B

6 - Volcanic
5 - Blistering
4 - Hot
3 - Smoldering
2 - Room Temp.
1 - Fizzled
0 - Extinguished

A: Multiple Listening
B: Deserves Another Spin
C: Once Should Suffice

This music archive is growing as you read...where applicable, click image or title for pop-up review

BARENAKED LADIES - Maroon
A steady build-up through some very listenable rock songs featuring the Ladies’ tongue in cheek attitude arrives at the album’s climax and triumphant high note. The last track Tonight Is The Night I Fell Asleep At The Wheel, is a huge song filled with black humour, a sense of adventure and varied enough to make you think it’s two songs in stead of one. Still very off-center-college-guy in many respects, the boys do have a pretty distinct sound that could keep them afloat for some time to come.
- PB
3 / B

THE BEATLES - Yellow Submarine Songtrack (EMI)
The classic animated film featuring music and themes by
The Beatles can now be heard in re-mastered quality. Most of the tracks from the film are more of their “comical” tracks, for want of a better term. A less serious, more fun collection, reminding us of a Beatles era that did, in smaller or larger measures, changed the world. From the wobbly opening vocal strains of Ringo on the title track, all the way through to such classics as All Together Now, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Sgt. Pepper’s, All you Need Is Love and When I’m Sixty Four. More serious (or sad songs) like Eleanor Rigby and Nowhere Man is also present to remind us that the Liverpudlian boys are not full time jesters. A great collection even if you’re not a fan of the (hate that term) Fab Four. [PS. At the very end of the last track It’s All Too Much, the riff sounds suspiciously just like that of Michael Jackson’s Black Or White…]
- PB
5 / A

BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA - Motion Picture Soundtrack (BMG)
Die lawwe, goedkoop strokies reeks wat Mike Judge vir M-TV geskep het, het in 'n monster verander. En in plaas daarvan dat hierdie monster homself verskeur, raak hy net al hoe groter! Beavis en Butt-Head het 'n wereldwye kulturele norm geword met hulle musiek video afkrakery, lae intellektuele vlak, dowwe gegiggel en voorliefde vir luide musiek. En nou het hulle hul eie rolprent ! En klankbaan ! Die verskeidenheid op hierdie CD is meer rock georienteerd, met kunstenaars soos
White Zombie (wat die swaarste snit lewer), Butthole Surfers, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC en Red Hot Chilli Peppers wie se Love Rollercoaster se 70's gevoel al heelwat op die radio te hoor is. Buiten 'n paar rap nommers is daar soul legende, Isaac Hayes, se openings snit, wat ook 'n skiet is op die 70er jare se polisie TV dramas. Koel en funky. Die mees eienaardige snit is die van Engelbert Humperdinck met die ongekarakteriseerde titel, Lesbian Seagull. Ek wonder wie gaan, nes Beavis en Butt-Head, gek skeer met die musiek videos wat van hulle klankbaan af kom...
- PB
4 / A

BELL, BOOK & CANDLE - Read My Sign
This German act has no elements of witchcraft or humour like the Jack Lemmon & Kim Novak film of the 50's with the same title. In stead it is a pop mixture wich touches on Alanis Morrisette meets
The Cranberries meets Sinead O'Connor etc. The music isn't annoying, just too ordinary and in no way special. Thus it'll make a great background CD if you don't want your conversation interrupted. Two of the most outstanding tracks are two instrumentals, Still Points and Dark Moon. They're atmospheric and really draws you in - but then, it's rudely crushed by the over-quirky Heyo and Rhapsody In Blue. Depending on your mood I guess you'll could feel that the latter or that the energy of the entire CD is brought down by the smooth (and too damn short) instrumentals - that'll depend on your personal headspace at the time. Rescue Me is their definitive radio track and is the closest to Sinead of all the tracks. A passable listen but only if you can handle this type of music which is not forceful enough nor passionate enough to make you sit up and take notice.
- PB
2 / B

THE BEST EIGHTIES ALBUM IN THE WORLD…EVER! Volume 2 (EMI)
What an amazing double disc compilation. Just look at some of these:
Duran Dura, Dead Or Alive, Erasure, Eurythmics, Human League, O, Madness, Mel & Kim, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Belouis Some, After The Fire, Thomson Twins, Samantha Fox, Toto Coelo, Billy Ocean and a shitload more. OK, some suck like, Culture Club, Kylie & Jason, Starship and John Farnham, but no decade can go without its low points. Some selections of the bands could’ve been better, but I guess that’s just me being prejudiced having preferred certain songs during that wonderful decade of my teens - it’s my basic human right, goddammit! Anyway, if this one so cool, imagine what the first volume must be like…yes…I wonder…Greg, have they found one yet? I can’t wait any longer.
- PB
5 / A

