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| Artist: | "WALTARI" |
| Title: | "SPACE AVENUE" |
| Label: | EMI Europe |
| Reviewed By: | Colette Engel |
| Rating: |
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A “Finnish experimental metal band.” Sounds kind
of interesting, doesn’t it? It certainly intrigued me. “Waltari”
are not new to the music scene - they’ve been together since
1986 - but they are new to the U.S. Their first album was released
in Finland and Europe back in 1991. “Space Avenue”
is the seventh album to be released in Europe and “Far Away”
has already reached #5 on the Japanese Import Singles Chart. “Waltari” is Kärtsy Hatakka, lead vocals, bass and keyboard, Jariot Lehtinen on guitars and vocals, Roope Latvala, guitars and vocals, and Janne Parviainen on drums. The band played their first U.S. dates in New York City at the end of last year, and are currently on the lookout for a record deal here in the U.S. I’m not really sure how I’d categorize “Waltari.” The press release says metal. I’m not so sure that they fit into what I think of as metal. The music is fantastic and the new album has a great sound that really fits with the title, “Space Avenue.” The songs have a kind of space-age quality to them. Their use of keyboards creates certain effects that sound a great deal like a sci-fi movie or video game. The first song, “External,” combines all of the instruments into a strong, fast-paced song, that grabs you from the start. It has a great beat and makes you wanna get up and just jump around to the music. There is a steady drum rhythm that bursts with energy and keeps the song in your head long after it’s over. This song whets your appetite and makes you wonder what’s going to come next. Then comes “Far Away.” This is the song that is currently making it’s way up the import singles chart in Japan. The song keeps up the pace and is an interesting mixture of sounds. It combines fast-paced verses with more laid-back ones. The appeal is clear when you listen to it. “Wolves On the Street” is one of my favorites on the CD. It has a sort of rap to the lyrics and the music is very upbeat. The vocals have an interesting quality to them, sounding like a radio transmission. A very cool effect. This is one you have to hear to appreciate. “Blind Zone” is another fave. It starts off with a tune and rhythm that had me dancing in my seat. I have to say that this band really puts it all into their music. This song includes some short “rapping” of lyrics but it’s kept to a minimum and it fits well with the music and the beat. The combination of the music and lyrical styles all work very well together in this song. “Purify Yourself” is one of the songs that they printed the lyrics for. It’s a great song about taking care of yourself and your own needs. “Purify yourself/ Just settle down so you won’t need nobody else.” It’s a great song. Great message too. This CD is fantastic and I recommend it wholeheartedly. I wouldn’t try to classify it into any musical category - there is just too much going on within each song. There wasn’t a single song on the CD that I didn’t like. The entire album was just packed with wonderful songs, and it rocked hard. I’m not sure when it’s going to be released in the U.S., but it is definitely one to watch for. |
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| Artist: | "BOX SET" |
| Title: | "THREAD" |
| Label: | Capricorn/Polygram |
| Available: | Most Major Music Stores |
| Reviewed By: | David Merrill |
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Indie label veterans “Box Set,” will release their
first album for Mercury’s Capricorn label in February of
1998. The core of the band was born when singer/songwriter Jeff
Pehrson saw Jim Brunberg playing solo at a San Francisco coffee
shop in 1991. They began playing the coffee shop circuit together
as an acoustic duo. Two years later, they formed the full band
version of “Box Set,” adding drummer Mark Abbott, bass
player Chad Heise and keyboard/harmonica player Sam Johnston
to the line up. “Box Set” recalls harmony and guitar
driven bands like “America” and the “Eagles,”
while bringing a current feeling to the songs. They have a definite
folk influence, but they’re influences extend to seventies
