Velvet Revolver lacks innovation on debut album

Editor’s Note: In Sound Advice, the first Saturday of every month, veteran NEWS entertainment writer Dale McGarrigle, former British music-press writer Adam Corrigan, NEWS sportswriter and rock buff Andrew Neff and a revolving stable of NEWS writers review new albums from across the musical spectrum.

“Contraband” (RCA) – Velvet Revolver

It’s good to see that while Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose is still holed up in his fortress of attitude somewhere in Los Angeles, at least his former bandmates are getting on with their careers. Well, it’s only been like, what, 10 years?

So the band is back together – guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum, that is – along with another guitarist (Dave Kushner) and a new vocalist, Scott Weiland (of Stone Temple Pilots) and everybody’s happy. Except this supergroup can’t actually be called Guns N’ Roses and, sadly, the Stone Roses was already taken by some Brit-poppers.

Now flying under the less-than-subtle name of Velvet Revolver, the band’s sound never quite comes together to achieve any sort of serious rock oomph on its debut album, “Contraband.”

On its best, most driving tracks, like the lead single “Slither,” Velvet Revolver sounds as one would expect, like a grafted together STP and GN’R working its two greatest assets: Slash’s guitar and Weiland’s voice. And on its lamest efforts, like “Fall to Pieces” and “Superhuman,” more like a third-rate grunge band aping the sound of “Dirt”-era Alice in Chains

Still, “Contraband” does contain some moments of illicit aural pleasure, but don’t expect the band to win any awards for most innovative or intelligent rock this year. – George Bragdon

“The Printz” (Geffen) – Bumblebeez 81

It’s the sound of the two kids next door messing around with a four track. Probably at three in the morning. Flat, cone-slapping bass rips and loping collaged sounds hacked together, designed to irritate, and slung low under inexpert vocals. Yes, it’s that good. In places at least.

Brother-sister team Chris and Pia Colonna may be straight outta Australia’s New South Wales, but they smell of early Eighties New York City and a raw, concrete texture grinds through their lo-fi raps and insistent guitars. They gleefully juxtapose garage psych-outs with goofball lyrics, and when it all comes together, as on the to-and-fro flow of Microphone Diseases or the Faith Healers-ey stomp of Pony Ride, it works viscerally.

“The Printz” is a little inconsistent, belying its origins in two EPs released in Britain and Australia – “White Printz” and “Red Printz.” Cobble them together and you’ve got the best of both and, as a bonus, the worst of both. Still, the bad here is not so bad, and the good is pretty fine. – Adam Corrigan

“Borrowed Heaven” (Atlantic) – The Corrs

Fans have been waiting four years for the Irish quartet’s next studio album and it’s worth the wait, though that’s not to say they should take another four years before they do their next one.

The rest seems to have done Jim Corr and sisters Andrea, Caroline and Sharon well, as this may be their best overall effort since 1998’s “Talk on Corners,” as 2000’s “In Blue” was a bit too heavy on the pop and light on their trademark Emerald Isle sound.

Not so here. Everything, even the techno-sounding “Humdrum,” incorporates some of the unique charm and traditional Corrs-Irish elements that fans have come to appreciate and expect. Overall, this latest album has it all: variety, adherence to a successful formula and plenty of hit potential. If you’re a Corrs fan and it’s not in your CD case yet, what are you waiting for? – Andrew Neff

“Here for the Party” (Epic) – Gretchen Wilson

Gretchen Wilson’s life has been a country song.

Born to a teen-age mother, Wilson grew up in a single-parent household in a number of small-town trailer parks in Illinois. She learned to perform while managing a bar and singing for tips at age 15. Even after moving to Nashville, she continued to tend bar while slowly, slowly making connections with Music City songwriters.

So when she sings “I’m just a product of my raisin’, I say hey y’all and yee haw” on her No. 1 hit “Redneck Woman,” you believe her.

Wilson co-wrote six of 10 songs on her debut album, songs that reflect the brutal honesty of her inspirations, including Tanya Tucker, Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline. She doesn’t live in a pretty, perfectly coiffed world. Instead she sings of partying in bars, shattered relationships and broken hearts. Hers is real cry-in-your-beer music, in the finest country tradition.

Gretchen Wilson isn’t the poster child for New Nashville. She’s got some rough edges, and doesn’t give a damn what people think about that. As a result, she’s got something refreshing to say, and does so admirably on the intriguing “Here for the Party.” – Dale McGarrigle