Sound Bites

  Tom Wopat “The Still of the
Night”

Tom Wopat “The Still of the Night” Angel
Records

At first glance, this is an album that absolutely no one should
buy. Tom Wopat? Come on, the guy’s best known as Luke on
“The Dukes of Hazzard.” Sure, he was a great stunt
driver, but the show didn’t exactly showcase his skills as a
vocalist. This good ol’ boy didn’t seem like a likely
candidate to record any sort of album, much less one of Broadway
standards. That’s why “The Still of the Night” is
such a pleasant surprise. It turns out he’s a classically
trained vocalist, not just a flannel-wearing yokel, and the album
reflects it. He’s also given his regards to Broadway,
appearing in “Guys and Dolls” and “Annie Get Your
Gun.” Once you consider this, his warm, jazzy voice
isn’t such a shock. One of Wopat’s biggest strengths is
that he knows his limits. His vocals aren’t going to kick you
in the head, but they complement the subtle, low-key arrangements
of the classic tunes. While many Broadway singers would turn
“Anyone Can Whistle” or “Let’s Fall in
Love” into over-the-top cheesefests, Wopat handles them with
ease. He stumbles in places, most notably in “Baby It’s
Cold Outside.” As he and Antonia Bennett, daughter of the
great Tony, duet back and forth through the tune, it’s just a
pale rehash of Louis Armstrong’s classic. The same is true
for “Where is Love?,” which sounds overly whiny and
weak. For the most part, however, “The Still of the
Night” is solid. Just hear his scratchy growl on
“Makin’ Whoopee!,” and you’ll forget his
Duke days and welcome his new style. Brent Hopkins Rating:
7

David Alvarado “United DJs of America, Volume 15:
David Alvarado” CMC/Razor & Tie
Entertainment

As any avid househead can tell you, a lot of live DJ sets and
mix CDs are plagued by the same problem ““ too little of what
you want and too much of what you don’t want. To his credit,
L.A.’s DJ David Alvarado is consistent; throughout his latest
70 minute mix, a release promoted by rave-savvy mag Mixer, Alvarado
keeps his deep house down-tempo, ethnic and stylishly jazzy.
However, this house pioneer doesn’t venture too far from
proven musical formulas, and as a result, isn’t likely to add
to his global following with this latest collection of tracks.
“Cried Me a River,” by Jersey Street, typifies
Alvarado’s bias for smooth, lighter than air jazz. Free from
all the standard issue, bass-heavy percussion, some blues vocals
add to the organic feel of the track. All in all, it sounds like
something Etta James might have cooked up if she had a sampler, but
after 6 intriguing minutes, Alvarado puts some new vinyl on the
turntables. “The Quest,” a tune by Dino, Terry and DJ
Deep, introduces some staple house elements to Alvarado’s
jazz. A steady beat and some electronic pulses steer the mix into
more mechanized territory, but the track never approaches the high
BPM frenzy of usual house fare. Likewise, “Another
World” and “Dance the Freestyle” continue the
danceable trend, with the latter cut even mining disco music for a
synth sample. While the subtlety of Alvarado’s deep house mix
is initially refreshing, after about a half hour, it simply feels
repetitive. Alvarado manages to re-captivate the listener with his
remix of Yellow Sox’s “Flim Flam,” which builds a
futuristic house soundscape around traditional Latin percussion.
The effect is amazing, but the ethnic elements rapidly become stale
conventions over the course of 13 tracks. At its worst, some tracks
sound shamelessly new age, so much so that Alvarado could have put
an Enya song on the compilation and no one would have noticed. Some
faster, rougher numbers are definitely in order here ““ after
all this is house music ““ it shouldn’t be playable on
AM radio. Anthony Camara Rating: 5

Sunny Day Real Estate “The Rising Tide” Time
Bomb Recordings

On first listen, “The Rising Tide” plays like a
scrambled medley of top 40 radio, combining several pop/rock trends
of the last few years into an 11-song volume. Every track on the
album shares the same muted, smooth production values that
characterize the sound of most modern rock, lending it a generic
feel. “Killed By An Angel,” and “One,” the
first two tracks of the album, blend the overbearing earnestness of
Matchbox 20, with the heavy guitar wash of industrial rock groups
such as Filter. However, repeated playing of the disc cuts through
the gloss to reveal the heart of the album, which is rooted in the
anguished integrity of the grunge era. This comes across
particularly strong on “Disappear,” as lead singer
Jeremy Enigk sings, “Turn me inside out this time/looking
back, the place that I come from/disappeared.” Both
“Disappear” and “Snibe” deliver the
overwrought, disappointed message of grunge in a lilting, mid-tempo
shell. Elsewhere on the album, the band displays other stylistic
influences. “Faces in Disguise” sounds like a
stripped-down version of an unknown Depeche Mode classic. However,
all elements of the album crystallize in “Tearing In My
Heart.” Beginning with a woman asking plainly if we
“Wanna hear some kids,” the sounds of children playing
on a street are gradually replaced with a lushly played guitar
melody supported by synthesizers and light percussion.
Enigk’s high-range vocals work brilliantly with the
instrumentation, forming the equivalent of a modern-day lullaby.
Taken as a whole, “The Rising Tide” functions as a
collage of past musical ambition set in the present musical style.
Julia Ingalls Rating: 7

Various Artists “Up Records & Slabco Present
Various Artists” Up Records

“I have accepted a smokey gift,” singer Mike Johnson
croons, aptly describing the experience of listening to the CD
“Up Records & Slabco Present Various Artists,” on
which his song “Smokey Gift” is featured. The
compilation CD, which showcases 16 different musical groups, is at
times mysterious and intriguing, and occasionally repulsive. From
the opening dirge-like accordion chords of The Concrete’s
“The Thief (Tjyven),” to the wild stylistic lurches of
“V-A-C-A-N-T” by Draco, it is clear that the artists on
Up Records are less concerned with their commercial potential than
they are with honestly expressing themselves. Although several of
the songs, through use of pre-programmed beats and predominant
bass, could be placed in the broadly defined category of
“electronica,” the true unifying factor of the songs is
their personality. “Land of the Loops,” from the group
France, begins with a plodding synthesizer riff reminiscent of the
opening music of a children’s show, joined immediately by an
eerie, beat-scrambled vocal track. The song inspires simultaneous
impulses to absorb a moral lesson while shaking it on the dance
floor. Songs such as “My Wandering Eye” from Dark
Fantastic and “Edit the Sad Parts” from Modest Mouse
offer emotionally revealing, guitar-driven rock ‘n’
roll, while, “Compound Elements” from Volume All*Star,
comes across as the German techno version of dub music. Altogether,
“Up Records & Slabco Present Various Artists”
challenges and stimulates the listener with the one quality
currently lacking in almost all of the country’s top selling
musical acts; imagination. Julia Ingalls Rating:
7