Daily Staff Writer

“10”

Wet, Wet, Wet

Many things have come to the U.S. from Britain — the Puritans, dreary late night public television shows and the Spice Girls. Adding to this list of mistakes is the latest from the band Wet, Wet, Wet.

“10” marks the the group’s tenth album and celebrates 10 years of chart success, including three No.1 singles and over 15 million albums sold.

Sadly enough, this foursome is not worth the effort of listening.

Wet, Wet, Wet is renowned for its melodic ballads. A lot of the band’s songs deal with love, lost love, missing love, wanted love, too much love, just enough love and love that will never be. You can rest assured that you will find no songs about hate or dislike on “10.”

It opens with the slightly funky tune, “Strange.” It’s one of the few good, fast-paced songs, and it is sung by a love-crazed fool. “10” then moves into the slightly groovy, ’80s-sounding song “Lonely Girl.”

Wet, Wet, Wet moves away from its ’80s fetish with the ballad “If I Never See You Again,” an almost tolerable song about the separation of lovers which will leave you with a feeling of sincere sickness.

The group also attempts to remake The Beatles’ “Yesterday.” It was a mistake to try to infuse its own unique sound to this classic — it will never be good without Paul McCartney at the mic.

Wet, Wet, Wet continues to pull out all the stops as they rock (if that’s what you call it) on big band songs “Maybe I’m In Love” and “Beyond The Sea.”

A high point in the album is “I Want You.” Amazingly enough, the lyrics are shockingly similar to something you would find Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins writing.

Perhaps the best thing about “10” is that it includes a remarkable visual aid. All you have to do is close your eyes while listening, and you can see the list of song titles and artists scrolling down through the blackness as if you were watching a commercial for “Bad Love Songs of the 80s.”

Relief comes when the CD ends with “It Hurts.” The only thing that hurts at this point are your ears as they beg for mercy from the pain they have had to endure for over an hour, leaving you feeling contrite.

If you don’t know what that word means, you’ll have plenty of time to look it up while you’re not listening to “10.”

1 star out of five

— Kevin Hosbond

“The Troubleshooters”

Funkdoobiest

Funkdoobiest hits you hard across the chest with its own strange brew of spanglish funk on the group’s third album “The Troubleshooters.”

To even reach number three in a rap industry filled with fickle fans is an accomplishment in itself, but of course having DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill fame produce your beats is bound to draw a crossover audience.

Funkdoobiest no longer has that luxury, and it shows.

Producer Ralph M does manage to hit the mark on “Papi Chulo,” “Oye Papi,” “Act On It” and a few others, but the heavy funk is mostly hit or miss.

Lead rapper Sun Doobie is one of those MC’s you’ll either love or hate. When paired with a great MC like Kam on “Act on It,” you’ll see his weakness — inability to flow for long periods of time.

Doobie’s style tends to consist of kicking a few words, a few more words that may or may not rhyme, and a few more words that don’t really make a punchline or even a good finish.

This is certainly a distinctive style (which may have attracted his following), but distinctive isn’t always good.

Without DJ Muggs, Funkdoobiest isn’t nearly as interesting as it used to be. Sun Doobie is too chaotic lyrically, and the beats just don’t hold the weight up.

2 1/2 stars out of five

— Steve “Flash” Juon

“Pam Tillis: Greatest Hits”

Pam Tillis

Pam Tillis is one of country’s greatest singers in a time when male country stars greatly outnumber the females.

Tillis’s “Greatest Hits” CD is packed with songs anyone who listens to country will know. Among the best songs on the album are the ballads, including “All the Good Ones Are Gone,” “Let That Pony Run” and “The River and the Highway.”

However, what Pam Tillis does best are her songs about women who know what they want, and often these songs tell of the times when women go between hating and loving their men.

These songs include “Land of the Living,” “Don’t Tell Me What to Do,” “Shake the Sugar Tree,” “Spilled Perfume” and “Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life).”

The entire CD is a delight and great fun to sing along with. It is highly recommended for women with relationship problems.

4 1/2 stars out of five

– Amanda Knief

“The Erratics”

The Erratics

Hailing from New York City, there is no doubt that The Erratics have been exposed to a large variety of music. This may explain the band’s sound.

While the idea of blending many different styles of music into one is a good idea, The Erratics seem to fall just a tad short of pulling this off.

What more could you expect from a band whose bassist/vocalist wrote the Top 20 single “Stay Forever” for none other than television star Joey Lawrence?

The band cites a wide range of influences including Metallica, Bob Marley and classical composer Sergey Prokofiev. Despite this variety, the band’s songs begin to sound somewhat methodical as the album pushes on.

For the most part, each song incorporates a reggae or ska backbeat for the verse and a pop punk or rock sound for the chorus.

Although the majority of the album stays true to this formula, there are a few songs that seem to stick out.

“Red Room” is by far the most interesting song on the album. It begins with a refreshingly strange introduction with Primus-like instrumentation before it breaks into ska.

On “Grain of Sand,” skat vocals in the middle of the song serve up a new twist on pop punk.

While The Erratics’ debut album does contain a few worthwhile tracks, music listeners are better off saving their money for something a little more, hmm … erratic.

3 stars out of five

— Conor Bezane

“Songbook: A Collection of Hits”

Trisha Yearwood

With the hits “How Do I Live,” from the movie “ConAir,” and “In Another’s Eyes,” a duet with Garth Brooks, 1997 had to be one of the best years of Trisha Yearwood’s career.

Fittingly, both songs are included on Yearwood’s latest release, which also includes an abundance of classic country.

All of Yearwood’s music has themes relating to the heartbreak and triumph of love.

Some of her biggest hits are on the album, including “The Song Remembers When,” “Walkaway Joe” and “She’s In Love With the Boy.”

“A Collection of Hits” is a great compilation of what makes Trisha Yearwood so popular.

4 1/2 stars out of five

– Amanda Knief