MUSIC ZONE

Britney Spears — Baby One More Time (HMV)

SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD Britney Spears is the youngest female to have hit America’s Number 1 with single and album simultaneously. This chirpy pop cipher from Kentwood, Louisiana, is the latest teen sensation to have hit the music world. At the age of 11, Britney launched her recording career when she earned a place in Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club. Just as her prototypes Debbie Gibson and Tiffany, Britney is able to spin out an impressive pop album with soul pop feel to it. With a wonderful bouquet of floral ballads and polished dance tracks, it should also not come as surprise that spears’ producers are none other than Max Martin (Backstreet Boys, Ace of Base, Robyn) and Eric Foster White (Whitney Houston). Britney injects some life into the catchy current hit single Sometimes. The funky title track has all the lolita-like qualities. E-Mail My Heart is the only misfit here. There is the Soda Pop with a reggae feel to it and the facile ballad From The Bottom of My Broken Heart. Also worth checking out is her jazzy, bossa nova cover version of Sonny and Cher’s The Beat Goes On.

Joey Mclntyre — Stay The Same (Sony Music)

Former member of the New Kids On The Block, Joey Mclntyre has arrived with his solo debut album Stay The Same. Following the boy-group trend, Joey too showcases catchy and soulful grooves. But one thing that distinguishes Joey from the rest of the new boy-band bunch is ‘experience’. Joey has seen it all, done it all, tried it all, so what he offers here definitely needs to be heard. Stay The Same is a self-penned album which marks Joey’s 26 years of musical maturity. The opener Couldn’t Stay Away From Your Love is a powerful ballad about learning to love and believe in yourself. The Way That I Love You offers a taste of early eighties. We Can Get Down is co-written with former New Kids leading man Donnie Wahlberg. I Love You Come too late is an uptempo track which offers some interesting lyrics. I Cried is an incredible ballad which also features the soul-stirring Boston Symphony Orchestra merged with Joey’s Soulful voice. Good things have finally started happening to music.

Solid Hits — Various Artistes (Times Music-Sony Music)

Sixteen tracks — not of rocky ambient stiffness as the title might suggest — but culled instead from the mellower fringes of dance music, with a lot of flexibility because we have got a east-meets-west catalogue here that kicks off with Akbar Sami and Jayanta Pathak doing a remix of Remo’s Jalwa, followed by Wes Welenga’s Alane. The sure shot dance floor stompers include Boogie Woogie by the beat featuring Poornima, Dil Le Gayee by Jassi, Aaja Nachle by Bally Sagoo and the permanent party residents Vengaboys with To Brazil. The other tracks that quite manage to shake those legs are Saara Zamana by Akbar Sami, Chamm Chamm by Vikrant, Sanjay Maroo’s Tu Hi Tu and Alexi’s with Uh La La. Now whether the compilation really works, probably depends on your definition of ‘solid’.

Sarah McLachlan — Mirrorball (MBGCrescendo)

First spotted singing in a new wave brand at the age of 17, McLachlan’s 1998 debut, touch, remains the blueprint of her oeuvre and shows that she has steel in her soul and a canny ear for contemporary rhythms. Her ability to sing every note from her heart and nerves distinguishes Sarah from the other bunch of contemporary music artistes. She sings with an attitude, which gives her material the same balance of rural innocence and youthful cynicism. Mirrorball is both a more mature and yet edgier follow-up, with voice that sounds like a cocktail of Kate Bush and Natalie Merchant. Sarah’s main strength is subtlety, so her themes of love are delivered with the mellowness of a ballerina.

The rhythmic watercolour hues are ultimately quite effective, from the opening track Building A Mystery’s bank of harmonies and pillow strings, through the more rhythmic Do What You Have To Do and Sweet Surrender. The album is not cliched material in any sense, surprisingly inventive chord progressions abound as Sarah’s lyrics reveal possibly the strongest female persona since prime-era Loretta Lynn.

Album of the month

Trilok Gurtu — Kathak (Times Music)

Kathak is the fifth solo ablum from this 47-year-old US-based percussionist. Having worked with eminent musicians like Don Cherry, Oregon, John McLaughlin, Jan Garbarek, Zakir Hussain, Ralph Tower and many others, Trilok is now among the biggest names in music industry.

Coming from a musical family — mother Shobha Gurtu (a celebrated classical vocalist), grandfather (a concert sitar player and musicologist) and his elder brothers, Narendra and Ravi (both percussionists) — Gurtu’s grounding in classical music began formally at the age of five. He instantly won the hearts of many by the freshness and innovativeness of his music. Although Trilok Gurtu’s music cannot be held between the said boundaries of classical jazz, we doubt there would be a single jazz-fan who doesn’t sway with sheer joy and excitement experienced from the unique blend of traditional and contemporary jazz his music showcases. Here Trilok enlists Steve Lukather and Neneh Cherry (whose father Don he has worked with). Trilok is in a spectacular form combining jazz, fusion, pop, funk and world music influences with both traditional and ethnic instrumentation to create a masterpiece called Kathak. Actually speaking this album defies all attempts to categorise it into a particular form of music. The results are as ground-breaking as before. The power of the album lies in Trilok’s experience in cross-cultural improvisation allowing him to use and display all the textures of sound that are created in his mind. Trilok is one of the finest percussionists on the planet — this album will definitely be a rare treat!

— Saurabh & Gaurav