Lesley Gore
60's Sock Hop (Madacy)
Crítica del álbum
Compañía discográfica: Madacy Records
Fecha de publicación: 1998
Crítica del álbum
Various Artists
Postpunk Chronicles
Rhino, 1999
Rhino's gloriously geeky three-disc series captures the fallout from punk rock; Mercury's TV-movie soundtrack rounds off the Sixties' edges
Having to sum up the Sixties with a soundtrack album is like eating oatmeal through a straw, but you can't blame producers for still trying. The soundtrack to NBC's miniseries The '60s offers one ace new tune: Bob Dylan dueting with Joan Osbourne for a surprisingly nimble remake of "Chimes of Freedom." But most of the album relies on the usual oldies-radio suspects, duplicating superior soundtrack samplers like More American Graffiti, The Big Chill and I Shot Andy Warhol. There's the one Garbage rewrote ("Don't Worry Baby"); here's the one Jim Carey sang in The Cable Guy ("Somebody to Love"); over there is the love theme from Stripes ("Do Wah Diddy Diddy").
The '60s aims for a coherent, centrist picture of Sixties music, but the concept shortchanges the weirdos -- Cream and Traffic get stuck with brief four-minute shots, and James Brown's "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" gets only three minutes, barely time for the Godfather to slip his cape off. And what were the Sixties without weirdos? The '60s avoids the decade's extremes, making these songs safer than they really are. "Don't Worry Baby" is one of the scariest, sweetest songs ever, but here it's just another soundtrack cliche.
Rhino's Postpunk Chronicles takes a different approach to Eighties pop history: weirdos only. All three CDs celebrate the fave raves of Eighties collector scum, import-bin geeks and teen misfits. God, does it sound great. Left of the Dial compiles gem after gem -- Mission of Burma spitting out power chords, the Raincoats bashing patriarchy, the Dream Syndicate reinventing feedback and my beloved Comsat Angels feeling wicked sad. Scared to Dance goes overboard with the flimsy funk, though it does include my beloved OMD, who blow up the world by getting laid in "Enola Gay." Going Underground ranges from the chamber noise of Sonic Youth to the wussed-out jangle of my beloved Smiths. It's hardly the whole story of Eighties music, but Postpunk Chronicles tells one version of the Eighties story that feels truer than the cliches of The '60s. It also proves that Modern English has another hit ("Smiles and Laughter") besides the one in the Burger King ad -- although, truth be told, "Hands Across the Sea" was much catchier. (RS 806)
ROB SHEFFIELD