Links:
Coming of Age in Babylon

The one glaring omission to this handy reader, however, is that although there is plenty of discussion regarding pleasing yourself and your partner sexually, there is zero mention of practicing safe and consensual sex, and no mention of the STDs and other perils associated with unsafe sex practices. Hopefully we'll see this corrected in revised editions of the book.

The soundtrack to Coming of Age in Babylon is a different story. The collection of songs by varied (and mostly unheard of) artists comes across as a little too preachy and condescending--exactly opposite De Bias' intent for the book. The songs try too hard to empathize with the reader's adolescent struggle for identity, and because of that are visibly distant third person attempts at trying to be first person stories. It was almost as if the artists were handed topic cards for their songs and told, "Here, your subject is 'teenage angst. Have at it!'" The notable exception here is The Veldt's "High." A lilting melody and the ebb and flow of the song is strong enough to draw the listener in to enjoy the song for the music, not the statement.

Enjoying De Bias' book, but ultimately dissatisfied with the soundtrack, I proceeded to thumb through my own record collection, pulling out the music I was listenening to when I was facing the pressures of youth and identity, the music that made a difference for me during those years. I offer up the following alternate soundtrack to Coming of Age in Babylon: Agent Orange, "Living In Darkness;" Subhumans, "Big City;" Minutemen, "Maybe Partying Will Help," "Jesus and Tequila," and "The Product;" Hüsker Dü, "From the Gut," "Something I Learned Today," and "Hardly Getting Over It;" Crass, Yes Sir, I Will; Dead Kennedys, "Police Truck," "California Über Alles," and "Kinky Sex Makes The World Go 'Round;" Minor Threat, "Straight Edge," "Minor Threat," and "Salad Days;" Black Flag's "Family Man;" the Ramone's "53 & 3rd," and "Rock 'n' Roll High School;" and Camper Van Beethoven's "Oh No!" along with their version of "Wasted," and the timeless "Take the Skinheads Bowling."

-Craig Young
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Links:
Order through Repulse

-Sabrina Wade
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Links:
David Sylvian fan site

It's been 11 years since Secrets of the Beehive, David Sylvian's last vocal solo record. This record is the collection of the events in that interim. During that time, he's released instrumental albums, collaborated and toured with Robert Fripp, and reformed Japan, his seminal pop band from the Eighties.

He also married, had two children, moved to America and discovered deep revelations about his spirituality. All of these events, as with any person, shapes his expression. It expanded his experiences, his ways of thinking about himself, too. It's like seeing an old friend, finding that which bound you to them is still there, but that friend is now happier, stronger for the travel. It's a wonderful record, full of the life that he has now; shared, wide open, like an honest conversation. Dead Bees on a Cake was recorded in half a dozen studios, over three years, on two continents. The record was assembled using Pro Tools, a computer-based editing system. With this amount of heterogeneity in musical pieces, the results could be expected to be fractured or, conversely, overcooked. Happily, that's not the case, and it's largely due to the vocals, recorded in a wooden shack in the Napa Valley hills, in a two-week session. They tie together his record.

Musically, the sound is expansive, but also a lot more concrete. This is due to the use of the Rhodes keyboard, which provides a warm center for his tunes. The sonic palette is more rooted this time out. It is to his credit as an artist that he could add this new sound, which for a musician is akin to adding a new perspective. It suits his record wonderfully.

This record, like the rest of his vocal output, has three main types of songs: ballads, mid-tempo narratives, and sound atmospheres. Sylvian's strongest tunes on this record are his ballads. In his most intimate frame, he's a honest, thoughtful, searching songwriter. "I Surrender," "Café Europa" and "Darkest Dreaming" all have this element in common, and they are all ballads. He's definitely on his game here, sharing deep personal revelations, describing "looking back at the outline of a boy/his life of sorrow collapsing now into joy." Sylvian prefers the mid-tempo tune as a narrative device. "Thallheim," "Krishna Blue" and "Wanderlust" are all informed from this song structure, and they are all descriptive of events he had shared and saw. He sounds here, again, in top form, using arrangements, textures and tempo expertly, blending his words and vocal timbre into strong tunes. The third major type of song Sylvian writes is the least recognizable. At some level, Sylvian is really just a musician. His strongest talent is his gift for musical evocation. In two songs on Dead Bees on a Cake, "Praise" and "Dobro #1," this talent is evident. He has a song, he plays some musical accompaniment and it's done. What is special is the shadow and form he pulls into these tunes, and what he adds is not always a linear or familiar. What happens is rather like a transformation, a shift in perspective from unfamiliarity into recognition--and it's wonderful. Dissonance makes sense, noise becomes music. This talent is shared on many of the songs on this record, and all three types of song he writes. This record is special. On his latest effort, David Sylvian poured his heart and soul into a deep, honest, beautiful record. It was worth the wait, and it's worth your listening.

