Offspring - Conspiracy Of One (Sony Music)
****
No one can express teen
angst as clearly as these Orange County, Californian pop-punk rockers.
Originally called Manic Subsidal, the band renamed itself Offspring in
1986. In 1989, the band signed Nemesis/ Cargo to release their debut
album, also called Offspring. In 1992, Offspring’s second album
was released on the Epitaph label. Since then there’s been no looking
back. In 1998, their smash hit track Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) from
Americana, was downloaded a record 22 million times in 10 weeks,
landing the #1 spot on Rolling Stones ‘Top Pirated Internet Songs
Chart’. The band found instant recognition for its furious, compressed
bursts of wit and good-humored rock. Their latest offering Conspiracy
Of One carries a lot of attitude. It offers garage rock from the
sixties to the skateboard anthems of the last decade. Polka beats, bass
lines that hit the roof often, solo-free guitar riffs and lots of wit
together form Conspiracy Of One. Frontman Dexter Holland gives
his best on Original Prankster with lyrics like: Crime, Crime,
Rockin’ Like Janet Reno, Time, Time, Eighteen and Life In Chino. The
Green Day-esque Want You Bad is a take-off on 1994’s Self
Esteem. Special Delivery is a full-throttle riff rocker. Denial,
Revisited and Vultures are slow-tempo tracks that display
some amazing guitar-works.
One Fine Day is sure to be a rock
anthem. It goes like this — I believe it’s my god-given right, to
destroy everything in my sight, cause it never gets dull, it’s never
old, the only thing it gets is more bold. Rounded out by guitarist
Noodles, bassist Greg K and Drummer Ron Welt, the band kicks the energy
up a notch on Million Miles Away, Dammit I Changed Again
and Living In Chaos. Window-smashing effort.
Max 7 - Various Artists
(BMG Crescendo)
***
This compilation starts
with a mellow melody of The Corrs’ Breathless followed by the
uptempo It’s Gonna Be Me by N’Sync. Five does a cover of
Queen’s legendary track We Will Rock You. Santana adds a Supernatural
effect with the phenomenal Maria, Maria featuring The Product
G&B. Whitney Houston and George Michael sprinkles some R&B with
their duet track If I Told You That. Toni Braxton sets the mood
right with the soulful He Wasn’t Man Enough. Mariah Carey and
Westlife does a splendid cover of Phil Collin’s Against All Odds
(Take A Look At Me Now). Other popular tracks that have managed to
find their way into this album include Madonna’s Richard ‘Humpty’
Vission Radio Mix of American Pie, Pure Shores performed
by All Saints, Christina Anguilera’s I Turn To You, Ricky
Martin and Meja’s duet Private Emotion, Faith Hill’s Breathe
and Let’s Get Loud performed by Jennifer Lopez. Maximum music-
maximum hits.
Charlie’s Angels –
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Sony Music)
**
Based on the popular
‘70’s television series, this Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy
Liu starrer is a knock-out. Among new recordings are Destiny’s Child’s
smash hit Independent Women Part 1 which reached Billboard Top
100 Airplay chart and was rated the ninth most-heard single in the USA; DOT,
another Destiny’s Child’s product; Angel’s Eyes, the first
new recording by Aerosmith since 9 Lives in 1997 and Ya Mama,
a taste from Fatboy Slim’s new album Halfway Between The Gutter
& The Stars, Apollo Four Forty’s uptempo version of the
original Charlie’s Angels theme. The sound track relives the golden
age of ‘70’s disco and rock, 80’s new sounds and 90’s dance
music and techno. Among the old recordings, outstanding tracks comprise Heaven
Must Be Missing An Angel a 1976 hit by Tavares, You Make Me Feel
Like Dancing (1976) by Leo Sayer, True, the
1981 hit track by Spandau Ballet, Sir-Mix-A-Lot’s 1992 notorious hit Baby
Got Back, Marvin Gaye’s Got To Give It Up (1977) and Dee-Lite’s
1990 hit Groove Is In The Heart. A mixed bag, as ever, with
soundtrack compilations.
Album Of The Month
2000 Latin Grammy — Various Artists (Sony Music)
Latin music has gained
such enormous popularity over the past few years that the Grammys guild
finally announced the birth of the long-overdue Latin Grammys. From
start to finish the mega show was a winner. And this compilation sums up
what we could say were its best moments. This is a catalogue album
comprisin nominations selected from an extensive list of Latin
recordings released throughout the United States and Mexico, as well as
Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Latin America. Marc Anthony received
nominations for the Spanish version of the super hit I Need To Know and
Da La Vuelta. Ricky Martin earned his nomination for the Spanish
remake of Livin’ La Vida Loca which sounds as groovy as the
original. Santana proved to be an all-time favourite for his hit track Mana,
featuring Corazon Espinado. The Latino diva Gloria Estefan was nominated
for No Me Dejes De Querer. Other prominent nominations included A
Puro Dolor (Salsa) performed by Son By Four, Juan Luis Guierra’s El
Niagara En, Carlos Vives’ Fruta Fresca, Shakira’s Ojos
Asi and Al Despertar performed by Mercedes Sosa. The album
overall offers rich Latin music except for Christina Anguilera’s
number Genio Atrapado which shows some amateur Spanish accent.
Get this album to satisfy your fiery Latino appetite.