THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 3, 1995 TAG: 9502020124
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Album reviews
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
OHIO HAS LONG been a breeding ground for idiosyncratic rockers - perhaps none more so than Pere Ubu, the Cleveland outfit fronted by David Thomas for most of the past 20 years. Some of that band's touching goofiness has rubbed off on the Ass Ponys, who hail from Cincinnati.
The group's major label debut, ``Electric Rock Music'' (A&M), captures an often dark version of small-city life. In singer Chuck Cleaver's songs, lovers jump off bridges and never return. One man refuses to get out of bed and, worse, fully recognizes how lost he is. Preteens ride their bikes through days that have too many hours in them. ``Grim'' is the title of the bridge song, and it is.
On other tracks, though, the Ass Ponys sound like a jangly, Midwestern version of XTC. This approach is exemplified by the current radio hit ``Little Bastard,'' in which the wanna-be tough of the title demands, ``Call me Snake!'' over a tunefully bent backing. ``Earth to Grandma'' celebrates a loopy collection of homemade objects in a loved one's house - ``a painted rock with google eyes . . . a matchstick cross where Jesus died.'' And ``Place Out There'' captures those bike riders' yearning to escape, while their boredom forces them to spout oddball local mythology: ``There's a place in there/That the natives fear.''
Cleanly and powerfully produced with help from another Cincinnati stalwart, Afghan Whig John Curley, ``Electric Rock Music'' is the result of a modest but highly entertaining vision. It's more fun and, in very clear ways, more affecting than lots of records with bigger ambitions. It may even be a reason to get out of bed.
The Chieftains, ``The Long Black Veil'' (RCA Victor). The Irish traditionalists make a downright odd choice or two here in their customary all-star guest list. As seriously as you might take Tom Jones as a singer - and we do - there's something a little off about his belting ``Tennessee Waltz'' over the fellas' drone. The collaboration seems more the result of Jones' current commercial renaissance than of any aesthetic reasoning.
Elsewhere, there are few surprises. Sting and Sinead O'Connor are as stoic as you'd expect, and Van Morrison sounds distracted on the 97th run-through of ``Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?'' In fact, although ``The Long Black Veil'' is a perfectly nice album, it doesn't convey the abandon Morrison and the group reached on their 1988 ``Irish Heartbeat.''
The presence of Mick Jagger (on the title track) and the rest of the Stones (on the rambunctious closer, ``The Rocky Road to Dublin'') makes sense, given the folkier moments of Jagger's most recent solo work. Next time, though, how about a song or two from the Stones' catalog? ``Salt of the Earth'' perhaps?
-Dionne Farris, ``Wild Seed - Wild Flower'' (Columbia). The female voice of Arrested Development's ``Tennessee'' steps out on this solo debut. One brilliantly sassy blast of acoustic soul, ``I Know,'' is grabbing much-deserved airplay. But elsewhere, Farris tries to do too many things without doing many very well. And her lyrics really are awfully preachy. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
by CNB