many people have the album anyway. But Mellow Gold has much more to offer. Not hits, mind you…one hit from an album this quirky is a miracle in itself. But songs like “Beercan” and “Pay No Mind (Snoozer)” prove Beck to be not only funny, cool and eclectic, but also musically able to blur whatever lines you dare him to cross. This album set the stage for his next big win, the even better Odelay (with its own hit, “Where It’s At”). Mellow Gold is deep yet danceable, funny yet dark, and proof positive that the white guy can have some soul in him as well. This is the best place to start with Beck…an almost perfect alternative journey through a pretty much perfect musical mind.
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ROD STEWART
VAGABOND HEART
1991 – WARNER BROS.
Produced By BERNARD EDWARDS, TREVOR HORN, PATRICK LEONARD, RICHARD PERRY, ROD STEWART & LENNY WARONKER
1. Rhythm Of My Heart
2. Rebel Heart
3. Broken Arrow
4. It Takes Two
5. When A Man’s In Love
6. You Are Everything
7. The Motown Song
8. Go Out Dancing
9. No Holding Back
10. Have I Told You Lately
11. Moment Of Glory
12. If Only
There are many who believe that Rod Stewart sold his musical soul in about 1975 with the release of “The Killing Of Georgie”. His music drifted further from his Rod “The Mod” days of being the coolest rock singer on the planet to being a pop crooner, disco advocate, and Great American Songbook old guy. And for those who believe this, it will be hard to justify pretty much any album he has made since A Night On The Town. But Stewart has made some worthwhile music in the decades since, and his 1991 album Vagabond Heart was viewed as a somewhat return to form. It really wasn’t…but it did contain consistently better material than Stewart had performed in some time.
Vagabond Heart is bogged down by too many strings, horns and synths…but this is what he was into, and his fan base seemed to approve. It includes a duet with Tina Turner (“It Takes Two”), plus songs by Robbie Robertson (“Broken Arrow”) and Van Morrison (“Have I Told You Lately”). Also here is a decent cover of The Stylistics’ “You Are Everything”, and “The Motown Song” features vocals by The Temptations”. Stewart is in fine voice, even if it still sounds a bit out of place on lite R&B fare. The closest he comes to really rocking is “Moment Of Glory”, but those synthesizers sound completely dated. Truth is, there are many Stewart albums out there that are much worse. Vagabond Heart falls into the not too bad category…which, given his body of work over the last 45 years is pretty good.
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BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND
STRANGER IN TOWN
1978 – CAPITOL
Produced By BOB SEGER, PUNCH ANDREWS & THE MUSCLE SHOALS RHYTHM SECTION
1. Hollywood Nights
2. Still The Same
3. Old Time Rock & Roll
4. Till It Shines
5. Feel Like A Number
6. Ain’t Got No Money
7. We’ve Got Tonite
8. Brave Strangers
9. The Famous Final Scene
In 1978, Bob Seger was riding high on the wave of his two monster hit albums from 1976…Live Bullet and Night Moves. Stranger In Town is a fine, if predictable, follow up. It has everything that made Seger a sudden mid seventies sensation: a great rock and roll voice, some decent ballads (for the girls) and some fine rockers (for the guys). Two of each of these were big hits from the record, and proved that Seger was here to stay. “Still The Same” and “We’ve Got Tonite” were the slower hits, while “Hollywood Nights” and “Old Time Rock & Roll” kept Bob on AOR rock radio. Two different bands were used here: The Silver Bullet Band on 4 tracks, while the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section played on the other five.
While this doesn’t quite reach the heights of Night Moves, it’s still a classic rock classic. The album also features a pair of guitar solos from members of the Eagles: his good friend Glenn Frey on “Till It Shines”, and Don Felder on “Ain’t Got No Money”. Piano remains a huge part of what made Seger’s music sound so good, played here by Robyn Robbins and Barry Beckett. And yes…even though a few years later “Old Time Rock & Roll” would be driven into the ground by its appearance in the Tom Cruise film Risky Business, it still works. This is Seger not breaking any new ground, but cruising nicely on his new found fame. He would continue making hits through the 1980’s. This is well worth having.
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ERIC CLAPTON
FROM THE CRADLE
1994 – DUCK / WARNER BROS
Produced By ERIC CLAPTON & RUSS TITELMAN
1. Blues Before Sunrise
2. Third Degree
3. Reconsider Baby
4. Hoochie Coochie Man
5. Five Long Years
6. I’m Tore Down
7. How Long Blues
8. Goin’ Away Baby
9. Blues Leave Me Alone
10. Sinner’s Prayer
11. Motherless Child
12. It Hurts Me Too
13. Someday After A While
14. Standin’ ‘Round Crying
15. Driftin’
16. Groaning The Blues
For as long as Eric Clapton had worn his love of the blues on his sleeve, he had never recorded an album of strictly blues music. That changed in 1994, with From The Cradle. And it was a huge hit for Clapton. Coming on the heels of his wildly successful Unplugged album, From The Cradle was all about Slowhand doing what he loves best. It was a great idea that unfortunately fell far short of the hype and success that the album brought. There are a handful of highs, as smattering of lows, and a whole lot of tracks that sound uninspired. Clapton didn’t write a single song on this album…it’s all covers that he hand picked. Some of the choices are great, while others are very predictable.
The absolute high point of this album is “Five Long Years”, a cover of the 1952 Eddie Boyd single. Clapton explodes with one of his greatest solos since leaving Cream in 1969, and the band is right there with him. But unfortunately, nothing else reaches this height. There’s nothing terrible about this album, but there are just far too few moments that stand out as anything other than what sounds like Clapton going through the blues motions. Even recorded with a mostly live band, this is a mostly dull, well played but uninspired collection. Given the legend of Clapton as a blues player, From The Cradle should be much better than what it is.
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