PJ HARVEY Is This Desire?
The song titles on her fifth album — ''The Wind,''
''The Garden,'' ''Joy'' — portend something New Agey and soft. Fear
not. Polly Jean is back with threatening, rawhearted rock (''Till
the light shines on me, I damn to hell every second you
breathe'') and haunted, backwoods ballads. Don't even think of
getting rid of her.
ELVIS COSTELLO WITH BURT BACHARACH Painted From Memory
With his first release for Mercury Records,
Costello plays crooning muse to legendary balladeer Bacharach.
The result? A dozen masterfully crafted paeans to lost love, in
which Costello trades snark for sincerity. ''It's more hip than
trying to scowl and stare the camera down,'' he says. ''I've been
staring the camera down for 25 years. I'm getting tired of
squinting.''
KIRK FRANKLIN The Nu Nation Project
After recording one of the
biggest-selling gospel records in history, the double-platinum
God's Property (1997), America's most successful Mr. Clean steps
back to the pulpit with some assistance from the divine voices
of Bono, R. Kelly, and Mary J. Blige. Testifying like a
latter-day Rev. Al Green, Franklin promises ''music for the
church — and the street.''
JONI MITCHELL Taming The Tiger
Is that really Mitchell singing a song with
the chorus ''Happiness is the best face lift''? ''I finally got to
the place where I crave levity,'' she explains. ''I want to do
comedy or something! I'm tired of drama.'' But don't
worry — there's still enough righteous anger to go around in some
sparsely arranged songs about sexism and showbiz.
UNKLE Psyence Fiction
This collaboration between hip British label
head James Lavelle and even hipper hip-hopper DJ Shadow (below)
features guests like Radiohead's Thom Yorke, the Verve's Richard
Ashcroft, and the Beastie Boys' Mike D. Isn't Lavelle worried
the album's subtle electronic sounds will get lost in all the
star power? ''It's a concern,'' Lavelle admits. ''But I think it's
a good record, and I hope in the long term it will overshadow
the hype.''
JOHN MELLENCAMP John Mellencamp
''It's not cool to like John Mellencamp,'' admits
the singer. Maybe not, but so what? His first album for Columbia
Records (''Mercury didn't care about me,'' he says of his former
label of 22 years) is yet another smartly crafted blend of
rootsy rock and contemporary pop that's sure to please fans
turned off by 1996's ho-hum Mr. Happy Go Lucky.
P.M. DAWN Dearest Christian, I'm So Very Sorry For Bringing You Here. Love, Dad The Day-Glo duo's first album since 1995's underwhelming Jesus Wept is a mind-expanding blend of heavenly vocals and billowy production, but don't try to play Spot the Sample: For the first time Prince Be and DJ Minutemix decided to leave their vintage vinyl at home and use real musicians. ''We wanted to freak things up a bit,'' says Prince Be. ''It came out a lot more intimate this way.''
DUNCAN SHEIK Humming After what Sheik terms the ''mixed blessing'' of his 1997 hit ''Barely Breathing,'' he contemplated a ''super-esoteric, obscure'' record. But ultimately, thoughtful, string-laden art pop prevailed. ''I realized in this cultural milieu, if you go too far either way (a) nobody will ever hear or understand it, or (b) it's just a piece of pop junk.''
Add your comment
The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. An asterisk * indicates a required field.