Dayton Daily News from Dayton, Ohio • 74

Excellent -Good Fair Poor 'A rvnr A i C3 ryvK. i ft -v. Hole LIVE THROUGH THIS DGC To hear an excerpt from this recording, Call 4634636 and enter 2550 In a case of tragic irony, Hole's major label debut arrived four days after the suicide of singer-guitarist Courtney Love's husband, Kurt Cobain, bearing the title, Live Through This. Listeners will no doubt scour Love's lyrics for insight into her star-crossed relationship with the late Nirvana vocalist, and while there is added poignancy to tracks such as the eerily foreboding Think That I Would Die, the 1 album deserves to be judged on its own considerable merits, and not just its badly timed association to Cobain's senseless demise. Live Through This is compelling blending angst and melody in a manner not unlike Nirvana, with a similar visceral impact.

But Love sings, drones and shrieks from a "Riot Grrrl" perspective Miss World Somebody kill backed by a hard-driving, mostly female band that manages to make disturbing refrains such as ''Found pieces of Jennifer's body" so catchy youU find yourself singing them long after the album is over. Still, it's hard to hear Love intone "Someday you will ache like I ache" repeatedly on Doll Parts, slowly building to a raging scream, and not relate it to living through the aftermath of Cobain's death. DAVE LARSEN, Pop Music Critic PhilSp Bailey PHILIP BAILEY Zoo To hear an excerpt from this recording, call 4634636 and enter 2552 Jeopardy answer Adept performer of pop, jazz, gospel and music. Jeopardy question: Who is Philip Bailey? The title of a track on Bailey's new self-titled album is Something's Missing, which is a paradox. There's "something" for just about every musical taste among the 12-tracks, while a unity in sound is maintained throughout the album.

Bailey's most memorable work came during the 1970s, when he sang songs such as Reasons, Shinning Star and Devotion for pop sensation Earth, Wind Fire. The assembly of producers on Something's Missing leaves further doubt of anything being missing. That list includes Brian McKnight, Robert Brookins, Chuckii Booker, Prince Be of PM Dawn and Nadirah All of Arrested Development. If you listen closely, there are hints of every step of Bailey's musicial life on the album. The music is pure.

It avoids the slick trappings of some popular artists who seem to just throw albums together to turn a quick buck. It's nice to listen to a recording artist who appears dedicated to providing good music, instead of looking for financial rewards. Motley Crue MOTLEY CRUE Elektra To hear an excerpt from this recording, call 4634636 and enter 2551 otley Crue returns after a five-1 1 1 year absence to find the pop metal movement it helped spearhead decimated by truly heavy metal bands such as Metallica and Danzig, and a host of flannel-clad upstarts from Seattle. So for Motley Crue, the LA-based rock band's first album since the quintuple-platinum Dr. Feelgood, it was serve up a harder sound or go the way of Poison, Warrant and Winger.

The Crue made its first smart move in axing singer and spandex-poster boy Vince Neil in favor of the grittier John Corabi, and its second in moving Tommy Lee's massive drum sound to the front of the mix. As a result, the album's initial tracks show promise, particularly the bluesy single, Hooligan's Holiday. But in maintaining its longtime association with producer Bob Rock, Motley Crue doesn't distance itself far enough from its former sound. Whereas a cutting-edge producer such as Butch Vig or Dave Jerden might have sharpened the band's approach, Rock keeps the Crue tied to corporate rock, with its arena anthems, mob choruses and power ballads. Motley Crue reverts more and more to formula as the album wears on, until everything sounds the same, and dated.

EEEI Joe Lovano TENOR LEGACY Blue Note To hear an excerpt from this recording, call 4634636 and enter 2554 Pair the most talked about young saxophonist in jazz (Joshua Redman) with the veteran saxophonist most deserving of membership in the club of modern masters (Joe Lovano) and what have you got? Well, Tenor Legacy, a sure bet for the year's top 10 lists. Like all of Lovano's dates, this one cuts a wide path through jazz, encompassing a kaleidoscope of ideas while retaining a remarkable organic unity, authority and spontaneity. Lovano plays the hell out of chord changes, but he's also at home in free-jazz contexts; he swings like a madman, plays with a looseness, rhythmic flexibility and unpredictability second only to Joe Henderson; and he has a distinctive sound that cuts like a laser but retains the warmth of fur. Redman's quick ear and early maturity suggest he may develop the kind of flexibility that distinguishes Lovano. There's a great moment on In the Land ofEphe-sus where an ill-advised quote of a be-bop tune sounds silly, but Redman saves face by cleverly echoing the phrase four bars later.

Last but not least, the saxophonists are joined by a stellar rhythm section of Mulgrew Miller, Christian McBride, Lewis Nash and Don Alias. MARK STRYKER, Arts Writer it EE 3 Cheap Trick WOKE UP WITH A MONSTER Warner Bros. To hear an excerpt from this recording, call 4634636 and enter 2553 flflarney Hochman was not your I i i typical sixth-grader. While other drop-dead beauties wouldn't give a guy the time of day, Marney would at least try to seem interested when she'd blow you off. Once, Marney came to Mrs.

Alboum's math class suited up in overalls and a Cheap Trick T-shirt. Not too shabby for a Long Island middle school that prided itself in matriculating lemmings. That was 1981. God only knows what Marney's doing now or what she's married to. Unfortunately, Cheap Trick is accounted for with Woke Up With a Monster.

Rife with more cheesy power ballads (Never Run Out of Love and Didnt Know I Had It), the 13th full-length release finds the original quartet plumbing a dry well. The album gets excessively possessive with Girlfriends, in which Robin Zander strains (over a souped up, ripped off riff from Bobby Troup's Route 66): "My girlfriend's my girlfriend All mine, all mine, all mine." Woke Up With a Monster does, however, leave one of the great rock 'n' roll questions: What business does Cheap Trick have making music? That's kind of like musing over why REO Speed-wagon chugged along 10 years after it should have died. KEVIN AMOR1M, Dayton Daily News ii DEREK ALI, Dayton Daily News DllUiUsUiUiUsUiUiUlU: NEW COUNTRY DAVE LARS EN, Pop Music Critic atmosphere and friendly reasonable price. mt IBMBm 5 S. Market Street Troy, Ohio 45373 Call the K99.1 FM Country Connection Today Get info on Contlnous Country Club Discounts Memberships Listen to excerpts from the New Country K99.1 FM Top 10 Country Hits Get the scoop on upcoming concerts Hear about K99.1 FM Special Events like the Van Atta Festival Great Food plus nostalgic service all at a (is Monday Thursday 11:00 a.m.

p.m. Friday- Saturday 11:00 a.m. -1 0:00 p.m Country Connection Just call 463-4636 and enter code K991 (5991)! Dayton Daily NewsLine mvfmm-mmm.