funk and mainstream rock. The first two tracks are pretty similar. “Back to You” opens first with drum, then harmonica, and guitar. The song is marked by great hooks and harmonies. I could do without the organ in the song, but the banjo fits in nicely. The song tells the tale of being on the road, it’s hardships, and wanting to get back home to someone. The poppy rhythms are infectious. “Every Waking Moment” has whiney keyboards at the beginning, vocals joining in quickly, followed by the rest of the band. Again, some grabbing guitar riffs and harmonies carry the song. Keyboards seem like something extra and unnecessary in this song, as though they were as an afterthought. The lyrics are vague but engaging, “They tell you when your younger every dark cloud hides a silver lining/ Well I don’t want to wait until I’m old/ Just to cash this tarnished silver in for gold/. . .All the pieces finally fit together/ It’s a feeling I’ve been waiting for forever/ And forever/ All those storm clouds just become a part of the weather. . .” Mandolin and accordion give “Valentine” a much different and softer feel. Vocals and lyrics mesh beautifully with the melody. It’s about a long standing relationship, beginning to show the tarnish of age. This is an awesome number. "A Little Colder” fades in with march- like percussion on one speaker, then acoustic guitar on the other, with vocals falling in the middle. The strange opening percussion fades out soon, replaced by normal sounding drum, and a more conventional guitar rhythm steps in. It’s as though a new song overlays and replaces the one originally started, but the marching drumbeat fades back in at the end. The lyrics are pretty deep, describing how a loss of conscience, and the actions that follow, can make “The world a little colder.” “Train” is a funkfest of a song, with a great bass line and vocal styles to match - at least for part of the song. The other parts of the song are more like the first two tracks. The band slides easily back and forth between the folk and funk stylings, dragging the listener with them on this “Train.” It’s a good ride. “Amsterdam" sounds a lot like “Back to You,” but has a faster beat. There is some nice harmonica in it, and the song is competent and makes you move, but there’s nothing here that really completely grabs me. “Eighteen Days” is a gorgeous song. It’s retro-seventies, but there’s an energy driving this song that the songs from that era often didn’t have. The keyboards are better placed. The lyrics are interesting, “Here’s a town that isn’t worth a song/ I’m in another wrecking ball/ I’m not swinging, I’m just hangin’ here/ Who will catch me when I fall/ Eighteen days of rain. . .” A strange meshing of psychedelia and folk in distorted guitar, with mandolin and acoustic guitar, makes “One Step” a more interesting slow song than it could have been. “How Could I Lie” begins with bongos on the right speaker, acoustic guitar on the left, voice in the middle. Then drums jump in with the rest of the band right behind. Later, eighties influenced keyboard floats ethereally in the background. The guitar work on parts of “Falling” reminds me a lot of early "R.E.M." They add electric violin to the mix and wind up with something that sounds more like late seventies retro at times. As a result, the song emerges with a tonality all its own. It‘s actually much more complex than it seems on the surface. The lyrics are fairly vague, but it’s a pretty good song. “Compound” sounds different from all the other songs. The vocals and guitar picking are deeper. It opens acoustically, with a “1, 2, 3, 4. . .” Distorted guitar in the background, fading in and out, give the song some interesting textures. It’s about a woman being destroyed by drugs, while her lover can do nothing but look on. “You’re the invisible woman/ With the invisible compound/ I clean up in the morning/ Well, I can’t see you like this. . .” It’s a beautiful, heartfelt song, illustrating a scene that appears every day nationwide. The album ends appropriately with “Sleep.” The deeper vocals continue here, joined by violin and guitar. It’s a great song about the solace found in sleep as an escape from life’s troubles. The vocals on “Box Set’s” debut “Thread” are nearly flawless. There are many places on the album where the extra instrumentation beyond the original duo seem just that: extra. I’d love to see them do an album without it. Their guitar work and vocals could certainly carry a whole album. Even with it’s flaws, and there really aren’t many, “Thread” is an admirable debut by a band that seems primed to take the music world by storm. I expect to hear “Box Set” on the radio, if they get the right push from their record company. |
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| Artist: | "WET WET WET" |
| Title: | "10" |
| Label: | Mercury |
| Available: | Any Major Music Store |
| Reviewed By: | David Merrill |
| Rating: |
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“Wet Wet Wet” has topped the British charts since
their first single, “Wishing I was Lucky,” in 1987,
from their self- produced first album. The title of their new
album, “10,” commemorates their tenth year and their
tenth album. The formation of the band began when Graeme Clark
met Tommy Cunningham on the bus going to school at age twelve.
