Tal Bachman
Much was made of Tal Bachman’s lineage about the time “She’s So High”, his debut single, hit it big. Tal is the son of Randy Bachman, late of Bachman-Turner Overdrive and the Guess Who. And lest there be any doubt, Tal Bachman’s tunes prove that he’s fully capable of making dad proud.
“She’s So High”, the aforementioned (and somewhat over-played) 1999 single, is just the tip of the iceberg on Bachman’s self-titled freshman set. The closest he came to duplicating that success was with the grungy power ballad “If You Sleep”, which owes some of its exposure to its inclusion on the Dawson’s Creek soundtrack. But perhaps Bachman’s true hidden strength is in his Beatlesque ballads which eschew power chords for strings and other more traditional elements. “Like Nobody Loves Me” and especially “Beside You” are two gorgeous specimens of pure pop music.
Bachman’s harder-edged compositions are a joy to behold as well. “Romanticide” and “Strong Enough” mix catchy hooks with literate lyrics, increasingly a rarity among the younger generation of performers. And 
other numbers such as “You Don’t Know What It’s Like” demonstrate that the junior Bachman has most definitely been listening to harmony-heavy bands such as Queen and ELO.
My only question now is: where’s the follow-up?
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- Darker Side Of Blue (3:20)
- She’s So High (3:43)
- If You Sleep (4:45)
- (You Love) Like Nobody Loves Me (3:55)
- Strong Enough (4:18)
- You Don’t Know What It’s Like (3:08)
- I Wonder (4:39)
- Beside You (3:15)
- Romanticide (3:23)
- Looks Like Rain (3:30)
- You’re My Everything (3:16)
- I Am Free (5:24)
Released by: Columbia
Release date: 1999
Total running time: 47:34
The first solo effort by Fleetwood Mac’s best-known frontman proves that he had a musical voice that was being held back in the structure of the world-famous band. Buckingham’s efforts on the Mac’s Tusk double LP seemed to meet with either indifference or non-comprehension on the part of the listening public, and his contributions to 1981’s Fleetwood Mac album Mirage were, while still experimental, a little bit subdued in places. Law & Order is a demonstration of how brilliant Buckingham can be when set free: the songs retain an experimental feel, but they’re never anything less than commercial.
You know, I’ll be the first to fess up that I’m not exactly a Thistle & Shamrock Listener (not that it’s a bad show, and not that I don’t like the music). And I’m a little wary of the mania for all things Celtic that has pervaded the underbelly of pop culture for the past decade or so, despite the fact that I’m able to trace my own lineage straight back to Ireland. Something about everyone embracing this culture just because it’s “in” bugs me – and many of the supposedly Celtic musical acts out there aren’t peddling the sound of old Eire, but rather of Enya, whose sound I associate with new age music more than I do anything that sounds distinctly Celtic. But I’ll expound on this soapbox more later. With all my griping, you’re probably wondering why in the world I even bothered with this CD.
Catchy music seems to be a family affair among the members of New Zealand’s Finn clan, as this EP featuring Liam Finn – son of Crowded House frontman Neil Finn – demonstrates.
which has gotten more attention than most demos thanks to one of its members’ family connections. This shows the potential that Betchadupa could have.
Lindsey Buckingham’s second solo effort has evidently never hit me in the right place or at the right time. There are songs on here that I dearly love – “Go Insane” and “I Want You” – but there are also songs that I cannot stand (the far-too-long “Play In The Rain” being a prime example). One would think that the greater abundance of electronic instruments and tools available to Buckingham in 1984 would’ve given him a broad new palette to use well…but it quickly becomes painfully obvious that this man would do well to stick with guitar rock. Samplers and drum machines do not a good song make without some inkling of how to distribute them throughout the arrangement.
one experiment that really doesn’t hold up.
Jon Brion recently grasped a long-overdue foothold in the eyes of the mainstream music-buying public with his instrumental score for Magnolia, but that is far from this artist’s first good effort.
I’m sure some out there are already screaming, “Why Pac-Man Fever?!?” But in case you hadn’t guessed from the nearly-daily dose of updates to 
The fourth album from Folds, Sledge and Jessee – actually, technically only their third album since Naked Baby Photos was more of a B-side/outtake compilation slapped together by the band’s first label to capitalize on their major-label success – ventures into more adventurous and mature musical territory that one might expect, given the alternative-rock pedigree that put them on the map. Reinhold Messner introduces a more introspective and pensive side to the band, and also explores the musical possibilities of overstepping their well-known piano/fuzz bass/drum combo. Small string and brass ensembles liven up several tracks, notably “Don’t Change Your Plans”, which sounds very much like a good, smooth early 70s Chicago tune in its instrumental break. The voice and the lyrics are still true to Folds’ past work, but aside from the opening track and a couple of amusing upbeat songs halfway through the album, the music is slower and more intricate – even better than, say, “Brick” (which was no slouch). There are also indications – namely the hilarious yet strangely touching track “Your Most Valuable Possession”, which consists of a jazzy musical backing under an actual message left on Folds’ answering machine by his father – that Folds’ 
After hearing her surprisingly promising, if somewhat formulaic, first album, I was a little less reluctant to pick up Merril Bainbridge’s second collection. I found myself disturbed when that second album turned out to be even more formulaic than the first, probably thanks to the self-appointed, one-person-focus-groups of the music world, record company executives. The sound of Merril Bainbridge’s second album is very much dictated by the sound of the first, and it probably comes as no surprise that the chief influence seems to be the successful single “Mouth”. There are, however, at least two very impressive tracks on this CD, both of which highlight Merril’s vocal prowess and some very catchy and unusual rhythmic patterns. “Lonely”,