Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 39

Music TUESDAY, AUGUST 25 1998 STAR TRIBUNE PAGE E3 Slipped discs: Time is cruel to overrated albums Now hear this By Kevin O'Hare ewhouse News Service vet time, certain albums are revered so Disc of the week BOB MOULD, The Last Dog and Pony Show" (Rykodisc) Mould has made it clear that this is his last piece of work that will feature his usual boisterous, electric side. He's also going on a farewell electric tour that seems to bid adieu to his youth and acclaimed musical past that shadows his every move the same past that raised him to god-like levels among the disenfranchised youth who cut their teeth on the gristle that Mould so eloquently reveled I much that they take on near-mythic status in critical roundups. You can be certain that in late 1999, for reasons tanging from their societal impact to musical brilliance, discs such as Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde," the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and Nirvana's "Nevermind" will land sigh atop lists proclaiming the top 100 rock albums of the 20th century, But sometimes discs deemed as classics and fawned over by critics turn paper-thin with time. 's time to dismantle myths.

It's all highly subjective, but that's part of the tin. What better way to incite furor during the quiet of summer than to totally trash someone's riost treasured albums? So give it a go and in with Minnesota own Hiisker Dii and Sugar. But Mould is also saying goodbye to more than just things of a musical matter he's also saying goodbye to a lover, and it sounds like the last time, to be sure. This heartache makes parts of this CD echo strains of 1989's "Workbook" and 1996's "Bob Mould," with its marked the pinnacle of the band's career. It's also the recording that brought the world "Stairway to Heaven," which along with Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free bird" epitomized everything that was wrong with FM radio in the '70s.

6. The Who, "Tommy" (1969): Talk about sacred cows. It was a "rock-opera" album, a bizarre movie with a short shelf life and even a Broadway play. It was also one of the most lame pieces the Who ever assembled, and paled compared to classics such as "Who's Next," "Live at Leeds" and the subsequent similar extravaganza, "Quadrophe-nia." 5. The Eagles, "Hotel California" (1976): Along with Led Zeppelin, the Eagles would rank right near the top of any list of the era's most overrated acts.

West Coast cowboy rockers, they achieved stadium-filling fame with a peaceful, easygoing style, devoid of even a semblance of soul. Despite its tremendous title track and the welcome addition of eccentric rocker Joe Walsh, "Hotel California" deserves but a fraction of its legendary status. 4. Michael Jackson, "Thriller" (1982): It spawned a remarkable six Top 10 singles and earned more revenue than the gross national product of many third-world nations. But this album focused, brittle bitterness.

Photo by Edward Smith In the steely acoustic pin assemme your own list. To land on the list, discs generally should have a few years behind them, so Bob Mould's latest (and 'Last'?) To hear sam Overrated: "Rumors," Fleetwood Mac's 1977 breakup album, "Aqualung," Jethro Tull's commercial peak; ples from "The Last Dog pricks of "Along the Way," Mould sings: "I guess I lost you somewhere along the way." This melancholy is fleeting, however; he just as quickly and acerbically decries the love that's abandoned him, seething on "Taking Everything" that "you take all my songs." Mould also reveals his digital mind in that they've achieved maximum esteem. It helps if they were among the supposed crown jewels in the careers of major stars. But keep this in mind: These are not necessarily bad albums. In fact, the majority of them are quite fine on their own merit.

But they've been so overly hyped and praised over time that it starts to border on the absurd. Here, in bottom-to-top order, is my list of "The 10 Most Overrated Albums of All Time." Where's yours? and Pony Show," dial 673-9050 and press 5450 for "New 1" and 5451 for "Megamanic." Springsteen's basement tapes acoustically abysmal and depressing. 1 At 3 10. Jethro Tull, "Aqualung" (1971): On phenomenally innovative albums such as "Stand Up" and "Benefit," the British band led by flutist njrr was nowhere near as cohesive or as consistently appealing as its often-overlooked predecessor, "Off the Wall." 3. The Sex Pistols, "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols" (1977): They couldn't play, they couldn't write, and they sure couldn't sing, but this pure punk 1977 set so shook up the world that the Sex Pistols legend loomed long after the band's inevitable demise.

The album provided a much-needed, jolting counter punch to an era dominated by disco and progressive rock, but it was a musical disaster. 2. The Rolling Stones, "Exile on Main Street" (1972): Keith Richards is fond of saying that while he was a junkie, he not only learned to ski but also made "Exile on Main Street." It sounds it. Worshipped by many Stones purists as their finest work, the rough-edged double album reveals a myriad of weaknesses starting with a mostly forgettable batch of songs. 1.

Fleetwood Mac, "Rumours" (1977): Ste-vie broke up with Lindsey while Christine split from John while Mick lost his mate and so on, and so on, and so on. The mystique around this incestuous 1977 breakup album was even bigger than songs such as "Go Your Own Way" and helped it spend an astounding 31 weeks at No. 1 on the charts. Was it worth all that? Truth be told, its eponymous predecessor, with the exact same Mac lineup, was a better album. First Drag of the Day, pumping the rhythm with keys and creating a jarring mess with various samples and programs and sounding like a freaked underground trip-hop master on "Megamanic." Throughout the album, the recurring allusion is that this might be the beginning of the end for Mould.

