Lennox, Annie - 1995 - Medusa

The critics savaged Annie Lennox's sophomore effort when it first came out, and it's easy to see why: it's not that an all-covers album was a bad idea, but she did pick some rather large shoes to fill and she did kind of run roughshod over the songs themselves, taking gritty material by the likes of Neil Young and the Clash and turning it into super-slick electro-pop ear candy. But on the other hand, candy sometimes really hits the spot, and Lennox's rendition of "No More I Love You's" by the ultra-obscure British pop band the Lover Speaks is ravishingly, heartbreakingly lovely. Those who have never heard the Clash's original version of "Train in Vain" might not find her version as objectionable as the critics did, either. But there's no arguing with the critics when it comes to her anemic take on the Al Green classic "Take Me to the River" or her equally numb rendition of Neil Young's "Don't Let It Bring You Down." Those who have given up on looking cool, however, might find themselves able to enjoy her gentle arrangement of "A Whiter Shade of Pale." Don't pay full price for this, but snap it up if you find it in a bargain bin somewhere.

		1		No More "I Love You's"	Freeman, Hughes	4:51
		2		Take Me to the River	Green, Hodges	3:31
		3		A Whiter Shade of Pale	Brooker, Reid	5:17
		4		Don't Let It Bring You Down	Young	3:36
		5		Train in Vain	Jones, Strummer	4:38
		6		I Can't Get Next to You	Strong, Whitfield	3:09
		7		Downtown Lights	Buchanan	6:42
		8		Thin Line Between Love and Hate	Members, Poindexter ...	5:53
Composed by: Members, Poindexter, Poindexter
		9		Waiting in Vain	Marley	5:40
		10		Something So Right	Simon	3:54

¡Aquí!

Ladd, Mike - 2000 - Welcome To The Afterfuture

After a decade of underground recognition, New York-based producer/lyricist Mike Ladd has emerged since 1998 as the hip-hop scene's prime genius. Easy Listening 4 Armageddon put him on the map, the all-star Infesticons album put him over, and Welcome to the Afterfuture is the articulation of a musical vision. Whether it will pan out in the real future is another matter, but at least it stands a chance. Welcome to the Afterfuture is a blender of sounds and styles and epitomizes the search that is leading cutting-edge hip-hop further into avant-garde and non-Western musical traditions. "Airwave Hysteria" has a sweet Bollywood sample with a tight chorus broken up by some hypnotic scratching. The ring mod and time-stretched vocals on "Planet 10" are reminiscent of a Kid 606 album. There's a number of good tracks, but a few stand out, particularly "5000 Miles," where Ladd gets to display his lyrical skills ("I'm 5000 miles west/Of my future/Where's my floating car/My utopia") against fuzzed bass and organ figures. He gets props for entering the sci-fi realm without sounding like another Kool Keith carbon, although you might argue that it's simply more futurist than sci-fi per se. The most out track is "I Feel Like 100 Dollars"; it would be difficult to create more chaos at a slower tempo, for sure. There's some nice Air-esque jamming on "To the Moon's Contractor," and the title track features a crunked funk dissection of contemporary ills via Nova Express. Not so successful is the cut "No. 1 St.," which falls into all the pitfalls of trying too hard, with self-important rhyming. It's not often that album reviews name check Ezra Pound, Mogwai, and Run-D.M.C., so buy this album. If hip-hop should have a tradition, then this is it -- experimentation.

		1		5000 Miles West of the Future	Ladd	3:48
		2		Airwave Hysteria	Ladd	4:09
		3		Planet 10	Ladd	4:25
		4		Takes More Than 41	Ladd	3:01
		5		Bladerunners	Ingleton, Ladd, Meline, Smythe	6:17
		6		No. 1 St.	Ladd	3:52
		7		To the Moon's Contractor	Ladd	10:36
		8		I Feel Like $100	Ladd	3:45
		9		The Animist	Ladd	5:52
		10		Red Eye to Jupiter (Starship Nigga)	Ladd	3:50
		11		Welcome to the Afterfuture	Ladd	3:34
		12		Wipe Out on the Wave of Armageddon	Ladd	4:15
		13		Feb. 4 '99 (For All Those Killed by Cops) [For All Killed by Cops]	Ladd	5:15

¡Aquí!

