P age B4
A ugust 23 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver
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ENT ERTA IN MENT
Max-A-Million
To call Duran Estevez positive
would be something o f an under
statement. The dynamic rapper and
singer for the Chicago group Max-
A -M illio n veritably begins and ends
each sentence with ‘ Irie ’, the Jamai
can term for “ A lrigh t.’’
Moreover, the sentiments Duran
expresses are so endearingly a ffir
mative they make the listener feel
like join in g the singer in his mission
to inspire the masses through music.
That same irrepressible spirit
vibrates through the songs on Take
Your Time.
The Zoo Entertainment/S.O.S.
Records debut album from M ax-A-
M illion.
The disc showcases the Chicago
vocal trio on 12jams that ambitious
ly com bine elem ents o f R & B ,
Reggae, dancehall, Hip/Hopand Pop.
Indeed, the album’ s first single “ Fat
New York Undercover (L-R): Michael DeLorenzo (Eddie Torres), Patti D ’A rbanville-Quinn
(Lt. Virginia Cooper) and Malik Yoba (J.C. Williams) struggle to rid the New York City Streets of
criminals in the new one-hour drama New York Undercover premiering Thursday Sept 8 (9 00-10 00
'PM ET/PT) on Fox.
Boy” has already become a dance/
club hit on the strength o f its clatter
ing techno rhythms. Reggae Rap
ping and Sexy Vocals.
The group consists o f three sing
ers so talented each could easi ly front
their own group. But when Duran,
A ’ Lisa B and Tommye joined forces
to form M ax-A -M illio n , they created
a triple-th re a t
funk posse with
astounding vo
cal
finesse.
Take
Your
Time isa vision
ary c o m b in a
tion o fR & B vo
calizing, quick
silver Caribbe
an rapping and
techno fu tu r
ism.
The album
is produced by 20 Fingers, the phe
nomenal Chicago music team behind
recent dance hits by G illette (“ Short
Short Man” ) and Roula (“ Lick It” ).
Take Your Time finds the re
nowned production crew applying
their musical and engineering exper
tise to a collection o f original songs
and forceful interpretations.
C o m m e r c ia l "s
The B e st O f F ran k X u ppa
When Rykodisc am bitiously
rereleased en masse the definitive
Frank Zappa-approved masters o f al I
his albums in the Spring o f 1995, the
uninitiated were afforded the oppor
tunity to explore the vast and diverse
world o f FZ - composer, bandleader
and virtuoso guitarist as well as hu
morist, satirist and outspoken social
critic -- who.ie massive body o f work
was widely overlooked and misun
derstood in his lifetime. However,
neophytes trying to find a threshold
into the Zappa zone are faced with a
monumental i f not overwhelming
task; where to start? There’ s no bet
ter way to get a sampling o f the
prolific maestro’s catalog than by
delving into S trictly Commercial
(RC D /R AC /R ALP 40500), a “ best
o f ’ collection o f FZ’s radio hits and
tunes that would have been Top Ten
i f this were a perfect world. Packed
with 19 highlights o f his “ main
stream” pop-rock career, this collec
tion is a bona fide Zappa 101, a
primer on his creative genius which
was simultaneously at work and at
play in even his most accessible num
bers. I t ’s also the first o fficial Zappa
retrospective since Verve released
Mothermania in 1969.
One o f rock’s most p ro lific and
iconoclastic artists, Frank Zappa
adventurously covered a universe o f
stylistic terrain, ranging from ‘ 50s
music inspired by Varese, Stravinsky
and Bartók. He punched out hardy
rock on his surly guitar and served up
“jazz from hell” experiments on his
computerized Synclavier DMS key
board (his instrument ofchoice in the
latter years o f his life when he was
studio-bound). With a lifelong fla ir
for creating genre-jumping, post
modernist music, Zappa released
nearly 60 albums, many o f which
folded in several different styles o f'
m usic,
cross-referencing
such seemingly disparate domains as
classical with reggae and melodic R&B
with dissonant avant-garde.
M ERCIAI
APPA
doo-wop to 20th century classical
UNITED ARTISTS PICTURES presests a SERAPHIM prod « CLIVE BARKER’S "LORD OE ILLUSIONS" SCOTT BAKULA
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