26 - North Shore News — Friday, December 10, 1999

returned with a gem

Michael Becker:

News Edétor
enbecker@nsnews.com

THESE are the best of this year’s
. discs that I still reach for when I
must feed my little CIs player:

1. XTC — Appie Venus (IVT Records 1999
3250-2)
“The most interesting and prolific pair “of. é
English ‘pop songwriters to. come along since
the Lennon-McCartney juggernaut return
after a lengthy silence.
Colin Moulding and Andy Partridge are not:
" foisting upon us a shameless retro-New Wave
“cash-in either. Rather Apple Venus proves itself
: an. elegant 11-track string of gems.
“+ XFC-lite (guitarist Dave Gregory split in a.
huff during | the recording, allegedly) returned this cartier this
year with an all-new studio disc for the first time since 1992°s
“Nonsucron the Virgin label.
T like the way the dise’s lyrical i imagery trades in flowers, fruit
and blissfully pastoral evocations.. ~
‘The frantic, sharp-arigled nature of the band’s ear
“\circa'1977. White M: and the elastic sinew hi
“excellent:1982. release’ Engiiets Settlement is tempered by orches-
igemients cnd mid-tempo excursions anchored | by
: Moulding’ 's fluid bass wo
2.Tom Waits — Mule Variations (Epitaph 1999 865447-2)
Deep briliiance. from a rare American original. Mule
fons reveals ‘itself a storied world of motley misfits and
Soiled saints > Georgia Lee, old brown Betty, Big Jack Earl,
3¢ from Kokomo are among them. Theirs are engaging
lost end found, profound yearniz

ui Marc Ribot on guitar
fra

— : pop energy
“opener. T sense a definite vision at play here and we're,
l abou preachy souls-as-fish tations cithe
y Divine Right frontman and songirite
who finds transce

9. Yat-Kha
peculiar Bins bun of ; nusicians come e Rogethicr to conjure

get under my hin ‘

MUSK ‘time: zones it manages to

from prison in 1992.

This year's Black Te The Furure shows the
ultra-hip “Atro-Soul” man in fine form at age
60. The tracks are powered by a potent ciple
threat of jazz, funk and African rhythmic impuls-

6. Wilco — Summertecth (Reprise 1999 CDW
47283)
Wilco’s hybrid mesh of neo- psychedelic <oun-
try-rock is buffed with some breezy big pro-
duction touches and throw-back keyboard
instrumentation that somersaults the sound
smack dab back to the 1970s. Summerteeth
rolls with simple tunes fleshed out with decep- *
tively simple lyrics that upon closer examination
reward with some wonderful poetry

7. David Bowie — ‘eurs...? (Virgin
1999 7243 8 48157 87)

- Bowie side-steps self-referential regurgita--

tion, yet this is not a radical reinvention.

He discards the dizzying techno-dabble of his last CD in
favour of more dreamy mid-tempo fare and nods to the Ziggy
period. The incredible Reeves Gabrels keeps things just edgy
enough, joining Bowie again on guitar and as song co-writer.

8. Buena Vista Social Club — Buena Vista Social Club Presents |
Ibrahim Ferrer (Nonesuch/Warner 199979532-2) :

Proving it’s never too late, this disc is 72-year-old Ibrahim
Ferrer’s debut solo album. The Cuban singer worked in Havana
as a backing vocalist with Benny More and Banda Gigante.

Guitarist Ry Cooder released the original Buena Vista Social
Club in 1997. te topped the world music scene in terms of sales
and carned a Grammy in the process.

Ferrer surfaced in 2 rnore limited way on the 1997 disc. He’s
front and centre on the follow-up with a 21-piece band.

Ry Cooder produces and the key Buena Vista players return
to dazzle with ballads, emotional boleros and big-band oomph.
Dalat Beisivi (BMG, icklow 1599 @9026- °

ain’t no whiney Houston. Equal mea:
sures corporeal: and ethereal, there is is essential beauty is in athe :

‘melancholic tones.

ranger’ ‘musical achievements, Rag Befor
: sy was an astoiinc ing 19 ears in the making.

‘While ‘not near. the. ne of 1968's. S.
chedelic.gem, or the first ti

1960s, Rage offers'a spirited blast’ of rock ’n’ true’to the ‘many.’

€ v mite. disc.:Shéer,

acious grit wins the d