He's long complained of suffering from tinnitus, and the finality that colors this album seems to solidify that, yet he opens the album with "New 1 a celebration of new love which seems to indicate that there is hope hope that not only will Mould's heart mend but that the creative fires that have long fueled him will continue to burn. Mould performs Sept. 13 and Mat First Avenue in Minneapolis. Vickie Gilmer, Star Tribune staff writer Reissue DAVID BROMBERG, "The Playen A Retrospective" (ColumbiaLegacy) In the late 1970s and early '80s, Bromberg led a big, talented band that could play bluegrass, blues, folk and rock with a wild, infectious enthusiasm that brought crowds to their feet. That Bromberg's voice was serviceable at best hardly mattered.

He was Everyman with wild hair and google eyes, a crummy voice and killer guitar licks, who played with cool people including Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, bluegrass icon Vassar Clements and country outlaw Jerry Jeff Walker. "The Player" is an excellent look at the career of an artist who deserves more renown. Eric Fidler, Associated Press Ian Anderson knocked on the door of stardom. The group blew that door down with the lumbering "Aqualung." Thanks to hoary arena rockers "Locomotive Breath" and the title cut, this marked Tull's commercial peak. But it also sparked an artistic decline that culminated with the ghastly "Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll, Too Young to Die" a few years later.

"Aqualung" was the best thing and the worst thing that ever happened to Jethro Tull. 9. Bob Dylan, "Time Out of Mind" (1997): The only '90s album on this list, it was so overrated from the start that it doesn't even need to stand the test of time. Many critics ranked this 1997 set right up there with Dylan masterpieces "Blonde on Blonde" and "Blood on the Tracks." Give me a break. What this was was a fine, modest album by one of the most important figures of our time in the twilight of his career.

8. Bruce Springsteen, "Nebraska" (1982): Recorded on a cassette in Springsteen's house, this acoustically abysmal, deliberately dark and deeply depressing album was hailed for its starkness and Woody Guthrie-like balladry. It did have a handful of magnificent songs most notably the unforget- table "Atlantic City" but its repetitiveness and nearly complete lack of melody make for some pretty rough riding. 7. Led Zeppelin, "Led Zeppelin IV (Untitled)" (1971): If you want to start a list of the most overrated bands of all time, these guys are definite contenders.

Zep's fourth album supposedly Top local rentals 'Apes' fans will go bananas over this news Video notebook first movie was difficult. "Inside that makeup, it was about 130 degrees," McDowall recalls. "They had these huge fans, and we would sit around in a circle, 8. "Jerry Springer: The Best of 9. "The Spirit of Mickey" 10.

"Image of an Assassination" Today's major releases: "Men With Guns," "Pocahontas: Journey to a New World," "Spawn 2" and "Woo." Next week's major releases: "Barney's Great Adventure," "Dream for an Insomniac," "Homegrown," "Phantasm" and "Titanic." The nation's top-selling videos last week, courtesy of Billboard: 1. "Jerry Springer Too Hot for TV!" 2. "The Black Caldron" 3. "Grease: 20th Anniversary Edition" 4. "Spice World" 5.

"As Good As It Gets" 6. "Austin Powers" 7. "Backstreet Boys: All Access Video" Routledge. Each video is $19.98 and has a running time of 80 to 120 minutes. Two new titles have been added to PBS' "The Living Edens" series, Bhutan: The Last Shangri-La and Etosha: Africa's Untamed Wilderness.

Bhutan is a tiny Buddhist kingdom located between Tibet and India where virgin peaks rise to 25,000 feet; Donald Sutherland narrates. Etosha is a land of heavy rain and blistering dry seasons where animals push the limits of endurance and survival; Lauren Bacall narrates. The cassettes are $19.98 each and can be ordered at $19.95 Unlimited Access or We'll Waive Up To 1 00 iW 'AlfV Off Your Deductible A fclH iVil lHfl When We Replace --r- rrm Your Windshield. fiilfiaMllJ Umlted Timem-mm fc)((l'r I Free Mobile I Black Hole Internet nothing Escapes CJs. We are Minnesota's finest local provider of fast reliable Internet service.

100 high speed digital lines No busy signals 56KB speed Free internet software free technical assistance Free personal web page Limited time offer call nowl (612) 361-5557 www.black-hole.com the edge of extinction. Their work is embraced in National Geographic Video's America's Endangered Species: Don't Say Goodbye. It was a long way from the New York studios they abandoned to the North Carolina woods where red wolves roam, and to the lonesome Wyoming prairie where black-footed ferrets seem to vanish into the air. Their photo shoots included encounters that were funny, poignant, even dangerous, with the likes of the Wyoming toad, one of the nine remaining Florida panthers and the seemingly invisible delta green ground beetle. Some of the people Middleton and Liittschwager encountered were almost as unique as the threatened species.

