Tori Amos "Boys For Pele"
EastWest, 7567 82862 2 (71 mins)
Dial a track code 1201
No, this is not Tori Amos's paean to the Loaded lads or the Goal geezers this Pele is apparently some girlie Hawaiian fertility god and not the Brazilian foot balling legend known to boys everywhere.
Now that we've cleared up that little misunderstanding, I'm sure the fellas are all wondering what deep, cathartic confessions rock's kookiest redhead has hidden up her torn skirts this time.
The sleeve art depicts a mud caked Tori in full mad backwoods woman mode, sitting at her porch, shotgun in lap, or kneeling on all fours on a dirty old mattress, or sitting in the hayshed suckling a piglet (oink, oink, nudge, nudge).
I've always thought that Tori Amos was little more than Kate Bush's sassy American cousin, a bit more damaged by life, and I've never felt much affinity with the lady's breathy, piano plinking, musical meanderings. Boys For Pele was produced by Amos herself and recorded in the wilds of Louisiana and Co Wicklow to say the result is somewhat self absorbed is, akin to admitting that a bear often leaves unpleasant smelling deposits in the woods.
Despite the overall whiff off Boys For Pele, however, there are a few fragrant moments where Amos finds a definite path among the wilds of her imagination. Hey Jupiter is a plangent ballad which never spins out of orbit, while the current single, Caught A Lite Sneeze, has a contagious quality of its own.
Professional Widow is a mad maelstrom of beats and harpsichord arpeggia, a sort of Portishead for the beaten generation, while a definite I am The Walrus influence blows over the whimsical Mr Zebra not sure if thats due to the completely semolina pilchard lyrics or the presence of a real ole tyme brass band.
Other tracks like Little Amsterdam and Talula creep over you like the smell of home cooking, but don't get too comfortable although Missy Amos can rustic up some very palatable fare, she has a rather irritating tendency to overturn the dinner table.
Rocket From The Crypt "Scream, Dracula, Scream"
Elemental ELM34CD (44 mins)
Dial a track code 1311
America's coolest cult band go mainstream with their third album, a fast, frenetic melee of punk, rockabilly and Stax soul, with flying punches thrown in the direction of MC5, The Clash, The Stones and Sha Na Na.
The album opens with the battle cry refrain of Middle, before tearing straight into the current single, Born In 69 a Manson style rebuttal which cuts through the memory of Flower Power.
On A Rope lets the brass loose on a thumping riff, while Young Livers is a breakneck ode to teenage recklessness.
Used is a rockabilly ballad of innocence and arrogance lost, and Misbeaten is a hard hitting song about a girl.
The rocket ride crashes in flames with Burnt Alive, a short history lesson written in fire. Put this album beside Graham Parker's Stick To Me and watch it squeeze out some serious sparks.
Frank Black "The Cult Of Ray"
Epic 481647 9 (41 mins)
Dial a track code 1421
Geographic obsession, conspiratorial paranoia, pop culture, lonely youth, universal violence and monsters these are just some of the subjects which Frank Black tackles on his third and most direct album since his heyday as leader of The Pixies.
That's not to say that it comes anywhere near the Pixies at their inventive best, but The Cult Of Ray at least sees Frank coming to grips with his solo persona, finding a definite identity amid the name changes and musical twists and turns. The only problem is, the name Frank Black has become synonymous with surf punk noodling and speed thrash aimlessness, and there's only a handful of songs here which merit deeper scrutiny.
Men In Black is a muscular, menacing conspiracy theory tune, Thank Rock City is a spiky ode to the designer pogo heads of the future, while You Ain't Me is an insult song with a self referential twist ("You're so self congratulatory/ So I guess you have the right to be so masturbatory"). I Don't Want To Hurt You (Every Single Time) is also worth repeated listening, but the title track is a somewhat over excited epic about a brief encounter with sci fi author Ray Bradbury.
