THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 17, 1994 TAG: 9412160083
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Album Reviews
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
THE LITTLE-GIRL look is gone, replaced by a more subdued, young-adult wardrobe. Too bad TLC's second album, ``CrazySexyCool'' (LaFace), finds most of the fun drained out of its sound.
The group's 1992 debut ``Ooooooohhh . . . On the TLC Tip'' presented a brightly decked-out trio that melded rapping, singing and smart, womanly thoughts on sexiness and self-sufficiency. TLC's current disc is an ill-conceived attempt at a Janet Jackson makeover.
With pedestrian vocals and cliched material, TLC proves unfit for the job. This record downplays the stars' rap skills while trying to maintain street credibility through cameos by Phife and Busta Rhymes and some production by Da Brat mastermind Jermaine Dupri. Meanwhile, the sassiness of the early hit ``Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg'' is hardly equalled by bedtime ballads that Jackson or Salt 'N' Pepa would kick out of the sack.
While that stuff is at least, er, serviceable, one unforgivable misstep is the group's cover of Prince's ``If I Was Your Girlfriend.'' Possibly the best song he's ever written, its daring gender-role challenge is rendered moot by having a female sing it. The soundalike arrangement doesn't help, either.
A showcase for anger
Ice Cube, ``Bootlegs & B-Sides'' (Priority). You know how he does it. But on this tossed-together collection of previously released tracks and two new songs, Ice Cube makes a better case for his politically aware gangsta rap than on his last couple of ``real'' albums. Whether by design or happy accident, ``Bootlegs'' showcases his smart, righteous anger while leaving out most of the gratuitous hatred he's manifested lately.
Several of the single remixes, most notably a soft-soul ``It Was a Good Day,'' improve upon the original versions. And Cube delivers a mordantly funny crime tale, ``Robbin' Hood (Cause It Ain't All Good).''
Absent the good-time anthem ``Steady Mobbin' '' and the sad remembrance ``Dead Homiez,'' ``Bootlegs'' doesn't qualify as a best-of. But with ``Good Day,'' the cautionary ``Lil Ass Gee,'' ``When I Get to Heaven,'' and the terrific anti-police-violence yell ``U Ain't Gonna Take My Life,'' it's close.
Unplugged collection
Various artists, ``The Unplugged Collection, Volume One'' (Warner Bros.). Or: Music vs. Marketing, Volume 47. Fortunately, most of these 16 performances, from as many acts, are worth preserving. Some, drawn from ``Unplugged'' discs by the likes of Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney, are on their second go-round in the record racks. But most are previously unreleased. ``Volume One'' points up the differing approaches taken by the MTV series' guests. Whether successfully rearranging their radio hits (Lenny Kravitz on a blues-drenched ``Are You Gonna Go My Way,'' Soul Asylum on an elegantly string-laden ``Somebody to Shove'') or paying tribute to influences (Clapton doing Bo Diddley's ``Before You Accuse Me,'' Don Henley paying his due to Ray Charles on ``Come Rain or Come Shine''), many of the artists seem to be letting their guards down.
Despite the absence of big amps, other takes crackle with shades of drama: Stevie Ray Vaughan's ``Pride and Joy,'' Neil Young's dirgey ``Like a Hurricane,'' Elvis Costello's ``Deep Dark Truthful Mirror.'' Only a small handful beg the question: What's the point? (Fittingly, one is Annie Lennox's ``Why.'') But this disc's a pretty sound bet for just about any mainstream rock fan who isn't sick of the U-word.
Feels like country
Robert Forster, ``I Had a New York Girlfriend'' (Beggars Banquet). Forster, one-time co-frontman for the much-loved Australian combo the Go-Betweens, reappears with his first U.S. release in nearly four years. ``New York Girlfriend'' retains some of the country-tinged feel of 1991's ``Danger in the Past.'' Forster, however, sidesteps comparisons with that set of brilliant originals by choosing these dozen numbers from the catalogs of favorite writers such as Bob Dylan and Guy Clark. Keith Richards' ``Locked Away,'' the Monkees' Neil Diamond-penned ``Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow,'' Grant Hart's ``2541,'' and Martha and the Muffins' New Wave semi-hit ``Echo Beach'' demonstrate the width of the net Forster casts. It's all of a piece, though, and if leaving home, late nights and whiskey bottles signify for you, you'll love this. ILLUSTRATION: Pedestrian vocals and cliched material drain most of the fun out
of TLC's second album.
Ice Cube's newest album is a collection of previously released
tracks and two new songs.
PRIORITY RECORDS
Ice Cube, above, showcases his smart, righteous anger on his newest
release, ``Bootlegs & B-Sides.'' Robert Forster's ``I Had a New
York Girlfriend'' is his first U.S. release in nearly four years.
VALERIE PHILIPS
by CNB