-Kenny Younts
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Links:
Dimmu Borgir

"Reptile" just bursts out of the starting gate with a tough, melodic guitar-oriented piece of Black Metal. But the pièce de résistance is track two: "Behind the Curtains of Night--Phantasmagoria." This kicks the shit out of every Black Metal song you've ever heard. It Rocks! It almost sounds as if they mated Judas Priest with Dimmu Borgir on this one song. It is extraordinary. This song is almost radio ready. It is not wimpy, it is just great. The vocals have extended beyond the death growl to a deeper, more growling voice--words can be made out. The keyboards are an actual portion of the song and weave into the melody as opposed to sounding like a sample added for atmosphere. It also has a cool sample of horns that really adds to the quality of the song. "Dreamside Dominions" is a fine example of melodic Death Metal, replete with keyboards and melody and a bit of that Black Metal soundtracky feel of Black Metal, but it is harder-edged, the guitars push ahead of the vocals and keyboards to make it very metal. "United in Unhallowed Grace" is a kick ass Black Metal song with a few industrial touches just to make it really stand out. I think the combination is stunning. "The Promised Future Aeons" loses the industrial touches but still rocks with a vengeance. "The Blazing Monoliths of Defiance" continues the guitar attack with a more primitive, stripped-down feel. The keyboards are still there, just seems to have less embellishment and more of a vocal spew than on the other songs. They set the mood with staccato rhythms and minimal keyboards, then layer in guitars and pour on vocals. "The Insight and the Catharsis" returns with more keyboards and adds in really melodic clean vocals with Shagrath's usual death-growl vocals. It's not as heavy as the other songs, but it attracts your attention almost immediately because it is a departure. The atmospherics weave so beautifully with the song that it is a beautiful ballad (or as close as Dimmu Borgir can come to a ballad). "Grotesque Conceiled (Within Measureless Magic)" really highlights Mustis's extraordinary synthesizer work. Astennu adds to the beautiful keyboard work with gorgeous guitar riffs that fill and fuse with the keyboards completing the track. "Arcane Lifeforce Mysteria" ends the disc on a slower note. The songs builds and progresses until it reaches a mid-range doom metal zone reminiscent of Black Sabbath crossed with Black Metal. Every song on the disc has a catchiness that has not been present before in Black Metal.

Lyrically the band has taken a step forward. I'm sure that Dimmu Borgir are still Satanic, very sure, but it is not so nauseatingly represented in their lyrics as it had been before, the lyrics are more literary, less fixated on the Devil (although they do have their blasphemous moments). Perhaps some day bands will come to the conclusion that not everyone wants to hear their take on religion...whether they like it or hate it, I'm getting real tired of hearing about it either way. I would like to think that the day is coming when bands could play hard and be tough without having to use stupid hand gestures and demonic fixations. Oh well, not yet.

Regardless, this disc definitely blasts out some heavy, rocking Black Metal. Spiritual Black Dimensions is light years ahead of the nearest competition (and that would be very distant competition indeed), Mr. Filth.

-Sabrina Wade
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Links:
DJ Krush Official homepage
DJ Krush (fan page)

Later, when I'm back at his desk with my Evil Secretary, Sonja, this conversation ensues:

Cecil: "I've seen the bar. I know what you're capable of and you wimped on us."
Sonja: "Are you saying he's limp?"
Cecil: "On this one, he went limp."

Obviously the phrase "Best Album" isn't clear enough for Cecil, so let's try this instead. It's Sunday. The sun is actually shining here in Seattle. The roads are clogged with families and their dogs, taking the SUVs out to the park. The nurseries and hardware stores are packed with those who've been dying to get out and work on the weed infestations in their yards. Barbecues are getting dusted off and dads are searching for their bottles of lighter fluid. Junior has found his Frisbee. The phrase "bikini wax" has been cropping up in water cooler conversation all week. It was Opening Day of baseball season last week. Hot dogs are starting to find their way back onto menus. People are starting to lay the base of their sunroof tans.

