THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997 TAG: 9701220041
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Album Reviews
LENGTH: 86 lines
Sweetback, ``Sweetback'' (Epic)
This British trio's debut album could be called ``Groove Soundtracks for Imaginary Films.''
Sweetback - Stuart Matthewman (guitar/sax/keyboards), Andrew Hale (keyboards), Paul S. Denman (bass) - are not newcomers. Away from the group, they provide the bossa nova/cool jazz grooves for the popular British soul/jazz singer Sade.
On their lengthy maiden release, the trio steps further out, presenting a textured disc full of ambient sounds, trip-hop effects and acid jazz/pop/soul stylings, all driven by danceable funk grooves. The sometimes stiff rhythms are provided by Denman's fluid bass and a battery of machines and keyboards.
Helped by U.K. soul singers Maxwell, Bahamadia, Groove Theory's Amel Larrieux and the smooth Leroy Osbourne, the vocal material is frothy pop-soul at its best. The instrumentals, hypnotic and languid jazz-soul tunes, often sound like scores to cheapo thrillers, spy potboilers and Italian comedies.
For those who like their music laced with dance rhythms and spiced with subtle jazz and smooth soul-pop, Sweetback offers mighty tasty aural candy.
Eric Feber, The Pilot
Pop/Rock
Marianne Faithfull, ``20th Century Blues'' (RCA Victor)
Chanteuse? Unlikely as it seems, that is what Marianne Faithfull pulls off on this impressive set - most of it songs by Kurt Weill.
Now 50, Faithfull isn't the ingenue who sang ``As Tears Go By.'' But years of hard living have given her a genuine feel for Weill that is perfectly suited to her whiskey-and-cigarettes-soaked vocals.
Faithfull became intrigued with Weill when she contributed to the 1985 album ``Lost in the Stars.'' Since then, he has become a passion. Her cabaret show ``An Evening in the Weimar Republic,'' a reference to the artistic flowering in 1920s Germany, has been lauded on both sides of the Atlantic.
Recorded at a club in Paris, the new disc re-creates the era. Accompanied by pianist Paul Trueblood, her readings of ``Alabama Song'' and ``The Ballad of the Soldier's Wife,'' written by Weill and Bertolt Brecht after the battle of Stalingrad, drip with melancholy.
She does Dietrich proud on ``Falling in Love Again'' and brings something sinister to the familiar ``Mack the Knife.'' The Noel Coward title track and Harry Nilsson's ``Don't Forget Me'' complement the mood. Throughout, Trueblood allows plenty of breathing room.
``Blues'' won't play with everyone, but it deserves a chance, if only because Faithfull dares to try it. In 1994, she worked with ``Twin Peaks' '' Angelo Badalamenti on the overlooked ``A Secret Life.'' Too bad if this one isn't noticed.
Craig Shapiro, The Pilot
Merril Bainbridge, ``The Garden'' (Universal)
The Australian pop singer shot into Billboard's Top 10 with her first single, ``Mouth.'' Is she just a one-hit wonder from Down Under? Her debut album holds clues.
It's a good sign that Bainbridge wrote 11 of the 12 tunes, including the goofily sexy hit record. Also promising is the crafty way she builds a song around a dominant image (``Garden in My Room'' and ``Under the Water'').
Unfortunately, the writing is inconsistent. The treacly ``Reasons Why'' and the whiny ``Sleeping Dogs'' show that Bainbridge needs to do some weeding in her garden. Another drawback is her voice, petal-thin and occasionally precious.
Still, the high points suggest that her career will blossom, not fade.
David Simpson, The Pilot
Swans, ``Soundtracks for the Blind'' (Young God Records)
Existing in relative obscurity for 15 years, the Swans' song is likely to go unnoticed, too, as they prefer to explore the small tributaries of creativity rather than the flood of mediocrity in the mainstream.
The double-CD ``Soundtracks for the Blind'' is true to the dark nature of Swans. Much of it is experimental, instrumental music, illustrating mystical and haunting soundscapes that challenge the listener to determine specific lines of reality.
The disturbing avant-garde approach of ``Beautiful Days'' and the Nick Cave-like ``Minus Something'' offer great diversity between the vocal pieces and the many without.
Spreading their wings for the last time, the Swans' strange, unparalleled journey of provocative and interesting compositions, dabbled in on ``Red Velvet Corridor'' and ``Hypogirl,'' will be missed. ``Soundtracks for the Blind'' is bedazzling for the mind.
Jeff Maisey, The Pilot ILLUSTRATION: Photo by NICK KNIGHT/RCA Victor
Marianne Faithfull sings Kurt Weill songs on her new album.