There is the former Los Angeles gang member who saves the lives of Palos Verdes Blue butterflies because he credits them with saving his life. And there is the California mountain man who dedicated 35 years to saving the golden trout. The videos have running times of about an hour each, list for $19.98 and can be ordered by calling 1-800-627-5162. Vid bits Today, Warner Bros, releases a 25th-anniversary edition of The Exorcist ($19.98) that includes interviews, never-before-seen footage and a 30-minute documentary. A special-edition deluxe set which includes a 50-minute documentary, a CD of the soundtrack, a 52-page book and other goodies is $49.95.

Although the film is available on DVD now, Warner Bros, will release a special-edition DVD on Sept. 29. Speaking of DVDs, Paramount one of the last studios to begin releasing its films on DVD has announced its first titles. On Oct. 6, the studio will release Star Trek: First Contact, FaceOff, The Saint, Kiss the Girls and Twilight.

On Oct. 20, five more titles will be released: Top Gun, Clear and Present Danger, Primal Fear, In and Out and Neil Simon's The Odd Couple II. All titles will be $29.99. BBC Video offers up its own style of laughs with sitcoms consisting of two cassettes of Yes Minister, starring Nigel Haw From News Services Fans of the 1968 sci-fi classic Planet of the Apes and its four sequels have been going bananas trying to find the films at their local video stores. The problem? It's been nearly a decade since the "Apes" have been unleashed on video.

The wait is finally over. FoxVideo has just re-released "Planet of the Apes," in honor of its 30th anniversary, as well as Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Escape From the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes. Each movie ($50 to $55 for the set; $15 each) has been restored, remastered and THX-certified for this launching. "This is the first time that 'Planet of the Apes' has been in stereo," said 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment product manager Lewis Lagrone. "They all have their original theatrical trailer." Lagrone said that demand for the videos has been great among baby boomers because they are "looking back and remembering a lot of unusual things about when they were young and impressionable." Plus, Lagrone said, "parents are really kind of trying to share with their kids things they remember as being wonderful when they were their age.

'Planet of the Apes' was unique at that time." Besides the five films, "Apes" spawned a live-action TV series, an animated TV series, Web sites, fan clubs and collectibles. The film, which won a special Oscar for makeup, was penned by Rod Selling and Michael Wilson and directed by Franklin Schaffner The first "Apes," said actor Roddy McDowall, was the "granddaddy of the whole sci-fi genre. Everything now that has been made really springs from that platform. It was humorous." Emoting under layers of ape makeup, said McDowall, was one of the things that "was deeply discussed and was a measure of concern and a great adventure to us. One had to find a mental way to hone their thoughts.

One kept one's face moving all the time, which gave the appliance mask) a sort of life that it wouldn't have had otherwise." Coping with the heat on the trying to lap up the air. I couldn't even at times remember words just standing up was such a trial." Fabulous fete Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, the creator of such musical megahits as "Phantom of the Opera," "Cats," "Evita" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," is lauded in grand style during Andrew Lloyd Web-ben The Royal Albert Hall Celebration It features 36 minutes that will not be seen in the upcoming TV broadcast of the event, occasioned by Lloyd Webber's 50th birthday. Stars associated with Lloyd Webber's work, including Michael Ball, Antonio Banderas, Sarah Brightman, Donny Osmond, Glenn Close and Elaine Page, perform a number of his best-known works, including "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina," "Memory" and "Any Dream Will Do" as well as selections from his newest musical, "Whistle Down the Wind." No blarney Acorn Media has released the three-volume set Legends of Ireland ($39.95, individual volumes for $19.95. 1-800-474-2277). The first volume focuses on "St.

Patrick and Brendan the Navigator," describing the journeys that these two men made for the faith and the possibility that Brendan discovered America long before Columbus. The second volume deals with "Fairies and Leprechauns" and considers the existence, origins and magical powers ascribed to the "Litde People." The third volume, "The Warrior QueenThe Pirate Queen," revolves around two legendary Irish heroines, Grace O'Malley and Maeve. Endangerment Susan Middleton and David Liittschwager logged more than 125,000 miles in a converted milk truck, photographing species on Ttrain with us. Then WOVhft US HStR Block needs tax preparers. We employ more than 50,000 tax preparers nationwide and are always looking for more.

We offer comprehensive, step-by-step training and flexible classes to fit your schedule. In a matter of weeks, you'll be ready to begin earning money as a tax preparer. Our training gets results: we hire many of our own graduates. Sign up nowl CLOCK Someone You Can Count On a a EEftJtJJEJnAf (Y it For more information, call or visit our web site at www.hrblock.comta Codt.NS 01998 Block Tax Services Inc. offlpfetfonofthtcoumsntftfttrana thorne, and two reels of Keeping Up Appearances, starring Patricia.