Daily Staff Writer

“Fellow Workers”

Ani DiFranco and Utah Phillips

Three Stars

Every young socialist needs a role model, and Utah Phillips is as good a candidate as any. Phillips has worked just about every job under the sun, traveled the rails as a hobo, and now makes his living as a traveling folk singer and storyteller.

“Fellow Workers” marks the second time Phillips has teamed up with folk punk extraordinaire DiFranco to tell us, the people, about all the ways we’re getting screwed by the man.

“Fellow Workers” is more of a people’s news report than a collection of music. The majority of the tracks feature Phillips telling stories about working people fighting big business.

DiFranco and her band provide a musical background for Phillips stories, which helps keep the album rolling.

In addition to the stories, the album is sprinkled with some pissed-off folk songs, like “Pie in the Sky,” and “Bread and Roses.”

The most refreshing thing about “Fellow Workers” is its unabashed political agenda.

Music has the ability to educate people about social inequality and promote social change.

Unfortunately, few artists these days use their music to say much more than “My girlfriend left me, I’m so sad, blah blah blah.”

It is questionable whether anyone will care, though. In fairness, listening to “Fellow Workers” is not all together easy.

DiFranco and her band do a good job to keep a sound flowing throughout the album, but it takes real concentration to stay with the album. Phillips’ stories aren’t like pop songs where you can zone out for 30 seconds and still know what’s going on.

The album’s producers obviously realized that keeping people interested would pose a problem.

That is why DiFranco’s name appears before Phillips’. They are obviously trying to lure in the segments of DiFranco’s listening audience drawn to her social commentary.

But in terms of what is actually on the album, crediting this album to DiFranco and Phillips is like crediting “Born to Run” to The E Street Band and Bruce Springsteen.

Still, this is a very interesting album. Phillips is a talented story teller, and he is talking about things that everyone should have heard about but probably didn’t.

Anyone who considers himself to be an official junior socialist should go out and buy “Fellow Workers.” (And if you’re really cool, you won’t buy it from Musicland, either).

– Ben Godar

“THISWAY”

THISWAY

Two Stars

When New York rockers THISWAY first came together, the guys knew time and determination were major factors in deciding if the band would sign with a major record label or not.

Brandon Wilde, who sings and plays guitar, along with guitarist Chris Foley and drummer Andy LaDue, produced the band’s first demo.

Wilde recruited bassist Len Monachello to play for the band in exchange for free room and board.

The quartet signed with Reprise Records and began recording their self-titled debut album.

The album is a sensible and concise collection of pop songs that at best have a few catchy melodies.

The album opener “Nice” has great pop magnetism and catchy hooks, while the surreal ballad “Wanna Be” reeks of Pearl Jam’s “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town,” with its message of destitution and hopelessness.

However, the pace of the album drags with the amount of bland songs featured. With “Crawl,” the pace slows even more, and the contrast is effective. The ballad about Mother Nature and God, is compelling, especially with the support of a whimsical string arrangement.

One positive note for singer Wilde is that he may very well be the vocal twin of U2’s Bono. This especially comes out on the far-reaching ballad “Come Down.”

However, the mundane characteristics of THISWAY can’t be ignored, and when Wilde sings, “I don’t ever wanna be a star,” from “Dry Out,” he is signing the band’s death certificate.

-Kevin Hosbond