Power to the People and the Beats: Public Enemy's Greatest Hits
PUBLIC ENEMY
Def Jam
Like many other white music lovers now in their early 30s, I remember the visionary Long Island rap group Public Enemy as a sort of musical gateway drug; it was the jarring, eye-opening catalyst that changed a passing interest in hip-hop's novel bravado into a recognition of the sound as a substantial, powerful cultural force.
Hearing It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back was like putting a Metallica record on the turntable for the first time: frightening, thrilling, galvanizing. "These are hard records, with the complexity and heft of architecture," writes former P.E. media provocateur Harry Allen in the liner notes to this single-disc compendium. "Even more, though, these are odd records; they don't sound like anything else, even yet."
Power to the People amply validates Allen's assertions, and my own that hip-hop has rarely produced anything approaching P.E.'s quality in the years since the group's heyday. Even on the embryonic track "You're Gonna Get Yours" and the decidedly half-assed latter-days single "He Got Game" — which bookend this 18-track timeline — the sounds, substance and smarts are all in attendance.
It wasn't just Chuck D's presence (highlight: "Bring The Noise"), or the Bomb Squad's xenomorphic, fathoms-deep production (highlight: "Welcome to the Terrordome"), or the group's confrontational lyrics (the disc, sadly, is missing "Fear of a Black Planet" and "Burn Hollywood Burn?"), though any one of these elements alone might have been enough to make a lasting impression.
Public Enemy was more than the sum of some very substantial parts, and this anthology, while not even remotely the full-complement box set the group deserves, provides compelling evidence that P.E.'s total package has yet to be equaled. **** 1/2
SCOTT HARRELL
Jacksonville City Nights
RYAN ADAMS & THE CARDINALS
Lost Highway
This, the second album released under the Ryan Adams & the Cardinals moniker, is arguably his least pretentious effort since his days in Whiskeytown, and on that note, it's also more similar to that seminal alt-country group's output than anything in Adam's catalog (Heartbreaker and the Love is Hell albums notwithstanding). More than just a vehicle for Adams' old-timey C&W leanings, Jacksonville flaunts a love for early Grateful Dead — American Beauty comes to mind — plus old standbys like Neil Young and Elton John, the latter of whose shadow Adams can't seem to escape. The loose, live, written-in-the-studio vibe adds a sense of urgency to these songs, and while that's often worked against Adams in the past, here it adds a quality that all too often is missing from his songs: sincerity. ****
MARK SANDERS
Patterns of War
DR. ISRAEL PRESENTS DREADTONE INTERNATIONAL
ROIR
Brooklyn-based Dr. Israel, a writer/producer/programmer/musician/vocalist, has concocted a potent blend of dub-ragga, funk and world music on Patterns of War. Rib-rattling bass, fat beats and splashes of echo-drenched keys anchor rhythm tracks that provide a beefy background for politically charged, anthemic tunes and the soulful exotic singing of newcomer Lady K and Israeli-born siren Chemda. Patterns finds a winning middle ground between roots reggae and digi-dancehall. (http://www.roir-usa.com/">www.roir-usa.com😉 ***
—ERIC SNIDER
The Fast Rise and Fall of the South
THE KINGSBURY MANX
Yep Roc
The fourth album by this Chapel Hill indie folk band is a pleasant work, trading in bright acoustic guitars, tinkling pianos and understated percussion. Wilco's very own Mike Jorgensen produced the record, and the sound is not far from that band's work, although it has only a fraction of the noisy freak-outs that have become Wilco staples. And that one-dimensionality ultimately holds this disc back. The Manx works a lovely, well-rehearsed groove, but on this go-round, there are no bold leaps, no deviations from the blueprint. South is well crafted enough, however, to make you root for these guys. *** 1/2
COOPER LANE BAKER
Abandoned Luncheonette
DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES
Atlantic/Rhino
Long before the glam-pop image or the big-bam-boom drum machine beats, came this absolutely lovely LP that blended the Philly duo's penchant for folk-rock and blue-eyed soul. The opener, "When the Morning Comes," remains one of Hall & Oates' most winning and durable songs; the soul ballad "She's Gone" — which actually charted twice, in '74 (at No. 60) and '76 (at No. 7) — still has legs, too.
ERIC SNIDER
This article appears in Nov 2-8, 2005.