Living Colour - 1988 - Vivid

In 1988, few heavy metal bands were comprised of all black members, and fewer had the talent or know-how to inject different musical forms into their hard rock sound (funk, punk, alternative, jazz, soul, rap) -- but N.Y.C.'s Living Colour proved to be an exception. Unlike nearly all of the era's metal bands, the group's music has held up over time, thanks to its originality and execution. Living Colour leader/guitarist Vernon Reid spent years honing his six-string chops, and was one of the most respected guitarists in New York's underground scene. He couldn't have done a better job selecting members for his new rock band -- singer Corey Glover, bassist Muzz Skillings, and drummer Will Calhoun -- as their now-classic debut, Vivid, proves. Though the album was released in mid-1988, it picked up steam slowly, exploding at the year's end with the hit single/MTV anthem "Cult of Personality," which merged an instantly recognizable Reid guitar riff and lyrics that explored the dark side of world leaders past and present (and remains LC's best-known song). The album was also incredibly consistent, as proven by the rocker "Middle Man" (which contains lyrics from a note penned by Glover, in which he pondered suicide), the funky, anti-racist "Funny Vibe," the touching "Open Letter (To a Landlord)," plus the Caribbean rock of "Glamour Boys." Add to it an inspired reading of Talking Heads' "Memories Can't Wait," the Zeppelin-esque "Desperate People," and two complex love songs ("I Want to Know" and "Broken Hearts"), and you have one of the finest hard rock albums of the '80s -- and for that matter, all time.

		1		Cult of Personality	Calhoun, Glover, Reid ...	4:55
Composed by: Calhoun, Glover, Reid, Skillings
		2		I Want to Know	Reid	4:24
		3		Middle Man	Glover, Reid	3:48
		4		Desperate People	Calhoun, Glover, Reid ...	5:36
Composed by: Calhoun, Glover, Reid, Skillings
		5		Open Letter (To a Landlord)	Morris, Reid	5:30
		6		Funny Vibe	Reid	4:20
		7		Memories Can't Wait	Byrne, Harrison	4:31
		8		Broken Hearts	Reid	4:51
		9		Glamour Boys	Reid	3:40
		10		What's Your Favorite Color?	Glover, Reid	1:41
		11		Which Way to America	Reid	3:41
		12		Funny Vibe [#/*]	Reid	3:43
		13		Should I Stay or Should I Go [*]	Jones, Strummer	2:27
		14		What's Your Favorite Color (Theme Song) [#/*]	Glover, Reid	5:39
		15		Middle Man [live/*]	Glover, Reid	3:49
		16		Cult of Personality [live/#/*]	Calhoun, Glover, Reid ...	4:59

¡Aquí!

Lerche, Sondre - 2002 - Faces Down

Though he was born in the 1980s, Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche seems to want nothing to do with the electronica and pop-punk sounds that fascinate most of his contemporaries; his songs -- with their rich and folky chord progressions, cheesy synth tones, quietly recorded drums, and swooning strings -- sound for all the world like products of the 1960s. Which is by no means a bad thing, especially when he's channeling the Beatles ("You Know So Well") or revisiting Tin Pan Alley ("Modern Nature," in duet with the winning Lillian Samdal) or getting all sentimental and bossa nova ("Virtue and Wine"). The song titles, you will have noticed, do not necessarily bode well for the lyrics; Lerche is not a native English speaker, and his sense of idiom isn't as developed as it probably should be if he's going to write songs in that language (sample couplet: "Once I believed we could approach this/Now I have faith placed in the things you call fate"). But the lyrics are not always embarrassing, and the melodies and arrangements are consistently attractive and involving enough to make up for it when they are.

		1		Dead Passengers	Lerche	4:23
		2		You Know So Well	Lerche	4:15
		3		Sleep on Needles	Lerche	4:45
		4		Suffused With Love	Lerche	2:51
		5		Side Two	Lerche	4:37
		6		Modern Nature	Lerche	3:36
		7		Virtue and Wine	Lerche	5:21
		8		On and Off Again	Lerche	5:06
		9		No One's Gonna Come	Lerche	4:39
		10		All Luck Ran Out	Lerche	4:25
		11		Things You Call Fate	Lerche	9:21
		12		Rosebud [*]	Lerche	4:07

¡Aquí!