Honky tonk plus emo equals
two new formulaic albums
Darryl Worley rocks the banjo on his new self-titled
album, but lyrics and subject matter digress
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Darryl Worley rode to the top of
the country charts on the strength of
2001 's "I Miss My Friend,” a record
considered to be a fresh breath of
honky-tonk air amid a dearth of pop
country sound-alikes. However, its
patriotic follow-up, “Have You For
gotten?” led to concerns that the Ten
nessee native was a little too eager to
capitalize on post 9-11 successes by
Alan Jackson and Toby Keith. Wor
ley's latest, self-titled recording
avoids such obvious pandering but
does little to elevate itself above the
Music Row pack, which, it seems, is
becoming increasingly dependent on
a short-list of themes.
The record's opening track, “Aw
ful, Beautiful Life,” is typical. Over a
rolling, banjo-driven backing track,
Worley recounts a home life that's
"crazy, tragic, sometimes almost
magic. ” In the meantime, he works
in references to drinking, church,
family dinner, mom, football, a do
mestic disturbance and a cousin
fighting overseas (fortunately,
“Iraq” rhymes with “make it
back”). Not that there's anything
wrong with singing about these
things. It's just that, more and more,
such weary refrains are standing in
for the gritty, realistic view of do
mesticity that Nashville songwriters
were once famous for. (Think Lor
retta Lynn's “The Pill” or George
Jones's “Good Year For the Roses.”)
Given his emotive, Merle Haggard
like baritone, in Worley's case this
seems particularly sad.
Simple Plan, 'Still
Not Getting Any7
There are so many bands that
Simple Plan sound a bit like, it's
easier to define them with musical
math. Simple Plan's new album
“Still Not Getting Any” is Blink 182
plus Good Charlotte divided by
Dashboard Confessional.
What it really equals is a solid al
bum, thanks in part to the produc
tion prowess of the legendary Bob
Rock, who's worked with everyone
from Metallica to Bon Jovi.
For all of their sophomoric song
writing, Simple Plan is too tight to
ignore. It's a flawless creation of
teen anthems with a knowing nod
to the forlorn high schooler, me
against-the-world turmoil.
Simple Plan, hailing from Cana
da, knows the pain of young John
ny Everykid, and the five-piece
band stuffs vague lyrics about over
coming a “big bad something” into
every song.
“Shut Up” is a cascade of guitar
sound strutting through a real
catchy melody, then giving way to
lead singer Pierre Bouvier often
nasal vocals.
And “Welcome To My Life,” an
other top track, pours on more of
the same. “Do you ever want to run
away?/ Do you lock yourself in
your room with the radio on turned
up so loud, that no one hears you
screaming?” Bouvier opines. You
can almost visualize him little
Johnny's chin, helping him make it
through another session of taking
out the garbage, or whatever.
There are a few misses. “One”
has a fully annoying violin back-up
section, and we all know that if
bands like Metallica can't make the
marriage of rock and opera night
work, no one can.
Overall, this is real good stuff
from a pretty good band that is ex
ceeding expectations.
Additionally, “Still Not Getting
Any” represents one of the indus
try's first DualDisc releases. One side
of the disc is the regular full CD, the
other is a DVD containing photos, a
short video about the guys in the
recording studio with Bob Rock and
piecing together the album tracks,
and a high-quality surround sound
version of the new album.
It’s neat, in theory, that you
could throw this disc in your com
puter or DVD player (or Xbox
even...) and listen to the CD on one
side, then flip it over and check out
the DVD video action.
But there's a big problem. The
video quality is horrid. It looks to be
a matter of video compression by the
appearance of the fuzzy footage. It's
nowhere near the usual DVD video
quality and it makes one wonder if
there's actually enough information
storage space on the DVD side of the
DualDisc for full resolution DVD
video, or whether this is a new for
mat that's better suited for the desk
top only, or the dustbin.
Sophisticated visuals
make new Pixarfilm
simply 'incredible'
The Incredibles may be hard for youngsters to sit through
but it is sure to entertain audience members of most ages
BY CHRISTY EE MI RE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Just when you thought computer
animated extravaganzas had de
volved into little more than a litany
of played-out pop culture references
and some swaths of bright color,
“The Incredibles” comes onto the
scene as a smart, sophisticated,
much-needed reminder of the best
the genre can be.
The story of a family of super
heroes trying to live a normal, sub
urban life undoubtedly will call to
mind the “Spy Kids” trilogy. But the
latest release from Pixar Animation
(’’Finding Nemo,” the “Toy Story”
movies) has a brain, a heart, and,
best of all, a strong script beneath
the striking visuals.
The crimefighter formerly
known as Mr. Incredible (richly
voiced by Craig T. Nelson) misses
saving the day after 15 years away
from the job. He and wife Elastigirl
(Holly Hunter, with a sweetness in
her gravelly drawl) were placed in
a relocation program after litigious
citizens resented being rescued
against their will.
So now they're just Bob and He
len Parr, living in a Frank Lloyd
Wright-style house with their three
kids: Violet (Sarah Vowell), who
can turn invisible and create force
fields; Dash (Spencer Fox), whose
name reflects his superhuman
speed; and baby Jack-Jack.
(Jack-Jack Parr, I kid you not.)
Bob spends his days cramming his
giant frame into a tiny insurance of
fice cubicle, so he's only happy to
get sucked back into the crime-fight
ing life when the mysterious Mirage
(Elizabeth Pena) comes to him with
a top-secret assignment.
He thinks he's traveling to a re
mote island to take down a mon
strous, multi-tentacled, metallic orb
(reminiscent of Doc Ock from “Spi
der-Man 2”), but he's actually help
ing a self-styled superhero named
Syndrome (voiced by Jason Lee)
perfect his plot for global domina
tion. Syndrome used to be just a kid
named Buddy who looked up to Mr.
Incredible; now, with wild hair and a
pronounced chin that make him
look like an evil version of Philip
Seymour Hoffman, he's out for re
venge against his former idol and
the rest of the world. (His plan for
flying an aircraft into a major me
tropolis, though, is a little unnerv
ing, even three years after Sept. 11.)
Helen, Violet and Dash get
dragged into the action when they
try to save the family patriarch.
But at two hours, the movie could
be tough for youngsters to sit
through.
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