BEST OF MY LOVE (BMG)
Though Country music is a Honkey form of the Blues in many ways, it does however have certain diffirentiations, the most obvious being the more traditional or folky style and the new wave. This New Voice Of Country release concentrates on the subject that does crop op most of the time in this genre, although it’s a bit more optimistic. Of the 19 artists on this disc, many can actually slide into the pop category real easily, but for some country hints. They include the likes of Leann Rimes, Dixie Chicks, Deana Carter, while Randy Travis, Clint Black, Keith Whitley, Sara Evans and Tim McGraw are more attached to the traditional style. Other stars include stalwarts Alabama, George Strait, Wynonna, The Mavericks, Mindy McCready. Soothing, heartfelt sounds.
- PB
3 / C

BIG HITS 2000 Vol 2 (EMI)
Any album with the words “Hits” & “Big” in the title shouldn’t leave much to the imagination, the recognizable tracks having been rotated on radio beyond tolerance will still have a large buying public out there who want to treasure these “gems”. On this particular album we have 20 tracks spanning across the board with some good ones, I must admit (especially on the last ¼ of the disc. Moloko’s opening track is a cute little number followed by
Artful Dodger & Romina Johnson’s predictable retro hit, Movin’ Too Fast. The absolutely annoying song Caught Out There by Kelis might have many a lady cheering but it is totally unbearable. Nu Generation’s Rescue Me makeover has a certain bouncing charm while The Tampeper is as artificial as they come. Eiffel 65 chooses to utilise that annoying Cher & “I’m Blue” vocal effect, not to mention the super-deep, banging & dope lyrics of…”everybody, move your body…” Sheeesh! From there on we’re dragged through the likes of Kim Lukas, Phats & Small (retro funky-thing), Soulsearcher (see aforementioned), Superfunk (oh, well), The Artful Dodger (well-well), Paul Van Dyk (Euro cheeze-rave), Alice Deejay (hmmm, better looking than sounding), and Alena (can do without) before we get to the last ¼. Everything But The Girl always seems to deliver slipping deeper into the emotions than other dance acts. Our very own Boo (as loony as ever) & Fetish (best track on the CD) cannot be denied, while Skunk Anansie will simply make a point of denial not being an option. Baby Bird and Smash Mouth rounds it all off quite nicely. And if you’re not a radio listener, check it out to see what’s making the airwaves nowadays.
- PB
3 / C

BIG PUN - Yeeeah Baby (Sony)
Big Pun (aka Christopher Lee Rios is big. No, I mean he’s really big. Or was at least, he passed away early 2000). The very first track (intro excluded) contains a Starsky & Hutch sample while Big Pun lets rip with his brand of rapping - which, unfortunately, offers very little when comes to the chapter known as “something new”. Basketball (New York Giants), Money & women (We Don’t Care), killing (Off Wit His Head), self obsession (My Dick)… But with 16 tracks of pumping hip-hop rap tracks, it will satisfy many a listener.
- PB
3 / B

BLOOD DUSTER - Yeest (Relapse)
One of the best Grindcore bands in the world - and they’re from Australia! They actually prefer the term Psycho-Rock-Menstrual-Grind-Porn. On this indispensable 32 track album the boys drive without mercy. What makes this different is the absolutely catchy riffs and grooves they blend into the exhilarating grind blasts. The lyrics are absolutely hilarious in its perverse nature, the audio samples from New Zealand director Peter Jackson’s classic early films adding to the fun feel. The production is great and the drums are kick-ass precise with such a cool sound. The cover artwork is pretty damn sick, no denying it, but it’s not like they even take it seriously (some sick fucks out there will, though). But then, they have a banjo collage on the inlay card. In track zero (press play on track 1 then reverse song search into the hidden track) contains a totally amazing hardcore dance re-mix that’ll pound any raveboy’s skull in and turn him onto something with more balls. Damn heavy, damn groovy and damn entertaining.
- PB
6 / A