I'm out on my balcony with a pitcher of margaritas, watching all of this activity flash by. My toes are wriggling against the warm slats of the balcony railing. All the windows in my apartment are open. I've got Ki-Oku on the stereo. In a chilled dish on the end table, I've got Hershey's Kisses (with almonds). I'm only going to move once in the next few hours and that is to restart this disc because I forgot to put it on repeat the first time.

It's nothing more than beats and a horn, yet interwoven with such skill that it becomes more than a simple pairing. It'll infuse your house; the music drawing the sunlight in through the windows. With the opening strain of "Toh-Sui" there is an irresistible urge to simply feel good that you've got nothing planned for today. The lazy bass of "Mu-Getsu" will make your fingers tap against the cold glass of the beverage in your hand. The distant echo of hand drums behind the soft trumpet melody in "Mu-Chu" bleeds the last kinks out of your legs from a long week at the office. The tempo change of "Fu-Yu" will make you think about firing up the barbecue and the interplay between Kondo and Krush's scratching in "Bu-Seki" will make you grab the phone and call some friends, 'cause there's enough room on this barby for everyone.

Ki-Oku wasn't available domestically when I wrote up the profile of DJ Krush in February's issue, and not everyone is as oblivious to the cost of a good disc as I, so I didn't push it that hard. However, now that you can get it here, I'll push a little harder--especially now that the weather has turned warm. Lazy Sunday afternoon music while you lie in the sun. It doesn't get much simpler than this.

-Mark Teppo
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Links:
Eminem

From this point on consider yourself warned! Eminem's new major debut album is phat yo! Consider the hype: before his album hit store shelf number one, he was splashed all over the covers of Rolling Stone magazine, The Source, Rap Pages and VIBE, just to name a few. Coincidence? Media hype? Think again---he was signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath label, and it wasn't because Eminem sought him out and passed him a demo tape. No, the funky producer extraordinaire with the "Midas touch" heard the Shady One on an Los Angeles radio station and immediately had his people track him down. Don't front on me, y'all know the only Hip Hop nose for talent bigger than Dre's is Russell Simmons and he's running some label called Def Jam (you might have heard of it).

The other amazing thing about Slim Shady is that he's the first white rapper to break into the rap mainstream with an established underground reputation preceding him. After winning a number of freestyle competitions, his debut Infinite, released in 1996, was criticized by critics and fans alike for sounding like rap stars Nas and AZ. Call me crazy, but if someone criticized me for sounding like Nas or AZ, I would be like, "Thanks, man." Still hating? Then consider the following bit of advice from my man Stewart Scott, of ESPN fame: "Don't hate the player, hate the game." I watch way too much television.

Slim Shady is a brilliant and dark-humored masterpiece. He is funny in a South Park, Beavis and Butthead kind of way. He's shocking and offensive like Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, and Howard Stern. He's violent and misogynistic like gangster rap. And he's full of surprises, too, with tracks like "Paul," an apparent recording of a phone call from his attorney that will have you laughing hysterically or sadly shaking your head in empathy, and "Bonnie & Clyde," a grim story about domestic violence told in a very disturbing, and yet loving manner.

The music on the album is straightforward, and simplistic in nature, the beats are slow, the keyboard and synthesizers are used sparingly to fill in the blanks. The mood throughout the album seems to go from cartoonish to cheesy '80s Pop/Hip-Hop. This blends perfectly with Slim's in your face smirking, insane in the membrane, poor white trailer trash style and lyrical acrobatics.

If you're a TRUE Rap music fan then this CD is a must for your music collection. For the faint of heart, however, please be advised he's a sandwich short of a picnic.

-Cecil Beatty-Yasutake
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Play this when you are in the mood to be taken away to an alternate universe filled with blood, violence and big, strong Vikings. It is hard music, very akin to Black Metal except that there are very few keyboards (actually none come to mind at all) and instead they use folkish melodies and traditional Norse instrumentation to augment the songs. This almost seems too sophisticated to be called metal sometimes. Blodhemn is such an intellectual disc that sometimes I think that Enslaved probably outsmarts most of their fans. This is definitely a thinking-Viking's music.

-Sabrina Wade
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Links:
Frank Black and the Catholics
Unofficial Frank Black website

-Craig Young
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Links:
Gridlock

Easy references like Skinny Puppy and Autechre are inevitable, but beyond the genius and maturity of Gridlock's music, these comparisons become unimportant. Originality is alive once again in a genre rife with tiresome predictability.

