The Winnipeg Sun from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada • 42

42 THE WINNIPEG SUN Friday April 25 1997 FPIDQYPUJS now playing country SAWYER BROWN Six Days On The Road CurbUniversal This country-pop band Is led by Mark Miller the down prince of country known for his awkward Elvis stage shenanigans and it has chosen to anchor its umpteenth album with the classic truck driving tune Six Days On The Road While this may make for some good video fun it signals a lack of depth which the band tries to make up for by recording too many songs There are no less than 18 tracks here about eight more than needed The race isn't on over for this tired band Elegantly Wasted MercuryPolyGram Of the bands which rose to international prominence and ultimately attained sales in the multi-millions INXS was deemed the that blends elements of the band's essential attraction its hyper-driven backbeat complementary rhythmic textures and big choruses These six Aussies were devil-may-care party boys when set against save-the-worid seriousness and REM's bohemian artiness The band's slick groove and the incessant preening of frontman Michael Hutchence amounted to a great rock show but not much more By rights then the rise of grunge BIG HOUSE Big House MCAUniversal JUJUm Not to be confused with the now-defunct Edmonton rockers of the same name this sextet cut its teeth in the honky-tonks and saloons of the American should have killed this band dead That was obviously not the case and with the recent onset of premillennia! decadence INXS has slicked back its hair and put on the leather pants in order to party like it's 1999 Thus we come to Elegantly Wasted a raunchy rocked-up disc with the layered production sheen of Vancouver hit-maker Bruce Fairbaim The result is an at-times absurdly catchy recording which though it sounds somehow quaint beside aU the new eiectronica acts wiN likely become a radio and video staple for the summer Several songs take a while to develop but the insistent urgency of cuts like Show Me Elegantly Wasted I'm Just A Man and Girl On Fire will cause more than a few people to revisit the tightly coiled energy of a group they may have written off ftdrftl2 out of South and the result is a sound steeped in beer-feelled barroom ener- sound bites M7- With a sound that places the group squarely in Fabulous Thunderbirds and BR5-49 territory (replete with spicy organ tides and hot harp blowing) Big House offers six deftly hot performances with the remaining half-dozen tunes working out well also David Neuhauser's deft work on electric and slide guitars is worth the price of admission alone KRS-ONE I Got Next JiveBMG May 6 Clodhopper EMI THE MUFFS Happy Birthday To Me RepriseWarner May 20 JOHN FOCERTY Blue Moon Swamp Warner May 20 TRAGICALLY HIP Live Between Us Universal May 24 classical CHICK COREA Remembering Bud Powell Stretch Records Concord Mediocre Hardly Not with musicians such as pianist Corea drummer Roy Haynes trumpeter Wallace Roney bassist Christian McBride and sax men Kenny Garrett and Joshua Redman on hand That's merely the name of one of the tunes here by the late pianist Powell whose reputation as writer and performer is acknowledged and enhanced by a sextet whose talent is just the opposite Superlative Share My World MCAUniversal Blige was initially hailed as an artist who like Neneh Cherry seemed able to blend the soulful smoothness of with the street urgency of hip-hop In subsequent releases though she's inched ever closer to the slick diva territory occupied by the likes of Toni Braxton This album completes the Steelteeth Virgin Bassist John Borra is gone but new guy Rob Higgins is no slouch propelling this taut TO unit into poppier territory than it has explored in the past The progressive hard edge of the band is still here in frontman Ian Blurton's exploratory arrangements raunchy guitar and extremely personal lyrics 'JrdrJrl2 An ambitious esoteric act from southern Ontario Glueieg applies some decidedly non-rock instruments from Chapman stick to violin (courtesy Ashley Maclsaac) to its unconventional approach (0 hard rock While earlier releases stressed that -esoteric bent this album is a more straightforward and thus disappointing guitar-oriented album KENDLE compilations normacoi ten ion HIT ZONE 3 i t-i 'tf Inland Passages Justin Time The first five cuts constitute a suite dedicated to such explorers of the inner psyche and outer world as Joseph Conrad Jack Kerouac and Sir Richard Burton Bassist Jim Vivian pianist Brian Dickinson and drummer Ted Warren join guitarist Patterson inexplicably and erroneously damned with faint praise by promo material that describes his style as "Wd-back' and -ROSS MCLENNAN Various Artists SonyBMGPolyGram Part of a series put together by three of the country's six major labels this 17-song collection is a curious mix On one hand there are dance tracks by the likes of OMC No Mercy and the Latin-flavored Blackout Allstars Then there's the ballad dreck of Toni Braxton Kelly and Celine Dion And then there's Oasis Big Sugar and Sheryl Crow A schizophrenic party record if I ever heard one 12 KENDLE Collection MCAUniversal Since splitting with mom Naomi Wynonna has grown to be one of the biggest female country stars of her time and the 11 songs here are an irresistible smorgasbord of soulful country With her fell-bodied bassy alto Wynonna incorporates and rock into her music which is passionately sung and expertly arranged Some tracks here include Heaven Help My Heart She Is His Only Need My Strongest Weakness No One Else On Earth and Girls With Guitars O'CONNOR.