Daily Staff Writer

“What’s Your Name?”

Adam Sandler

A couple of listens to Adam Sandler’s third release, “What’s Your Name,” and one phrase comes to mind — “I already heard that one you fucking unoriginal bastard.”

Unfortunately, Toll Booth Willie doesn’t make any appearances on the record. Instead Sandler performs basically the same song 14 times with different lyrics.

Yep, you heard it correctly, every track on “What’s Your Name” is a song. All of the Sandler characters we have grown to love, The Buffoon, The Cheerleader, The Excited Southerner, … gone.

And replacing the Sandler who has been drawing laughs from people since his start on the MTV game show “Remote Control” is a lame excuse for a comedian and an even lamer excuse for a musician.

By about song four, “Pickin’ Daisies,” Sandler’s routine begins to get old. “Bad Boyfriend” is the epitome of the disc, with the stupid plot of a wife bitching about her lazy husband.

There is humor in a lot of the songs, but it takes such intense listening to find it that it is not even fun. And what is a comedy album if it’s not fun?

Sandler does attempt to rescue the record on a couple of tunes, the first being current single “The Lonesome Kicker.”

The tribute Ray Finkle is extremely clever and original, however it is not the same without the video, which truly brings out the humor in the song.

Sandler’s “Saturday Night Live” favorite, “Red Hooded Sweatshirt,” is the other strong point of the disc.

The song is not as funny as it is easy to relate to, but it does bring back the Sandler we grew up loving.

The comedian responsible for such Generation X icons as Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore disappoints in his latest treat.

Some advice: bring back Willie, maybe even Opera Man.

1/2 star out of five.

— Corey Moss

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“Tubthumper”

Chumbawamba

Chumbawamba’s unique style sounds more fit for the future than the past, but believe it or not, the English rockers have been recording similar music since the early ’80s.

“Tubthumping,” Chumbawamba’s current single, is a good indication of the band’s ability to blend influences from punk to dance.

A collage of techno beats, orchestral strings and horns, vocals that range from a capella women to rap-driven men and dozens of extraordinary samples create a sound incomparable to other artists.

“Tubthumping,” like many of the songs on the disc, ends in a completely creative fashion. It warps a digital horn recording into sounding like a techno sample.

“Amnesia” ends in a dance beat with the sample “What about free speech weaved in,” “Drip, Drip, Drip” ends in a jazzy big band bit, “The Big Issue” ends in a little kid singing and “The Good Ship Lifestyle” ends in what sounds like a movie sample.

The list goes on and on, each ending serving as a cool transition from song to song. But the amazing thing is, the songs are so completely unique, each one still stands apart from the others.

There’s the heavy rave “The Good Ship Lifestyle” sounding like Moby meets Enya at a KKDM concert.

There’s the poetic “One By One” sounding like a peppy Portishead singing in the church choir.

There’s the chorus-heavy “Creepy Crawling” sounding like Erasure doing a duet with Eddy Grant for the “Pulp Fiction” soundtrack.

Every song on the disc could be described as an unusual blend.

Chumbawamba has been known to raise brows with its strong non-conformist attitudes, particularly on past records “Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records” and “Jesus H. Christ.”

Unfortunately, the latter was never released because the entire record was full of ripped-off choruses from other songs.

Chumbawamba has recorded nine records developing from a punk band to whatever it is now. And if its name is any indication, Chumbawamba has got to be one of the most difficult bands to describe.

“Tubthumping” is good, but the entire record is amazing.

4 stars out of five.

— Corey Moss

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“Ska Island”

Various Artists

Before there was Moon Records in New York City, before there was Bluebeat records in England and before anyone had ever seen or heard of Gwen Stefani and her pelvic thrusts, there was Island Records, the originator of ska recordings.

Now Island Records has released a compilation that is sure to make even the most skeptical ska fan tap their feet.

“Ska Island” is a release that helps celebrate nearly 40 years of ska music and Chris Blackwell’s Island Records. This compilation features some of the most historical names in ska, such as Prince Buster, The Skatalites, Laurel Aitken, The Trojans, The Toasters and many others.

