Soundbites

Monday, November 18, 1996

Snoop Doggy Dogg "Tha Doggfather" (Death Row) Snoop’s sophomore
disc is a solid bit of gangsta funk, but it won’t live up to the
expectations he set for his fans after his five-million selling
debut disc "Doggystyle." All the talk surrounding this album has
dwelled on how Snoop’s sound would be without the guiding force of
Dr. Dre, who produced 1993’s "Doggystyle." Is Dre’s mastery
missing? Definitely. But do D.J. Pooh and Dat Nigga Daz make up for
it with their own beats and style? Almost, but not quite. While
"Doggystyle" contained five or six solid singles that kept it on
the radio for nearly two years, the new collection contains only
two or three songs that will probably find massive airplay. The
first single, Snoop’s "Upside Ya Head," already has. It’s clearly
the album’s strongest track, interpolating a classic Gap Band
baseline, and the track will help the album debut at No. 1.
Although "Doggystyle" sold five million copies, there was still a
lot of filler, and the same can be found among "Tha Doggfather"’s
21 tracks. Strangely, it seems like Snoop’s best raps lately have
been on other people’s records, including 2Pac’s "America’s Most
Wanted" and Nate Dogg’s "Never Leave Me Alone." One would have
expected him to save his smoothest flows for his own release, but
on this album one won’t find them in excess. Jeff Hilger B

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion "Now I Got Worry" (Matador) For a
band that has made a reputation for itself live, the Blues
Explosion has seemed incoherent at times on disc. But with its
latest effort, the band has hit a new peak. A fusion of blues,
punk, and plenty of good surprises, the Blues Explosion approaches
music with no main intention other than rocking your ass. The
eternal stomping of the drums is highlighted with the hippest
sounds to come out of a guitar since the King himself. In "Can’t
Stop," the band flows into a groovy free-form jam that ends with
Spencer proclaiming, "This is the part of the record/ Where I’d
like everybody to stand up/ Throw their hands in the air/ and kiss
my ass/ ’cause your girlfriend still loves me," with the light
humor that so often our contemporary music scene lacks. If you find
yourself daring to take a few risks and feeling like stepping into
something fresh, then this band might be for you. If you don’t like
them, they’ll ever notice ­ ’cause they don’t make music for
anyone but themselves. Michael Nazarinia A-

Various "William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet" (Capitol)
Soundtracks are usually extremely boring and filled with work
contributed as an afterthought to a movie the artists may not have
even liked. Exceptions like "Pulp Fiction" reign as an example of
what a creative director can do when faced with coming up with his
own soundtrack. "Romeo & Juliet" falls somewhere in between.
The first single, "#1 Crush," by Garbage, is probably the best
single from a movie for ’96, with the sing-along quality that has
made this song a radio favorite, and the lyrics that best typify
this dark, suicidal nature of Shakespeare’s classic. Everclear
brings their screeching guitars and intelligent lyrics to "Local
God," which contrasts nicely to "#1 Crush" by being more
lighthearted in its take on the movie’s theme. The Butthole Surfers
come up with a gem in "Whatever (I Had A Dream)," where a slow bass
line, quiet drums, keyboard effects from a Buddhist temple and
Gibby Hanes’ tripped out vocals flow nicely as a whole. The
Cardigans add "Lovefool," a song reminiscent of a disco number from
the ’70s. Radiohead adds "Talk Show Host," a slow-paced quiet
number with the vibe that made their ’95 album,

"The Bends" the surprise of the year. Some of the tracks seem
unoriginal and uninspired, but half the disc makes up for the
inadequacy of the other half. Michael Nazarinia B+

Originoo Gunn Clappaz "Da Storm" (Priority) The OGC, a trio
composed of Starang Wondah, Louieville Sluggah and Top Dog, step to
the plate with a debut release filled with bass-heavy, head-nodding
tracks and verbal skills. Similar to previous Bootcamp Clik
releases, much of the album’s production work was done by Da
Beatminerz. This is both good and bad for the OGC ­ good in
the sense that the tracks definitely slam, but bad in the sense
that the album almost becomes indistinguishable from their
predecessors’ albums. What does make this album uniquely OGC is the
personalities of the three rappers. The three Gunn Clappaz’ lyrical
abilities are evident on the album’s first single, "No Fear." On
this song Starang Wondah rhymes, "I scare petty emcees who claim
they got gats/ Frontin’ with hoes in videos with pimp hats./ But
the fact still remains you’re just a stain on the bottom of my
boots." All three rappers show microphone abilities on the album’s
15 tracks. For the past few years, the Bootcamp Clik has been known
to put out solid rap music. Just how Heltah Skeltah paved the way
for the OGC, the OGC are paving the way for the next Bootcamp Clik
group, the Representativz. The OGC are not the most dynamic or
spectacular lyricists, but "Da Storm" is straight-up, underground
hip-hop. Nelson Saldua B+

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