NGOTONE >>»

Leona Naess
| Tried to Rock you but you
only Roll

MCA 2001

Leaona Naess is, unfortu-
natly, one of those female
singers that all sound myste-
riously alike. She is good,
but not terribly origional. Her
songs are catchy, poppy,
and pretty brain-dead. She
has singing talent, and her
songwriting is not terrible,
but there isn’t much:in the
way of any sort of deeper
meanings, thought, new
ground being
broken...uh...you get the pic-
ture. One big complaint for

The Cranberries

Wake up and Smell the
Coffee

Universal

| didn't know what to expect
when popping the CD into my
CD player. | was wary that
the Cranberries would have
sold out their own sound in
favor of mainstream pop
adding heavy synthesizers
and other disjointed sounds.
Well they didn't. They still
have the Irish, Celtic under-
tone they always had. | had
at one time owned 2 previous
albums and this CD sounds
essentially the same, in most
cases they changed the

Geosonic Grooves Volume
01

Nettwerk/Nutone

Universal

Geocentric Grooves is one
of the most interesting compi-
lation CDs I’ve had the
opportunity to experience ina
long time. Instead of the
usual DJ remixes of popular
tunes that are __ infinitely
danceable, this disc is full of
tracks from some of the
unusual, strange, and won-
derful unheard of artists out
there. Full of exotic vocals,
funky beats, and foreign influ-
ences, Geosonic Grooves
will take you on a trip through

this album is the fact that her
record label seemed too
cheap to hire her a band and
it ruins a lot of the songs.
What | mean is that instead
of having session musicians
come in to play with her, she
has some guy on a keyboard
playing what sounds like glo-
rified midi music to back her
up. Track 3, ‘all the stars,’
could have been a rockin’
tune if it had real guitars,
bass players and a drummer,
but with the midi keyboard
arrangement, it sounds like
an old disco tune. Poor
Leona Naess, she sounds a
lot like Blondie in those
moments, but unfortunatly,

words, others they changed
the melody slightly. If you are
a Cranberries fan and the for-
mer lyrics you're tired of
singing them in the shower
then this album is for you.
One thing | respect is that the
band seems to know its mar-
ket and kept the sound that
made them famous. The
vocals are as good as ever,
but they don't seem as
impassioned as in the original
album. This CD is good, |
don't despise it, but after 2
CD's, as a consumer, | would
like something a little differ-
ent. Some people would dis-
agree with me, wanting the
same melody regurgitated or

the desert of the human
mind. The album includes trip
hop from Turkey’s Sultana,
the Arabic sounds of Natacha
Atlas, the Middle Eastern-
influenced drum n’ bass of
Smadj, aswell as
Vancouver's .own Delerium.
Meta4 manages to bring the
variety of the track list togeth-
er with his superb mixing
skills; his transitions are
smooth, and you won't find a
trainwreck on this album.
From the Calypso-flavored
“Boops” to the haunting
vocals and ocean sounds of
“Tidal Pool’, this disc will
keep you guessing as to what
comes next. The entire album

Debbie Harry is a better
singer than she is, making
her seem pretty second rate.
This album isn’t bad, but it’s
not very good either, falling
dismaily into the category of
mediocre and overlooked.
My adivice? Get a real band
and try to rock out, ‘I tried to
Rock you but you only Roll’
doesn’t rock, it rolls conve-
niently to the bottom of a CD
drawer instead of rocking
when it should have!

-Kathleen

remixed. This is a good CD
for background music and
this band at least will always
have a hold in the Mission
Impossible soundtracks mar-
ket, but I'm left disappointed
because the band is capable
of better.
-Colleen

had me thinking of exotic
oasises, tropical seashores,
and strangely enough, of rid-
ing a camel past the
Pyramids. If you are into the
melodic sounds of Delerium,
Enigma, or anything outside
of the paradigm of popular
music, then this is the disc for
you.

-Dana