ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 19, 1997 TAG: 9704210106
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B12 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: CD REVIEWS
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG The ROANOKE TIMES
DANCIN' ON THE BOULEVARD
By Alabama, RCA Records
Alabama's new CD? Hmm, how to put this. It's nice. As in "you'll just love her, she has a nice personality." As in, "you're a really nice guy, Hank, but I just want to be friends." As in: "Nice effort, you guys, but you really haven't written much that I've enjoyed since 1983."
If you're an Alabama fan, you'll probably buy "Dancin' On the Boulevard" anyway, and you'll enjoy it, on principle.
If you're a Dr. Hook fan, you'll enjoy it, too. He could have written the title track, though, actually, it was written by Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry - the CD features the most songs written by band members in years. Plus, this is Alabama's 20th album, certainly an accomplishment worth recognizing.
But this is not the mountain music that grandma and grandpa used to play. It's a blend of country and pop and beach music.
Not that the members of Alabama are trying to hide that fact. They are proud of their roots in Myrtle Beach and they pay tribute to those days in this CD: in the music, the liner notes, and the photos.
The group wanted to revive the fun-loving music of that era, when they were playing their own songs and the stuff people wanted to hear. But it loses something when you listen to covers of "My Girl" and "Hey Baby," which Alabama performs true to the originals, harmonies intact, on your stereo at home.
Some of the group's originals will no doubt get radio play this spring, regardless of the station you listen to.
I vote for "Sad Lookin' Moon" and "One More Time Around" as the CD's best tracks.
"Of Course I'm Alright" seems destined to compete with Dan Folgelberg's "Same Old Lang Syne" for seasonal tearjerker.
Some of the more ballady songs, like "Anytime (I'm Your Man)" are just boring.
And if anyone wants to try to better the following rhyming scheme from "She's Got That Look In Her Eyes," be my guest: "She's still got those pretty eyes/Like she did in school/The first time that she looked at me/My heart went ka-boom."
-MADELYN ROSENBERG
The Roanoke Times
CIGAR CLASSICS: Selections from the Musical Humidor
By various artists, Hip-O Records
Not everywhere in America are smokers being banished to dark alleys and restaurant basements. As proof, Hip-O records presents four CDs entitled "Cigar Classics: Selections from The Musical Humidor."
The series is introduced, in the liner notes, by smoking king Milton Berle.
"There are few things I enjoy more than a fine cigar and a good song," he writes. "Doctors used to warn me about health risks, but I always noticed there were a lot more old cigar smokers than old doctors."
The collection weaves through 70 years of music, from the jazz of Dizzy Gillespie to the soul of Ike and Tina Turner.
Volume 4, "Smokin' Lounge," stands out in the series for sheer novelty value, and even if you don't recognize the songs by name, you'll find a lot of this ambient music familiar.
It's easy to see how some tracks ended up in this selection, like "Aflame" by Ferrante & Teicher or "Hernando's Hideaway" by Enoch Light. Others aren't as obvious. At any rate, there's nothing like a good mambo to relax you at the end of a long work day.
Besides, can you really go on another hour without hearing William Shatner's feeling, spoken-word rendition of "Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds?
I thought not.
-MADELYN ROSENBERG
The Roanoke Times
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Alabama's ``Dancin' on the Boulevard'' is the group'sby CNB20th album. color