The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 153

PiniMe oats make ttastfy Mstemnij JfJ Train" (RCA) The country-pop harmonies are as melt-in-the-mouth delicious as ever. The production is as crystalline perfect as ever. But Fast Movin' Train is head-and-shoul-ders above its three Restless Heart predecessors. There are several reasons for this. First, the songs are better.

I find the title tune as stirring and striking as anything the Eagles ever recorded in their heyday. Dancy's Dream tells a taut little tale with a memora ROBERT K. OERMANN Staff Writer "Robert's Record Reviews" is all choice cuts today. No cereal. No filler.

Just grade-A, prime platters. But although I recommend all these records to one degree or another, it's each to their own taste as we span the musical spectrum. REGINA BELLE "Stay With Me" (Columbia) Are you hip to Regina Belle yet? If not, get with the program. The album is called Stay With Me, but I think its subtitle ought to be, "Move over, Anita Baker and Whitney Houston." With this collection, Belle moves into the front ranks of black divas. She has Baker's way of toying with a melody and Houston's ability to swoop into gospel-drenched shouts of ecstasy.

But Regina Belle has something more, a grittier, more contemporary approach than either of herpeers. She touches on pop-funk, supper-club soul and quiet-storm ballad intensity here, all with equal finesse. I was struck by how mesmerized I was, no matter what type of tune she was singing. And that surely is some suggestion of greatness. Mate It Like It Was weeps for lost desire.

Someday We'll All Be Free Save the Children is extraordinarily moving as a black consciousness anthem She gives When Will You Be Mine a smart rhythmic sting and a feisty uptempo delivery. All I Want Is Forever, from the soundtrack of Tap, showcases Belle as the duet partner of former Kool the Gang vocalist James "J.T." Taylor. Baby Comes to Me finds her swirling in the sultry smoke of sensuality. This woman has true charisma. Stay With Me? You bet, Belle: I'm hooked for life.

Regina Belle will open for Franke Beverly Maze in concert at the Opry House April 26. Seats are available viaTicketmaster for $21.50 apiece. FLIM AND THE BBS "New Pants" (Warner Bros.) When I first met these guys in LA I was so impressed that drummer Bill Berg was a Disney animator that I scarcely paid attention to the recording session. I remember thinking that nothing preachy about his style In- deed, many songs don't even mention God or Jesus specifically Loves You, III Be a Friend to You, You Made a Difference for Me). But even when he's interpreting something like Steve Forbert's Running on Love, Kenny Marks makes It all sound spiritual somehow.

Kenny Marks appears at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Christ Presbyterian Church, 2323 Old Hickory Blvd. There is no admission charge. EURYTHM1CS "We Too Are One" (Arista) This has been out for some time, but in the wake of the act's announcement that it is going on hiatus for the next few years, I thought I'd underscore its brilliance and the regret I feel that it will apparently have no immediate successor. There Is no other act working today that manages to fuse high-tech production with real passion as effectively as Eurythmics.

I get goose-bumps listening to the compelling beats, the ringing melodies and the fiery vocals that resonate throughout We Too Are One. Dave Stewart is among the most creative producers in pop. Annie Lennox has few peers as a soul singer. Together, they are simply inspiring. Alas, this may be our last chance to be uplifted by the grand and glorious sound they make together.

Hail and farewell. RESTLESS HEART "Fast Moviif ble melody. A Little More Coal on the Fire, Lady Luck. Long Lost Friend and River of Stone all have a more direct approach than many of the band's too-slick, too-pop earlier songs. Second, lead singer Larry Stewart is getting gutsier.

Always a superb stylist, he seems to be letting a more soulful side show on Fast Movin' Train. Third, the band has gone in a more acoustic direction here. This brings Restless Heart both closer to the roots-rock movement that's sweeping through the pop world and to the folk tendencies that are creeping into country. In other words, the band's finally got a work of bona fide maturity. WILSON PHILLIPS "Wilson Phillips" (SBK) Want to take a cheap vacation to sunny California? Buy this and listen.

I can't remember the last time I was so captivated by creamy Golden State pop harmony vocals and celestial production values. There's a disarming sophistication of melody that contrasts with what is essentially a heart-tugging innocence of style. This gives Wilson Phillips wide-eyed and worldly qualities simultaneously. Think of such airy, blue-sky California sounds of yore as the Association, the Byrds, Crosby-Stills-Nash and America Now cast the whole thing with female voices and ultra-commercial songwriting talent That's the basic Wilson Phillips thing. Now think of it in genetic terms.

