Word: worlds
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...course, none of these issues are simple. Labor standards, for example, may appear to be an obviously good idea, but Third World countries are in rebellion against any attempt to enforce them - for the simple reason that cheap labor is all many of them have to offer in the world economy, and enforcing minimum standards may actually destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs in the developing world. Why would a U.S. apparel manufacturer have its wares manufactured in China if it had to pay American-level wages? So just as what's good for business isn't always good...
Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny's soundtrack to A Map of the World, the upcoming film based on Jane Hamilton's book, falls somewhere in between. Certainly no innovation, but surely no tragedy, Metheny's compositions are no doubt appropriate. The main framework of the album is a variation on a theme, punctuated by less topical instrumentations, which include very literal motifs. An apt analogy would be to say that the artist has ceded to the architect. That is to say, Metheny has selflessly concealed his artistic biases to create a non-intrusive score for a film and not a masterpiece...
...your eyes and dream of old jazz clubs and big bands. But somehow Nascimento's tribute to the era still sounds like a cheap imitation, complete with anachronistic R&B beats and some off-key harmonies. It's hard to believe he won a Grammy in 1997 for Best World Music Album. "Crooner" might work for a millennium party in Rio de Janeiro, Nascimento's hometown, where versions of "Beat It" may be hard to come by, but if you're looking for jazz standards for your own New Year's bash, stick with the originals...
...Year's will be to celebrate the end of the Mariah decade. Her record sales throughout the '90s have grown to rival those of Elvis and the Beatles, and to many ears the Mariah sound has grown indistinguishable from the endless cosmetics aisles and multiplexes of our postmodern world. But there's no pot of gold at the end of Rainbow. The album strips that sound down to its purest form, cleverly obfuscating Mariah's predictably smarmy lyrics with sonorous mumblings, so that we can clasp Mariah's vocal range to our hearts without having to trouble with the language...
...Beck of 1994 would. Beck's first album, Mellow Gold, was seeped in the highly personal and visceral world of grunge: perhaps the linchpin line of "Loser" was "chokin' on the splinters." The album captured a miserable white-trash vibe within a sample- and distortion-laden sound that reeked of personal "Beercan" experience. It was a slightly grating album that was heavy on engineering but still naive--or at least straightforward. With Odelay and now Midnite Vultures, Beck has left these Mountain Dew-soaked roots for something more rarefied and cosmopolitan. Even his voice seems to have gotten higher. Grooviness...