THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 11, 1995 TAG: 9508100140
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E8 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Bone Thugs-n-harmony, ``E.1999 Eternal'' (Ruthless) -
The ghost of Eric ``Eazy-E'' Wright hangs over Bone Thugs-n-harmony's new album. It's only natural: The late gangsta rapper and hip-hop magnate, who died of AIDS this year, fostered the group's rise to stardom with the triple-platinum 1994 EP ``Creepin on ah Come Up.'' ``Eternal'' is dedicated to Eazy, who's also credited as executive producer.
Tragedy hasn't deepened the group's music or outlook, though. Bone is still melding its tales of guns 'n' grass with rudimentary R&B-quartet singing. Even if acts like Warren G and Coolio hadn't scored with similar strategies around the same time as Bone's debut, this disc would be pretty useless. A chorus of pretty vocalizing here and there can't offset the boring stupidity of endless, empty threats to kill fellow ``niggaz,'' and is simply out of place when used to convey lines like ``Gotta hit him with the four-four.'' Although the record debuts at No. 1 in Billboard this week, Bone's version of eternity is no fun.
- Rickey Wright
Selena, ``Dreaming of You''
(EMI Latin/EMI)
Tejano superstar Selena's murder this spring left her planned crossover album unfinished. This is the resulting posthumous celebration, and another recent chart-topper whose success is tinged with sadness.
That said, ``Dreaming'' is a mish-mash of English and Spanish, new and old, that doesn't fully explain Selena's appeal to two generations of Mexican-American fans. It is, however, fairly stuffed with weird resonances. One of several bids for Anglo acceptance, the Full Force collaboration ``Missing My Baby,'' is built on hooks that recall Diana Ross' Marvin Gaye tribute ``Missing You'' and the Beach Boys' ``Good to My Baby.'' And the somewhat contrived ``Techno Cumbia'' mixes G-rated dancehall reggae, ``What'd I Say'' call-and-response and, oh yeah, the Texas Panhandle dance music that gives the tune half its name.
Despite some followers' indignation at Selena/Madonna comparisons, this record's several adult-contemporary-aimed ballads demonstrate that the late singer must have been as much as a student of the Material Girl's straightforward stylings as of the culture that kicked up Tejano. The title cut, slated to be the set's next single, is drenched in the essence of ``Crazy for You.''
``God's Child (Baila Conmigo),'' a duet with cross-cultural wanderer David Byrne, provides one of the truest moments on ``Dreaming.'' That's fitting for a farewell record by an artist who spent her career synthesizing Mexican and American sounds - and whose first language, after all, was English.
- Rickey Wright
Future Sound of London,
``ISDN'' (Astralwerks)
Really, truly Lynch-like is this album of music originally disseminated live worldwide by the Integrated Services Digital Network. Go directly to this trip-hop group's ``The Far Out Son of Lung and the Ramblings of a Madman,'' a vision of Herb Alpert in folk dance purgatory. And maybe it matters to you as you soak in the ambient stuff, maybe it doesn't, but the booklet includes extremely cool color-saturated images.
- Mark Mobley
Various Artists, ``Law of the Jungle''
(Moonshine Music)
On the face of it, jungle seems completely implausible: fast, edgy techno crossed with laid-back, human reggae. But this collection shows what English clubs have known for a while, that the blend kicks. The standouts here are MC Olive 'N Slam Collective's ``Heaven 'N Hell'' (with an updated take on Little Richard's ``awopbopaloobop'') and Boyaka Crew & Tippa Irie's deep-bass ``Hustling.''
- Mark Mobley ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
by CNB