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The Cure Bounces Back with Its Final Comeback

Various Artists

I Love Metal

The idea of compiling an album of emo, punk and ska bands playing everyone's favorite metal hits sounds like any rock-and-roll-loving antisocial or unpopular kid's wet dream. The new millennium seems to have brought with it a newfound love for white trash and mullets, and the truly visionary group of people at Triple Crown saw this opportunity and seized it. But while they had the right idea, the project fell short. Important variables such as the songs covered and the band's commitment to doing a quality and interesting version of these covers proved to be out of the compiler's control, making for an album that does not live up to its idea.

This is not to say that all of the bands did boring versions of boring songs; a few of the tracks on I Love Metal are truly inspired. Easily the best song on this album is Reggie and the Full Effect's version of "Raining Blood" by Slayer. Now, it must be said that Reggie and the Full Effect is arguably the best band to put out an album in recent years, and they exhibited the same good taste in their choice of song to cover. What they produce is a version of the Slayer song that is at the same time both recognizable and highly creative. This song is proof of why Reggie and the Full Effect have set the standard for that emo keyboard sound. With the Slayer cover they take it to the next level by moving beyond the emo tradition of cute vocals and yelling in a way that would make Tom Araya proud.

Unfortunately, no other track on the album could live up to the precedent which Reggie and the Full Effect set. Less Than Jake's version of "We're Not Gonna Take It" is funny, but it is clear that the band did not spend much time interpreting the song or recording it, and for that matter, the sloppiness of the performance makes you wonder how much they even practiced it. Hot Rod Circuit with "Sin City" by AC/DC and The Get Up Kids with "On With the Show" by Mötley Crüe were both disappointing, especially considering the usual high energy of these bands and the fact that the songs they chose could have come out a lot better.

The only other real highlights of this album were the tracks performed by Jejune and Modest Mouse with Califone. Jejune does "No One Like You" by The Scorpions, and lead guitarist/vocalist, Joe Guerva shows that he's not just a sensitive emo-rocker but he can, in fact, shred. Jejune sounds so much like The Scorpions that it would not be a surprise if their next record is a straight-up metal album.

Modest Mouse and Califone take the opposite approach. Their version of Slayer's "South Of Heaven" is played on acoustic guitars, making it almost unrecognizable. These two songs showed the extremes between which the rest of the bands should have been - recognizable, yet interesting - but Reggie and the Full Effect was the only band to really pull this off well.

Even if the album isn't spectacular, at least the artwork is in the style of a high school metal-head's notebook and there is a stylized goat-head on the CD itself. They did give in by inserting the usual and already played out mullet imagery, but nobody's perfect. I gave the album a single hang-loose, with the hope that the next time somebody has a great idea like this, they can convince the participating bands that it's an idea worth putting a little more effort into. In the end, I Love Metal is a fairly mediocre product which had the promise to be outstanding. And if people really love mullets so much, why doesn't anybody grow one?

-Tyler Kord

Furnace St.

Ladykiller

Very few bands these days can boast that they bring the ruckus in a two-piece format like Cleveland's Furnace St. do. On their forthcoming album, Ladykiller, the band defines a new sound that is entirely their own, one that could be easily dubbed emotronica- a hypnotic blend of electronica, industrial rock, and impassioned vocals. With the supposed death of rock n' roll in the mid-90s, Furnace St. realized the same thing that bands like Limp Bizkit and Korn realized: the masses are sick of the same old sound. Generation X, Y or whatever generation this is that we're in the midst of right now, needs a new way of expressing its pent up angst through rock music, and if there's any justice in the world, Furnace St. is it.

Instead of moving into the trendy, rap-rock genre of the bands mentioned earlier, Furnace St. looks to the recent past to defy current genre definitions. Their sound is ultimately unique, possibly falling somewhere in between Nine Inch Nails and New Order. For the last two years the duo, comprised of Adam Boose and Lisa Jorgensen, has been melding industrial and synth-pop to write complex rock songs that maintain a purist, pop sensibility.

Ladykiller's finest moments range from the noise-coated, thick, bass grooves of "Hey Senator" to the genuinely danceable and yet sensitive sound of songs like "Square" and "Again?" The latter song's hooks and beats are so catchy that it's hard not to want to grab a partner and sway along as Boose sings, "you break my heart and crack my smile." His undeniably sincere and sensual voice combined with Jorgensen's sweeping, synthesizer melody manages to bring the song to a point where it evokes moments of the 80s OMD classic "If You Leave."

Furnace St. has such a gloomy, goth-like presence that it's hard also not to draw comparisons to the almighty Cure. When Boose sings, "Take and take and take and keep nothing / As you take my breath, take it deep in your lungs / and kiss me on my mouth ... don't let me say the words," it's virtually impossible not to hear a little bit of Disintegration-era Robert Smith peeking through.

It's this gloom and doom mentality that Furnace St. uses to fuel their rock/dance monolith in a way like none other and achieve their ultimate goal of portraying love lost in the unlikeliest of manners. With an album like this, you have to wonder if Furnace St. is maybe a little sorry that Armageddon didn't come on Y2K. At least if it had, they could have been satisfied in knowing that they had made an almost perfect soundtrack for a post-apocalyptic world. Expect to be hearing more of these guys, because chances are they're not satisfied.

- Jesse Woghin

The Cure

Bloodflowers

To compare Bloodflowers, the Cure's most recent release, to their seminal album Disintegration is all too easy. Both albums are autobiographical and deal with Robert Smith's personal war against the aging process. Both are dark and melancholy in mood, featuring lush musical textures. To make a comparison based on these factors would be legitimate, but ultimately unfair to Bloodflowers, which holds its own as a powerful album.

