Daily Staff Writer

“‘Meet The Deedles’ Soundtrack”

Various Artists

Disney is up to its sinister tactics once again.

This time the infamous company is trying to throw America onto the ska-wagon through the release of its latest elementary-brow humor movie, “Meet The Deedles.”

Going along with the movie is a soundtrack with almost nothing but the Orange County ska movement that will seemingly fit right along with the two surfer dudes on the back cover of the CD.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones open the record with “Wrong Thing Right Then.” It’s a b-side culled from the sessions that produced the band’s fifth album, “Let’s Face It.”

And let’s face it, it’s not a very memorable song. It’s just the typical Bosstones noise we’ve learned to deal with.

Showing up the Bosstones is the awesome Dance Hall Crashers and its vivacious “Lady Luck.” The catchy voice of the female lead singer as she wails against a backdrop of fresh ska riffs totally makes the song.

Goldfinger, the kick-ass power-ska band, contributes the great tune “Seems Like Yesterday,” which sounds too similar to a song off its latest album “Hang-ups,” but still gets you moving to the music.

The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies also lend a song to the soundtrack along with Hepcat, who unfortunately suck, and its song is easily lost among the mix. There is also some intense instrumental guitar work by Gary Hoey as he jams away on “Psycho Gremmie.”

The effervescent Save Ferris show off its talent with the happy song “For You,” while the has-beens Geggy Tah provide an unexciting, not-too-noticeable tune, unlike what you would normally expect from the zany trio.

A good contrast to what was becoming too much ska at once comes from the garden fresh band Radish, and its delightful “Failing and Leaving.”

Also adding to the relief from ska is Homie, with its song “American Girls,” featuring Rivers Cuomo from Weezer. The down-to-earth song is a masterpiece with intelligent lyrics that ask, “Why are all American girls so rough?”

The soundtrack soon returns to the ska sound with Perfect Thyroid doing its own rendition of “Hawaii Five-O.”

A good soundtrack is one that paints a picture of the movie for you when you haven’t seen it, or one that reminds you of your favorite scenes when listening to it.

“Meet The Deedles” has that kind of soundtrack. However, it’s more of a “borrow-it-from-someone-else-with-intent-to-return” kind of album.

3 1/2 stars out of five

— Kevin Hosbond

“Trigonometry”

Saafir the Saucee Nomad

When Canibus rapped that he was your worst nightmare squared, he didn’t know the half of the math.

What could be harder than Trigonometry? That’s the image Saafir wants to project — mentally unbreakable and physically untouchable.

Saafir earned this reputation through ill cameo appearances on a variety of posse songs and West coast albums, not to mention a well publicized duel between his crew The Hobo Junction and the collective crew known as Hieroglyphics.

Lyrically, Saafir manages to match the hype. If you challenge yourself to dig through his crew’s own homegrown “Major Knock” slang, you find a formidable tongue-twisting rhymer who claims that he’s never embraced in ultra-hardcore rap because “thinking cleverly is a felony.”

Saafir shifts the difficulty of his math up and down in degrees. “I’m Saafir” has accessible algebra like “more sauce than Paul Newman,” but occasionally displays more advanced calculus like “wack rhy-zimes to enzymes, I regurgitate and reverse your fallopian tubes.”

The major shortcoming of Saafir’s album is beats. Partner Jay Z (not the same of Brooklyn fame) is mostly hit or miss, and Digital Underground’s funkmaster Shock G creates the album’s only real radio accessible cut, “Broad Minded.”

Does the math add up? Saafir intentionally cultivates the anti-culture independent market with complex linguistics, but will find a hard time appealing to anybody but diehard fans of hip-hop poetry.

3 stars out of five

— Steve “Flash” Juon

“Nothin’ But The Taillights”

Clint Black

Few artists in country music can claim to be as familiar with their music as Clint Black.

He has written or co-written every song he has recorded, including the 12 new songs on his latest CD “Nothin’ But the Taillights.”

This latest collection of Black’s music has already produced three hit songs: the duet with Martina McBride “Still Holding On,” “Something That We Do” and “Nothin’ But the Taillights.”

What makes Black unique is his ability to be understated. He is not glitzy or loud, rather he lets his music speak for him. In this way, he has become one of the most popular country music artists today.

The new CD is more mellow and relaxed than previous CDs with the exceptions “Nothin’ But the Taillights,” “Still Holding On” and “Ode to Chet,” a tribute to the legendary Chet Atkins.

Another duet on the CD is “Our Kind of Love” with Alison Krauss and Union Station. Though not as catchy as Black’s duet with McBride, it is more intense.

Several songs on the CD are about the difficulties of love including “That Something in My Life,” “What I Feel Inside” and “Bitter Side of Sweet.”

As with most of Black’s music, the more you hear it, the better it gets. The CD has many great songs, but it requires effort on the part of the listener to get interested in the songs.

4 stars out of five

— Amanda Knief

“Get It Together”

Pete Belasco

Pete Belasco’s “Get It Together” is quite a stretch from the mainstream music scene — unfortunately it comes in an only slightly enthusiastic package.

The record is a collection of 12 songs filled with ups and downs, both lyrically and musically.

It starts out with the very groovy “All I Want,” which sounds like a commercial for a minivan at times, and is followed by the heated and passionate “Love Is,” a powerhouse song filled with echoing vocal effects and the eerie sound of the vibes.

You might say Pete Belasco is a lost Backstreet Boy who, unlike those effeminate falseys, can at least play an instrument (he does a superb job on the tenor sax).

“I’ll Be Gone” has some awesome lyrics. It’s about a man asking his girlfriend to tell him to leave. Little does she know, he’s got someone else waiting for him while she’ll be left alone.

Along down the line comes the weird sounding “Love Train.” At this point, the album loses all its testosterone as Belasco croons away in a femmy soprano voice.

“Get It Together” gets back into the car commercial groove it once had with the instrumental song “Heat,” but the energy soon fades away as the album continues. It ends up sounding like the kind of music your parents would dance the night away to.

One of the last songs on the album is “The Dirty Deed,” a song about exactly what you think it is about. It’s a strange and dirty song that makes you feel naughty just listening to it.

What started out strong and vigorous ended quickly and sloppily (no dirty metaphors intended).

2 1/2 stars out of five

— Kevin Hosbond