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Aggielife
Page 3 • Monday, November 8, 1999
ication skills she
ince of English i
d speech depart® ^
it isn't something!
1 take responsib!
il
p m
Bush
The Science of Things
CD courtesy of
Trauma Records
ell said while hedt
place the blame!
1, some high schi
the resources to]
students who are
s learning to res
an adequate level
rly, in many case
have been ovenv
nts who have pre
■ can't address ths
for budget or or
litchell said,
ter said the besi
s problem is for#;
i writing and re. B|ish has delivered an album
in a positive m, wing with energy and feeling
fiHT/m Science of Things.
■He group has grown and ex-
M Cj Dpf'nd. d both emotionally and mu-
^ ^ since the release of Razor-
Suitcase. With tracks such
N \' “T te Chemicals Between Us,”
dindchanger” and “Jesus On-
ie,r the album offers powerful
unds and insightful lyrics.
I Trough a few of the tracks are
acironically altered, making
adjsinger Gavin Rossdale’s voice
utid like something from a sci-
ice fiction movie, the album
res not suffer because of it.
Tire charging bass lines of
Thb Disease of the Dancing
Ms and euphoric chords in
.etting the Cables Sleep,” make
6 album a dynamic and stimu-
51 C&MCtmg piece of work. (Grade: B]
um
-Amanda Palm
Janice Robinson
The Color Within Me
CD courtesy of
Warner Bros.
Janice Robinson has released an
album that is almost an open book
to her past. All of the songs, how
ever, are universal, so any person
can listen and understand them.
In “Nothing I Would Change,”
Robinson sings about historical
dates, with an explanation of the
significance of the time. This high
ly repetitive method actually man
ages to sound engaging.
There is a truth throughout the
album. Robinson apparently want
ed to produce something that hon
estly portrayed peoples’ everyday
life occurrences.
Robinson harmonizes on many
of the tracks. This works, but it al
most happens too often, which in
evitably makes some of the songs
sound repetitious.
The instruments on the album
aid in diminishing the signs of sim
ilarity between the tracks. In one of
the most thought provoking songs.
“Gracefully Gliding,” the sound of
the piano is heard.
The lyrics of this song are
melancholy, explaining racial ha
tred and the detriment it puts peo
ple through. Robinson finishes the
song, saying she will never be hurt
again by the words of others.
The Color Within Me is a posi
tive album for the most part, gear
ing toward racial harmony and
growing up. (Grade: B)
—Jeff Wolfshohl
Mariah Carey
Rainbow
Columbia Records
People either love her or hate
her, but one thing can not be de
nied from this diva — she actually
has talent. As the highest-selling
and most productive artist of the
’90s, Mariah continues her quest to
please fans with Rainbow.
Rainbow, Mariah’s attempt to
further explore R&B/Hip-Hop,
proves to be successful. While it is
not her best album, it is definitely
filled with infectious tunes des
tined to hit the charts and air
waves. After abandoning her signa
ture glass-shattering notes on But
terfly, she decided to bring them
back, and did so dramatically on
the track “Bliss.”
Her enormous range is show
cased heavily on this album.
Mariah transforms from light and
airy to bold and jazzy — a true
vocal genius.
Mariah whips out the song
writing thesaurus and uses words
like: incessantly, enamored and
rhapsodize to convey her mes
sages. She has already propelled
the first single off the album,
“Heartbreaker,” to number one
status with the help of featured
rapper Jay-Z. “Heartbreaker” has
a feel similar to that of 1995’s
“Fantasy,” but this track gives un
fortunate girls a theme for the
men who won’t take them back,
while Jay-Z humorously describes
the antics of typical boyfriend-de
pendent women.
Rainbow has many singing col
laborations and guests from Snoop
Dogg to 98 degrees and writing col
laborations from the ballad queen
Dianne Warren (“How Do I Live”)
to the deceased Tupac Shakur (his
sampled lyrics are included).
With so much diversity and ah
bums to her credit, the question is:
what is left for Miss Carey?
Well after writing the sound
track for the ’90s, she is pursuing
acting. But all she needs to do is
continue creating fun, hip records
for the world to jam to. And the
only problem with this album
was its length — too short.
(Grade: B +)
—JeffKempf
Ash
Nu-Clear Sounds
CD courtesy of
Dreamworks
The youthful UKers, Ash, are
slowly chiseling an American
niche, and its latest album, Nu-
Clear Sounds, brings the sopho
more rockers even closer to Ap
ple Pie hearts.
Forming the band at only 12
years of age, the initial trio (now
foursome) were heavy metal al-
ternateens when they first hit
the UK charts. Since then, Ash
has traded in its head banging
roots for a blended indie, punk
and pop-beat, which started in
the early ’90s once the Nirvana-
nihilism trend became the ulti
mate flavor.
Nu-Clear Sounds is the result
of the Pixie-Nirvana influence,
with heavy guitar riffs and fe
male background vocals in
“Wild Song” and “Numbskull.”
Both are tracks which could eas
ily be mistaken for Pixie tributes.
However, the slower melancholic
songs, sweetly tap into the Lou
Reed portion of the brain, espe
cially the semi-catchy “Folk
Song” and “Aphrodite.”
Unfortunately, there are times
when the band seems to lose it.
Listeners have to wonder if there
isn’t a black sheep in the band
insisting on some of his personal
favorites in return for instrumen
tal talent. “Death Trip 21” and
“Fortune Teller” are just two ex
amples of such unpleasant musi
cal jolts.
Overall, the bad and the good
blend to equilibrate the CD, re
sulting in an album on its way to
the American Dream but falling
just two stars below the semicon
scious. (Grade: C)
— Heather Brandy
AR/ 1 #'-
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um Mohiuddin, Mam
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then Wells, Aggielife B
tt Harris, Aggielife Edito'
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Rogers, Photo Editor
mica Serrano, Night Nf''
Whitacre, Radio Prodif
my Brown, Web Mastd,
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