Eccentric charm, ass-shakin' attitude, and a message in a bottle from a beloved beatle

Interview, Dec, 2002 by Anita Sarko, Sam Barclay, Ray Rogers, Matt Diehl, Vivien Goldman, Tom Lanham, Dimitri Ehrlich

MISSY ELLIOTT

Under Construction (Elektra)

Listen to the lyrics underneath the slinky beats on Missy's fourth album and you'll learn that she misses hip-hop's old-school days, when it was a community, not a war zone. She also misses Aaliyah, Left Eye, Biggie, Big Pun, and Tupac. Lest you think this self-proclaimed "work in progress" has gone all mopey, skip ahead to the hilarious "Pussycat" for proof that when Missy says she represents for the ladies she hardly means anything you'd see on the Lifetime channel. If your ass ain't shaking through most of these musings, check your hearing--then your pulse.

Anita Sarko

GEORGE HARRISON

Brainwashed (Dark Horse/EMI)

Unashamedly spiritual, appropriately passionate, and dripping with walls of warm, winsome guitars, the final George Harrison album is fitting, to both the man and his music. Harrison's guitar playing--melodic, understated, bangon--stands out here, thanks to the posthumous eco-friendly production by Jeff Lynne and Harrison's son Dhani, most notably his haunting slide on the instrumental "Marwa Blues." When he final title track trails into a Harrison-led Eastern chant, the effect is at once arresting and relaxing, preparing the listener for the musician's final silence.

Sam Barclay

BADLY DRAWN BOY

Have You Fed the Fish? (Artist Direct/Twisted Nerve/XL)

The thumbnail sketches of songs on the debut album from Badly Drawn Boy (a.k.a. Damon Gough) had a poetic, naive charm to them. Then, on the terrific soundtrack to About a Boy, he graduated to more fully formed numbers. This disc is a mix of the two, as horns, strings, and whistles punctuate skewed and beautiful love songs. While Gough's loose, jam-band sensibility too often gets the better of him, and the dots don't always connect, the fleeting moments when his impressionistic lyrics and vivid sound textures gel into sublimity are well worth the listen.

Ray Rogers

RONI SIZE

Touching Down (Full Cycle)

Famed drum 'n' bass producer Roni Size's first album without his band Reprazent is mixed together like an all-instrumental DJ set, creating some of drum 'n' bass' most dancefloor-friendly moments. Throughout, Size keeps his sight trained tightly on dancers' feet, as rude bass lines the size of 18-wheelers crash into elegant Asian orchestration and skittering, insistent rhythms. The result? Timeless future-funk beats that touch the mind, body, and soul--but here, mostly the body. No doubt, Touching Down will, more than anything, make you want to get down.

Matt Diehl

THE ROOTS

Phrenology (MCA)

After a three-year wait since their last Grammy-winning release, the Roots' live, organic breed of hip-hop is still so fresh you can hear it growing. Phrenology is bursting with fatback bass, vitamin beats, jagged jazz, and new varieties of voices. In their wide range of flavors, the dominant taste is intelligence--best heard on "Sacrifice," "The Seed," and the refreshing ripple of "Water"--recorded live and served straight up.

Vivien Goldman

THE PRETENDERS

Loose Screw (Artemis)

Twenty-plus years into her colorful career, protopunker Chrissie Hynde offers up few aesthetic surprises. Still, those pert, pop-friendly power chords, that scratchy, quavering trill, and the rock-steady drumming of sole original bandmate Martin Chambers are strangely comforting here. The kitten's claws may be sheathed in velvet now (check the power-ballady "The Losing" and faux-dub experiments like "Complex Person"), but it still feels great just to hear her purr.

Tom Lanham

BJORK

Family Tree (Elektra)

This six-CD retrospective includes one disc devoted to beats, two called "roots," two called "strings" (each for obvious reasons) and one that's just the hits. What's revelatory about hearing the whole span of her evolution thus far is how original Bjork's sound was long before the Icelandic innovator had access to any newfangled technology. What hasn't changed is her voice: She sings not just like a bird but like an animal. Squeaking, cooing, and howling, she closes the gap between What's ancient and what's new, what's Nordic and what's beyond borders.

Dimitri Ehrlich