Sound Bites: Audio Reviews

Selected new releases: ``Mama's Gun'' (Motown Records) - Erykah Badu When Erykah Badu released her ``Baduizm'' in 1997, there seemed to be only two routes

Wednesday, November 22nd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Selected new releases:

``Mama's Gun'' (Motown Records) - Erykah Badu

When Erykah Badu released her ``Baduizm'' in 1997, there seemed to be only two routes to success for R&B female singers: a tour-de-force, powerful vocalist or a vocally challenged but aesthetically pleasing starlet.

But Badu, with her bohemian-soul style and a voice that recalled Billie Holiday, changed the game with her debut, which dazzled listeners with eclectic lyrics and jazz-tinged tracks. The album garnered heaps of praise and Grammy awards, and raised the bar for those who followed.

Since then, there have been several black female singers _ Lauryn Hill, Angie Stone, Jill Scott, Kelis, to name a few _ who have shown that Badu doesn't have the lock on originality. Still, with the release of her second album of all-new material in three years, ``Mama's Gun,'' Badu shows why she remains ahead of the pack.

Badu, who wrote or co-wrote all of the disc's 14 tracks, experiments more on this album musically, and it pays off, as in ``Penitentiary Philosophy's'' hard-driving guitar riffs and the reggae-influenced ``In Love With You,'' with guest vocalist Stephen Marley. Yet her most pleasing and alluring songs hearken back to the early '70s soul era or jazz songs of yesteryear. In ``Cleva,'' Badu boasts of being able to make the most with what she has, and in the street-sassy ``Booty,'' she taunts the woman of a man who's pursuing her.

The lyrics reflect Badu's earthy vibe, mixing her spiritual message with wit _ most notably on ``Bag Lady,'' in which Badu advises women to get rid of their emotional baggage (``One day, all them bags, gone (sic) get in your way''). Songs like ``Orange Moon'' _ in which she pictures herself as a moon reflecting the sun's love _ may be too far out of the mainstream to garner much radio airplay, the album solidifies Badu's position as an artistic leader in the music world.

By Nekesa Mumbi Moody, AP Music Writer

``Lovers Rock'' (Epic Records) - Sade

There aren't many artists who can wait eight years between albums and still leave fans and critics anxiously awaiting new music. Sade is among the few who can _ and should.

On her new disc, ``Lovers Rock,'' Sade returns to the backdrop of lush, jazzy sounds that made the British singer a star in 1984 with ``Diamond Life.'' Yet unlike some singers who stick to one format, Sade has made her sound her signature and grown with it.

As in her previous recordings, themes of love and heartache echo throughout ``Lovers Rock.'' On ``Somebody Already Broke My Heart,'' Sade's scratchy alto pleads for a new lover's compassion and loyalty, warning, ``I've been torn apart so many times, I've been hurt so many times before, so I'm counting on you now.'' And on the melancholy ``King of Sorrow,'' she bares her wounded soul and broken spirit, declaring, ``I wonder if this grief will ever let me go, I am the king of sorrow, the king of sorrow.'' You can feel the ache in Sade's voice.

The love songs on ``Lovers Rock,'' including the title track, are less about the sensual and more about complete love, and the struggles and hurdles that come with it. On the brief, enticing ``All About Our Love,'' Sade sings of triumph over difficult times, acknowledging ``We have seen some suffering baby, it has not always been perfect,'' but declaring her love as ``forever, neverending.''

Not all the songs, which were co-written by Sade, deal with the joys and pitfalls of relationships. In ``Slave Song'' and ``Immigrant,'' the singer, whose father is Nigerian, delves into the despair of slavery and discrimination.

By Nekesa Mumbi Moody, AP Music Writer

``El Cancionero _ Mas y Mas'' (Rhino/Warner Archives) _ Los Lobos

The pride of East Los Angeles, Los Lobos has spent 22 years building a catalog that is an exhilarating, unique, bilingual blend of cultures and musical genres. Even in its early years, the band brazenly defied boundaries, as the first three tracks on this marvelous four-CD set make clear.

The collection opens with ``Guantanamera,'' a title sure to elicit groans _ until the music starts. In an acoustic 1978 performance, Los Lobos miraculously manages to transform this tired Latin chestnut into something fresh and beautiful.

Next comes ``Sabor A Mi,'' a Chicano ballad with three lovely guitar solos _ by three different guitarists. It's an early hint at the depth of talent in this five-man band of multi-instrumentalists.

Then comes something completely different, ``We're Gonna Rock,'' aptly described in the liner notes as a statement of purpose. The performance is hardly a classic because the young band plays too fast, careening through the song like a train about to derail. But the energy suggests that with this group, anything is possible.

And for more than two decades, that has been the case: Anything is possible, and nothing is beyond the reach of Los Lobos, which makes this 86-song set a treat. The collection pulls together the best of the band's 10 albums, nine previously unreleased tracks, numerous other rarities and tunes by such spinoff acts as the Latin Playboys and Los Super Seven.

The music ranges from rock, R&B and blues to country, Tex-Mex and Mexican folk. It's all played with passion, humor and impeccable taste, as reflected in the choice of covers, among them Marvin Gaye's ``What's Going On,'' the Beatles' ``Tomorrow Never Knows,'' the Grateful Dead's ``Bertha'' and Richard Thompson's ``Down Where the Drunkards Roll.''

What we have here is not exactly roots music. It's more like the whole tree.

By Steven Wine, AP Writer

``SRV'' (Epic/Legacy 3 CDs, 1 DVD Video) _ Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble

Early in this expansive boxed set comes ``Manic Depression,'' a 1981 cover of Jimi Hendrix's original which Stevie Ray Vaughan plays virtually note-for-note, showing his technical brilliance but little originality. Fast forward three years to Vaughan's version of another Hendrix chestnut, ``Little Wing.'' This time, Vaughan seems positively possessed by Hendrix's ghost. His guitar has found the muscular voice that would made Vaughan one of the most popular performers in rock and blues in the 1980s. This ``Little Wing'' is utterly Vaughan's, his guitar at times crackling as if on fire, and it dramatizes the astounding leap in creativity he took in the early 1980s.

``SRV'' is the seventh posthumous release of Vaughan's work and it wisely relies on 31 previously unreleased cuts, most of them recorded live, to supplement his by-now familiar studio work. The tracks concentrate on Vaughan's best period, from 1984-90, and some feature guest artists including Albert King, Jeff Beck and Lonnie Mack. The DVD contains six unaired tracks from a 1989 ``Austin City Limits.''

There are also three recordings Vaughan and Double Trouble made on Aug. 25, 1990, in East Troy, Wis. Late the next night, a helicopter carrying Vaughan crashed into a foggy hilltop. Vaughan was 35.

By Joel Stashenko, AP Writer

``Sweet Stringin' Soul'' (Urban Electric) _ Anthony Gomes

``I got it deep down in my soul,'' Anthony Gomes sings on the tune ``When I Play the Blues.'' He backs it up through 13 tracks on his new disc, ``Sweet Stringin' Soul.'' Known for his roots rocker style, Gomes switches gears to deliver a fine acoustic blues recording, drenched in soul. Short cuts (only one more than four minutes) put the emphasis on the original songs and Gomes' tough, strong voice.

By James Reindl, AP Writer