THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 16, 1994 TAG: 9407150094
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: MUSIC REVIEWS
LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
John Mellencamp, ``Dance Naked'' (Mercury); Stevie Nicks, ``Street Angel'' (Modern/Atlantic) - John Mellencamp made three or four perfect albums during his '80s heyday as one of the hardest-rocking mainstreamers around. Far more than just a cheerleader for the Midwestern values, Mellencamp was a garage-band master. Even Bruce Springsteen rarely reached such inspired lunatic heights as rhyming ``Go to work and be a Hollywood stud'' with ``Drive your four-wheel drive right into the mud.''
``Dance Naked,'' Mellencamp's seventh album since hitting the jackpot with 1982's multiplatinum ``American Fool,'' is as uneven as his other post-``Scarecrow'' records. But you still get a few near-great to great songs, a dose of flinty-eyed attitude and Kenny Aronoff's drumming.
Aronoff shines on ``Dance Naked's'' off-kilter grooves. His forceful but light touch drives the first single, a cover of Van Morrison's ``Wild Night'' that finds Mellencamp duetting with art-funk singer/bassist Me'shell Ndegeocello.
That's one of the few moments of straightforward celebration on ``Dance Naked.'' The title track's invitation is leavened with the confession ``I want to know if you like me.'' ``Brothers'' and ``When Margaret Comes to Town'' are thorny examinations of family (and probably the disc's best two numbers). It'd be hard to call this a major work, but it's flush with subtlety that keeps you playing it.
Aronoff can't do much to save Stevie Nicks' new ``Street Angel'' from turgidity. There's barely a trace of the singer/songwriter once capable of ``Rhiannon'' and ``Gold Dust Woman.''
Two awards: A Butcher Cover trophy for Nicks' take on ``Just Like a Woman,'' in which she has a hard time deciding which pronouns go where; and a Sings a Song, Sounds Like She's Singing plaque to this line from the title track: ``Street angels live on the street/And they always will.''
- Rickey Wright
A variety of hits
`` `Forrest Gump': The Soundtrack'' (Epic Soundtrax) - Tom Hanks is this generation's K-Tel poster boy. Soundtrack albums from ``Sleepless in Seattle'' and ``Philadelphia'' went multi-platinum and this two-disc collection of pop hits is likely to do the same.
Yet this soundtrack isn't as nifty a souvenir of its film. The package spans four decades of singles, and while the choices range from great to OK the lineup isn't much to listen to without programming your player.
It's always cool to hear ``California Dreamin' '', ``Fortunate Son'', ``Sweet Home Alabama'' and ``Aquarius.'' But the film also uses ``It Keeps You Runnin' '' and ``Against the Wind.'' Wilson Pickett's ``Land of 1000 Dances'' sounds great.
The CD package ends with the ``Forrest Gump Suite'' from Alan Silvestri's score. About the only thing wrong with the film is its emotional inconsistency; it drifts from poignant, precise scenes to TV-movie banality. Silvestri's simple music takes the movie in the wrong direction.
- Mark Mobley
Music that grooves
Dan Penn, ``Do Right Man'' (Sire/Warner Bros./Blue Horizon); Booker T & the MGs, ``That's the Way It Should Be'' (Columbia) - The glory days of soul music are back with releases by artists who flourished during the '60s and early '70s. Fans of genuine soul and funk will welcome the new one by Booker T and the MGs, the revered Hammond organ led rhythm combo that provided expert backing to classic recordings by such artists as Sam & Dave, Otis Redding and Carla Thomas.
The disc sports that vintage Booker T sound: subtle, deceptively simple sounding funk grooves propelled by an airtight rhythm section and Steve Cropper's muscular guitar. The melodies are provided by Booker T. Jones' fluid organ leads and fills. The songs range from the taut funk of ``Slip Slidin' '' and ``Camel Ride'' to the languid tones of Bob Dylan's ``Gotta Serve Somebody'' and Smokey Robinson's ``Just My Imagination.''
Dan Penn, the man who wrote such soul classics as Bobby ``Blue'' Bland's ``It Tears Me Up'' and James and Bobby Purify's ``I'm Your Puppet,'' is back with his first album in more than 20 years. Using the same top-notch Muscle Shoals, Ala., session men he worked with two decades ago, Penn reprises classic songs with a smattering of new ones.
Penn sings each tune with a heartfelt yet restrained voice full of vulnerability and strength - think of Eric Clapton with deeper tones. The emotion is real and the heartache and despair seeps out of the speakers on tunes ``Cry Like a Man'' and ``It Tears Me Up.'' Penn also grooves with down-home grease on songs like ``Memphis Women and Chicken,'' ``I'm Your Puppet'' and ``You Left the Water Running.''
- Eric Feber
Swirling guitars
Lush, ``Split'' (4AD/Reprise) - This London band was once a cornerstone of the ``shoegazer'' movement - trance-inductive rock with blurry, narcotic guitars. Here, quavering strings and tinkling chimes of album-opener ``Light From A Dead Star'' set a scintillating tone.
While the guitars of Emma Anderson and Miki Berenyi still swirl hazily, their songs are tighter. Producer Mike Hedges (Cure) allows Berenyi's airy vocals to cast a dreamy sheen, with lyrics unfolding in misty wisps of thoughts and memories.
- Sue Smallwood ILLUSTRATION: Photos
John Mellencamp made three or four perfect albums during his '80s
heyday.
Not much can be done to save Stevie Nicks' new ``Street Angel'' from
turgidity.
by CNB