The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 168

J-6 THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR SUNDAY, MAY 21, 1995 POP MUSIC Music Picks Costello affection for covers began early Indianapolis' top 20 As rated by SoundScan. Week of May I 1 fl'lif Faithful to mission At age 39, this lone thriving survivor of the late-'70s British new-wave movement still writes most of his own material. But he also remains faithful to the mission of a good cover song: to introduce his fans to singers or songs they might never have found on their own in hopes that they later will seek out CDs by the original artists. "The biggest problem with picking well-known titles is getting out of the long shadow cast by the original version," says Costello, whose latest release is Kojak Variety, a savage yet soulful collection of obscure pop and country covers spanning from 1930 to 1970. (See review below).

Recorded in 1991 in Barbados during a two-week busman's holiday, Kojak Variety finds the composer of such hits as Alison, Everyday I Write the Book, Accidents Will Happen and Veronica tackling songs associated with Memphis soul legend James Carr (Pouring Water on a Drowning Man), Aretha Franklin (Running Out of Fools), Jesse Winchester (Payday), Bob Dylan (Threw It All Away), Mose Allison (Everybody's Crying Mercy), the Drifters (Please Stay), Screaming Jay Hawkins (Strange) and Little Richard (Bama Lama Bama Loo). While the arrangements remain faithful to the originals, the band which includes longtime collaborators Marc Ribot, Larry Knechtel, Jim Keltner, Jerry Scheff, James Burton and Attractions drummer Pete Thomas takes some inspired liberties: Must You Throw Dirt in My Face, a 1962 country hit for the Louvin Brothers, is lovingly mutated from a pretty waltz into a passionate ballad; the Kinks' Days is turned into a powerful, apocalyptic dirge: and a dramatic rendition of the Supremes' Remove This Warner Bros. Records Costello writes most of his songs written by his heroes. This Nation- week ally TitleArtist week 1 Cracked Rear View I Hootie The Blowtish 2 2 3 Friday I Soundtrack 3 2 Throwing Copper I Live Jt-S 4 5 Hell Freezes Over I Eagles 5 4 Forrest Gump I Soundtrack 6 8 John Michael Montgomery I John Michael Mont- gomery 7 14 Under the Table and Dreaming I Dave Matthews Band 7 ffBoyzllMen 2 9 10 The Hits I Garth Brooks 10 25 Tales From the Hood I Soundtrack 11 24 Not a Moment Too Soon I Tim McGraw 12 12 Crazysexycool TLC 13 11 Tuesday Night Music Club I Sheryl Crow J5- 14 6 Me Against The World 1 2Pac 1J 32 No Ordinary Man I Tracy Byrd 15 16 Greatest Hits I Bruce Springsteen 14 X7 22 Four I Blues Traveler 18 9 Astro Creep: 2,000 Songs of Love, Destruction White Zombie 19 19 13 The Uon King I Soundtrack 12 20 40 Greatest Hits I Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band 16 Indianapolis1 top 20 singles As rated by SoundScan. Week of May 14 1 This Nation- Last week aHy TtMeArtist week 1 is How We Do It I Montell Jordan 1 A 2 5 Dear Mama 2Pac 3 3 3 Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? I Bryan Adams 4 14 Big PoppaWaming I The Notorious B.I.G.

4 5 4 Freak Like Me I Adina Howard 2 6 10 Cotton Eye Joe I Rednex 5. 7 22 lgKutKlose 10... 8 15 Give It 2 You I Dai Brat 13 9 6 Don't Take it Personal I Monica 10 2 Be There For You (You're All I Need to Get By) I Method Man featuring Mary J. Blige 8. 11 7 Keep Their Heads Ringin' I Dr.

Dre 6' 12 11 Red Light Special I TLC ll-r! 13 9 Can't You SeeTotal featuring the Notorious B.I.G 1a 14 12 Water Runs Dry! Boyz II Men 18 15 (tie) 18 I Believe I Blessid Union of Souls 15 (tie) 86 1-Luv IE-HQ 17 X7 13 Ask of You I Raphael Saadiq 9 18 20 Candy Rain I Soul For Real 12 IS 34 Be Around I Rappin' 4-Tay 20 24 Emotions Red H-Town 15 COMPACT DISC REVIEWS Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate. U.S. hits of the week 1995, SoundScan. Billboard 4 Kojak' covers poorly Part ofCostello's mission is to introduce his fans to music they might not encounter otherwise. By David Okamoto DALLAS MORNING NEWS nee a hearttelt vehicle for I artists looking to celebrate their roots, cover songs have deteriorated into exercises in going through the emotions.

