Songs That Sting And Soothe - sound recordings - Brief Article - Buyers Guide

Interview, June, 2000

JEFF BUCKLEY

Mystery White Boy (Columbia)

If you could nail one thing on the late Jeff Buckley, it's unpredictability--in the best sense of the word. In concert, he went wherever his feelings dictated, his acrobatic voice floating, fluttering, and howling at whim. While this could lead to occasional extremities of self-indulgence, it more often brought out pure, uncut beauty. This compilation which culls the best moments of shows recorded from 1995 to '96 is a testament to one of rock's true great voices, confirming that Buckley ranks right up there with some of his own heroes, like Edith Piaf and Robert Plant.

Ray Rogers

K.D. LANG

Invincible Summer (Warner Bros.)

Lang has never sounded more languorous. The heiress to Sinatra's croon her voice never steps when it can slide, easing from one caressed, grinning note to the next with the same deliberation with which a hand discovers a lover's body. From its declarative title to its summer-fling lyrics to its Serge Gainsbourg strings and bossa nova beats, this is an album for beach blanket bingo-and beyond.

Evelyn McDonnell

BELLE AND SEBASTIAN

Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant (Matador)

Belle and Sebastian create chamber-pop that's as subtle as a whisper and smart as a whip--and sometimes just as painful. On their fourth full-length album, the Scottish indie-rockers rummage through the obsolete sonic detritus of past musical eras, with each song layered with harpsichords, kitsch-pop strings, and spaghetti-western horns plucked right out of an Ennio Morricone soundtrack. Still, it's Belle and Sebastian's lyrical narratives that remain timeless. In the hands of vocalists Stuart Murdoch and Isobel Campbell, melancholy becomes more than a feeling-it's more like sublimity.

Matt Diehl

OLIVE

Trickle (Maverick)

Though they scored a hit with 10cc's classic "I'm Not in Love," English duo Olive have greater talents than emulating a '70s karaoke machine. Like fellow Britons Dido and Dot Allison, Olive know the power of tragedy, but they also infuse their windswept trip-pop with all the splendor of a Petula Clark classic. Ruth-Ann Boyle holds Tim Kellett's ethereal production aloft with a voice like silk 'n' honey.

Ken Micallef

XTC

Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) (TVT)

For XTC fans who found the orchestral tone of last year's Apple Venus Volume 1 a bit too high-culture, here's good news: The duo is back sporting an album with more hooks than Mike Tyson. Crisp electric guitars stab through cumulus clouds of vocal harmonies, while McCartneyesque bass lines keep the songs bouncing along. That's not to say that XTC are pandering to the lowest common denominator. Their blithely joyful melodies coexist with smart, intriguing lyrics and subtle, complex song structures, brightening everything up without dumbing anything down.

Dimitri Ehrlich

BEBEL GILBERTO

Tanto Tempo (Six Degrees)

Plenty of musicians add a dash of bossa nova to their electronica compositions, which is why it is so refreshing to see Gilberto, daughter of bossa architect Joao Gilberto and singer Miucha do exactly the opposite. On her debut album she follows the style that made her father famous, while peppering her songs with gritty bits of trip-hop texture. Gilberto's gorgeous, original ballads sound possessed by the ghost of Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Ernesto Lechner

LUCY PEARL

Lucy Pearl (Pookie Records/Beyond Music)

Lucy Pearl is a trio, but you can think of her as one woman, in all her power and complexity. Dawn Robinson, Raphael Saadiq, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad have migrated from their respective groups (En Vogue; Tony!, Toni!, Tone!: and A Tribe Called Quest) in search of new life, and that's what Lucy Pearl delivers. Wings spread, their span is glorious, from the hip-rocking "Without Love," to the early gospel quartet-bush harmonies of "Do It for the People." The only time Lucy falters is when she's not quite herself, as on the commercial "You," featuring Q-Tip and Snoop Dogg.

Karen R. Good

STEVE EARLE

Transcendental Blues (E2/Artemis Records)

It ain't no use to sit and wonder why Steve Earle would choose to ramble down from the sweet-water Appalachian bluegrass of his last record-but ramble he has, mostly on the dark side of the road. Earle invites us to return to that folk-bluesy late-sixties sound world of Phil Ochs, Jack Elliot, and Tim Buckley, and offers us some troubadourial sorrow, some pity, and some joy. The songs and production are fantastic, the pain and resignation perfectly mounted.

Henry Cabot Beck