RAE & CHRISTIAN

Nocturnal activity

Having first listened carefully to the prosecution’s arguments that point out that “Nocturnal Activity” cannot be considered a new record and should be labelled as a remix of the material that was released on last year’s Sleepwalking”, and then balanced that against the defence’s arguments which state that “the remixed version of each song differs greatly from the original, and previously unreleased material is made available to the public”, this court hereby absolves Mark Rae & Steven Christian from the accusation made (that of being guilty of “Chem. Bros” couldn’tbebotheredmebollocks-ness) and confirms Nocturnal Activity as the English duo’s new and legitimate record, although it does point out that Rae & Christian only appear on three of the songs. Songs which were taken into consideration in reaching this judgement are “Flashlight”, a stunning version of the Parliament song and “Wake up”, a cybernetic soul experience featuring the voice of Bobby Womack. Rae & Christian are therefore totally free to proceed with the many projects they have in mind, and that includes Madonna’s new record.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS:

By the way

The return of guitar player John Frusciante was like a breath of fresh air to Chilli Pepper fans. It was good news, certainly good enough anyway for people not to concentrate too hard on the fact that the new record (Californication, 1999) wasn’t up to the standards of previously released albums. But you can’t always be lucky, can you? Kiedis’s buckos’ 16 new songs on “By The Way” are just not capable of keeping the current Chilli Peppers up there with the most successful groups around like they were 10 years ago. However, even though their records have continuously gotten worse over the years, they really would have to release a bummer for people to lose all interest in them. This album, quite laid back overall, still has a few things going for it. They’re still capable of coming up with some great harmonies, even if there’s not a trace of their very own amazing PFunk riffs to found. Those harmonies are traced back to the only musically interesting member of the band left: John Frusciante, the only person who can currently save the RHCP from doom.

ZENBAIT

Verve remixed

The idea of dressing up Jazz with modern electronic sophistication is not new. This technique was used a lot to fuse the warmth of the saxophone and brass in general to Rap when it first appeared (US3, Buckshot Lefonque). This time round, however, the influence of Jazz is not to be found in the brass section, but in the use of Jazz divas. Great Jazz singers like Nina Simone, Dinah Washington and Billy Holiday at the hands of the most respected producers and DJs around these days. De-Phazz, UFO, Thievery Corporation and Richard Dorfmeister have come up with some really fantastic results on this record. The classic “Summertime” with Sarah Vaughan on vocals and Billie Holiday’s brooding “Strange Fruit” are well worthy of a mention. Though both songs are from way back, they seem hand-made for Tricky to get stuck into. If you leave the record on, don’t get frightened if you suddenly hear a “Hare Krishna” mantra wafting out from your sitting room: it’s the song of the same name by Tony Scott with Tibetan priest prayers and the lot putting the finishing touches to the record.

TRICKY

A ruff guide

This is a collection of the material that Tricky released on Island. That leaves just the one record out: last year’s “Blowback”. Just as well too, seeing that that was probably this English artist’s weakest release. “A Ruff Guide” just goes to show that Tricky isn’t just Tricky, it’s Tricky +Martina Topley-Bird. Martina’s voice was one of the keys to Tricky’s infectiousness ever since she first appeared on “Maxinquaye” in 1994. Look no further than the version of Public Enemy’s “Black Steel” to see what I mean. “Maxinquaye”, Tricky’s first album, is the star of this record (“Ponderosa”, “Aftermath”...), although there are some other great songs from other albums on show too. Take the ones from “Angels With Dirty Faces” with PJ Harvey and Martina (once again) looking after the vocals. “Singing The Blues” has to be heard to be believed. One more thing! There are no new songs on the record. What for?