Music

CD Review Revue

MADONNA
Greatest Hits Volume 2
(Maverick)
*** (Only because the author likes "Erotica," the last song by Black Madonna.)

Madonna's move to London and subsequent marriage to the very British, well-bred director of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Guy Ritchie, was all part of a grand attempt to redeem herself of past sins and excesses. Not religious redemption, but racial redemption. Madonna had been too black: her early music was produced by blacks, she sang and danced like a black woman, and she dated black men. Now that she's older, she no longer needs what black culture essentially offered: rebel music. She now wants respectability, spirituality, a wholesome family. All of these longings are expressed in her later, more serious songs, which can be found on Madonna: Greatest Hits Volume 2. Indeed, our voluptuous, sunburnt Boy Toy has been devoured by this pale and muscular Ice Princess who sings songs like "Frozen." CHARLES MUDEDE

MARIAH CAREY
Greatest Hits
(Columbia)
**

SMASHING PUMPKINS
Greatest Hits
(Virgin)
**1/2

Some cursory comparisons: Both Mariah Carey: Greatest Hits and Smashing Pumpkins: Greatest Hits are two-disc whoppers. MC:GH has 28 tracks and a running time of one hour, 59 minutes, 42 seconds. SP:GH has 34 tracks and a running time of two hours, 24 minutes, four seconds. Both records encompass careers that began in the early '90s and ended (for all intents and purposes) in 2000. Both contain songs with the word "butterfly" in the title ("Butterfly" by MC, "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" by SP). Both are released on major labels owned by large corporate conglomerates--though SP did, for a while, reside on a smaller independent label (Caroline Records). Both groups contain members who were, at one time, fantasy material for the author of this review (Mariah Carey of Mariah Carey, D'Arcy of Smashing Pumpkins), though he was much, much younger then. Both groups have a member who has spent time in the booby hatch and/or rehab (Mariah Carey of Mariah Carey, Jimmy Chamberlin of Smashing Pumpkins). Only one has duetted with Boys II Men. Only one has headlined Lollapalooza. Both have had number-one records, though Ms. Carey leads with a staggering four. MC:GH is Ms. Carey's first double album; SP:GH is the Smashing Pumpkins' second. Both records are fitting ends to careers of very little meaning--which is odd when you think about how the '90s were supposedly this time of great meaningful music. In retrospect, now that I'm older and (perhaps, but probably not) wiser, it occurs to me that both acts, though ridiculously different musically, had oh so very much in common--especially when it came to that splendid talent of turning self-absorbed diva-blustering into monumental success and piles of cash stolen from prepubescents. BRADLEY STEINBACHER

NO DOUBT
Rock Steady
(Interscope)
**

This album should be full of bona fide hits, not on account of No Doubt's talent, but due to the cash Interscope seems to have dropped on producers Nellee Hooper, Sly & Robbie, William Orbit, Ric Ocasek, Steely & Clevie, and Prince (who also lends vocals to the lame song he produces, "Waiting Room"). Say what you will about corporate music, but money can buy just about anything, including spectacular moments on mediocre records. What would Madonna's Music CD have been without its four producers and vocoder, for example? That in mind, Rock Steady is either testament to the band's lack of vision, or a celebration of mediocrity. With so much muscle behind the boards, not one song brings a real pop thrill or even a guilty pleasure. The "Hey Baby" single is numbingly unremarkable, while "Detective," produced by the wonderful Nellee Hooper, is the only song on Rock Steady with an actual hook. I should probably note that the band is now exploring dancehall, to diversify its bombastic, SoCal appropriation of ska. "Start the Fire," produced by Steely & Clevie, is white-trash dancehall with, again, a lazy chorus. The worst thing about No Doubt, here and always, is Gwen Stefani's bracing Barbie doll voice, but that type of thing is relative: She's wildly popular, so she must be very talented. JEFF DeROCHE

LIL' BOW WOW
Doggy Bag
(Sony/So So Def)
**

A corporate childhood is avoidable, and corporate adulthood can be helped, but corporate adolescence is inevitable. When a kid begins to resist the influence of his or her parents' culture, the first step is into corporate culture, because, to the young mind, it is just as dominant and sophisticated as parents are. Corporate culture also takes as much of an interest in informing the young adult's life as any parent would. The music of 14-year-old Lil' Bow Wow occupies this space: The CD's liner notes fold out into a mini-sized, teen-zine pinup poster. His raps hint of sexuality but deny it, as would a prime-time sitcom. The music (mostly produced by Jermaine Dupri) is "good pop" because it imitates pop; by pushing no envelopes--adult or child--it can simply be popular. Originally from Columbus, OH, Lil' Bow Wow was given his name and catapulted into fame by Snoop Dogg. You could call him Snoop's protégé, but where Snoop imitated Slick Rick's "La-Di Da-Di" by rapping, "I said, 'Cheer up!' so I gave her a hit/I said, 'You can't have me, I'm too young for you, bitch!'" Lil' Bow Wow raps, "They run up, tryin' to give me a kiss/I said, 'You can't have me, I'm too young for you, miss.'" BRIAN GOEDDE

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