Following are reviews by Deseret News staff writers of new pop releases.
FRANK SINATRA; "Everything Happens to Me" (Reprise) * * * 1/2
Maybe we should just say, "Enough already!" to all these recycled collections of Frank Sinatra "classics." Can anyone possibly come up with another "new" album full of "oldies" that has any thematic value?
Apparently so. Reprise has strung together yet another 19 songs from various albums originally released between 1960 and 1981. Only this time, each was personally selected by the Chairman of the Board himself.
These are the tunes Sinatra refers to in the liner notes as "my songs." Paul McCartney might argue that point about "Yesterday," but there's no denying that this largely melancholy grouping has punch. And how could it not, with the likes of "Once Upon a Time," "Summer Wind," "Once I Loved," "The Second Time Around," "How Insensitive" (with Antonio Carlos Jobim), "Didn't We?" etc. If you have the original albums, never mind. But if not, this is as good a representation of Sinatra's "later" period as any, with his one-of-a-kind emotional interpretations, even if the voice is richer in the '60s cuts than the '80s cuts. And even if you come away feeling a bit melancholy.
- Chris Hicks
BABBLE; "Ether" (Reprise). * * 1/2
Some performers try to forget their pasts. But when you were a major attention-getter a decade ago, the press sometimes won't let you go.
That's a problem Babble is having. While many people don't know who's in the band, thanks to the press, those who do are somewhat surprised (and pleasantly).
Babble is comprised of Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie - formerly of the 1980s new-wave pop band the Thompson Twins. Still, with the press circling for a possible attack, the duo has managed to make the switch to Babble quite easily.
"We moved from the Thompson Twins to Babble and just followed our instincts," said Currie. "We don't even question it anymore - we just go where it takes us."
The "it" in question is the music. And Babble uses it as a vehicle to explore new alleys of ambient pop.
"Ether" kicks off with the exotic spiralling of "The Circle" and continues on a dreamy rap with "Just Like You." And just as the title suggests, the rest of the songs follow the similar path of ethereality - not poison.
"Sun," the apocalyptic "Love Has No Name," which segues into the twisted amble of "Dark" and techno blur of "Tower" (hmm . . . "Dark" and "Tower"; maybe Babble is catering to Stephen King fans) lean toward gothic exotica.
Overall, the album details a trip into an emotional void - a journey that might get a little too twisting for some listeners.
- Scott Iwasaki
CAROLINE LAVELLE; "Spirit" (N-Gram Recordings-Discovery). * * *
Caroline Lavelle and her record company beg for comparisons to new-age star Enya. The packaging for her album "Spirit" has that dreamy pastel look familiar to fans of Enya's album covers and videos, and the music itself has a pan-global air about it. But the similarities beyond that are limited.
For one thing, the songs by Lavelle and her chief collaborator, William Orbit (producer, cowriter, keyboards), are VERY rhythmic, with blankets of synthesizer effects that make almost all of the tracks seem like unusual hybrids - call them techno-folk and ambient-pop. The synthesized sound is also as much from the past (two or three decades back) as it is futuristic.
One of the best is a folk tune, "Moorlough Shore," a tale of a lost Irish love, that, with Lavelle's breathy voice, her cello and a small string section, has a traditional underpinning that's thoroughly trans-formed by dramatic, spacey synthesizers. On the atmospheric "Waiting for the Rain," the funky beat and Telstar-era electronics seem downright psychedelic. Another variation is heard on "Sleep Now," which has intriguing lyrics derived from a poem.
The Greek composer Vangelis uses Lavelle's vocals and cello to excellent effect on a track on his new album "Voices," and that might incline some to lend an ear to this project. The stylistic differences between Lavelle with Van-gelis and Lavelle with Orbit, however, are wide. (Based in Britain, she's also worked with The Cranberries, Loreena McKennitt and others.) Overall, "Spirit" is as much mood as music, and its experimental nature takes a little getting used to.
RATINGS: four stars (* * * * ), excellent; three stars (* * * ), good; two stars (* * ), fair; one star (* ), poor, with 1/2 representing a higher, intermediate grade.