Carnie and Wendy Wilson are the daughters of Beach Boy brain Brian Wilson and his singing wife Marilyn. Chynna Phillips is the daughter of John and Michelle Phillips, half of the Mamas and Papas. This refreshing sound must be in the trio's blood: Can you think of any bigger architects of what is quintessentially West Coast music than those two acts? But even if Wilson Phillips was comprised of unknowns Ed be enthralled. The GoGo's, the Bangles and Belinda Carlisle positively pale by comparison. NAT KING COLE "Collectors Series" (Capitol) Is there anyone out there who needs to know why Nat King Cole was given a posthumous honor at the Grammy Awards this year? Without a shred of biographical information about the impressive show business accomplishments Cole had, you'd understand Just by listening to these 20 songs.

I dont care how old you are or what your tastes are, you need this music in your life. The CD contains Mono Lisa. Too Young, Pretend, Unforgettable, A Blossom Fell and the other silky bal-lads mat Immortalized him. His greatness as a jazz stylist is touched on with tracks like Route 66 and Straighten Up and Fly Right. And even such jaunty later material as KambUn' Rose and Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer is reis sued here, a Chynna Phillips (l-r) Good Time" (Warner Bros.) Completely put it out of your mind that Hillbillies member Mark Knop-fler is the world-class rock leader of Dire Straits.

Forget that he's created music that makes your toes twitch and the hair on the back of your head stand up. He and his Brit buddies Brendan Croker, Guy Fletcher and Steve Phillips are on an audio outing here that will sooth your spirit and gentry tickle your ears. The Notting Hillbillies are a soft country-blues ensemble that's as rootsy as a Delta cotton-field. This is back-porch music, purposefully devoid of flash and glitter. If you go in stripped of your rock 'n' roll expectations and ready for a hairanock, youH be swayed and scducccL KENNY MARKS "Another Friday Night" (DaySpring) Kenny Marks is contemporary Christian music's Bruce Springsteen.

To be sure, he hasn't got the ferocious musical conviction or the vocal fire of The Boss. But then, who does? What Marks does share with Springsteen Is a certain blue-collar, alienated-youth approach. Through two previous LPs, the Detroit-bora Marks has traced the problems and pains of "Johnny and Jeannie." First they were Growing Up Too Fast on 1985's Right Where You Are. Then they dealt with premarital sex on Marks' hit The Parry's Over from 1988's Mate It Right Up. In this collection's The Next Time You See Johnny, Jeannie's dealing with Ufe on her own with a kid after Johnny has left her.

The message is forgiveness, which the singer songwriter relates to Christianity. Marks' roots-rock sound is also much in evidence on Nobody Else But Jesus, a song structured some-what like Mony, Mony. Perhaps the most poignant selection is Hope for a Broken Heart, which paints a portrait of the work week followed by "party time" on Friday night The song conveys the ultimate loneliness of the "swinging singles" lifestyle. Like much of his work. Graduation Day is addressed directly to young people.

Part of Marks gift Is that he conveys bis message subtly, There's Wilson Phillips Came Wilson, Wendy Wilson and their sound was vaguely new age. I was wrong. These guys really, really swing. As I listened to this, I went through all the usual categories one uses to classify contemporary instrumental music fusion, new adult contemporary, funk and the like. Finally I decided that what I think this is, is that term hardly anyone uses anymore, modern jazz.

And by that I mean there are song structures and rhythmic grooves, within which are some scintillating lmpro-visational passages, particularly from Billy Barber's keyboards and Dick Oates' sax. "Flim" is virtuoso bassist Jimmy Johnson. There are atonal portions, but I think even a non-jazz lover will find New Pants accessible. Even when Flim and the BB's are venturing beyond the melody, you never lose sight of the song structure. It's meticulously tight, yet just a tad adventurous.

Get it on CD: The sound quality is astonishing. THE NOTTING HILLBILLIES "Missing Presumed Having a 3990 i i Find something else to worry about, because leaking, rusting gutters are a problem we can solve. We've been doing It for over 30 years around Nashville. With quality galvanized and aluminum gutters in your choice of assorted backed by our guaranteed work. We do the complete job.

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