Daily Staff Writer

“Spirit”

Jewel

Theme records are a bitch — even for an artist who spent a remarkable 114 weeks on the Billboard 200.

Yet, the Alaska-born singer/songwriter Jewel steps up to the challenge and succeeds on her sophomore effort, “Spirit.”

Composed of 13 folk-pop ballads, and drenched with Jewel’s heartfelt emotions, the record defines spirit as purely as the Holy Ghost himself.

Jewel’s lyrics are better than ever and make her poetry book, published this summer by Harper Collins, look like the back page of a sixth-grader’s yearbook.

On “Innocence Maintained,” she cleverly observes, “Birds always grow silent before the night descends/’Cause nature has a funny way of breaking what does not bend.”

While her debut, “Pieces of You,” captured the daily struggles of 19-year old, “Spirit” portrays personal growth and the need for humanity to come together to achieve happiness.

The spirit theme impressively keeps up throughout the record, preventing it from slipping into a Fiona-like sob fest.

Jewel’s voice is perfect for the songs and works well with a full band for the first time (with the exception of “Fat Boy” and “Enter From The East,” which are simple acoustic guitar gems).

“Spirit’s” creators, led by fearless Madonna producer Patrick Leonard, include Red Hot Chili Pepper Flea (“Barcelona”), Jude Cole, ex-School of Fish guitarist Josh Clayton, and ex-Sheryl Crow drummer Brian Macleod.

With the help of a talented studio band, song’s penned solely by her, and her own mature spirit, Jewel conquers a bitch without being one.

3 stars out of five

— Corey Moss

“Psycho”

Various Artists

One thing you should be able to count on in life is that a movie about the criminally insane will have a great soundtrack … period.

If the remake of “Psycho” should’ve had anything, it should have been the kind of soundtrack that becomes an instant classic.

It should have been overflowing with tracks by artists who would have killed to be there producing singles that would become a part of pop culture history.

But once again the forces of plastic commercialism have conspired to ruin another great tradition. “High Anxiety” had a better soundtrack than “Psycho.”

Let’s start with the strong points. Rob Zombie’s “Living Dead Girl” is standard fare. It is not up to Zombie’s normal standards but it outpaces almost every other track on the album. It is monotonous but danceable, electronic and rasping, but Zombie’s usual darkness is undermined by the repetition.

Teddy Thompson’s “Psycho” is a superior country ode to insanity … as redundant as that may be. The slide guitars and soft vocals are a nice counterpoint to the subject matter which gives us a bittersweet chorus: “You think I’m psycho don’t you mama?/Didn’t mean to break your cup/You think I’m psycho don’t you mama/Oh, mama, why don’t you get up?”

“Psycho Future” by Girls Against Boys is the most original track on the album and is the only one deserving of airplay. It is also the only song which truly succeeds in conveying the “crazy” attitude which this soundtrack was obviously supposed to embody.

James Hall does a remake of the Talking Heads classic “Psycho Killer” which is easy to listen to. Like the movie itself, it doesn’t do too much to distinguish itself as original. It almost sounds as if David Byrne sang this with a cold while the music is performed in the style of Chris Isaak. It is a little too mellow, and almost like a lullaby.

And now everything else. Danny Elfman’s score is respectable but almost indistinguishable from the original for the most part. It is not worth the purchase price for score-lovers who would only get three tracks.

The biggest disappointment on the album is by far the Pet Shop Boys’ “Screaming.” These guys should have stayed dead.

They add nothing of importance to the album and are likely resentful because the director was a big fan back when they were good. “Screaming” is just too much like a boring amalgam of everything the Pet Shop Boys used to do.

Overall, the album is simply a limp imitation of a decent soundtrack.

It has a variety of artists whose mandate seems to have been to write about being nuts; and while that should have been enough to land some great tracks with a lot of feeling, it just didn’t come off. This is not a task that should be left up to amateurs.

For those looking for some good examples of the genre, try “Kalifornia.” This was a movie about a serial killer with a soundtrack that worked.

2 1/2 stars out of five

— Greg Jerrett

“War and Piece: Volume 1 (The War Disc)”

Ice Cube

Ice is back with the first of his two-record set, “War and Piece: Volume 1 (The War Disc).”

Cube, with the help of such notables as Mack 10 and Korn, packs a definite punch with his latest offerings, combining old-school gangsta flavor with revolutionary mixtures of sound.

Loaded with everything from the traditional samples of shotgun blasts to symphonies and raunchy guitar riffs, Cube succeeds in making the jump into the new millennium while maintaining his gangsta roots.

Making his statement early, Cube proclaims he’s the bomb and tells us all to watch him blow up in “Ask About Me.”

