The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 49

ipRocK 3-1 The Courier-News, Thursday, April 23. 1 992 KELTNER AND RY COODER 8 p.m. Saturday, Tower Theatre, 69th and Ludlow Streets, Upper Darby, Pa. $20.50. TicketMaster, (609) 655-2500.

BLUR Saturday, Marquee, N.Y. TicketMaster, (201) 507-8900. SABAR AK RU AFRIQ, the DRUM AND SPIRIT OF AFRICA SOCIETY 2 p.m. Sunday, Count Basie Theatre, 99 Monmouth Street, Red Bank. $16.

842-9000. VAN MORRISON Sunday and April 27, Paramount Theatre, New York City. $35. TicketMaster, (201) 507-8900. YANNI 8 p.m.

Sunday, Tower Theatre, 69th and Ludlwo Streets, Upper Darby, Pa. $19.50. Ticket- Master (609) 655-2500. OTHERS r-r-" 1 1 -1 Public Image Limited appears tomorrow at The Ritz. British punk giants together at The Ritz HEADLINERS THE LETTERMEN 7:30 p.m.

Monday through Thursday, 9 p.m. Friday, 8 and 11 p.m. Saturday, through May 2, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, Boardwalk at Mississippi Avenue, Atlantic City. $15. Box office, (800) 759-8786; Ticket-Master, (800) 736-1420.

BLUR, with Rival Suns, 8 p.m. tonight. Theatre of Living Arts, Philadelphia. $13.50. TicketMaster, (609) 665-2500.

CLIVE GREGSON AND CHRISTINE COLLISTER, with Robert Earl Keen, 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. tonight, Bottom Line, New York City. $15. (212) 228-6300. BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE II and PUBLIC IMAGE, LTD.

with Blind Melon, 8 p.m. tomorrow, the Ritz, 54th Street, west of Broadway, New York City. Sold out Ticket-Master, (201) 507-8900. THE HOOTERS, doors open 8:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Trade Winds, Ocean Sea Bright 842-4466. TicketMaster (201) 507-8900. TORI AMOS 8 p.m. tomorrow, Theatre of Living Arts, Philadelphia. $12.50.

TicketMaster: (609) 665-2500. POI DOG PONDERING tomorrow, the Marquee, New York City. TicketMaster, (201) 507-8900. 4 BITCHIN' BABES: CHRISTINE LAV1N, SALLY FINGERETT, JULIE GOLD, MEGON McDONOUGH 7:30 p.m. tomorrow, and 3:30 and 8 p.m.

Sunday, the Bottom Line, N.Y. $15. (212) 228-6300. BARBARA MANDRELL 9 p.m. tomorrow, 8 and 11:30 p.m.

Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, Harrah's Casino Hotels 1725 Brigantine Atlantic City. $24.99, plus tax. (800) 2-HARRAH. NEIL SEDAKA 10 p.m.

tomorrow, 8 p.m. Saturday, Bally's Grand Casino Hotel, Boston at Pacific avenues, Atlantic City. $25. TicketMaster, (800) 736-1420. LITTLE VILLAGE, FEATURING JOHN HIATT, NICK LOWE, JIM FROM RAGS TODEPRESSION 8 p.m.

tomorrow, Watchung Arts Center, 18 Stirling Watchung. Featuring the pianobanjo duo Terry Waldo and Eddie Davis. $10. Reservations, 753-0190. DENNIS ANDREW jazz, electronic and world music sounds 8 p.m.

tomorrow, Barron Arts Center, 582 Rahway Wood-bridge. Free; donations accepted. Reservations, 634-0413, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. EUROPA 8 p.m.

Saturday, William Carlos Williams Center for the Arts, Park Avneu at Williams Plaza, Rutherford. European traditional and Eurojazz music. $20, $17.50. Tickets, (201) 939-2323. BERNIE BERGER JAZZ QUARTET 7 p.m.