Cadoo's beautifully crafted synths and whispered vocal raves revel in stark contrast to Mike Wells' percussive twisting and turning, creating a perfect tension that hangs in the balance like it could spin out of control at any moment. But of course it never does.

Further positions Gridlock with an elite few, as well as moves them further away from the bands they will be forced to be associated with. They just may be the most important band to play electronic music in the last ten years.

Look for a candid conversation with Gridlock's Cadoo and Mike Wells in the June issue of Earpollution.

-Jeff Ashley
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Links:
Gus Gus

Polydistortion (the first Gus Gus album) got labeled as Icelandic Collective Trip Hop, the referent being the group's diverse occupational background. That same basis lies beneath This is Normal, though the group has grown into a more cohesive musical whole during the last few years of working together. There is still a grandiose cinematic quality to their music (which I hope they never lose) and this quality is augmented on their second album with a heady dose of funk and a cold helping of glacial atmospherics.

We start with "Ladyshave," a song which explores the titillation and despair of a certain sexual fetish that hasn't turned out quite right. If any of the TV studios had a sense of irony, "Teenage Sensation" would be the theme song to the Mary K. LeTourneau movie of the week. Gus Gus quickly hop to the other side of the equation with "Starlovers," exhorting those more gullible to find their own way. The pulse of meteors falling through the Arctic sky fills "Superhuman." There's a House beat wide enough to smother any metaphor running through "Very Important People." "Bambi" turns introspective on us and as the soulful "Dominique" ends, the album dies with the fading sound of a clock.

Each song is a complete element unto itself, a breathing piece of a larger collective. Labels break down when each track on an album takes a different direction. The greater whole--the "film" as songwriter Daniel Agust refers to the album--is expansive enough to swallow anything put in front of it. It is a pop album--the best pop album I've heard in a long time--and that fails to fully convey the simpler fact that pop is dead and This is Normal has taken its place.

-Mark Teppo
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Links:
KMFDM

Adios is everything you have come to expect from KMFDM: a rollicking electronic stomp to shake your booty to. As anyone who's heard Tim Skold's solo work can attest to, he can add a hook to any song you know, and with his addition KMFDM is pop-hook nuts. The album has a nice consistency throughout and sums up a fifteen-year career quite solidly. Bonus, for any Nivek Ogre fans, there are two tracks he sings on: "That's All" and "Full Worm Garden," both of which make this album worth owning. Adios is a veritable funfest. Goodbye.

-Jeff Ashley
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Links:
Kodo

The obvious appeal of Sai-so then is that Kodo has been remixed--stretched and worked over for this decadent Western civilization that likes to get all four on the floor (and I'm including myself in this broad generalization). Being mistaken for having a seizure on the dance floor is not what I'm there for. What I am there for, and what the remixers of Sai-so deliver, is groove for miles.

Strobe's version of "Nanafushi" begins earnestly enough, sounding like a carbon copy of the original. He adds a rolling echo to the higher drums as the song builds to the first break and then there is a squelch of horn and the beats begin in earnest. Most of the tracks follow a pattern laid down here: take a couple of loops from the originals (usually more than one), toss down some beats and some other melodies, bring up the Kodo influence (so everyone can hear it), and you've got yourself a remix track. The saving grace is that the producers went for variety, so you're not suffering through ten tracks that sound all virtually identical. DJ Krush's "Ibuki Reconstruction" is made sparse by his attentive selection to the recurring elements which make up his contribution. "Wax Off" layers a wandering melody over the drums, building until an explosive bridge is raised from the foundations of "A-Son-Ja-O" and "Toki No Koe." Kevin Tost's Deep and Ethnic mix comes at you like candy music heard in your favorite shag lounge (yes, Mr. Editor, I'm referring to your living room). Bill Laswell pumps his trademark bass sound through "Nanafushi," giving it an astounding echo.

I listened to Ibuki quite a bit to familiarize myself with the original before delving into the deconstruction/reconstruction efforts on Sai-So and found myself coming back to this disc again and again. It isn't just an hour of guys banging on drums. Ibuki is an album of remarkable emotional density and involvement. In this modern, mechanized world where the music is becoming more and more a matter of sequencing ones and zeros, you forget the organic basis for sound. Like the walled gardens hidden away among the buildings of Tokyo, Kodo can be an invigorating release from all the steel and concrete and electricity wound around you. And if you have to plunge through the stone and steel of the modern world, Sai-So is not a bad way to keep your sanity about you as the pace gets faster and faster.

