m o ' better beats

Rip It Up, Issue 201, 1 May 1994, Page 30

m o ' better beats

■ CARLEEN ANDERSON - Dusky Sappho - Nervous Breakdown Phew! Based on these two EPs I can’t wait for the album. Anderson is blessed with a fine voice, but stands apart from many others in the genre by writing her own lyrics. Beautiful soulful funk, it’s all good. The Dusky Sappho EP is best value, with four songs and a bonus mix of Mama Said (which is a charming song about keeping away from men ‘cos they’re all bastards!), with Nervous Breakdown a brooding number remixed four times.

***DAK MADISON

I TBTBT - Too Bad Too Be True

Yeah right, as if I’m going to be scared by a bunch of Gangsta-Tots! KrissKross have a lot to answer for; TBTBT dress tough, sound hard, but the whole thing’s gotta be a joke. I’m the first to agree that Thirtysomethings like Hammer are too old for rap,

but these guys are only 11 - 14 years old! The worst is 12 year old whiteboy (‘natch) Styles, who looks wacker than Howie Cunningham. ★(for effort!) ND’A

I ETERNAL - Always and Forever

Okay boys ‘n girls, here’s what your Uncle Nick wants you to do: Eternal are four hot babes (actually, I’m not so keen on the white one) who sing and dance real funky. They’re coming to NZ soon, and if you live in the Auckland area Mai FM could give you the chance to have them perform at your school. It’s worth winning ‘cos these pop divas are all good. Now, if they do come to your school I want you to ask them this: How come on your album Always and Forever your producers claim writing credit for ‘Sweet Funky Thing’, when it sounds (both lyrically and musically) a lot like ‘Juicyfruit’, as recorded circa 1984 by M’tume for the Beatstreet movie soundtrack? ***+ND’A I RIGHT SAID FRED - Sex and Travel I’m glad I’m not in RSF. If I was, I’d call it a day and live off my royalties to ‘l’m Too Sexy’. That song started out as camp pop but veered off into Novelty Song by virtue of its mega sales. For their second album RSF stay true to their pop origins, but it all sounds a little limp. The lyrics are astoundingly naive, does Richard (Baldilocks) Fairbass really think we want absolute simplemindedness? The lyrics are mostly of the “I got up and had a coffee, how about I cover you in toffee” variety; although when it works, it works well, as evidenced on ‘Bumped’: "Chattanooga Tennessee, one night on a Tuesday, Friday sunset Babylon, I bumped into you”. Sure, it makes no sense, but Baldilock’s deep voice and RSF’s jangly pop have you bopping anyway. Check out also the finish to ‘Wonderman’, it’s a homage to ‘Rappers Delight'. “ ; ', ' **+DAK MADISON

■ VARIOUS ARTISTS - NBA Jam Session. Here’s a news flash: NBA Basketball is hot! So hot they’re making movies about it; Above The Rim by The Hudlin Brothers, and Blue Note with Shaquille O’Neal. As the title suggests, this compilation is licensed by the NBA and the songs are all about B’ball, which gets a tad tedious. Heavy D moves further back to the street with ‘Jam Session’, and Bell Biv Devoe kick in with the mediocre theme to Above The Rim. Wreckx N Effect score no points with ‘Rim Shaker’, a remix of you-know-what, but Barrington Levy impresses with ‘Work’ (another Sly & Robbie masterwork). There’s a heap more, and a free NBA trading card is enclosed, so it’s reason-

able value I suppose.

ND’A

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Tranced (Volume 1)

Too young for nightclubs? Fear not kids, throw this on, turn it up loud, and drive your parents crazy. DkaDkaDkaDkaDka, Bleep Bleep Bleep, - they won’t have a clue. “It’s not music,” they cry. “No, it’s Techno,” you reply. This is a mixed collection (but not ‘mixed’!) of hits and misses including ‘Open Your Mind’ from Ursura, ‘Cosmotrash’ from the Trashman, and the poisonous ‘Yerba Del Diablo’ from Datura. Everyone gets sampled here, including OMD, U2, Yazoo, and even Utah Saints. Second half makes up for the first. ★★★DAK MADISON

