Dayton Daily News from Dayton, Ohio • 58

Music on the Newsline Deftones: Call 463-4636, enter 2550 Call 463-4636, enter 255 1 Call 463-4636, enter 2552 James: Call 463-4636, enter 2553 Recordings Personal Spin Personal Spin is an occasional feature in GO! that lets you know better the CD reviewers who let you know better. Today you get to wear the headphones of Ron Rollins (b) Rock Deftones DEFTONES Maverick Hip-hop Various artists "2 FAST 2 FURIOUS" SOUNDTRACK Def Jam South Earth, Wind and Etta James r- LETS ROLL Private Music THE PROMISE Kalimba Listening to Earth, Wind and Fire's Promise can take old-school fans back to a time when real musicians played real instruments and made listeners feel real good. The energy conveys works a healing power that soothes a tired body after work, cures a spurned lover or generates faith in a seemingly gloomy world. Listen to the magic in Wonderland. A true romantic can get lost in the song's promise of never-ending joy.

Remember the power of the kalimba, congas and voices in the group's 1970s songs? used them to connect sounds of the era with music cultivated in Africa. Little bites of that sound can be found in the three Promise vignettes scattered throughout the album's second half. This is more of a listening album than a dance groove. It's strong enough to attract notice, yet it's subtle enough to create a nice backdrop for conversation or set the the mood for romance. -DEREKALI Chin up, Etta James is wrapped in a fancy dress and a wiggling attitude.

And she's on a roll. "The blues is my business," exhorts the diva on her signature sound, "and business is ghuuud." For James, it's as good as it gets on Let's Roll, a dozen mostly rollicking takes that are dipped in soul. It wasn't always that way. A Johnny Otis project of the 1950s, the California kid was a low-fi quality destined for mainstream obscurity and history. When the haze of drug addiction cleared, James was stuck in a grunt-and-groan grind on the small-club circuit.

That backroom rearing, mixed with a big helping of black gospel feel, has James sounding better than ever. On Strongest Weakness, she "gave up smokin', wine and whiskey," but kept her no-good man. An electric banjo rigged with a wah-wah pedal typifies her Roots Band backing. Even better is the opening Somebody to Love, a Delbert McClinton ode that embraces the gem of life's many treasures. The album's namesake is a salute to Todd Beamer of doomed Flight 93, September 11, 2001.

MARC PENDLETON It might strike one as odd that in the most affluent culture in world history, so much popular music is dedicated to the exploration and expression of pure, unadulterated rage. But it's the case that in the loud world of youthful hard rock and the latter-day offshoot known as new metal, the madder you are, the better. Deftones express anger as well as anyone, thanks to a deft one-two punch that has served them better than it does on this self-titled, fourth album. The first punch comes from able metal craftsmanship these guys are first-rate players, whether turning in molten fury or soft, scary-movie eeriness; the instrumentals pull you in. The second punch comes from vocalist Chino Moreno, who may be moaning brokenly one second, then scraping your face off, the next.

What fell through the anger cracks on Deftones was song structure. The band's previous CD, the titanic White Pony, conveyed Moreno's angst in tightly wound mini-metal symphonies of noise; this time, Moreno spends too much time in Pantera-style screeching in which the emotion is muddled and lost. Dial it back. -RON ROLLINS Executive produced by rapper Ludacris, the soundtrack to the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious is leaden with hip-hop tracks, including a few by Luda's proteges, the Disturbing the Peace Crew. Luda also has the first radio release from the CD, Act a Fool, which is classic Ludacris: witty and made for the clubs.

The rest of the album has a few notable cuts that should receive decent airplay. Joe Budden's Pump It Up is already a hit. Newcomer (and winner of BETs 106 and Park Freestyle Friday contest) Jin bows in with the promising Peel Off. The surprise of the CD is the group Dead Prez's Hell Yeah, which signals a new direction for the militant, pro-Black group. Miraculously, the song fits on this otherwise light CD.

Soundtracks can either be masterpieces that stand on their own away from the films they are based on, or they can be lightweight song collections that serve a limited purpose. Place this soundtrack in the latter category. It's not a classic, but it will be perfect to listen to this summer in your car. GREG SIMMS JR. See film review, Page 10.

People who read my stuff in GO! and my Sunday arts-page column, Culture Clash, probably know by now that I'm a snob with trashy tastes. I listen to nearly any kind of music and shift rapidly between genres. I would like to say I only like the good stuff, but that's often not true. A great bad song can be the most fun. Favorite style of music: Vox-guitar-bass-drums, three chords and basic.

That or Mozart. Favorite band or musician: Bruce Springsteen, though we maintain a weird sort of dysfunctional, love-hate relationship. Or I do, anyway. I don't know if he knows about it. Desert-island disc: Two of them: OK Computer, Radiohead; Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, Social Distortion.

Grew up listening to: '70s rod Springsteen, Zeppelin, the Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Seger and then punk U2, Sex Pistols, Pretenders, the Clash, in particular. Neil Young remains a fave since he bridged both camps. First album bought: The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get, by Joe Walsh. Biggest music-related fear: I ing my hearing. And meeting Joan Jet in a dark alley.

Do you own vinyl records? About 600 of them. They whisper my name longingly as I pass by, but I am strong. See Ron's review of Deftones on this page. Short tracks Rooney Rooney (rock) This five-man surfer band offers 1 1 tracks of Weezer-esque tunes on its self-titled debut, The Los Anqeles group named after the principal in Ferris Bueller's Day Off- com Will Hoge Blackbird on a Lonely Wire (rock) Will Hoge pays tribute as often as he can to Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and other great '70s rockers, but this Nashville boy and his four musical cohorts seem just as steeped in the music of that little old Tennessee town. Blackbird on a Lonely Wire (Atlantic) is a nice and easy debut that's a little bit alt-country, a little bit rock 'n' roll, and all fun to listen to.

Standout cut Be the One deserves more airplay than it will probably get on rock or country stations, and that's a shame. Reviewed by Ron Rollins bines the sounds of the 1 960s with modern-day rock, while giving careful attention to details in songwriting, arrangement and studio recording. Each cut has a sing-song quality, which means listeners will be singing along before hearing the entire album. Reviewed by Lisa Knodel.