Sunday, Hyatt Regency, Route 1, Princeton. With cash bar. Social gathering 6:30 p.m. "Music for Singles" concert. $15; $12 advance.

(201) 762-8449. TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC and DANCE SESSIONS 5-9 p.m. Sunday, Knights of Columnus, 495 E. Main Somerville. Cash bar.

Free music lessons 4-5 p.m. Sponsored by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Somerset County. 685-3168, 722-3863. RISKY BUSINESS BLUEGRASS BAND 3 p.m. Sunday, William Carlos Williams Center for the Arts, Park Avenue at Williams Plaza, Rutherford.

Opening act ise banjo-ist Andrew Roblin and guitarist John Lionarins of the Pocono Mountain Boys. $20, 25 percent discount for students and seniors. (201) 939-2323. TIKKUN OLAM: SONGS TO HEAL THE WORLD 7 p.m. Sunday, Temple Beth-El, 67 Route 206 South, Somerville.

Featuring cantor Jeff Klepper. Benefits Temple Beth-El participation in the Inter-faith Hospitality Network for the Homeless of Somerset County. $36 sponsor tickets, includes tape and reception; $12, $6 ages 1 8 and younger. 722-0674. Who: Big Audio Dynamite II and Public Image, Ltd.

with Blind Melon and Live When: Tomorrow at 8 p.m. Where: The Ritz, 54th Street (west of Broadway), N.Y. Tickets: $19.50. TicketMaster: (201)507-8900. continued to attract a faithful cult of fans with dynamic shows and hard-edged music.

But Lydon is not likely to become a mainstream success anytime soon. No one who has ever heard the unique bray of his singing style will fail to know exactly what they're listening to. Johnny's still mad as hell at a world he sees as infested with fakery and lies, and his mocking, passionate tenor bleat makes that clear even when his angry words are indecipherable. By Andy Setter Courier-News Staff Writer Tracy Chapman shows tender side RICK ZAYAS, pianistsinger, 10 and 11 p.m., midnight and 1 a.m. Sundays through Tuesdays, Trop-World Casino and Entertainment Resort, Sandbar Lounge, Brighton and the Boardwalk, Atlantic City.

LOVE ALL PEOPLE 11 a.m. today. Grant Avenue Community Center, Kean-Brown Centre Stage, 403 W. 7th Street, Plain-field. Anti-drug concert, hosted by the N.J.

Department of Corrections, Juvenile Health Physical Recreation Committtee in conjunction with the Grant Avenue Community Center's Youth Partnership Program, Plainfield. Free. For youth groups only. Call 561-0123. ROOSEVELT "BOOBA" BARNES doors open 8 p.m., music 9 p.m.

tonight, 9:30 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday, Chicago B.L.U.E.S., 73 8th between 13th and 14th streets. New York City. (212) 255-7373. CHIE SOTO RODEN, PIANIST 7:30 p.m.

tonight, Manville Public Library, 1 00 S. 1 0th Ave. Free. 722-9722. contains one superb song and not much else.

"I'm gonna turn you on," Hawkins promises. This attractive blonde indeed oozes sensuality. But unlike Madonna, her sexuality seems directed almost entirely at fulfilling the fantasies of others than asserting her own wants and needs. Even in her best song, "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover," she's promising what shell give instead of anticipating what shell get Hawkins also comes off as impetuous and more than a little loopy. In "Live and Let Love," she tells a lover that she's not the same little girl who once gave up her life for him, then prepares to do exactly that And if "Carry Me" a musical mess full of moaning and chaotic guitars isn't about physically loving her mother, then the real message is lost Bob Dylan fans may want to cry at the quasi hip-hop version of "I Want You" one of many musical ideas that should have been They were giants in the British punk rock movement.