ICE T - Gotta Lotta Love

Ice T getting down with Mike Oldfield? This you gotta hear! The vocal version, from the album Home Invasion, was wack and lost T his props at home in LA. This time they’ve pulled his vocals out completely, and mixed in Oldfield’s ‘Tubular Bells’. Five minutes of spooky dub which could still do with somebody, anybody, rapping over the top. Also on the EP are ‘Addicted To Danger’ (another chapter in the Ice T biography) this time stripped back and remixed sparse by the Beatnuts. More gangsta rap with G-Style, remixed by Hen Gee, then the closing ‘Race War’, remixed by DJ Assassin. One of the

highlights of the original album, ‘Assassin’ runs with a jazz loop and some mad turntable scratching, whilst still giving full vent to Ice T’s venomous lyrics. Excellent. ***/VD'A

I Dr ALBAN - Sing Hallelujah

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice slice of techno pop; but this is also just a cheap reworking of his first hit ‘lt’s My Life’ which featured the refrain ‘sing Hallelujah’. Now they’ve fleshed it out into a chorus, built a song around it — but it still sounds like an instrumental b-side. ★★DAK MADISON

LISA LISA - Skip To My Lu

Looks like it’s goodbye to Cult Jam and goodbye to C+C Music Factory — Lisa Lisa is solo. Written and produced by Nona Hendryx, I’d speculate that the record company told Nona she was too old and trundled in the young(ish) and sexy Lisa. The beats are good but the lyrics are sooo wack. Extremely bad (as in not good). Guru kicks in with his reproduction of the album mix, and there’s even a slice of Espanol. Mindless funky pop. **+ND’A

JODECI - Diary of a Mad Band

Like R Jelly, Jodeci are the Young Gods of Love. Their music has helped many a homie into the . . . okay, enough already! If you like slow jams and swingbeat (I don’t) then you’ll already know what to expect from Jodeci. There’s plenty of slow jams (the first half) to make your current girlfriend think she’s special, with the second half mercifully picking up the pace courtesy of a couple of rumpshakers. The guys have beautiful harmonies but the arrangements leave all their songs sounding the same. Standout track is ‘Sweaty’, featuring Misdemeanor from Sista. ★★+ND’A

R KELLY 12 Play

Ralph is on the sex tip, no doubt about it. The track listing on this album includes: ‘Your Body’s Callin’’, ‘Bump ‘n Grind’, ‘lt Seems Like You’re Ready’, ‘Freak Dat Body’, ‘I Like The Crotch On You’, ‘Sex Me’ ... get the picture? What do you do with shit like this? Easy, you play it in the car with your date on the way home from the movies, the party, the Lotto Shop, or wherever else you've been. And when you park up, or get back to your house, or her house, you play it all over again. You really wouldn’t want to actual \y listen to this stuff, but having it playing in the background — well — pretty soon she

can’t help but think that every other girl in the world is doin’ it so she might as well too. And then you’re in! Insidious, isn’t it?

TO BE CONTINUED - One On One

★★★ND'A

I presume this trio is the video friendly front for Two Tuff-E-Nuff Productions, who write and produce this amiable and funky funky jam. It rolls real fresh, laz-y with the lyrics, and you can’t help yourself from groovin’ out. The lyrics are positive, the rapping’s okay, and four versions to choose —I preferred the original album mix.

★★★DAK MADISON

THE BRAND NEW HEAVIES - Dream On Dreame

The radio friendly version is just that, so expect it on a radio near you! David Morales slows the

backbeat down a tad for his remix, and loses some of the shine of the vocals. While everyone else is getting into hip hop jazz, the Heavies stick with soul — I know it’s good for me, but it’s bland. ★★★DAK MADISON

ERIK - Got To Be Real

Pete Waterman performs his ‘magic’ on the Cheryl Lynn dance classic, thereby becoming the Salmon Rushdie of dance music. Seriously, this muthaf**ker has to be killed for what he’s done here. (Next in the firing line: Cut N Move). Techno, disco, pop — there’s a version here for all ‘tastes’. * *(but only for the B-side, which is quite good actually]) ND’A

***** MAD PROPS **** ALLGOOD *** GOT SKILLS ** MO’KAY * HAMMERTIME