Blame it on Michael Bolton. Blame it on the glut of tribute albums clogging the bins. Or blame it on the fact that many of ibe artists recording new versions of old favorites these days value their gold records more than the dusty 45s of their youth. As a result, few acts are brave enough to tackle anything that hasn't already been a proven hit. But Elvis Costello who still keeps his favorite singles on a special shelf in the music room of his Dublin home has always relished interpreting little-known songs by his heroes.

In the midst of his punk-and-disorderly period, he confounded fans by releasing 198 l's Almost Blue, a straight-faced country project saluting Merle Haggard, Gram Parsons, Loretta Lynn and others. He's unearthed such soul-music gems as Sam and Dave's Can't Stand Up for Falling Down and the Teacher's Edition's Wanna Be Loved. His singles have been littered with B-sides boasting spirited covers of everything from Betty Everett's Gettin' Mighty Crowded and Charles Brown's Get Yourself Another Fool to Hoagy Carmichael's My Resistance Is Low and Georgie Fame's Point of No Return. Costello's Elvis Costello "Kojak Variety," Warner Bros. Records.

Reviewed by staff writer Marc D. Allan. rJL JL Elvis Costello's first album 0f covers, 1981 's all-country Almost Blue, succeeded because he chose great songs. Kojak Variety flops because he didn't. The 15 songs here are Costello favorites originally recorded from 1930 to 1970.

Only a few are known: Leave My Kitten Alone, which the Beatles once covered; Bob Dylan's Threw It All Away, from Nashville Skyline, and Little Richard's Bama Lama Bama Loo, which is basically a rewrite of Tutti Frutti. Costello is one of rock's great songwriters, but only four of these songs match his abilities Bill Anderson's When You Throw Dirt in My Face, Ray Davies' touching Days, Mose Allison's brilliant Everybody Cryin Mercy (Costel lo changes it to Everybody's Crying Mercy) and the Dylan tune. The rest is a fairly unspectacular lot of novelties, rock, blues and jazz. Inn Restaurant 231 S. COLLEGE 264-3585 YOUR FAVORITE ITALIAN RESTAURANT DINNER SPECIAL 4 PM to 7 PM SUNDAY THRU THURSDAY MAY 21 THRU MAY 25 2 FOB 1 I AS AG A Good Thru May 25 EXCLUDING PARTIES OF 10 OR MORE Dinners Include Salad Breadsticks Dine in Only Not Good With Other Specials Please Call 264-3585 For Reservations I Milario RACE TO UNION THE 500 FESTIVAL albums 14 Artist Mark Chesnutt Ty Hemdon George Strait John Berry Tracy Byrd Clint Black John Michael Alan Jackson Toby Keith Hal Ketchum Artist Elton John Martin Page Bryan Adams Dionne Farris Madonna Des'Ree Eagles Amy Grant with Vinos Gill Hootie the Blowfish Foreigner to Get By) Artist Method Man Mary J.

Blige Featuring Montell Jordan Raphael Saadiq Total featuring the Notori-ous B.I.G. Adina Howard Brownstone 2Pac Days) Monica Boyz II Men Kut Klose Elastica Matthew Sweet Live Green Day Bush Collective Soul Nine Inch Nails Mad Season Adam Ant Artist David Sanborn Rachelle Ferrell Tony Bennett Wynton Marsalis Marsalis Ellis Joe Henderson Dianne Reeves Soundtrack James Carter Sondheim Various artists Grover Washington Jr. Artist Benedictine Monks Carreras, Domingo, Pavar- otti Mehta rv, Soundtrack Carreras, Domingo, Pavar-otti Mehta Soundtrack Cecilia Bartoli Orpheus Chamber Orches-'J" tra Luciano Pavarotti Various artists Benedictine Monks Artist Selena You (You're All Method Man featuring Mary. J. Blige Kirk Franklin Family Kirk Franklin Kirk Franklin Family Press.

