Dark Side of the Spoon
Ministry
Ministry helped create industrial in the late 1980s, representing the darker side of the genre with rage-filled power chords and twisted yet funny lyrics that helped keep it from descending into disco noir. But that genre has not only been receiving a lot of bad press since the recent school shootings; it has hit a creative wall as well. Sparked by the creative duo Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker, Ministry lashes right back with "Dark Side of the Spoon," a collage of sounds that swirl into a disturbing yet at times appealing melange that always has a pop groove buried somewhere inside. The band is at its best on "Eureka Pile," a tune that somehow manages to be hypnotic yet abrasive with its killer bass hook and wah-wah guitar that sounds like a Metallica riff sampled over and over. "Nursing Home" relies on a banjo loop for its rhythm guitar and features a squawking saxophone that fits right in to the seven-minute head-pounder. The band even takes on critics of heavy music in "Vex & Siolence," saying that children are made angry by how they are treated, not by the music they listen to or the movies they watch. "Dark Side of the Spoon" represents not only a rebirth for Ministry, but a new step for the music they helped define.
Souvenir
Ricky Peterson
For most of his career, Ricky Peterson has been the "other guy" -- the keyboardist accompanying artists such as Prince, David Sanborn and Bonnie Raitt. And on his fourth solo effort, Peterson's willingness to show his own identity is felt right away with the funky opener "Drop Shot," a cut that incorporates the Minneapolis sound he is known for. But things quickly go downhill from there, leaving it hard to discern who Peterson is as a musician. A by-the-numbers cover of Todd Rundgren's "Can We Still Be Friends" gives no new meaning to the cut, and another ill-advised ballad, "Soft Touch," sounds embarrassingly close to Muzak. The only places where the studio vet shows any creativity comes when he picks up the pace. Peterson shows that he knows his way around the keyboard on "Souvenir." But it's a fine line between musicianship and artistry, a lesson Peterson apparently hasn't learned from his previous collaborators.
The Vault ... Old Friends 4 Sale
Prince
A week ago, a group of friends gathered for a prewedding dinner party. As the champagne chilled and the steak sizzled, the music for the soiree just happened to be an advance of the "new" Prince CD, "The Vault ... Old Friends 4 Sale." No one was jumping ahead to the honeymoon night by putting a collection of steamy and salacious Prince funk tunes on the stereo. Rather, "The Vault" -- 10 original tunes recorded between 1985 and 1994 and unearthed from his former label's vaults -- has a seductive jazzy vibe, with flirtatious horn licks and agreeable mid-tempo pulses on tunes like "She Spoke 2 Me" and the falsetto-laced slow steamer "Extraordinary." Perfect dinner companions. Prince also reveals his fondness for upbeat, horn-accented Earth, Wind & Fire-style R&B ("The Rest of My Life" and "It's About That Walk") and Al Green soul (the distinctive drum beat pumping "5 Women.") Word has it the prolific Prince has so many unreleased tunes sitting in storage that labels could release one 10-track CD a year of these leftovers and make it to the "next" millennium. If all are as tantalizing as "The Vault" we're in for a sexy ride.
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