Dr. Dre

Back ‘N The Day

Dr. Dre’s new release Back ‘N The Day does exactly what its title promises; it goes back before N.W.A. and his solo career to a time when he was rapping with another group, The World Class Wreckin Cru.

All of this material came from this group’s two studio releases, World Class Album and the House Calls El and beckons us back to when the good doctor wore sequins, lipstick and eye-liner (as documented in Eazy-E’s 187um Killa.)

“Funky Chicken” is bound to make the listener laugh out loud. “Horny Computer,” “Gang Bang” and “Housecalls” present rap music at its worse with uninventive musical experimentation and more hoarse Iyrics.

Fortunately, the re-mixes of some of these songs can salvage some of this CD’s credibility. “Cabbage Patch (re-mix)” has a monstrous bass loop but the melody is pretty simple.

“World Class (re-mix)” has a relaxed rhythm which is mixed with pounding bass riffs and a background full of woodwinds and piano. The re-mixes of “Gang Bang,” “Sweat” and “Lovers” are also fairly good, but nothing fans of N.W.A. or The Chronic would expect or probably even like.

However, you can’t blame Dr. Dre for the shoddy material presented on this disc. He fought the producers of this album, Blue Dolphin Records, in court in order to prevent this CD’s release. It would be best to skip this CD and wait for Dre’s upcoming release, The Chronic Pt. 2.

* 1/2

— Ben Jones

Counting Crows

Recovering the Satellites

Counting Crows is probably best known for that horribly overplayed hit, “Mr. Jones,” that doesn’t seem to have a point other than to have a lot of points.

The case with its sophomore release, Recovering the Satellites, is that it takes one point and drives it completely into your brain. That is singer Adam Duritz’s lyrics dealing with searching for salvation.

That is what is most disheartening about Satellites. Duritz’s lyrics would probably do well in a free-form poetry book. But when he tries to add his words to rock-n-roll, he comes up a little short.

For instance on the new tune “Daylight Fading,” Duritz involves his beautiful poetry in a nice rhyming pattern.

However, once it is set to music, he completely loses all sense of rhythm, and his words are jumbled and thrown into a mess of thoughts and phrases.

Sometimes Duritz is able to put a little sense into a song, such as the new single “Angels of the Silences,” where he follows a basic verse/ chorus form that is easy enough to understand, but most of the 14 tracks are of his usual misconstrued form.

It’s hard for a listener not to turn his attention away from the lead vocals since they just seem to pound their way through every note of every song. So much that the positive aspects, like the great musicianship of other Counting Crows members, are almost completely lost.

For instance the style of Satellites can be in a Pearl Jam sort of form like “Angles in the Silences,” but can sometimes turn to a more subtle Dylan sort-of-way with “Another Horsedreamer’s Blues.”

Even Duritz’s distinctive voice can sometimes be interesting between his mumbles and whines.

But overall it is hard to find any “Mr. Jones” or “Rain King” of Satellites for those who fell in love with Counting Crows after its debut album August and Everything After.

Maybe it’s just another one of those albums the listener needs to grow into.

— Brendan Greiner

The Beatles

Anthology 3

Anthology 3 spans the magical years of 1968 to 1970, in which The

White Album, Abbey Road and Let it Be were released. Snippets of in-studio conversations reveal the personality and character of each band member.

Overall, this set further expounds on the fact that Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison are great musicians; they are extremely creative, motivated and driven.

“Happiness Is A Warm Gun” is completely different from the previously released version. McCartney and Lennon provide beautiful vocals (“I need a fix because I’m going down”) and great acoustic guitar work.

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” presents a stripped-down version of the album version.

The medley of “Mean Mr. Mustard,” “Polythene Pam,” “Glass Onion,” “Junk,” “Piggies” and “Honey Pie” features great acoustic guitar performances by Lennon and McCartney, who also swap vocals and chords with a harmonious vivacity.

“What’s The New Mary Jane” is a previously unreleased song that was almost issued on The White Album. Lennon and Harrison provide the vocals, guitar and piano which yield into a musical cacophony of jingles, clangings and bells.

Also included is the legendary live version of “Get Back.” This version has a lot of historical importance because it turned out to be the last song of the last live performance by the Beatles.

— Ben Jones