RECORD REVIEWS

Everlast
Whitey Ford Sings The Blues

When a member of a successful band leaves to pursue a solo career, the move often doesn’t work (that means you, Geri Haliwell).
So when Everlast (Erik Schrodey), the frontman of the wildly popular rap group, House of Pain left, there was obviously some doubt as to what would become of him. In his case, he originally said that he was finished with the recording business, and then fell seriously ill with heart troubles.
Whitey Ford Sings the Blues is confirmation that, at the very least on a personal level, the move hasn’t posed problems for Everlast.
Fans (and non-fans) of House of Pain will love this CD. Sure, there are the familiar rap elements from Everlast’s time with House of Pain are there, but these are overridden by a distinctly rock element to the songs. The result is rap-rock, and it comes across very effectively.
The CD gets off on the right foot with the funky The White Boy is Back, and then launches straight into Money (Dollar Bill), featuring Sadat, very much a rap number. Examples of the rock style of songs include the brilliant What It’s Like, easily the best song on the album and the stylish Death Comes Callin. Other highlights are Ends, Get Down and Praise the Lord, though all the songs are great listening. Next Man, a bonus cut, adds to the depth of the CD, while Sien Dog, Prince Paul and Guru certainly add to the originality of the album. They take the form of messages left on Everlast’s answering machine, and reflect on the length of time he was away from rapping, what Whitey Ford was about and his heart surgery (referred to as his accident).
Whitey Ford will definitely please Everlast and House of Pain fans, and there is definitely something there for the rest of you.

Bug rating out of 5: 3.5

- Michael Gordon-Brown

VAST
Visual Audio Sensory Theatre

The debut album from VAST is, at the very least, bound to leave an impression. It contains songs that by all rights should be classified as Gothic/Metal, but they are backed up by calm, almost Enya-like vocals.
The result is a striking mix of music that may be impossible to define but is certainly interesting to listen to.
VAST is actually a one-man show. Jon Crosby plays and sings for mostly the whole CD, and he has said that the songs have come directly from his life. What is striking about this CD is the variety of outside sources that Crosby has used in compiling this album, such as a symphony orchestra, the Bulgarian Female Choir and the Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of Saint Mauer Cleraux. James Lo, drummer from the band Chavez also performs on this CD.
This varied use of different sources combine to create a diverse sound to the songs – in Touched, the lyrics and rapid beat are performed to the background sounds of chanting while I’m Dying begins with a soothing Buddhist chant, which continues to Crosby’s lyrics and fast beat.
The best songs on this CD were Here, the eerily upbeat (if that makes any sense) first song on the album, where the first minute is completely without lyrics, the previously mentioned Touched and Pretty When You Cry.
The album does have a couple of faults. After a while, the songs do get a bit repetitive – the Goth Metal lyrics combined with chanting can only remain original for so long. And, more or less, the songs deal with the same elements of love, religion and sex.
Fans of Goth/Metal will love this CD, but all others should check it out as well. VAST is a fine example of experimenting with music to produce a very original sound.

Bug rating out of 5: 3.5

- Chris Gordon-Brown

Delta City Skies
Pollyannna

The latest album from this Melbourne-based Trio is probably not their best effort, yet there is plenty there for fans and lovers of soft alternative music.
Band members Matt Handley, Maryke Stapelton and Glenn Manyard have produced a characteristically alternative mix of bleak and happy themes and tunes.
There is a fair amount to like about this album but its main problem is just that there is nothing really different from their previous CDs which have included Junior (1995) and Hello Halo (1997).
SSAE and Black Bear get the album off to a zippy start, while Feeding Circle, Home is Where my Heart Sank, Office Relations and In Love with Doubt offer more subdued tunes. Hermit Inertia is an excellent song, the best on this record, while Frayed and Disclaimer are not far behind.
Delta City Skies will certainly be snapped up very quickly by diehard Pollyanna fans, and overall is certainly a very credible effort. Perhaps something just a little different and new would have helped it. That said, it does have some excellent songs.