BLOODHOUND GANG - Hooray for Boobies!
Now, it's difficult to sit down and write a completely unbiased review for a band like BLOODHOUND GANG. They're typically the type of band you either love or hate. And I simply love 'em! So I might as well write the "good" review, as I'm sure that someone, somehwere, out there who sympathises with Tipper Gore is going to brand BLOODHOUND GANG as a bunch of adolescent hooligans who think they found God at the business end of an Akai S1-11 sampler.I, for one, believe that they might have done just that!
How anybody can not be totally spellbound by the popular throbbing beats, slick guitar churning and the ever potent catchy bass- and keyboard lines that this gang of five deliver is mysterious to me...but if you've gotten this far into reading this review, I'm probably preaching to the choir anyway! Well, I hope so. So let me get on with it... Now, the fusion of humor and music is not a new thing... especially among the Australians, what with Kevin Bloody Wilson, Paul Hogan and Ralph Harris all having delivered a few punchlines along with basslines they seem to lead the field in this genre... until BLOODHOUND GANG came sniffing at our door! But there's a difference...(This is NOT a comparison, for there is none... it is merely to illustrate a point, alrighty?) Wilson et al relied heavily on the humorous aspect of their songs to make them memorable while sort of letting the music itself suffer through mindless basic chord changes that echoed the rythym of Oompah bands, but BLOODHOUND GANG actually write some awesome tunes worthy of dancefloor status... and possibly to the extent that some hotshot producers with vinyl asperations might come begging for remixing opportunites! I'd like to see that happening to BLOODHOUND GANG material myself, actually. Using the platform of the 5 band members' collective apparent influences, HOORAY FOR BOOBIES slips and slides from Punk (I HOPE YOU DIE) to (is there a difference?) Thrash (YUMMY DOWN ON THIS, MAGNA CUM NADA) to Electro/Techno/Dance (THE INEVITABLE RETURN OF THE GREAT WHITE DOPE) to even a send up of classic Country & Western (A LAPDANCE IS ALWAYS BETTER WHEN THE STRIPPER IS CRYING) all set against the backdrop of the band's main choice of musical message delivery, which I shall call 'aproppriated white rap'. (Simply because I don't think anybody's ever tried to pidgeonhole these guys using a term other than "rap".) Add to this a healthy dose of clever samples and outakes from "opm" (other people's music) and you've got yourself a pound of BLOODHOUND. But, enough with the pleasantries already, let's talk about BLOODHOUND GANGS'S poigniant and witty insight into, and commentry on, all the various, often overlooked things that litter a neon-lit, racy, reborn, so-called post-postmodern culture emerging in a society that seems to be successfully surviving the paradigm shift ushered in by the advent of the internet. (Ooh! There's THAT word again!) Seriously now, this is very funny stuff... most of which you will catch, some of which might float haphazardly over the top of your head if you're not at least familiar with the USA's myriad lifestyles and many of it's often-mentioned-in-songs-on-this-CD consumer products. Fans of 80's culture and music, The Simpsons, movies (both mainstream and porno), Fodder Television (ie: crap) and "culture-watching" in general, will find this album might strike a lovely and sweetly sustained and overdriven powerchord with them... and as for the established fans, you're gonna love how the band has somehow "grown up" with this album, but still managed to keep a tight rein on the "adolescent yet informed" spirit evident in their earlier work. As they themselves graffiti on their CD inner sleeve, "NO REASON TO LIVE, BUT WE LIKE IT THAT WAY". Truth be told, these guys have more reason to live than many. (Did I say that out loud?) Anyway, Jimmy Pop seems to be the incredible creative driving force behind the GANG, penning utterly superbly funny and brilliantly convoluted lyrics and then delivering them in a fashion that would have the rest of us untying the knots in our tongues. For those of you who are still under the tired old, worn out, misguided-from-the-start-anyway notion that Jim Morrison was a genuis, I'd like to introduce you to Jimmy Pop: pure undiluted genius. And that's not saying enough for him, considering he's all of just 27 winters since leaving the warm womb of the woman he converses with in one telephone-recorded track on the CD titled MAMA'S BOY. You have to hear this! Jimmy calls his mother up for assistance in finding words that rhyme with "vagina" while he's scribbling lyrics for THREE POINT ONE FOUR, the album's third track (if you don't count MAMA'S BOY as a bona fide track, that is.) You have to sit back and wonder at the humor at work in this conversation, if it is a staged dialoghue... it's very well acted and seems to be a bona fide recorded conversation... and it must be, for BLOODHOUND GANG stand for all that is real, and righteous and true, even if it is funny. Their entire mission seems to be one of upfrontedness, even if it means being underhanded to portray that! But without letting too many more surprises out of the proverbial bag, I'll tell you that this is one album you're going to want to share with your friends. And thank God, too... the bigger this band's fanbase gets, the better. Genius like this should never go unnoticed. And it seems as though it's going very much noticed in some circles. The CD back shows the GANG lying with some naked models, all or some of whom might be famous adult filmstars... now, I don't know if any of you have ever heard of Chasey Lain... but she's famous enough in the adult entertainment world for the GANG to have written an entire song in her honor (THE BALLAD OF CHASEY LAIN)... and while some might think this totally juvenile, just wait... Chasey Lain herself does a little spoken (and of course hilarious) extro to the song... surprise surprise! Seems the GANG have been making major in roads and friends in the adult entertainment world... but I'm not mentioning that as a positive aspect of this album... although it could be! Rarely does a band as young AND as clever as BLOODHOUND GANG come along, and even though HOORAY is their 3rd album, it's the perfect "introductory starter kit" for those of you who've never experienced them before. This'll be your first reading of "Encyclopedia Bloodhound Gangica" and even if you don't like the flavor of their pop-rock-rap-punk-thrash-country-whatever tunes, you'll still most probably be very impressed with the multitudes of things these guys seem know about. For all their humor and flippancy, they might just teach you a thing or two... these boys are informed, but it's always been commonplace that good, clever humor is the domain of those of slightly more than above-average intelligence. And if you understood what I just said, you're ready to hear HOORAY FOR BOOBIES! A star rating? How does one give this album a star rating? It's completely off the "star-scale"!... but for the sake of Pete, I'll give it 2. Only 2? Well... one star to censor out the nipples on each of those incredible BOOBIES! HOORAY for HOORAY FOR BOOBIES. And HOORAY for BLOODHOUND GANG.
- Brett Reynolds, USA correspondent
6 / A