-Mark Teppo
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Links:
The Ladybug Transistor

That source is Marlborough Farms, the house in Brooklyn the band calls home. And though it's not a lean-to built of coconuts and bamboo, it does have a recording studio in the basement where Gary, Jeffrey, Jennifer, Sasha, San and Mike spent the last year crafting this sure-to-be classic of '60s art pop revival, which captures the depth and spontaneity of the Beatles, Big Star, and the first Bee Gees album without being derivative.

It is less an album than a voyage. Most of the tracks evoke something wet, either explicitly through lyrics ("surf..swimming hole...summer rain...oceans...tears") or simply the music which fills your ear the way water fills your mouth--a perfect fit. From the first lines of the album opener "Oriental Blvd" ("and I can see the bay / through the trees / and in my car...") to the dreamy surrealism of "Oceans in the Hall"--whose swelling horns, strings, and harmonies overwhelm in the same slow certain way that floodwaters rise to submerge a town--this lush album lifts you like a lunar tide, bringing you that much closer to the stars.

Which is not to say the record doesn't celebrate other elements as well. "Cienfuegos" is a galloping charge across a Mexican desert which ends with a shot of tequila in the shade of a cactus. The closing cut "Aleida's Theme" is a calliope dance of death ("oh poor old maria / I'm sorry you're destined to die") which recalls the mood of The Beatles' "A Day in the Life," the daring arrangement of the Velvet Underground's "Murder Mystery," and the same goofy morbidity of children's favorite "My Darlin' Clementine," which despite its cheery tone, is a song about drowning ("...blowin' bubbles mighty fine / now she's gone and lost forever / oh my darlin' Clementine").

It's quite a journey for an album which logs in at a scant 35 minutes, but that compactness makes it the perfect accompaniment for that short summertime drive to your favorite swimming hole for a picnic. And if you've got no car, swimming hole, or picnic basket, fret not, dear reader, these are eminently portable tunes you will be carrying around in your head for a long time after just one listen.

-Robert Zverina
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Links:
Mathew Shipp discography

While younger and more visible artists like Medeski Martin and Wood have introduced jazz to Deadheads and hip-hoppers (though most of them don't even know it), pianist Matthew Shipp has more quietly expanded the jazz audience with his albums on rocker Henry Rollins' 2.13.61 label. However, having now lead Rollins' punk acolytes to the likes of Coltrane and Monk, Shipp has said his latest album (with long-time bassist William Parker), DNA (his first for Thirsty Ear Records), will be his last. This is sad news. A kind of ars poetica to jazz and improvisation, and aiming for both musical and social significance, the album's lofty ambitions are easily buttressed by the intelligence and lyricism of Shipp and Parker.

DNA opens with a dark and compelling interpretation of the Civil War-era "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." With Shipp pounding as if forcing his way through the song and Parker bowing a dissonant and ghostly accompaniment, the arrangement suggests the horrors of war such triumphant marches often ignore, while simultaneously mocking that ignorance.

From the contemplative and melodic "Cell Sequence," to the cacophonous climax of "Genetic Alphabet;" whether on the title track's upbeat percolations, or the dense meditations of "Orbit," Shipp and Parker display such confidence and accomplishment these improvisations seem scored, and scored beautifully. The duo's skill is most evident in the flurried notes and be-bop fretwork of "Mr. Chromosome," the album's most complex and satisfying exploration.

Shipp then daringly ends the album with a simple arrangement of "Amazing Grace." In the wrong hands, or on a different recording, such a move could sound sentimental or facile. But after songs which encompass musical history, aesthetic theory, and the African American experience, the choice is not only appropriate, it is earned. The hymn brings both closure and resolution to a brilliant album, but let's hope not a brilliant career.

-Brian Cassidy
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Links:
Opeth

Yes, sometimes this could even be classified as mellow, but not for long. It rocks, it even rocks hard, but it also poetic. These guys are the Shelleys and Poes and Keats of the scene. In other words, these guys rope in the chicks by the droves. With song titles like "April Ethereal," "When," "Madrigal," "The Amen Corner" and "Karma" you would expect wispy gothic rock. There is a definite Doom touch here, so maybe this is the elusive force known as Dark Metal as it once was defined.

My Arms, Your Hearse is something every lover of music should own. It is heavy, metallic, soft and smooth all at once without ever being wussy.

