THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 30, 1994 TAG: 9407290086
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music Reviews
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
Sir Mix-A-Lot, ``Chief Boot Knocka'' (American) - ``The butt man's back,'' announces Sir Mix-A-Lot a few minutes into his new album. And it's all too true. The rapper, whose single ``Baby Got Back'' was one of 1992's biggest crossover hits, remains obsessed with booty.
Hilariously oversexed and blithely materialistic, Mix plays his Mack Daddy role both seriously and not. He goes out of his way on three cuts to answer critics of ``Back,'' claiming on ``Ride'' that his concerns aren't ``sexist, just sexy.'' Yet he really doesn't care, any more than he worries about the cut's electro-funk being a knockoff of ``Whoomp! (There It Is).''
Mix is a lot nicer and smarter than other exponents of pimp-rap. The best rhymes find Mix essaying his own brand of social comment. In ``Take My Stash,'' he grouses about the taxman (``Uncle Sam wanna buy another missile/Strip Mix-A-Lot straight down to the gristle'').
``Monsta' Mack'' combines this approach with ``How to Pick Up Girls''-style advice: `` `What's your sign?' is played/You gotta put a little style in your game now'days/In the '60s girls was all high/LSD had 'em givin' up thighs/ . .
He'll do.
- Rickey Wright
Leisurely hop
G. Love and Special Sauce, ``G. Love and Special Sauce'' (Okeh Records) - The debut effort of this Philadelphia street trio is one of the year's most satisfying discs. The band calls its music ``hip hop that's leisure,'' with infectious rhythms resembling a cross between Delta blues and Lou Reed's ``Walk on the Wild Side.''
Singer and guitarist G. Love raps with the braggadocio of a street-wise homeboy. His torrent of lyrics covers everything from Philly street scenes and homelessness in ``This Ain't Living'' to the joys of hanging out in ``Rhyme for The Summertime'' and ``The Things I Used to Do.''
- Eric Feber
Familiar sound
Stone Temple Pilots, ``Purple,'' (Atlantic) - Stone Temple Pilots have passed through their Pearl Jam phase. Now they just sound like everybody else.
Are those the distinctive diminished chord progressions of Alice In Chains on ``Meat Plow''? Isn't that AIC guitarist Jerry Cantrell's trademark tone and a sad imitation of AIC vocalist Layne Staley's pained growl-wail on ``Silvergun Superman''? Isn't ``Lounge Fly'' the grunge rap song the Chili Peppers never wrote?
There are decent tracks. The odd minor-major modulations of ``Still Remains'' stick long after disc's end. Despite its stupid title, ``Kitchenware and Candy Bars'' is a tragically lovely, string-laced affair that finds Weiland at his most sincere.
But it's telling that cheesy lounge ditty ``Second Album,'' the uncredited closer written and performed by Seattle street eccentric Richard Peterson, is the album's best track.
- Sue Smallwood
Heavy attitude
L7, ``Hungry for Stink,'' (Slash/Reprise) - In the hard-rock anthem ``Pretend We're Dead,'' these metal mamas produced the ``Our Lips Are Sealed'' of 1992. This single from their major label debut ``Bricks Are Heavy'' was catchy, hiply heavy and not just a little ironic.
The Los Angelinas have returned with ``Hungry For Stink,'' trading again in grungy tuneage light on musicianship, heavy on attitude. Waves of snarling feedback and layers of throbbing distortion give the illusion of movement to essentially plodding grooves.
The four come off best when they lighten up and stretch out. ``Riding With A Movie Star'' is campy fun with goofy keyboards supplied by Faith No More's Roddy Bottum. ``Shirley'' is a sample-filled feminist ode inspired by drag racer Shirley Muldowney.
- Sue Smallwood MEMO: To hear selections from these recordings, call INFOLINE at 640-5555,
category 2468. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
SLASH RECORDS
L7's ``Hungry For Stink'' is full of grungy tuneage that is light on
musicianship, heavy on attitude.
AMERICAN RECORDINGS
Sir Mix-A-Lot essays his own brand of social comment on ``Chief Boot
Knocka.''
by CNB