Not that he needs any help, since he’s one of the original gangsta rap kings, dating back to his early days in N.W.A. with fellows Dr. Dre., Eazy E and MC Ren.

“Cash Over Ass” is another hot spot on the record, with Cube bringing a more modern, Wu-Tang Clan vibe to the table.

Korn guitarists Brian “Head” Welch and James “Munky” Shaffer provide a sinister backdrop with their traditional tuned-down riffs on “Fuck Dying,” which is consequently the phattest tune on the record.

The icing on the cake is Cube’s newest prot‚g‚, MC Short Khop.

Khop provides vocal stylings on “Pushing Weight,” “If I Was Fuckin’ You” and “Limos, Demos and Bimbos.”

Mix together Cypress Hill vocalist B-Real’s voice with Snoop Dogg and you’ll be somewhere in the ballpark of Khop’s tone, which provides mad flavor to say the least.

You’ll have to go back to “The Predator” to find a previous Ice Cube record that can stand up in comparison.

The only downside to “Volume 1 (The War Disc)” is that we’ll have to wait until January for “Volume 2 (The Peace Disc).”

4 stars out of five

— Chad Calek

“End Hits”

Fugazi

Kings of nonconformity, Fugazi returns with a refreshing album drenched with raw energy and anti-corporate ethos.

“End Hits” strangles the listener with its beefed-up bass progressions, quirky guitar riffs and introspective, hard-hitting lyrics.

Unlike the Ramones, who released an album called “Adios Amigos” directly before breaking up, the guys in Fugazi have never been ones to do what is conventional or predictable.

Although the album’s title, “End Hits,” may seem like a hint at a breakup, loyal fans look forward to future albums and Fugazi hasn’t been known to let down its fans.

The new album is the group’s sixth full length, and it marks a shift from the past production of angst-charged noise guitar and bass, to create a more melodic feel, preserving the rage in the lyrics rather than the music.

Bass is a central instrument used on the record and bass-injected songs make the instrument dominate and carry the melodies.

The masterpiece of the disc is “Arpeggiator,” an instrumental tune which boasts echoed guitar fills which blend to create an ear-tickling high pitched, gratifying sound.

The chorus of the intro track, “Break,” slightly resembles the chorus in Beck’s “New Pollution.” By no means, however, is Fugazi trying to copy anyone’s style. The rest of the song moves in a different direction for the band, with reverb-soaked and muted guitars.

As always, Fugazi aggressively asserts anti-corporate attitudes, specifically on one of the more hard-edged songs, “Five Corporations.”

“Buy them up and shut them down/Then repeat in every town/Every town will be the same/This one’s ours let’s take another/Five corporations there is a pattern,” the song says.

If the end is near for Fugazi, the band will have an eventful 11-year career to look back on — one that has definitely not moved in a defined pattern — and that’s what makes Fugazi worthwhile.

4 stars out of five

— Conor Bezane

“R”

R. Kelly

Give a man a Grammy, his own label and a direct line to Michael Jackson and he thinks he owns the world.

Well, if you were R. Kelly, what would you do? Probably just what he did — release a new album with more than 25 new songs on two CDs.

People from Chicago can brag of the artist formerly known as Robert Kelly. They can brag that they remember when he was on the El train, singing for nickels and dimes.

Well, the only nickels and dimes Kelly has now are the ones he gives to others.

The first “R” CD is typical R. Kelly: moderate grooves with booty-shakin’ samples of the baby-making music from the ’70s and ’80s.

The songs are reminiscent of his last album, full of a man’s outcries of love to a woman, along with apologies for messing up her life.

R. Kelly has always been a proponent of “ghetto love,” whether it’s telling a woman she reminds him of his Jeep and bank account on his last effort or declaring his love from his toes up to kneecaps on his latest song, “Half On a Baby.”

The second CD is a little different. It seemingly takes a more classical approach, with fewer samples and a less retro sound.

More effort is put into the music, and there are a few more collaborations with other artists, such as Chicago’s own Crucial Conflict, Lil’ Kim, Foxy Brown and the Canadian siren, Celine Dion.

The second CD is on point with cuts that employ more rhythmic versatility, like “Dolla Bill,” and with songs where he shows his own vocal versatility.

Unfortunately, Kelly seems to think he can do everything himself. As impressive as it is that he can produce an entire double CD, the part that is missing is that variety that comes from employing the talents of other producers, writers and musicians.

The good singers know this and are not threatened. Not to say Kelly is, but many of the better songs on this album are the ones were he received help from other artists.

3 stars out of five

— Rhaason Mitchell