Mick Jones was a guitarist and vocalist for the Clash, probably the best punk band, and certainly the most stylistically adventurous. John Lydon was once Johnny Rotten, sneering, outrageous front-man of the Sex Pistols, the most notorious and influential punk band of them alL Now they're together, headlining MTVs "120 Minutes Tour," a tour that also stars Blind Melon and Live and concludes its run tomorrow at the Ritz in Manhattan. Jones is now the frontman of Big Audio Dynamite II (or BAD II). Lydon is the frontman of Public Image Limited (or PIL). And this is no nostalgia trip.

Both musicians have carved out distinct new turf since the heady days of the late 70s. Though Jones was not the most frequent lead singer of the Clash (Joe Strummer had that role), he was the best known to casual American ears, since he sang on their most popular songs here: "Train in Vain," "Rock the Cas-bah," "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?" With Big Audio Dynamite, which recorded four popular albums, and now a new lineup known as Big Audio Dynamite Jones has crafted a very different sound to put behind that voice. That sound uses contemporary dance rhythms, rock guitars and a wild selection of sampled sounds, including dialogue and sound effects from old movies, bits and pieces of music from earlier records and even fragments of his own recordings with the Clash. BAD was one of the first rock bands to try these techniques, which have since become common in rock and omnipresent in rap. The sonic collage of BAD II is a funky, fun, loose-limbed one, some-, times quite removed from the frontal rock attack of the early Clash, and sometimes quite close.

During the past 12 years, John Lydon has released 11 albums with various conglomerations of Public Image Limited. In all that time, he has never attracted the attention he almost effortlessly commanded in the brief, burning life of his earlier band. But the work has hardly been fruitless. Lydon stayed popular with alternative rock D. J.s and has ALBUM REVIEWS "Matters of the Heart" (Elek-tra) Tracy Chapman You already know Tracy Chapman's tough side an image bolstered when she defends the poor and attacks multinational corporations on the first two songs of her third album.

Perhaps due to her guarded public nature, Chapman's tender side is less well-known. It's the exploration of that side on the second half of "Matters of the Heart" that makes the album a delight The entire second half is Chapman standing with her arms outstretched to a lover and to the world. "No matter how unrealistic or naive it may seem," she sings, "always keep dreaming." "Open Arms" and the concluding title cut are wonderfully expressive love songs. "It feels good to have passion in my life," she sings on the extended suite of "Matters of the Heart." Chapman's voice, which is almost naturally dour, sounds giddy. That doesnt mean ignoring the powerful one-two punch that opens this album.

But "Bang Bang Bang" and "So" seem somehow more effective because they're shelved. Hawkins also can't carry a record based on musical ability. Her high, breathy voice resembles a low-rent Madonna, and when she slows down for some rapping, it sounds laughably awkward. So much goes wrong after the first three songs that it eclipses some tangible accomplishments. By The Associated Press Queen (Houyuooo) MrLovM' En Vogue (Arco) A 2 Prouo 2 Beg TIC pffa Make tr Haite MmmhCaot (ColumhaJ MaSIEBMEOE AoanikSiaw Rephse Hazard RkhahdMwx (Otto) Live AndLeam JoeBjbuc (COWMHA) 1 Jimp KsbKross RUFW0USE 2 Saw The Best For Last Vanessa WuAts 1 Teak In Heaven EfitClAHON 8 10 Bowman Rhapsody Singles concise.

Chapman makes her points and moves on to more universal concerns. Chapman's acoustic guitar and voice again dominate the record, but the music is well complemented throughout with other touches, including a swirling keyboard on "Short Supply" and cello on the title cut After the sensation of her first album and relentless pressure of the followup, Chapman can now settle down to a steady career, which is clearly what she seemed to want all along. "Matters of the Heart" proves that her career will operate on high standards. "Tongues and Tails" (Columbia) Sophie B. Hawkins Is this a musical lull period? How else to explain the hype surrounding the Columbia debut of New York City journeywoman Sophie B.

Hawkins? Hawkins has received a great deal of attention for her sexual frankness on "Tongues and Tails," a wildly overrated record that.