Music review
It’s a persistent phenomenon that surely unnerves many performers: No matter how good you are or how popular you get, people will get tired of you. Toni Braxton’s silky voice and slinky dresses have served her well, but in an attempt to stave off the stream of soul singers who are eroding her fan base, she diversifies, taking a tougher attitude and modernizing her sound for “More Than a Woman.”
It’s not a great album, and Braxton isn’t likely to duplicate the worldwide sales of 10 million achieved by her 1993 self-titled debut – not to mention the 13 million-selling 1996 follow-up, “Secrets.” Yet there are enough good cuts to keep her in the game.
Following standard R&B procedure, “More Than a Woman” is a collaborative effort featuring a revolving door of producers who switch out from track to track. Thus the diversity – and lack of continuity.
Braxton is upstaged by rappers on the lame hip-hip cuts “Give It Back” (featuring The Big Tymers and produced by Manny Fresh) and “Hit the Freeway” (featuring Loon and produced by The Neptunes)
By contrast, she fits more naturally when she meshes with technology, evidenced by the stirring blend of fluid soul and liquid electronica on the heartbreaker “A Better Man.” And although “Do You Remember When” starts with a stately string intro, it abruptly shifts into a grinding groove that allows the singer to strut about with stylish flair. Other sonic experiments range from the grating “rock” chorus of “Lies, Lies, Lies” to the fluttering pleasantness of “Selfish.” Toward the end of “More Than a Woman,” Braxton’s producer/usband Keri Lewis guides her through the paces of a sensual “Tell Me” that includes interpolations of Anita Baker’s “Sweet Love.” Then the album ends with a meandering, Babyface-produced “And I Love You” followed by a quaint “Always” produced by Robert “Big Bert” Smith. Those final three songs are reminiscent of the simpler days of R&B when the singer was getting started. But there’s no going back, so Braxton moves forward uncertainly.
Rating (five possible): 3
“Back Into Your System,” Saliva
Not everyone’s a poet. And just as an everyday Joe might not be able to produce great poetry, it seems unfair to expect a blue-collar band such as Saliva to spit out Robert Frost-y lyrics.
If vocalist Josey Scott merely sang “Blah blah blah,” “Back Into Your System” – the Memphis, Tenn., band’s follow-up to its platinum-selling debut, “Every Six Seconds” – might sound better.
Powered by dual guitarists Chris D. and Wayne Swinny, Saliva is an often-ferocious metal band crisply produced by Bob Marlette (who also produced “Every Six Seconds”). From the vacuum-sealed compression of “Superstar II” to the Southern-rock-meets-Mississippi-Delta-blues raunch of “Holdin’ On” to the unexpectedly ginger arrangement of “Famous Monsters,” “Back Into Your System” is testimony to the band’s capabilities. (Too bad those cuts are offset by tracks in which the group blissfully sinks into sluggish metal malaise.)
When Scott isn’t spewing rap-rock garbage, which should have been left behind in the 20th century, he likewise proves his worth: He can screech with the best of them, but he’s no stranger to melody.
Yet suitable lyrics elude Scott. Although his attempts at life-affirming metal are noble, the positive message of “Superstar II” and patriotism of “Pride” are gawky. His efforts at relationship analysis are also weak as he complains about “the way you thrill me, then pull away” on “Weight of the World” and wonders, “Am I the reason you breathe?/Or am I the reason you cry?” on first single “Always.” On “Storm” he high-mindedly asserts he’s going to search for the meaning of life. No word yet if he found anything.
There’s only one track on “Back Into Your System” not penned by the group: Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue uses simple and effective writing for “Rest in Pieces,” and Saliva responds with its most inspired performance on the album.
When a guest writer pens a band’s best song, there’s obviously room for improvement.
Rating: 3
ELECTRO NOUVEAU, various acts (Moonshine)
“Tonight we’re going to party like it’s 1982,” warns Spray on “Living in Neon,” one of 23 tracks on the dance compilation “Electro Nouveau.” Spray and the other acts make good on that promise on the two-disc set, an inside-out twist on glossy electronica that would be more aptly titled “Electro Retro” if obvious monikers weren’t so uncool.
This New, New Wave collection has a distinct DIY feel – one of the acts is even named Laptop. Rhythms are usually simplistic, voices are typically thin and amateurish. Yet somehow the naive instrumentation is surprisingly infectious, and the stripped-down presentation brings with it an intimacy hard to come by on more heavily produced songs.
A few of the acts are at least modestly recognizable – including the Icelandic group gusgus (represented by an overwhelmingly long remix of “Desire”), Sigue Sigue Sputnik (the 1980s band’s “Everybody Loves You” is overhauled with the help of Northern Lite) and Chicks on Speed (the European/Australian group offers its hilarious cut “Euro Trash Girl”). Other acts are virtual unknowns.
Gems include the darkly surreal tracks “Seventeen” by Ladytron, “Rippin Kittin” by Goldenboy With Miss Kittin and “Robotic (Adult, Almost Instrumental Mix)” by BIS, as well as a pair of songs full of childlike wonder from Freezepop, “Plastic Stars” and “Bike Thief (Kryptonite Remix).”
Elsewhere, Kraftwerk, New Order, Soft Cell and even Morrissey come to mind (the latter via the theatrical singing on Nukleon’s “Lucky”). However, the cheese factor is a bit much – especially with the acts who aren’t as funny as they apparently think they are. And, as is often the case with nostalgia, this trip down Pseudo-Memory Lane is vaguely unfulfilling.
Still, the journey’s worth taking.
Rating: 3-1/2
(Contact Chuck Campbell of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at http://www.knoxnews.com.)