BLUR - The Best Of
After 1 ½ dozen tracks by everyone’s favourite
Oasis alternative, it is evident that they are more Britpop than -rock. The boys have indeed recorded some memorable tracks in their career - memorable not necessarily always constituting mind-blowing. The two opening tracks are by far my gems: the drifting Beetlebum and heaviest thing they’ve ever done, Song Nr. 2. The disc is littered with Blur classics such as Girls And Boys and Parklife. Damon’s stints as actor hasn’t detracted from his first career choice (The Face with Robert Carlyle most notable). Universal contains strings (as every band should do at least once) and has one hell of an uplifting chorus. To The End's instrumentation has quite the ‘60s lounge feel complete with subtle xylophone. Songs like Coffee And TV capture their sound and essence pretty well. Many of the tunes will have you go, “Oh, yeah, I recognize that,” not really having registered it was Blur, like for instance, Tender.
- PB
4 / B


BLUR - The Best Of (EMI)
Though they still look and sound like a young band, the
Blur boys have been around long enough with a load of hits carved on their stick to justify this collection - or they wanted money without recording a full album… Song 2, Beetlebum, Parklife, She’s So High, Girls and Boys are all here with some new material thrown in.
- DH
4 / B

THE BRAND NEW HEAVIES - Trunk Funk: The Best Of
I'm not generally a person of prejudice, but sometimes you kind of expect a band to sound like their name. Like
10 000 Maniacs and Fine Young Cannibals - this conjures up something far more hectic than they are. Example: the band Obituary's sound fits the name perfectly. The Brand New Heavies are niether heavy set in the waisteline and neither do they reflect any kind of heaviness in their music. BNH actually delve into the gospel of Funk with, well heavy conviction. Jan Kincaid, Andrew Levy, Simon Bartholomew and the voice of Carleen Anderson ended up sticking to these beliefs without fail and this Best Of is the accumulated effort they made to keep the Funk alive since 1989. One half of the CD booklet gives you their whole background and rise to being one of the UK's funkiest outfits. Dream On Dreamer will be an instantly recognised track amoung the 18 cuts of pure, unadulterated organic grooves. Without stealing from the '70's, BNH manage to slap their own contemporary stamp on a genre people thought might go belly-up. Not for Industrial fans, that's for sure.
- PB
3 / B

BRASSE VANNIE KAAP (Ghetto Ruff)
With absolutely no ties to
Funny Carp, these rapping Hip-Hop meisters from the Flats know how to do it and do it well. With roots firmly settled in one of SA’s Rap/Hip-Hop stalwarts, Prophets Of Da City (P.O.C), these guys know what they’re doing. Not ashamed to use the language formerly known as that of the oppressor, they express themselves as best they can, in their mother tongue. No excuses, no compromise. Very Cape Town, totally noteworthy, definitely cool.
- PB
4 / A

JAN BRITS - Gee Hom Vet! (BMG)
South African Boere Music can in many ways be seen as the country music of this part of the continent. It is however a more jolly, party style music played for partying and dancing all night in stead of crying in your beer. Jan throws in some traditional numbers besides his own compositions (all of which are instrumentals). The unpolished sounds of Jan Brits’s guitar has a certain charm with rough, raw edges that gives it character from track 1 through to 12. A lot of it sounds like single live takes. Definitely for a converted audience, unless you like to collect strange rarities.
- PB
3 / C