THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 30, 1996 TAG: 9605300045
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music Review
LENGTH: 79 lines
Soundgarden, ``Down on the Upside'' (A&M)
On its new album, Soundgarden comes barreling out, rocking with a fresh vitality that was largely lost on the anthemic ``Superunknown.'' Echoing the band's high-energy early influences, ``Down on the Upside'' bridges that gap between the Free Love Era's pop psychedelia and the mid-'70s' testosterone-driven rock.
``Blow Up the Outside World'' finds singer/songwriter Chris Cornell in a quieter vein, and darn it if the guy doesn't sound like an honest-to-God pop singer. Naturally, this gives way to Matt Cameron's larger-than-life drum beats and guitarist Kim Thayil's string slayings.
But then there's the unlikely retro-pop of ``Burden in My Hand'' and the poison that's ``Ty Cobb,'' wherein bassist Ben Shepherd and Cornell pick up the mandolin and mandola.
In fact, ``Down on the Upside'' reveals a trunkful of surprises, the least of which is that Soundgarden has found a way to reinvent itself once again.
Vickie Gilmer, Knight-Ridder
Pop
Squirrel Nut Zippers, ``Hot'' (Mammoth)
The sophomore album from the Carrboro/Chapel Hill wonders couldn't be better named. ``Hot'' offers more of the Zippers' patented sound - tongue-slightly-in-cheek, retro jazz/swing of the '20s and '30s - only tighter and more assured.
Attribute that in part to the setting. The band went to the New Orleans studio of lauded producer Daniel Lanois (U2's ``Joshua Tree'') and soaked up the Crescent City's musical traditions. With a sound honed by several years of constant touring, the combination is potent.
Katherine Whelan's voice would still make Billie Holiday grin, and the band's original material sounds as if it were lifted from those old 78s. ``Hot'' also features a strong baritone sax sliding through the bouncy tunes and guitar interplay that is complex and forceful.
Eric Feber, Virginian-Pilot
Joe Henry, ``Trampoline'' (Mammoth)
Joe Henry gives ``carpe diem'' a twist: He embraces life's gifts, but with a tug of resignation that the specter of death looms just over his shoulder. The brilliant manner in which he combines the two acts in his writing fuels the emotional inferno throughout ``Trampoline.''
Lyrically, he's outdone himself, filling almost every verse with arresting imagery and complex emotional twists.
But where Henry's last two albums were folk fests with a strain of country twang, ``Trampoline'' bears the earmarks of someone who's been listening to '60s psychedelia and avant-garde classical music. Pump organs moan, operatic voices soar and Henry finds himself singing duets with aural apparitions.
Experimental, though, doesn't mean dissonant. There are lovely melodies throughout and a kind of restless energy that's stimulating and hypnotic. Here's hoping ``Trampoline'' brings Henry the broader audience he's due.
Rob Hubbard, Knight-Ridder
Country
Kimmie Rhodes, ``West Texas Heaven'' (Justice)
Until now, Kimmie Rhodes has been known mainly as a writer, but it's easy to see why revered fellow Texans such as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Townes Van Zandt and Joe Ely were eager to lend their voices to her domestic debut. Rhodes is as talented a singer as she is a songwriter.
Like Nanci Griffith and Iris DeMent, Rhodes travels a road between folk and country, and her voice possesses an almost angelic purity. The plaintive grace of her singing and the acoustic-based arrangements only enhance the impact of the aching ``Hard Promises to Keep,'' the plainspoken profundity of ``Maybe We'll Just Disappear'' and the steady resolve of ``I'm Gonna Fly.''
And though Rhodes doesn't have to cut loose to be compelling, on ``Home John'' she swings with such easygoing charm you wish she'd done so a bit more.
Nick Cristiano, Knight-Ridder MEMO: Squirrel Nut Zippers, 6 p.m. Saturday at the Bait Shack,
Waterside, Norfolk. Tickets: $7. 622-3654. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MAMMOTH RECORDS
Squirrel Nut Zippers, the Carrboro/Chapel Hill wonders, perform at 6
p.m. Saturday at the Bait Shack, Waterside, Norfolk. by CNB