Country songs 1. Gonna Get a Life 2. What Mattered Most 3. Adalida 4. Standing on the Edge of Goodbye 5.

The Keeper of the Stars 6. Summer's Comin' 7. Can Love You Like That 8. Song for the Life 9. You Ain't Much Fun 10.

Stay Forever Adult contemporary 1. Believe 2. In the House of Stone and Light 3. Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? 4. Know 5.

Take a Bow 6. You Gotta Be 7. Love Will Keep Us Alive 8. House of Love 9. Hold My Hand 10.

Until the End of Time singles 1 Be There For You (You're All I Need 2. This Is How We Do It 3. Ask of You 4. Can't You See 5. Freak Like Me 6.

Grapevine 7. Dear Mama 8. Don't Take It Personal (Just One of 9. Water Runs Dry 10. Like Pern COVER LOVER: Although Elvis own music, he likes to interpret Doubt employs a plucked piano string and banjo to re-create what Costello refers to as the surreal Slaughter on 10th Avenue bit in the middle." Cover fan since childhood Costello's affection for cover songs started as a toddler.

In the '50s, his father, Ross MacManus, was a singer with the Joe Loss Orchestra, which performed live renditions of hit tunes weekly on BBC radio. Costello's initial exposure to Motown as a teen-ager came not from Marvin Gaye or Temptations albums but from covers by such Liverpool acts as the early Beatles and the Escorts: To this day, he says he prefers the Fab Four's version of You Really Got a Hold on Me to Smokey Robinson's. "There was a period when Wishing Tree is a nice acoustic ballad. Po' Broke 'N Lonely "Forbidden Vibe," Big BeatAtlantic Records. Reviewed by staff writer Kim Hooper.

A i There's a reason the trio who call themselves Po' Broke 'N Lonely selected the title for their debut disc. The vibes, slow-groove funk with bottom-heavy, trance-like synth keyboards, are accessible and slam-min'. The lyrical content, on the other hand, is, uh, let's just say mature. With such titles as Mr. Go Down, which boasts the lyric "I'll do my oral exerciseright before your eyes," it's unlikely that much of PBL's material will ever make urban radio's playlist.

And since this is a family newspaper, there's little else lyrics-wise to say about the music. That's too bad. Forbidden Vibe's 13 tracks combine smoldering funky arrangements with laid-back, West Coast beats, thanks to producer Chris Taylor, who's worked with rapper Ice-T, Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dog. Lynn, along with lead singer Ruben Cruz, combine for tightly harmonized vocals.

The disc's first single, Twisted, is eerily close to Leon Haywood's Wanna Do Something Freaky To You, complete with hypnotic chorus. Voyeurs borrows its musical riff from Slave's Watchin' You (also sampled on Snoop's Gin Juice). The title track is a smoky groove that shows how PBL can get freaky without breaking a sweat. Mary Black "Looking Back, CurbAtlantic Records. Reviewed by staff writer Diana Penner.

trfrVo lf you aren al" 7 ready familiar with Mary Black's warmly expressive soprano and her engaging song repertoire, from Irish traditional to contemporary folk-pop, Looking Back is a terrific introduction. As her first major label release in the U.S., it draws some of her finest work from four of the albums that made her a chart-topper at home in Ireland, plus a couple of new songs. From the vague melancholy of ballads such as No Frontiers and ColumbusXo the infectious exuberance of Carolina Rua, the selections from Black's previous albums offer a representative look at her vocal ArtsEntertainment Chuck Berry would have been unusual in recording his own songs in '56, but in '62, the Beatles started a chain reaction that meant if you didn't write your own songs, you were a freak and you didn't get signed. And there were very few bands that didn't attempt to write them, even if they didn't have any talent at it. There's a few today that I think might do better to work not with a bunch of hack writers, but maybe to look around.

There's a lot of songs out there now. Everybody's writing whole new albums of songs, whether or not they have any talent as songwriters." Despite the strength of the performances which feature some of Costello's huskiest, heartiest singing Kojak Variety wound up sitting in the vaults of Warner Bros. Records for four years. chosen range and style. Bright Blue Rose can just about make you cry at its hymn-like reverence; yanfeswill have you tapping your feet and chiming in to its catchy hook.