That was in 1977. Neil Mitchell was next to join the band, promising
to use money from his paper route to supply keyboards. For vocals
they asked Mark McLachlan, a shy boy who everyone knew could
sing, although he changed his name to Marti Pellow. They took
their name from a line in a song by Green Gartside of "Scritti
Politti," adding an extra wet for good measure. I should make something clear at the outset of this review. In the reviews I’ve done in the past, I’ve compared bands because I could see an influence on the band I was reviewing, or at least a similarity that might lead my readers to an understanding of what their sound is like. In all instances when I made those comparisons, I felt the band I was reviewing compared favorably with the other bands I cited. I don’t feel this is true with “Wet Wet Wet.” “The Wets,” as they are sometimes called, are not in the same league as any of the bands I may compare them to. That said, on with my review. The first track, “Strange,” has some horns and sounds a lot like "Level 42" with an ultra- pop slant. It’s all fluff and not much substance, which really describes the rest of the album. “Lonely Girl,” with a bit of funk influence in its guitar work, and an uncomplicated melodey and lyrics, is about hanging on to a relationship after it’s over. The single, “If I never See You Again,” was written by Graham Lyle and Terry Britton, who wrote and produced for Michael Jackson and Tina Turner. The song has a much different feeling to it than the first two songs, as strings replace horns. Otherwise, it’s a top-fortyish love song about having one’s life changed forever. Things slow down for a rendition of “The Beatle’s” tune, “Yesterday.” I don’t mind cover songs on an album, but it bothers me when the style is the same as the original, and the few changes in the music weaken the song. I’d rather see a totally knew approach to the song. I wasn’t thrilled with the vocals on “The Wet’s” version of “Yesterday” either. Pellow over-dramatizes an already dramatc song, making it silly. One of the more interesting songs, “The Only Sounds,” recalls “Jefferson Starship,” a bit in its harmonies. Pellow sings, “The only sounds I wanna hear/ Is the music of the ocean/ And the rhythm of your breathing in my ear/ As we drift away.” Next up is, “If Only I Could Be With You.” The title says it all as far as lyrics. There’s some rhyming guitar work and a bit of dramatic piano, which ends the song, but that's about it. Perhaps the worst song on the album is “Back On My Feat.” It's so simple in its instrumentation, I find it embarrassing. “Fool For Your Love” opens with a big band sound coming through a transistor radio. Footsteps approach, then some scuffling, then the music shifts to a normal studio recording. The big band sound ends, and the usual “Wet Wet Wet” sound replaces it. The song drifts from one style to the other throughout the song, seemingly at random, then ends abruptly. It’s about a relationship with someone who causes more harm than good. “Maybe I’m in Love” uses the same big band sound, but to a better effect. They carry it through the whole song, and it’s actually quite nice. This music style seems to complement Pellow’s voice and the lyrics far better than what precedes. “Beyond the Sea” is the traditional version of the song, complete with the big band sound. The music shifts again with, “I Want You.” Pellow sings with a deeper voice here, along with some organ, strings and jazz influenced guitar work. This is also a cut above the opening eight songs. All the better songs are hidden on the back end of this album. “Theme From Ten” is an instrumental song, which really sounds like a theme song. Piano, acoustic guitar and strings come together for some pleasant background music. Sadly, the last song, “It Hurts,” marks a last return to the type of sound that dominates the album. It’s about the pain of breaking up a relationship. It’s obvious that I wasn’t happy with this album. It threw me a few curves toward the end, but, for the most part, I didn’t like it. There is definite potential for some top 40 hits here though. Most notably, the single, “If I Never See You Again,” and possibly, “Strange.” |
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