The Stone Roses, Second Coming — *** (of 4)

A band is only inviting trouble when it opens its first album in four years

with an 11 minute “opus,” especially when the first 5 1/2 minutes is

“intro.” But here come The Stone Roses, the original “Manchester Sound”

band, laying it on thick with “Breaking Into Heaven.”

Luckily for them, the second track, “Driving South,” is a respectable five

minutes long and has groovy blues-rock guitar riffs. It has both a feel of

driving and a feel of the south, so it’s basically a good thing. The band

ends the CD with another “riffy” tune, “Love Spreads.” The video for this

song is getting a lot of play on that MTV the kids like so much. It

features one of the band members running around in a Halloween devil

costume, which seems to pop up a lot in videos these days (see Tom Waits or

Gas Huffer). Go figure.

In between are a bunch of solid pop songs in the jazzy, spacey style that

The Stone Roses originated. “Daybreak” works like a soundtrack for a cool

morning strut down the boulevard– a “here-comes-Joe-Cool” sort of thing.

It strikes a certain vibe of suaveness. Likewise, the track “Straight to

the Man” could be a theme for a new Shaft.

Overall, the CD captures, dare I say, a certain feel of the ’70s rock

revival. Something about it carries it above the retro-schlock trap,

however. It must be a British thing.

Various Artists, Dumb and Dumber Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

–**

Except in Quentin Tarantino films, movie soundtracks are notorious for

their hit and miss selection of songs. Dumb and Dumber serves as a

fine example.

It seems to be a fairly stock-formula collection, opening with a popular

new band covering a popular tune from a popular old band. Crash Test

Dummies, with their tight but bland sound, tackle XTC’s “Ballad of Peter

Pumpkinhead.” As the Dummies play it, it’s a perfect song to not distract

the audience from the opening credits.

This is followed by Deadeye Dick’s jokey “New Age Girl,” and a couple of

non-descript, unoffensive tunes not worth noting. The fifth track is a

winner, though– The Primitives’ catchy and moving “Crash” in a new “’95

mix.” This is the kind of song perfect for perking up a movie’s montage

sequence, which is what I imagine it does forDumb and Dumber.

Willi One Blood’s dancehall tune “Whiny Whiny” adds a silly, funky change

of pace midway through the disc, but I fear it could be the “Don’t Worry,

Be Happy” of the season when radio stations get hold of it.

The only other stand-out tracks are, fortunately, pretty darned good ones.

The Butthole Surfers’ cover of Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man” is refreshing to

hear again. It shows some great guitar work and oddball vocals from Surfers

guitarist Paul Leary. Green Jelly’s “The Bear Song” seems to fit with the

theme of the movie — it’s simply dumb. Deee-Lite’s “You Sexy Thing” is

disco fun, and a great song to throw in at the end of a film.