The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 92

MUSIC Gabriel goes voice first into MUSIC REVIEWS CD may be noticed for strange instrumentation but remembered for provocative songs To um StarTouch dal (816) 889-STAR and antar a 4 -digit catagoiy for album excerpt: I RECTORY Peter Gabriel Much of the advance word on 'The new Peter Gabriel CD has delighted in listing the exotic instruments used to record it Credited are a djembe a tama a surdu The relief is that these unfamiliar devices are put in service of songs that are sorry accessible And while such African and Arabic percussion instruments make a provocative racket the most remarkable instrument heard here is again own voice First husky then keening the voice is especially showcased on of For several minutes over a steady percussive bottom Gabriel and a chorus of breathless voices (Sinead O'Connor and co-producer Daniel Lanois) remark upon the ageless tug between women and men Guitars approach and pull back Then familiar falsetto will take occasional wordless flight above it all That's a Gabriel signature when words sometimes fail him his voice simply takes over Few have redirected the spotlight of mainstream success as honorably as Gabriel Since his breakthrough commercial album in 1986 he has toured for Amnesty International and campaigned for a greater awareness of world music among the corporate rock publishers and suits The new Gabriel disc also appeared in stores this week without the usual CD cardboard longbox The best news however is that demonstrates how principal agenda is still a musical one Brian Burnes Boyz II Men and of the Road" the No 1 song on the pop and black charts for the last month are featured on One" from the East Coast Family ALBUM EXCERPTS Patar Gabrial 5152 East Coast Family 5153 Brand NawHsaviaa 5154 Tha Crawl 5155 Tha Chipmunks 5156 has a contract with all of his charges that demands they praise him or Bell Biv DeVoe at some point The strengths are remixes of Boyz II hits and the straight version of of the Some fans might be interested in Another Bad Creation's These Wanna a direct slam at Kriss Kross But if you're slamming someone for not being original is it wise to copy the structure of their hit and do it over a tape of someone song? -Wart Triplett III The Brand New Heavies Rhyme Experience: Vol 1 Is it possible to time-travel? This album says yes The Heavies an English band that punched up their last album with vocalist Davenport this time play a constant 1970s sound under 10 guest rappers It sounds like something the Ohio Players or the Average White Band might have played for crowds in bell-bottom pants and platform shoes But if all we want today are the lyrics rappers like Main Source Fide Gang Starr and Grand Pupa Makes the are there with the commentary that fans of popular music rap have come to listen for The drums are real the bass is real but so is the scratching So what we end up with is an original Timmons and bassist Jymie Merritt pour out energetic passionate music over primeval beat You can almost smell the smoke and sweat Songs such as are so familiar in 1992 that they seem like jazz cliches but in these performances they have all their original power and then some The fire of music always be felt in his records but lets the listener stand very close to the flames These recordings have circulated in Europe for years but this is their first release in the United States Joe Klopus Peter Gabriel What else can I say? Buy this disc If your local music dealer have it chew him out and then call Black Top Records Inc at (504) 895-7239 John Mark Eberhart East Coast Family As much as I question Michael maturity when it comes to his own recordings there is no question about his ability to match agreeable voices with image and the hybrid of and machinery so popular on black radio and dance formats today This record is a worthy compili-ation of remixes and bright moments from acts associated with Bivins The opening track is a bouncy entertaining bit of drivel in which each member of the many of them yet to be heard anywhere else declares how great the family is and how happy they are to be a part of it It captures strengths and tendencies It with swirling programming that sounds like something heard before and entirely self-congratulatory Bivins apparently rap album with no sampling and true spontanaity between the vocalist and the musicians Instead of relying on recycling this product is all about creating According to the rappers involved it all belongs right where it is Today Micah Booker Art Blakey the Jazz Messengers When Art Blakey died in 1990 he left hundreds of recordings behind the worst of them being merely pretty good But this way above the high average Pop in and transported to a smoky nightclub where one of the best-ever editions of the Messengers is being egged on to higher heights by a vociferous crowd Trumpeter Lee Morgan tenor saxophonist Benny Golson pianist Bobby Chipmunks Low Well no dumber than half the Christmas albums that will be coming out this winter and will probably outsell all of them The latest Alvin voice tackles Feel By Your and Rock the and others the real artists show up for spoken intros and commentary during the songs Billy Ray Cyrus tells Alvin he dropped by because he never as a kid that the Chipmunks would cut one of my just before Alvin squeaks through Breaky When Aaron Tippin rolls by Alvin tries to sing his big hit in grammatically correct English wipers work and the horn blow but there anything wrong with the Everyone is a good sport and this ends up being amusing trifle that country fans can take as a tiny tribute and non-fans as ammunition Ward Triplett III The Crawl Moon Over Texas blues? Sure why not but Moon Over is only one song There are other connections on The powerful CD it was recorded in New Orleans and the liner notes express thanks to Kansas City bluesmeister Lindsay Shannon and to our premiere blues club the Grand Emporium The band recently played at the Spirit Festival If that's not enough to hook you consider this: Many of the records you hear these days sound like they were recorded by robot sound engineers So clean so neat so perfect! The sound on this disc exactly grunge but listen closely and you can hear the amps buzzing on Cat And even a ballad like Me Live gets the assertive rhythmic treatment that this music back up cutting-edge rap artists with live instruments on "Heavy Rhyme The Experience H-f6 The Kansas Ciiy Star Friday! October 2' 1992 I-H ier ir 'll:.