The CD starts out with Prince Buster, one of the most influential performers in the genre. He does a song that pretty much sums up the collective opinion of all true ska fans, that Buster really is “King Of Kings.”

The first song sets the pace for the rest of the album. Each track is traditional in style and is in some way affiliated with the Island Records of 40 years ago.

One huge hit on the album is “Penny Reel,” performed by Hepcat. Hepcat has been proclaimed the top LA ska band, and is one of the fastest rising ska acts on the circuit, with this is all evident in this song.

Another highlight of the disc is Fishbone doing a cover of Bob Marley’s “Crazy Bald Heads.” This song fits well into Fishbone’s anti-racism movement.

The term “bald head” was a derogatory name for racist skinheads in the seventies. It is usually used to distinguish between the “rude-boy” skin look of the sixties and the more recent “boot-boy” racist violence groups.

The song’s purpose is to “promote unity of the races of our species,” as the liner notes explain.

Another notable performance is by the Toasters with the sixties reggae song, “The Stage.” This song comes from an era of Jamaica’s history when ska gave way to rock steady and shortly thereafter, reggae.

“The Stage” demonstrates the melodic sound that has made the Toasters one of the greatest ska bands in existence.

Besides having a thoroughly impressive line-up of bands, the disc also includes a very comprehensive look at ska throughout the last 40 years. It gives a brief overview of each contributing artist and a little history behind the song they perform.

This compilation is filled with great songs and catchy lyrics. Each song is unique because they are all treated with the performers’ own style and flair that has made them leaders in the industry. Most importantly, this album takes the listener back to where it all began, on a little “Ska Island.”

5 stars out of five.

— Matt Baker

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“Gang Related Soundtrack”

Various Artists

Four new Tupac Shakur songs come as no surprise in a movie which features his final acting role before his untimely death.

However, releasing the songs on a double-disk soundtrack certainly is a surprise.

If it takes longer to listen to the soundtrack than it does to watch the movie, can the artists really claim to be “from and inspired by” the motion picture?

More than anything else, this new soundtrack is a cash crop for Death Row as Shakur fans shell out $16.99 just to keep their collection of his works complete.

Out of 24 tracks, there is a lot of room for uninspired material. Mack 10’s “Get Yo Bang On,” Storm’s “Mash For Our Dreams,” and Paradise’s “Devotion” all fall under the category of filler material — and that’s just disc one.

To be fair, the Shakur tracks are all worthwhile, even though “Made Niggaz” already appeared on the soundtrack for the Jackie Chan movie “Supercop,” and all of the songs except for “Life’s So Hard” feature his proteges The Outlawz.

It’s somewhat confusing that Dogg Pound members Daz and Kurupt do not appear jointly on any of these 24 songs.

Although this may in fact confirm the group’s demise, Kurupt still comes off nicely on “Loc’d Out Hood,” and likewise Daz on “Way Too Major” with guest Tray Deee.

Ice Cube sounds better solo than he does with Westside Connection on “Greed,” which shows a surprisingly un-West Coast-biased love for other hip-hop labels.

J-Flexx features “Bahamadia,” newcomer Tenakmenin and 70’s soul groups Kool & the Gang and Con Funk Shun on “A Change to Come,” an inspiring ode to ending street violence.

Unfortunately, too much of this long soundtrack features artists who obviously have not been incarcerated on Death Row long enough.

Singing artists like B.G.O.T.I. and Feet have neither the range nor vocal ability of more established singers like Nate Dogg.

Rapping artists like Young Soldierz and Tech9ne have neither the lyrics or flow of more established rappers like Kurupt.

As an eight-song EP featuring four new Shakur songs and material by Nate Dogg, Ice Cube, J-Flex and Kurupt, this album would have been worth the money.

As it is — save your money — this bloated project was ill-advised and poorly serves what could have been a fitting tribute to Shakur’s last movie.

2 1/2 stars out of five.

— Steve “Flash” Juon