On the tune "Aggression," Babette's Feast flavors its passion for creativity with a simple banjo intro that bursts into an evenly-paced number with great punk vocalization fueled by complimentary guitar work and a steady undercurrent of bass and drums. Babette's Feast is an entity that savors its capability to exist in a Netherworld whose terrain consists of slightly outrageous, imaginative tunes, coy, sensual, poetic vocals, and venturistic instrumentation.
Numbers like "Head Shrink," "Take Out the Trash" and "Now Who's Laughing" show a eclectic conglomeration of capability. Currently, they have a 7" piece of vinyl out. Will keep you posted on what that one sounds like.
Adding to their growing discography, their newest album is "A Boy Named Goo," on Warner Brothers Records. Assisted by longtime collaborator Armond Pietrie and producer Lou Giordano (Smithereens, Husker Du, Pere Ubu, et. al.), the band laid the groundwork for this one in their hometown of Buffalo, New York.
"What we were getting was very natural, very true to form," attested Rzeznik. "We had done our homework. We knew exactly what we were going for and Lou locked right in." Additional sessions were carried out in Los Angeles with producer Rob Cavallo (Green Day) where the band wanted to record some B-side tracks, but the songs turned out better than expected and two are on the album- "Disconnected" by the Buffalo punk band The Enemies and "Slave Girl" by Australia's Lime Spiders. The Goo Goo Dolls, who formed in 1986, includes bassist Robby Takac and drummer George Tutuska.
Their 1993 album "Superstar Car Wash," coupled with their distribution deal with Warner Brothers Records, helped them gain a larger fan base, and with "A Boy Named Goo," they should be further able to expand on that foundation. The album has a touch of just about everything, from their trademark infectious pop sound on "Long Way Down" to the seemingly carefully calculated tempo changes on "Name."
The songs move at a steady pace- only two numbers are 4 1/2 minutes long, all the rest are under that. "I look at our career as having three stages- drunk, hungover and sober," Rzeznik playfully confirmed. "I wouldn't exactly say we're in our sober phase now, but we are dead serious about making the best music we can."
The album was recorded in Barbados in a two week period at Blue Wave Studios with producer Kevin Killin. Musicians that Costello worked with consisted of Pete Thomas (drums), Jerry Scheff (bass), Larry Knechtel (all keyboards) and Mark Ribot (all guitars).
Among the r&b tunes and popular ballads Costello and his band cover are by Bob Dylan ("I Threw It All Away"), Willie Dixon ("Hidden Charms"), Mose Allison ("Everybody's Crying Mercyî) and Randy Newman ("I've Been Wrong Before").
On the inside sleeve of "Kojak Variety," Costello describes the joy of meandering through record stores throughout the world and finding gems that brightened his life.
"At different times in my life I have haunted such shops as Potter's Music in Richmond, where I also bought my first proper guitar and still get many of my favorite jazz and ballad recordings; Probe in Liverpool, where I stumbled through a teenage crisis brought on by trying to like psychedelic music; Rock On in Camden Town, where I bought the pile of Stax singles that helped shape the album "Get Happy" and, from the first time I travelled across America, the countless thrift stores and pawn shops which offered the chance of discovering an entire album by some group or singer that I had previously only known from singles or a scrappy compilation record."
He ends his narrative on a note that perhaps speaks the best about this LP: "If you enjoy these recordings and do not already know the original versions, then I wish you a lot of pleasure in seeking them out. I look forward to recording "Volume Two" sometime in the next millennium."
They went on to issue a live album, "Orb Live '93" and "Pomme Fritz." Now that they had innundated their audience with a hard techno-pop-trance consciousness, they decided to throw their audience with a loop on their current "Orbvs Terrarvm." It is chock full of experimental strangeness, an aural odyssey of snippets of sound bites, a variety of urban sounds and unconventional musical passageways.
"I'm taking the Orb back to Earth," proclaimed Dr. Alex Patterson. The place is industrial, noisy and definitely not ambient in the Eno/Harold Budd sense of the word." The change is one that does not resemble their previous works. "I'm tired of others following us," he emphasized. "I'm going off on a limb, changing courses." For the past two years Patterson worked on the album in his London studio in the industrial section of Battersea. "The first single, 'Oxbow Lakes' is so underground, it's underwater," described Patterson. "I'm interested in exploring the geography of what happens when a rhythm meanders, when it writes itself, when a circle becomes an oxbow." In a way, "Orbvs Terrarvm" remains true to form with its unabashed formlessness found in prior endeavors. "Some people with call this aggresive," he stated. "I never intended anything except for elements to surface as they may."
She currently resides in an apartment in Andy WarholÍs Old Factory, where she wrote the songs that appear on her new album, "Realm of My Senses," on Glass Beat Records. She has a diverse enough background that makes excellent fodder for a lyricist. Based in New York, this singer-songwriter was joined by Tony Levin, David Lebolt, Dave Van Tieghem and Jerry Marrotta (Indigo Girls, Peter Gabriel, King Crimson) in the making of this disc.
Nagourney pulls through shiningly, her vocals glistening with emotion that suit the love-related topics she covers on "Realm of My Senses." Known for her sensitive yet determined style, she has wooed crowds at Princeton University's "WomenÍs Week" celebration, Columbia University's Postscript Coffeehouse, CB's Gallery and the Mercury Lounge.
emol@emol.org