-Sabrina Wade
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Links:
Phat Sidy Smokehouse

-Hope Lopez
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Links:
Diehard Music Worldwide

Daniel Nilsson and Jonas Lindblad play some extraordinary guitar that really lifts this out from the rest of bands out there. Their guitars are blazing fast and technically absolutely perfect. Lindblat's vocals are a tempered death metal growl and on occasion I could even make out words. Kalle Pettersson and Conny Vandling form a rhythm section that drives the music to overachieve, although it seems to me that the drums are just a tad bit undermixed. I'd like for them to be a bit louder, more thumpier. But that's not the band's fault and maybe no one else notices it, but I do love loud drums.

After the obligatory benign intro, the band proceeds to pummel the Death Metal demons out on "My Lament"--the best song on this outing. "My Lament" explodes with a fury tempered with just a touch of melody; the guitar jams are just magnificent. Fast enough, furious enough, just excellent--when you hear a song this good, your heart warms for the band. "Prince of Many Faces" kicks in next with more killer guitar lines, riffs and jams. "The Art" alternates tempos for a change of pace. "When Winter Came" jams with a nifty hook and some more sizzling guitar leads. "Lifeplague" has the trademark excellent guitar work along with some really neat drum patterns as well, but the vocals...well, sometimes they're just a little too growlish--leaving Lindblatt sounding like a pissed-off leopard. The guitars on "Lifeplague" are just extraordinary, Lindblatt and Nilsson just keep raising the bar for the rest of the band. "Labyrinth of the Mind" rocks fast and furious and Lindblatt's vocals seem to be stronger (much better than on "Lifeplague"). I detect a flamenco influence on the guitar in "The Halls Have Eyes" that really adds to the ambience of the song. The guitars are killer here, just as they are everywhere, but this song quickly has become the second-best song on The Art. "Into the Dawn" starts out with a really great drum riff before the guitars take over and rock the song to daylight. They even throw in a keyboard part, probably just to make Black Metal bands drool, 'cause they never have guitarists this good.

The Art is a great album chock full of grandiose guitar work that simply grows on you every time you play it. This is a must have for all Death Metal fans.

-Sabrina Wade
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Links:
TLC

As fate would have it, it would be a couple of weeks before I got a chance to listen to the Fanmail CD again. By this time I'd been out on three or four different occasions doing more club research for my follow-up column to "In Search of Hip Hop and R&B in the Northwest." Thanks to many talented DJs I came across in my nocturnal excursions, I was beginning to get a better feel for the Fanmail joint. I realized an album could sound like the score to the latest best-selling video game and still be hip and funky, and at the same time be taken seriously. My initial problem with the CD probably stemmed from the fact that my musical taste buds were still craving something organic like The Roots' All Things Fall Apart CD. [read earpollution's review of the album in april's issue. --ed]And instead I got TLC's heavily mechanical, computer-generated, techno-funk romp, which my ears had trouble digesting.

Joints I like include: "Fanmail," which definitely sounds like some sort of computer-generated groove track. The bass is deep and warm, without taxing your woofers. The synths provide repetitive computer-sounding tones; beeps and whirs that give the track its futuristic feel. T-Boz's voice has been looped, edited and re-digitized to give it that perfect computer malfunction/Hiccup feel.

"Silly Ho," another favorite, kicks off with a bouncing bass line that sounds like it was played on a bass guitar wound too tight. I had images of a tiger hopping around my consciousness causing mayhem. There's more computer-generated vocal tricks here, and the keyboard work sounds like it was stolen from Prince's "When Doves Cry" and sped way the hell up.

"No Scrubs" discards all the heavy-handed computer effects, making it more friendly to old ears with its classic-sounding dance-oriented R&B stylings. On the following track, my favorite R&B music production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis keeps the dance theme going with their contribution to the TLC joint "I'm Good at Being Bad." Trust me when I say, they don't disappoint. War's "Slipping into Darkness" is sampled brilliantly here along with Donna Summer's classic "Love to Love You Baby." Sounds crazy, I know--but you have to hear it to appreciate their genius, it works!

Based on times played and potential future listening sessions, TLC's first release Ooooooohhh...On the TLC Tip will remain my favorite album. Not that their later stuff isn't good, because it is. It's just that I was hooked instantly on their first release upon hearing it, as opposed to weeks later in the case of the other two. Verdict, judging by the air time it received at every night spot I went to: Fanmail is a must have for your next party, or video game session.

-Cecil Beatty-Yasutake
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Too Bad
PO Box 5172
Palm Harbor, FL 34684

-Sabrina Wade
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Links:
Uncle Tom

-Steve Weatherholt
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Links:
UK Subs

-Steve Weatherholt
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