THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 9, 1994 TAG: 9407080094
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: MUSIC REVIEWS
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Spin Doctors, ``Turn It Upside Down'' (Epic) - Some unexplained mysteries of the 20th century: Is Elvis really dead? Have aliens visited the earth? How did Spin Doctors get so popular?
They're nothing more than a competent bar band using old loosey-goosey Steve Miller Band arrangements and Grateful Dead-style guitar jams. They come up with a couple pop ditties and before you know it they're huge hit makers. Go figure.
Well, the boys are back, and surprise! they offer nothing new on their sophomore effort, ``Turn It Upside Down.'' Kicking things off with the laughable ``Big Fat Funky Booty,'' an almost embarrassing foray into funk, the quartet goes about its business of recreating the tired grooves found on its hit album, ``Pocket Full Of Kryptonite.''
The band rehashes its loose rhythms with nary a variation or tempo change. Vocalist Chris Barron's whiney, severely limited voice is particularly evident in the slow, atmospheric ``More Than Meets the Ear.''
The album's only highlight is the jazzy, Mose Allison-style ``Cleopatra's Cat,'' but that too wears thin after a couple of plays. Let's face it, Spin Doctors are in need of a sound physician.
- Eric Feber
Johnny Powers returns
The Reverend Horton Heat, ``Liquor In The Front'' (Sub Pop/Interscope), Johnny Powers, ``New Spark (For An Old Flame)'' (Schoolkids) - Over the last decade, the gospel according to Reverend Horton Heat has metamorphosed from rockabilly purity to psychobilly freakouts. A pair of rollicking albums on house-of-grunge label Sub Pop brought Heat and his band to the attention of mondo label Interscope and producer Al Jourgensen, the outspoken mastermind of aggro-industrial outfit Ministry.
Jourgensen has done the good Reverend right on ``Liquor In The Front.'' His dense, walloping mix amplifies all that's great about the group: Heat's caffeinated Scotty Moore/Cliff Gallup/Dick Dale guitar licks, drummer Taz's monster beats, manic slap-bassist Jimbo's considerable percussive prowess. With Heat's bullhorn vocals and growling, mechanical guitar riff, ``Yeah, Right'' is the first (and probably only) rockabilly song destined for ``Headbangers Ball.''
Detroit-er Johnny Powers is first generation 'billy and no stranger to musical hybridization himself. He's the only artist to have been signed to both Sun Records (early home of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash) and the Motown label.
Powers' first album in more than 20 years finds him sounding remarkably fresh. The vaguely Presley-esque vocalist croons with more conviction than most singers half his age. His capable band churns out diverse gems like the Leiber-Stoller 'billy classic ``Trouble,'' the haunting Hank Williams tearjerker ``You Win Again'' and the Traveling Wilburys' jaunty rock and roll romp ``Rattled.''
The album's unexpected showpiece is a pair of bonus tracks featuring George Clinton. The funkmaster and two original Parliament members join Powers on righteous reads of Hank Ballard's ``Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go'' and ``Work With Me Annie.'' Funk-a-billy, indeed.
- Sue Smallwood, VP/LS
Jazz with a twist
David Sanborn, Hearsay (Elektra)
David Sanborn's 1992 Elektra realease ``Upfront'' saw the saxophonist funk with a vengeance. After a brief foray into more mainstream jazz, Sanborn was out for a hip-shaking good time.
``Hearsay'' mines those same funky grooves, with a minor twist. There's more focus on song development and less emphasis on virtuoso jams.
Sanborn, who cut his chops with dance bands, is a commanding player, given alternatingly to smeared, romantic notes and gritty, soulful blowing.
The five-time Grammy winner can tear into a tune with grit and grace, as he does on ``Savanna,'' where he quickly settles into a funky, danceable groove. Or he can be lushly romantic, as on ``Mirage,'' floating in and out of the tune on a cushion of percussion.
``Back to Memphis'' was inspired by Al Green. Remember the lazy way Green would let the music swirl around him, content to pop in strategically - soaring over the rhythms one minute, dropping behind the next? Sanborn mimics that approach.
Marvin Gaye's ``Got To Give It Up'' gets a free-spirited treatment, with former Shalimar vocalist Howard Hewett and background party vocals.
And ``The Long Goodbye,'' with its smeared, bluesy notes on an organ palette, conjures up blue lights in the basement and teenagers locked in embrace, slow-dragging to 60s R&B.
- M.L. Lake ILLUSTRATION: Johnny Powers returns with his first album in twenty years.
by CNB