- Liz Smith
"It's impossible to do it again," he said, "You can spend all the money that you have in advertising and gimmicks, but those moments that create the happening, the momentum...it was like a hurricane. Now we don't have a hurricane. We have a sun!"
(U-WIRE) CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- It's official: Livin' La Vida Loca is out! It's been a year and a half since Ricky Martin hit the US airwaves with that smash hit from his self-titled CD and even though the man is drool worthy, his shaking bon bon was getting boring. He's finally changed his tune and now he's banging. His new album, Sound Loaded, with the hit single "She Bangs," just hit the market and it's already clawing its way up the music charts.
Sound Loaded is extremely sensual. It incorporates several aspects of blues, tango, jazz and rock to create a blend of sounds that intrigue the ear. With such songs as "She Bangs," "Loaded" and "One Night Man," the album is instrumentally flirtatious. With a prominent ethnic influence of Latin and Brazilian sounds (that were toned down in Martin's first US album), the fast-paced songs of Sound Loaded joyfully mix horns, percussion and electric guitar to move and twist the rhythm. The ballads are more sedate, but still acoustically fascinating with their use of such string instruments as violin and cello. Lyrically, the songs are charming in a "I know that you know what I'm talking about" type of way. After all, who can help but smile at the sexual innuendos found in such lines as "Load the rocket, shock it and rock it 'till you drop/ Do the bump to the bump and don't stop" and "So take me home/ Take me to the zone"?
Image-wise, Sound Loaded has it going on; the cover picture is all Ricky. Even if some find his music to be too sugar coated and pre-packaged, it should be clear to all that he's the perfect pretty boy. For the many who want a little bit of Ricky, buying Sound Loaded is as close as you'll ever get, so get down to Tower Records and pick it up.
(C) 2000 The Heights via U-WIRE
A revote is unlikely to happen, but the Gore and Bush camps, as well as Florida officials, were still arguing Thursday as to whether or not vote recounts in four counties would be honored. Secretary of State Katherine Harris said Thursday that only votes from overseas absentee ballots, due by Friday, will be added to current totals.
Singer/guitarist Ken Block of Gainesville rockers Sister Hazel shares Vinnie's concern that Nader may have drawn enough votes away from Gore to help Bush win.
"It's going to be a shame if he had that kind of impact," Block said from Los Angeles, where Sister Hazel were shooting a video for "Champagne High." "I really think that if Nader were to take a look he'd agree that we'd be in a better position with the Democrats holding office."
Block and Vinnie said they could see why people would vote for Nader, but both ultimately decided that the election was too close to risk their vote on a candidate who had no chance of winning.
Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello said it's exactly that kind of thinking that will prevent an outsider from ever gaining a foothold in the two-party system. He said that the closeness of the results suggest that most voters didn't see much difference between Gore and Bush.
Special from the Los Angeles Times
A year ago, Ricky Martin was a newly arrived force of nature, whirling and grinning his way across the pop culture landscape and living a life that was not only "loca," it was "loquisima" -- crazy to the extreme. Now, with a follow-up album that was in stores last week, the heartthrob from Puerto Rico is confronted with perhaps his most difficult dance step: What can he possibly do for an encore?
Martin's "Sound Loaded" is not only one of the most anticipated pop releases of this holiday season, it's also one of the most intriguing for stargazers. Martin, after all, cut his show-biz teeth as a child sensation with Menudo, that glossy, youth-pop group that scored huge international success and then ... fizzled and faded away.
Could Martin ride that roller coaster again? He chuckled when asked the question by phone during a quiet moment in rehearsals for his recent appearance on "Saturday Night Live."
