26 — Friday, August 6, 1999 — North Shore News Parsons’ tribute revisits classics John Goodman This Week Editor jobng@asnews.com So kkuwk Return of the Grievous Angel — A Tribute To Gram Parsons (1999 Almo Sounds 80024) A beautifut homage to hot burrito number one Gram Parsons (1947-1973) put together by his former partner Emmylou Harris. She acts as executive produc- er for the project and per- forms Cn songs with Chrissic Hynde, Beck and Sheryi Crow, © Other artists paying their respects include Elvis Costello, Gillian Welch, The Mavericks, Lucinda Williams and Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield on a sublime read- ing of “$1,000 Wedding”. In the liner notes Bud Scoppa eulogizes Parsons as a “subversive Harvard-edu- cated hillbilly who invented country-rock...” in the mid- sixties. Scoppa, as an AKR man with Mercury, met Parsons and Harris in 1973 and says the couple, despite personalities as different as night and day, were made for each other. __ But the larger than life Parsons was not meant long for this earth. Live fast, die young and have a good-look- ing catalogue. By the time of his death at 26 this cowboy had already produced a full book of classic songs. Too $hort — Can’t Stay Away (1999 $hort Records 44141) . : Form kkk | . Content * ; Beatswise this CD ranks among the best hip-hop of the year but Atlanta’s Too Short is too smart for his own good. Everything about the music is on the money, sending the album to number one on the R&B charts and placing it in the top 10 for total album sales. $hort Records’ motto of “In Platinum We Trust” is paying dividends. This Weck the self-described “original pimp” is 2 major _. player right up there with Britney, Shania, Ricky and Smash Mouth. But.who’s listening to it? The misogynistic diatribes that accompany every track in the mix will alienate most of the audience. Which is too bad ’ because the music is that good. ; Too $hert brings in veterans such as Jay-Z and Jermaine Dupry to work alongside newcomers off the Short Records roster. Every cut has something going ‘or it. - On the last four tracks Too $hort lets other artists on his label, like Slink Capone, Badwayz, Zu, Al Block, and Hellkilla take over the show with their own material. It’s an act of largesse chat suggests Too Short is aware he is part of a larger hip-Lop community. Talk about dropping the bomb. ~~ _ Fulf marks for the music but Too make this CD a must to avoid. @ X&k& Jerry Holland — Fiddler’s Choice (1999 Cidyszey Records 1051) eg Teg on hee ; .: Traditional and new tunes from Cape. Breton fiddler (and : stp dancer) Jerry Holland examines the islaid’s rich, musical : history. : ; « -Born in Boston in 1955 of a Quebec mother and New - Brunswick father Holland’s family began vacationing on the + island in the sistics, Considered a child musical prodigy he — first appeared on Don Messer’s Jubilee at the age of seven and by ten was a regular performer at Rose Croix Hall dances in Helland knows just about everybody involved in the close- knit Cape Breton scene. Each jig or reei connects back to individuals or families of rnusicians in the island culture: Barry MacMaster, The Barra MacNeils, The Rankins, and Ashley Maclsaac to name just a few. & kkk Los Lobos — This Tine (1999 Hollywood Records HRG-2185-2): David Hidalgo and Louie Perez have. brouglit their expezi- mental alter egos with them on the new Los Lobos disc. As the Latin Playboys chey recorded two side projects with Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake that explored ideas outside the tradicional perceptions of a Los Angeles Latino rock band. On This Time Froom and Blake rake Los Lobos inte that f 5 re rae routes to the: groove ‘ B hort’s hate-filled lyrics - SEE Spot Run's Chris Grodeck last Monday nighi. Strong set from See Spot Run | Mi See Spot Run and A is A at Richards on Richards, Aug. 2. See Spot Run smoked through their set. The band laid down tunes off their lat- est release Weightless. Great light show and visual effects — lead vocalist Chris Brodeck had the crowd hop- ping by the end of the night. @ See Spot Rus — Weigittless (Loggerhead Records) See Spot Run are sea- soned musicians with strong songs. The recording is top- notch, recorded at Studio Piccolo and Sci-Fi with April Wine veteran Gary Moffet, mastered by Howard Weinberg at Masterdisk. Tight rhythms, admirable zvock and roll riffs and engag- ing lyrics — See Spot Run may have a hit. The CD has been getting quite a bit of airplay across Canada. Buy it and you'll see why. Drums — Bruce McQueen Bass/vocals — Chris Brodeck ; Guitar — Reg Bennette Guitar — Randy Bowen s Karen Foster ‘at The. Summ«er Columbia, July 28. This collective is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. Karen Foster are intense —- nonstop bests, trippy guitar riffs and hocks everywhere — no pop here. Listen up, they’re going somewhere. @ Karen Foster —-War is not Enough (Sudden Death Records) CD release party Sept. 10 at the Brickyard. Skilled three-piece rips through some of the most tenacious songs. Guitar and vocals from Chad MacQuarrie with a strong voice and range to compli- ment the music backing him up. On the guitar he tears, scratches and wrenches sound out of every parc of his axe. Drummer Gregg Smith is not a tapper and always in ' the pocket — precise and structured. Bass player Rob Grace’s position has now been filled by Bryan ~ ‘McCallum (not featured on this recording). This is one hell ofalinc-up. * The first.15 songs are fast. * and intensely chaotic, yet Sale!” . new! Indoor/Outdoor Iron : uN Nae Neen to © Entertainment Centres NEWS photos Sprout