This time around Smith, arguably the only member of the Cure that matters, has turned 40, and to hear him tell it you'd think his life has ended. An event almost as dramatic shaped his writing on Bloodflowers, however, as Smith intended the album to be the band's last. Even now, the future of the Cure remains uncertain, but as to whether there will be another album, Smith says, "Don't bet on it."

The album opens with "Out Of This World," one of its strongest and most beautiful offerings. The track sets the mood for the entire album with nostalgic lyrics ("And we always have to go/I realize we always have to say goodbye/Always have to go back to real lives"), and Smith's vocals have rarely been as touching.

In an effort to keep the album moving and prevent the listener from slipping into apathy, the album then launches into the full blown erotic epic "Watching Me Fall." Clocking in at over 11 minutes, the song grabs hold of the listener and refuses to let go, every second riveting. The ambiguity of the lyrics combines with the building wall of sound to create an intense journey through Smith's sexual psyche. "Watching Me Fall" stands out not only in length, but in stature as well. It is a bold and unforgettable song that will undoubtedly stand out as one of the Cure's more formidable accomplishments, even in the context of their 20-year career.

Unfortunately, the album is unable to live up to the precedent set by the first two tracks. While following songs continue to offer dark moods and a fond look back on days past, they do not possess the weight and vigor of the first two. Exceptions to this are "The Loudest Sound" and "39," a song that seems to foreshadow the Cure's impending breakup.

Despite its weaknesses, Bloodflowers stands out as a beacon of light amongst the modern pop music scene, which, like the Cure, has seen better days. But in the end, it is quite apparent that Bloodflowers could use a little of the passion and inspiration that once produced Disintegration.

- Gardner William Swan

Kenny G

Faith: A Holiday Album

The holiday season may have come and gone, but fans of traditional Christmas music can take comfort from the fact that their favorite carols have finally been immortalized by Kenny G, the King of Elevator Pop, on his latest release, Faith: A Holiday Album. So if you crave a little piece of that Christmas spirit that puts a smile on your face and a hole in your wallet every December, and you weren't satisfied with the recent holiday albums served up by the likes of Barry Manilow, Hanson and N Sync, then don't hesitate to pick up a copy of Faith. Just tune in, drop out and take a musical journey with the thinking man's Yanni, all the while pondering the mysteries of the Holy Trinity. And don't forget to check your testicles at the door.

Actually, that is misleading, as it implies that women might be instinctively drawn to Kenny's brand of soulless noodling. That is hardly the case. But it would be too easy to turn this review into a public humiliation of Kenny G, a man who inspires slightly less respect within the musical community than Jesse and his 8th Street Kidz. No, Kenny should get a fair shake, just like any other "artist" who is shameless and cynical enough to cash in on the holidays with a superfluous Christmas album. (Jimmy Buffett, that simple-minded schmuck who would probably sell his kids for the cost of a few lousy margaritas, springs instantly to mind.)

That said, Kenny's latest entry into the musical Special Olympics is relatively harmless fare, featuring a hearty dose of Christian anthems ("The First Noël," "Santa Claus is Coming to Town") and a passing nod to Judaic culture ("Eternal Light"). Keeping his trademark improvisations to a merciful minimum, Kenny offers mostly straightforward interpretations of the classics, and he is nothing if not competent. ("I thought the best way for me to show my respect for this music was to just 'stay out of the way' and let the songs play themselves," the humble maestro writes in his liner notes.) And though Kenny's blend of watered-down jazz and lounge pop is grating, he still manages to bring holiday cheer to waiting rooms and dentists' offices throughout the nation with his renditions of songs like "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and the raucous opener, "Let It Snow!"

To be honest, it is much easier to sit through a Kenny G album than it is to, say, listen to an entire collection of Michael Bolton or Phil Collins songs. After all, Kenny doesn't bother his audience with overblown, melodramatic remakes of soul classics, nor does he whine about poverty and homelessness to the tune of a synthesized Caribbean beat. He does feel obligated to make the obligatory Statement, however, as he does when he includes nearly six minutes of dark, depressing sound bytes on his epic version of "Auld Lang Syne (Millennium Mix)." (Oh, the irony!) It is a tactic borrowed directly from Simon and Garfunkel's harrowing rendition of "Silent Night," but it comes across as unnecessary on Faith. Still, Kenny's heart is in the right place, even if his gimmick is tired.

Speaking of tired, this is not even Kenny's first foray into the realm of holiday music. In 1994, he scored his first Christmas hit with Miracles: The Holiday Album, a similar collection that featured seasonal chestnuts like "Winter Wonderland" and "Greensleeves." Six years later, Faith finds Kenny spinning his wheels, churning out more bland, lightweight pop for the undiscriminating senior circuit. But give the guy some credit. During a holiday season that witnessed the release of Christmas albums by fellow industry stalwarts like Garth Brooks and Jewel, the Crown Prince of Cheese has once again risen to the top on the strength of his soprano saxophone. That's pretty remarkable, not to mention frightening. But Kenny still has a long way to go if he ever hopes to release a holiday album that really matters. There are precious few, but fans of Christmas music would do better to check out the Vince Guaraldi Trio's Charlie Brown Christmas or Just Say Noël, the Geffen collection featuring Sonic Youth's version of "Santa Doesn't Cop Out on Dope."

- Rossiter Drake