Bug rating: 2.5/5

- Chris Gordon-Brown

Fuse
Joe Henry

There is something quite new and exciting about listening to a CD by an artist you haven’t got the foggiest about.
Sometimes the artist's name and CD title help you guess what to expect about the music soon to be transmitted to your ears. If the name is Rapmaster X100 and the title is Rap till you die, you can be fairly sure you wouldn't be giving it to your aged grandmother for her birthday.
So, what to expect from a guy called Joe Henry with a CD called Fuse?He could be a singer of any music from techno to classical.
A quick search of the internet, however, and I soon discovered glowing tributes such as “one of America’s greatest poets and lyricists” were being applied to Henry, while others proclaimed he has performed with greats such as Sinatra and co. I began to wonder where the hell I had been to have missed this guy.
After listening to Fuse, I am not entirely convinced that I am missing all that much. Henry’s brand of music is very, very, very slowly paced so if you like your music hard and fast it is definitely not for you. But for those who like slow songs that actually tell a story, Henry might be your thing. His lyrics are slow and very clear (something of a rarity these days) and listening to them may add some interest.
The best aspect of Fuse is undoubtedly the music, with the songs characterised by heavy guitar riffs and clear, steady beats. Each song seems to have something different from the last – for example, the start of Angels is a cross between R & B and Reggae, moving along nicely with a foot-tapping beat. In Curt Flood, the start sounds almost like a wobble board, though we pray that it wasn’t, and then there is a long period without any lyrics, with just the guitar and the beat playing.
Album highlights are undoubtedly Great Lake with its great beat and relatively fast pace (compared to the others, that is), Monkey and Skin and Teeth. Make sure you watch for the quirky reworking of We’ll Meet Again, appropriately positioned as the last song on the CD.
There is something about Henry’s songs on this album that smacks of uniqueness and originality. Despite this, it would perhaps be best to label this CD with that notoriously cliched “For Fans Only” and leave it at that. It is very much a hit or miss CD – you’ll either love it or it will stay firmly in your pile of CDs, collecting dust.

Bug rating: 2.5/5

- Michael Gordon-Brown

Significant Other
Limp Bizkit

Limp Bizkit’s first album, Three-Dollar Bill Y’all! sold 1.5 million copies and firmly established the band from Jacksonville, Louisiana, as one of the most talented and popular groups around.
After all, they have backed up bands such as Korn and Soulfly, and even got a mention from actress Jennifer Love Hewitt.
In 1998 they toured as part of the Warped and Ozzfest Tours, the latter arguably one of the greatest rock/metal festivals ever, and became an act on the brilliant Family Values Tour.
Yet there has always been some thought out there that Limp Bizkit are only where they are because of who they know, for example, Korn. Many people felt that Bizkit’s talents were, well, pretty shit.
Their second effort, Significant Other, well and truly shoots this crap out of the sky. Bizkit has produced an awesome blend of rap/metal/alternative tunes, which will please many tastes and prove beyond doubt that this band is for real. Significant Other was produced by Terry Date, Limp Bizkit and D.J. Premier, and was mixed by Brendan O’Brien.
Band members, Fred Durst (Vocals), Wes Borland (Guitar), DJ Lethal (Turntable – formerly from House Of Pain), John Otto (Drums) and Sam Rivers (bass), have combined their collective talents to produce just over an hour of 14 songs that boast different lyrics, speeds and sounds.
The first thing you notice about Significant Other is the imaginative structure – there is an intro, an outro and the team has even slipped in a couple of attention-grabbing hidden songs which add to the strength of the record.
Significant Other also has a great deal of variety in the style of the music. The record combines the fast paced style of Nookie and Break Stuff to the considerably slower Rearranged which almost comes off sounding like a ballad (not really but you get the idea). While this duality may not please all Bizkit fans it does mix up the CD a bit to add to the experience.
Overall, this was a great CD that was fun to listen to. It was quite original in its structure and variety, as in the intro and outro and Nobody Like You, which started off as an answering machine. Guest voices, such as Korn’s Jonathan Davis on Nobody Like You should also interest attentive listeners. Great CD.

Bug rating: 4.5 out of 5

- Chris Gordon-Brown

New World Disorder

Biohazard

Watch out kiddies, the Brooklyn boys are back with their awesome new CD, New World Disorder.
Band members Evan Seinfeld (lead vocals, bass), Billy Graziadei (vocals, guitar), Rob Echeverria (guitar) and Danny Schuler (drums) have possibly come out with their best CD yet, featuring 13 songs that display the band’s command over hardcore rap and metal.
Considering how good their previous CD, Mata Leao was, it illustrates the strength of New World Disorder .
New World Disorder’s songs are packed with heaps of chunky riffs and kick-arse solos with their new guitarist, former Helmet member Rob Echeverria, who does an excellent job in making Biohazard sound better and louder than ever – not that previous guitarist Bobby Hambel wasn’t awesome enough.
All the songs are about very dark and disturbing subject matter. For example, the CD title stems from the future of the new millennium, while the songs consistently deal with themes such as death, despair, and general doomsday. Skin and End of my Rope prove that Biohazard are at their best when their songs are the darkest.
Resist, a very loud and fast song with great guitar riffs and powerful lyrics, and Switchback, a fast paced number also stand out on this CD. The titular New World Disorder is also a great song, featuring rapper Sticky Fingas.
All in all, NWD is an awesome compilation of Biohazard at their very best. Buy it quickly.
Bug rating: 4.5/5

