VARIOUS ARTISTS
``The Osbourne Family Album''
(Sony)
So you bought the T-shirt, coffee cup, pillow, poster and cell-phone cover emblazoned with the image of Ozzy Osbourne's family.
Now you can round out the collection with the family's official CD, ``The Osbourne Family Album.'' Hey! Don't stop reading yet. The album isn't that bad. It isn't that great either, but it is a fun listen.
Between former neighbor Pat Boone's version of ``Crazy Train'' and the original version by the ``King of Evil'' himself, the CD has some decent as well as surprising tracks.
The decent include ``Snowblind'' by System of a Down and ``You Really Got Me'' by the Kinks. The unexpected include ``Imagine'' by John Lennon, the song Ozzy and Sharon fell in love to.
Daughter Kelly debuts her talent with a rendition of Madonna's ``Papa Don't Preach.'' She doesn't sound bad, but even with heavy voice manipulation she comes across like a little girl singing into her hairbrush in front of the mirror. Only difference: Her dad's a rock star.
Between each song, the album includes sound clips from the show. So, if the music doesn't entertain you, snippets of Ozzy's frustration with Sharon for singing ``Tiny Bubbles'' may do the trick.
Deborah Markham, The Pilot
Published: July 19, 2002 in DAILY BREAK section, page E10

NATALIE MERCHANT
``Motherland''
(Elektra)
Natalie Merchant took on an alternative folk sound of her own when she left 10,000 Maniacs.
But she lost the best of the Maniacs, the beat that moved listeners to bounce and sway to thoughtful lyrics. So it is with her newest album, ``Motherland.''
The first single, ``Just Can't Last,'' comes close to the Maniacs' sound. ``Not in This Life'' comes close, too. The rest of the album, however, is a lullaby.
Take the title track. The soft accordion and acoustic strings can put anyone to sleep. The chorus, ``Motherland cradle me, close my eyes, lullaby me to sleep,'' makes it clear that's the idea. Supposedly ironic, the soft sound is actually boring.
Per her political style, Merchant makes a social comment or two, alluding to the hypocrisies of the religious South in ``Saint Judas'' and making a feminist plea with ``Tell Yourself.''
The worst the album has to offer is ``Put the Law on You,'' a skin-crawling betrayal-of-love tune. Merchant should leave the blues to Nina Simone and Billie Holiday, whom she acknowledges in the liner notes.
Maddeningly slow overall, the album's only saving grace is Merchant's poetic narrative style. But people buy music to listen, not read.
Deborah Markham, The Pilot
Published: November 30, 2001 in DAILY BREAK section, page E10

OASIS
``Heathen Chemistry''
(Epic)
Not since ``(What's the Story) Morning Glory?'' has Oasis produced an album that could keep anyone's attention for longer than ten minutes.
With ``Heathen Chemistry,'' the band's fifth studio album, Oasis may be able to hold on for another five.
The album opens with the critically praised ``Hindu Times'' but doesn't get interesting until ``Stop Crying Your Heart Out,'' sung by Liam Gallagher, who usually takes a vocal back seat to brother Noel.
``Stop Crying'' doesn't have the hard-driven rock-anthem power of ``Hindu Times'' or ``Force of Nature,'' but it does have the Beatles-influenced lyrics and Manchester sound that are so quintessential to what drives the band and its front men.
Aside from their unabashed love of the Fab Four, Oasis dabbles with harmonies from other bands out of the 1960s and '70s. The instrumental ``A Quick Peep'' spins a carnival-like organ and guitar melody that screams of the Doors. ``Little By Little'' and ``(Probably) All in the Mind'' give off a Pink Floyd vibe.
Ultimately, ``Heathen Chemistry'' feels much better than the last three albums but nowhere near as good as the first two.
Deborah Markham, The Pilot
Published: August 22, 2002 in DAILY BREAK section, page E9

ALEX GOLD
``Xtravaganza Mix''
(Xtravaganza/Columbia)
DJ Alex Gold has dubbed his mixing style ``Global Cosmopolitan Dance,'' and his ``Xtravaganza Mix,'' a compilation of remixed songs most Americans have never heard, is a good example of trance, a newer form of electronic music.
A few steps from techno, trance uses fewer lyrics and features a more subtle and hypnotic beat - hence the genre's name.
Gold's sound is hip and smooth, and he uses a symphonic technique of building the sound to a climactic pace that fades over the final tracks. One song blends into the next with a repetitive train-engine rhythm that keeps you wide awake, yet level. The sound, even in the background, creeps into your subconscious - a symptom of trance albums that can be unnerving, especially when you're not in the mood for subliminal mind manipulation.
``Xtravaganza Mix'' includes a remix of ``Belfast Child,'' by the 1980s New Wave band Simple Minds, as well as a song written and produced by Paul van Dyk, another popular electronic music DJ.
Trance music is monotonous, but there's a reason for the rhythm. If your mind isn't open to being lulled into a dance zombie state, you probably won't like this disc.
Deborah Markham, The Pilot
Published: December 13, 2001 in DAILY BREAK section, page E10

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