Looking Forward, one of two new songs, is an uptempo John Gorka tune Black appropriates as her own. She teamed up with Emmylou Harris to reprise the lovely Only a Woman's Heart, originally recorded on a compilation album in Ireland and also recorded by Eleanor McEvoy, another Irish talent. If there's anything missing from this American debut, it's a song in Gaelic to round out the seductive Irish spirit that flows through Black's work. Boston Baroque, Martin Pearlman, director Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1-3, Telarc Records.

Reviewed by staff writer Jay Harvey. -JL JL JL Many versions of Bach's six Brandenburg Concertos lure the record-buyer, with the preponderance these days using 18th-century instruments or modern copies of them. (Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra patrons will be able to hear Raymond Lep-pard's version in June.) This is a strong set, with clear textures. Martin Pearlman particularly shows insight in giving an inviting feeling to slow and moderately paced movements. In contrast, his handling of fast movements is a little edgy and hard-driven.

Tone quality and intonation on these old instruments are generally top-notch. Balances are good: With some extra attention (perhaps from the recording engineer), even Christopher Krueger's solo recorder in Concerto No. 2 in Fmajorcomes through. In the same work, some inadvertent flutter from Friedemann Immer's natural trumpet amounts to a small drawback. I was disappointed with the sound of the horns in the two Allegro movements of Concerto No.

1 in major, consistent staccato "barking" was not what I expected to hear. But they come through just fine in the second Trio near the end. Concerto No. 3 in major, which uses strings only, delectably divided, sports bright articulation and fine intonation throughout the band. Star ratings: excellent; good; ir-k fair; poor Sonia Dada "A Day at the Beach, Capricorn Records.

Reviewed by staff writer Joe Konz. 'q When Sonia Dada puts its best foot forward its lead-vocal threesome of Paris De-lane, Sam Hogan and Michael Scott it is pretty awesome. The group did that on its self-titled 1992 debut (reissued this year), demonstrating how those three-part harmonies were dazzling complements to the band's light-funk rhythms. But that's not the case on A Day at the Beach, where Delane Co. take a back seat to pop-oriented tunes and rhythms.

The result is a frothy arena-band sound with simply nice vocals, something you might get by mixing Toto and the Little River Band. The album has an even mixture of rockers and ballads, but none stands out. Screaming John sounds like typical Toto rock; gospel flavoring adds mild spice to Planes Satellites; a Harry Nilssonish spaz treatment gives Lasf Parade (Crazy Lady) semblance of identity; and 4 Dating Tip of the Week! Enthusiasm and bounce in I lie lone of your voice demonstrates your excitement about meeting a person. Tliey will find it very appealing. WELCOME to a NEW CONCEPT in MEETING and DATING M7) 2S4-44Q? Call for a brochure JiJ -J JJ or more information.

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Sick of Myself 4. Lightning Crashes 5. She 6. Little Things 7. December 8.

Hurt 9. River of Deceit 10. Wonderful Jazz Albums 1. Pearls 2. First Instrument 3.

MTV Unplugged 4. Joe Cool's Blues 5. Double Rainbow 6. Quiet After the Storm 7. Swing Kids 8.

The Real Quiet Storm 9. Color and Light Jazz Sketches on 10. All My Tomorrows Classical Albums 1. Chant 2. The Three Tenors In Concert 1994 3.

Immortal Beloved 4. In Concert 5. Farinelli 6. Mozart Portraits 7. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons 8.

Pavarotti in Central Park 9. Sensual Classics, Too 10. The Soul of Chant Other Billboard No. 1 titles LATIN TRACK: Fotos Recuerdos DANCE MAXI-SINGLE: I II Be There For I Need to Get By) GOSPEL ALBUM: Kirk Franklin Family CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN ALBUM: Family Sources: Billboard magazin Associated STATION FOLLOWING PARADE AND BUCS BUNNY, DAFFY DUCK, SYLVESTER AND THE TASMANIAN DEVIL Jf Saturday, May 27 xr The Main Stage at Union Stationsl )p 3:30 p.m. 5:30 p.m.

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