- Chris Gordon-Brown

South Park – Bigger, Longer
and Uncut
Movie soundtrack

South Park diehards will probably (emphasis on the probably) like this compilation as regulars, Cartman, Stan, Kenny, Kyle and just about all the others, progressing through 50 minutes of songs about how Canada is to blame for everything, weirdo uncles and drug taking.
For the rest of us, it will probably offer, if anything, very little.
The soundtrack does have its moments, but only because the producers sussed out that 50 minutes of listening to South Park characters is about 49.5 painstaking minutes too long
Fortunately, the latter part of the CD consists of songs by actual recording artists, most of which don’t appear in the movie. This is not a good sign if reports that the impending movie is essentially a musical are proved correct.
Some of the better songs by the South Park characters are Mountain Town, Blame Canada and the upbeat and zippy What Would Brian Boitano do?”
Boitano was a former US Olympic figure skater, so I don’t even want to guess what he is doing on a South Park soundtrack.
La Resistance (Medley) by Howard Mcgillin and the people of South Park will undoubtedly bring images of Les Miserables to mind. Satan (Up There) and Saddam Hussein (I Can Change) also offer their talents to the soundtrack, although one suspects the voices are impersonated.
The songs that don’t appear in the movie are an interesting collection of unusual beats and styles by very diverse artists. Issac Hayes (who does the voice of Chef) performs a typically soulful number with Good Love, while rappers Trick Daddy (Shut Yo Face Uncle F**ka), Joe C featuring Kid Rock (Kyle’s Mom’s a Big Fat Bitch) and Nappy Roots (Riches To Rags Mmmmkay) add strength to the CD. The excellent Violent Femmes also contribute a rather moody number with I Swear it (I can change).
Undoubtedly fans of South Park will enjoy this CD. For mine, the only enjoyment came from the second half of the album, so I'm only giving it half marks.
Bug rating: 2.5/5

- Michael Gordon-Brown

Blast from the Past
Movie soundtrack

The Blast From the Past soundtrack proved to be every bit as surprisingly enjoyable as the movie.
It's blessed with a wide variety of music styles, some from unheard-of bands which combine for a great mix of a bit of everything, from jazz to rock. The soundtrack was produced by Liz Heller, Jonathan McHugh and Steve Tyrell and distributed by Capitol Records.
Tommy Henriksen gets the album off to a solid start with the soft rock ballad I See the Sun, followed by the jazzy So Long Toots by the Cherry Poppin Daddies. Honey Please by Sonichrome is an awesome song with a great beat that is sure to set toes tapping and heads nodding.
Popular American group Everclear contributes a typically redeeming number with I Will Buy You a New Life. The soundtrack even features the ubiquitous It’s The End of The World As We Know It, by REM, which seems to have almost become a prerequisite for soundtracks these days. Perry Como croons out the smooth It’s a Good Day, while the next song, Randy Newman's Political Science, completely changes direction in the form of a slow, country type song.
The soundtrack's best feature is the variety; there is sure to be something for everyone with plenty of charm. It would be well worth a listen if only to hear the songs from bands, Squirrel Nut Zippers (Trou Macaq) and the Flying Neutrinos (Mr Zoot Suit), surely two of the best band names around. Oh, and their music, like the rest of the CD, isn’t too bad either.
Bug rating: 2.5/5

- Michael Gordon-Brown

Messenger
Jimmy Little

"You can keep it if you do a review," was the over-generous-as-always Bug editor's response when I said how much I enjoyed this album.
Glad, too, that I like it a lot, seeing it's been played ad naseum in the office of Australia's leading street newspaper and netzine for the past few weeks.
But I'm not going to take home this CD; I'm going to leave it in the Bug office so I can listen to it when I come in. I'm going to buy my own copy.
Jimmy Little's voice is about as sensitive as you can get, and the songs are a selection of some of the masterpieces that have come out of Australia over the past 20 years or so. The Reels' Quasimodo's Dream, The Cruel Sea's Down Below, The Jackson Code's Bring Yourself Home to Me, the Warumpi Band's Black Fella/White Fella and Nick Cave and the Seeds' (Are You) The One I've Been Waiting For. And more – from The Church, Crowded House, Ed Kuepper, Paul Kelly and The Sunnyboys.
Little (the Bug editor's not only old enough to remember Little's 60s hit Royal Telephone but launched unprovoked into the lyrics with what looked suspiciously like a tear in his eye) strikes you as someone who would have done a lot of early 60s style singing, but his versions of these songs have a sincerity and freshness.
These are new versions of more modern songs - with dignity. He makes songs like the Forster/McLenann Go-Betweens classic, Cattle and Cane his own with his mellow and sometimes groovy style.
The sort of singer you can trust to take you to the far corners of your mind, those places you rarely visit because of their sensitive nature. Everyone will like this messenger.
Bug rating: 4.5/5

- Simon Sandall