EW review: 'Elevator' is fun ride
British Columbia's Hot Hot Heat still party like it's 1979
By David Browne
Entertainment Weekly
(Entertainment Weekly) -- When did rock start taking its cues from Wynton Marsalis?
In jazz circles, Marsalis is admired (or reviled) for his backward thinking: If the music doesn't sound like be-bop from 1959, he feels it isn't valid. The same thing seems to be happening in rock, particularly when it comes to the current invasion of retro new-wavers.
The records of Franz Ferdinand, the ironically named Futureheads and new additions Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs and the Bravery can be kicky fun. But they're also jarringly studious re-creations of late-'70s/early-'80s post-punk or synth-pop -- music being thawed from the Reagan years. Rock has often looked to the past for inspiration, but rarely so slavishly.
On 2002's "Make Up the Breakdown," British Columbia's Hot Hot Heat were among the first to party like it was 1979. The band we hear on "Elevator" has morphed from the one on "Breakdown." They're still fixated on the same era, but "Breakdown's" suggestions of rainy-afternoon electro-pop are mostly gone, replaced by guitar-driven pogo-pop facsimiles executed with the brash enthusiasm of kids who've stumbled upon their parents' old new-wave LPs.
The single ''Goodnight Goodnight,'' a frisky kiss-off, and the fast and furious ''Island of the Honest Man'' recall Joe Jackson before he yearned to be his generation's Cole Porter. Lead singer Steve Bays turns the "IOU" in ''You Owe Me an IOU'' into a hiccupy hook that's pure old-school Elvis Costello.
The terrific ''Pickin' It Up'' and ''Dirty Mouth'' are like forgotten hits from the launch of MTV; you can almost imagine the low-rent videos that would have accompanied them. The grabbiness of these tracks shows Hot Hot Heat have learned at least one valuable lesson from studying their pre-grunge history: the power of a tight, efficient song.
What differentiates Hot Hot Heat from their peers is the way they imitate other vintage styles as well. The jaded glam of ''Jingle Jangle,'' about an ad salesman peddling ''useless toys made for useless boys,'' feels like a lost Pulp track, while ''Shame on You'' could be the Cure during their nervous-wreck youth.
Then there are those special -- and all too rare -- moments when Hot Hot Heat don't evoke anyone: ''Middle of Nowhere'' bursts with grand, non-retro pop energy -- even if Bays sounds wrung out during most of it (''blame the caffeine for the 5 a.m. phone calls,'' he sings in one of the album's numerous sharp, conversational lines).
Where do Hot Hot Heat, and their contemporaries, take it from here? That's the troubling question hanging over albums like "Elevator," skillful as they are. Rock's future appears to be in the hands of musicians who look in the rearview mirror rather than at the road ahead. These bands may be hot hot right now, but will the heat they're generating stifle rock's forward motion?
EW Grade: B
'The First Lady,' Faith Evans
Reviewed by Raymond Fiore
What do R&B fans love almost as much as a sultry groove? Drama, of course.
Whether it's Mary J. Blige famously swearing off that game or Usher coyly implying (then denying) real-life baby mama scenarios, the backstory becomes the all-important lens through which their songs are filtered. And few R&B singers have a more sympathetic history than Faith Evans, the talented widow of the Notorious B.I.G.
The hip-hop generation has a soft spot for her, and not purely for sentimental reasons: She's recorded three consistently good, sometimes great discs (all overseen by former mentor P. Diddy for his Bad Boy label) by nakedly singing her joy and pain.
"The First Lady" continues that candid legacy, with Evans addressing a 2004 drug-possession arrest (she spent 13 weeks in a rehab program) straightaway on the buoyant, no-regrets first single, ''Again'': ''In ATL I caught a case, and the media tried to say/I had a habit, I couldn't manage and I'm throwing my life away/But everything ain't what it seems, just because it's on TV/Cause they speculate and exaggerate for a better story.''
But public struggles mean little without strong material to give them voice, and she's got that too here, though not to the stellar degree of 2001's "Faithfully." While that set focused on grittier hip-hop samples, "First Lady's" finest moments find Evans frolicking in sunnier '70s soul soundscapes.
She's a restrained disco diva on ''I Don't Need It'' and the requisite DJ-play-my-song ditty ''Lucky Day,'' while on the flirty track ''Jealous'' and the Lyn Collins-worthy ''Mesmerized,'' Evans flaunts the assured power of her sexy instrument.
Though blemished by a few toothless slow jams like ''Ever Wonder'' featuring Mario Winans (Faith, you deserve better than him!) and ''Tru Love,'' the album's mature whimsy reflects a healthier, happier Faith Evans. Which leaves her, for better or worse, one step closer to passing (and extinguishing) her dramatic torch.
EW Grade: B+
'Now What,' Lisa Marie Presley
Reviewed by Jenny Williams
For her second album, "Now What," the daughter of the once and future King arms herself with impressive pop-rock weaponry -- Linda Perry as co-writer and guest Pink as fellow soul-searcher, plus a sultry cover of Don Henley's ''Dirty Laundry,'' which suits Lisa Presley's fiery persona well.
But even with their help, the singer and her Sheryl Crow-like growl can't win the battle against the disc's glossy production. Now what? Well, getting different producers for her next record might be a start.
EW Grade: B-
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