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TONI
BRAXTON
More Than a Woman
(Arista)
Already a grand old dame of American R&B at the age of
35, honey-toned Toni Braxton on her fourth studio effort reaches
out to a younger generation with hip-hop numbers that might
appeal to fans of this year's It Girl Ashanti, while
still maintaining the air of cool sophistication that has
become her trademark. “Hit The Freeway Featuring Loon”
is the obvious hit: very catchy, very funky, very now. But
there is also the anthemic pop of “Lies, Lies, Lies,”
the bittersweet love song “A Better Man,” and the
old school soul of “Do You Remember When.” With
More than A Woman, Braxton proves that she's still got
her finger on the pulse of pop culture consciousness, and
with the help of heavyweight producers The Neptunes and Irv
Gotti, a likely commercial hit as well.
ROD STEWART
The Great American Songbook
(J Records)
What does an over-the-hill rock star with a still-marvelous
voice do when his bag of tricks is empty? UK singer/heartthrob
Rod Stewart and chief reviver of stalled careers producer
Clive Davis (Santana etc.) decided to dig in to the “Great
American Songbook” for an album of covers. Showing they've
still got the magic, Stewart and Davis saw this lushly orchestrated
collection of songs like George & Ira Gershwin's
“They Can't Take That Away From Me” and Cole
Porter's “Everytime We Say Goodbye” reach number
four on the Billboard charts. While it's a bit disconcerting
to hear “If Ya Think I'm Sexy” with Stewart
backed by strings and horns, the man has one of the smoothest
voices in the business and provides an interesting counterpoint
to singers more commonly associated with this sort of thing,
such as Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett. Next up for Stewart:
a collection of R&B covers.
THE CORAL
Skeleton Key EP
(Deltasonic/Epic)
Certain bands base entire careers on taking the piss. At
this early stage in the game for English sextet The Coral
(lead singer James Skelly is 21), it's hard to say if,
like Beck, they will attempt to get serious. One hopes not,
because their oddball parodies of everything from country
& western (“Sheriff John Brown”) to gospel (“God
Knows”) to aptly named songs like “Short Ballad”
had me busting a grin. While the UK music press is slavering
over The Coral like they have for The Strokes and The Music
et. al., unlike those two bands or worst-case scenario Oasis,
The Coral don't paint themselves as the salvation of
rock. They're just a bunch of young blokes from Merseyside
having a laugh with guitars (and probably a good dollop of
high-quality Lebanese). If you're in the mood for a harmless
rock'n'roll giggle, Skeleton Key is made to order.
SKB
No Independent Thought
(Warner)
I have to admit to a bit of skepticism concerning remix projects
in these over-saturated days, but the lineup on this one provided
a good excuse to hear one of Japan's more creative young
hip-hop units put through the mixing grinder by some of today's
more imaginative electronica forces. UK wunderkind Matthew
Herbert contributes two remixes of SBK's “Reflected:”
one of them, “Herbert's Broken Mix,” is aggressively
experimental, while the other, “Herbert's Mirror
Dub,” has a typically jazzy Herbert touch. Other remixers
putting in appearances include England's Si Begg and
Freestylers, and Japan's Shufflemaster and Coldfeet,
while sounds range from heavy dub to club jazz to outright
hip-hop. SKB, which seems to be an acronym for “Skateboard
King,” can be experienced in the flesh at Akasaka Blitz
on December 13, and Laforet Museum (with Max Tundra from the
UK) on December 25.
LUNA INABA
Luz De La Luna
(King)
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Judging from the sensuous pose young classical piano sensation
Luna Inaba strikes on the cover of her new album, she's
being positioned as Japan's answer to Vanessa Mae or
the Bond Quartet. The song selection on Luz De La Luna also
seems calculated to appeal to listeners beyond the classical
sphere, with the recent winner of the prestigious 2002 Sakai
International Competition interpreting songs not only by classical
composers Debussy, Satie and Ravel, but also works by Ryuichi
Sakamoto and George Winston. Inaba possesses the sensitivity
necessary to give Satie's “1Ëre from 3 Gymnopédies,”
poise and grace, yet also has the technical mastery to handle
Michael Nyman's demanding “Prawn-watching from ZOO.”
But it's on her own composition “Ballad,” which
she wrote at age 15, where Inaba reveals her inclinations.
A stately, romantic piece, it provides some indication of
the talents of a young virtuoso with a bright career in front
of her both as pianist and composer.
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