(Artemis Records)
Sebastopol is the name of a city in Northern California that Jay Farrar has never been to. In a recent interview, the former Son Volt frontman explained that he came upon the title as a favorite bastardized pronunciation from an old blues song \Sevastopol,"" before ever finding out about the city. ""I guess I'll have to make a special trip,"" he conceded.
Fittingly, is a record distinguished by its sound, lushly orchestrated and layered, as likely to include sitars as pedal steel. It stands in stark contrast to the traditional slide-guitar arrangements many have come to expect from him. The new instruments fit the songs perfectly and breathe new life into Farrar's straightforward, weatherbeaten vocals. It's a rebirth that he obviously enjoys.
Take the opener, ""Feel Free,"" a multitrack trip down some deserted road of Farrar's imagination. ""Breathe in all the diesel fumes/ admire the concrete landscaping/and doesn't it feel free?"" Farrar asks. He certainly sounds free, released from the bounds of alt-country expectation. features the talents of Superchunk drummer John Wurster and Flaming Lips keyboardist Steve Drozd, both of whom add highlights to Farrar's fresh sound.
The rest of continues in this vein, with Farrar melding different combinations of sounds together to produce an overwhelming warmth, some of which work better than others (i.e., the beautiful ballad ""Make It Alright"" and the three negligible instrumental tracks). Farrar's simple, eloquent lyrics fit comfortably among the many instruments.
If this album is to be considered alt-country, it should be ranked with the genre's best. 's soundscapes evoke more than their desert-city namesakes'they conjure up loneliness, promise, humor, desperation'and offer an effective and accessible portrait of a formidable artist coming into his own.
(Virgin)
Since the Rolling Stones first stepped on stage 40 years ago, Mick Jagger has been the most sensational front man in rock 'n' roll. His solo projects, however, have always fallen flat. With his fourth solo album, , Mick continues this trend, prancing through 12 tracks that lack all the qualities that make the Stones great.
Taking the place of Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and company is a stable of contributors that includes Bono, Rob Thomas, Lenny Kravitz, Pete Townshend and Wyclef Jean.
Kravitz fares the best, producing the first single and most lively song, ""God Gave Me Everything."" The track boasts a thundering guitar riff similar to about every Kravitz composition. On an album of over-produced pop, however, this provides a breath of fresh air, combining with Jagger's forceful vocal performance to create the most rocking, satisfying song on the album.
Indeed, for the most part, Jagger's vocals are still as strong as they were in the '60s. His quicksilver voice is still capable of either artfully implying or overtly seething, each in impressive quantity.
Despite these highlights, the rest of the album falls into a pit of mediocre adult contemporary pop. Most of the blame rests upon the uniformly unimaginitive lyrics, all written or co-written by Jagger. On ""Don't Call Me Up"", he sings ""I will hold my head high/and just gaze at the sky/I was under your spell/but you took me to hell."" Come on, Mick'you can do better than that. And if you can't, please don't put out an album'stick to less strenuous activities, like wearing Prada shoes or drinking champagne with Elton John.
It's not all Mick's fault, though. Matt Clifford and Marti Fredriksen, producers of all the tracks except two, bathe Mick's lackluster lyrics in overwrought guitar work, melancholy keyboards and strings straight out of a ""very special"" Mariah Carey concert special. The resulting product is a mess that simultaneously is too tame and strays too far from Jagger's roots.
With , Jagger once again illustrates how badly he needs his bandmates in order to produce quality music. Without them, he has generated a sadly docile album, influenced more by Matchbox 20 than Robert Johnson, more by current U2 than by Muddy Waters. This might be acceptable for a lesser caliber legend such as Carlos Santana, but with Jagger, it's an intense disappointment.
(Virgin)
Good bands don't die. They will keep coming back in some form or another. A common method is a greatest hits package released some time after the band has broken up. The Smashing Pumpkins Greatest Hits is a two-disc set, with one CD collecting the so-called hits and the other comprised of b-sides and rarities.
is a safe mix of singles and soundtrack songs with a few previously unreleased CD selections thrown in for good measure. is no different than most greatest hits albums, in that all the radio favorites'like ""Cherub Rock"" and ""Bullet with Butterfly Wings""'are included. It would have been nice to see some songs like ""Thru the Eyes of Ruby"" or ""I Am One,"" since most fans consider them as much of a hit as ""Stand Inside Your Love.""
It is nice to have the songs from soundtracks included on a greatest hits album, even though ""The End is the Beginning is the End"" wasn't included. ""Drown"" features the classic alternative rock sound where ""Eye"" has the Pumpkins moving in a techno direction.
The last song on is ""Untitled,"" the last song the band ever recorded. The song seems a departure from their work just before. It doesn't have the wall of sound that most of their songs have and seems pretty light-hearted.
Disc two is entitled ""Judas O,"" a reference to the band's last b-side album. This disc is also a little lacking. A good chunk of the songs were already released on the Aeroplane Flies High box set and on the Internet album MACHINA II'The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music. However, the b-sides from Adore are not included. The true rarities, however, are fantastic.
""Winterlong"" and ""Sparrow"" are both ballads featuring only Corgan's vocals and a guitar. The cover of ""Rock On"" plus Van Halen lyrics is a great addition, especially after hearing it played on the Farewell Tour.
The Smashing Pumpkins' greatest hits package has little surprises. Those with an average interest in the band should pick up , but die-hard fans probably already own the majority of these songs. ""Judas O"" is worth the money and leaves fans wishing the Pumpkins were still around.
