The Cadre - Centrifugal Force Matter (Uforia/Fusion III) 9 February 1999 You always kind of get a feeling for a CD when you look at its cover art. Although your mother likely warned against judging books by their covers, you can’t help but do so with this one. The Grade 1 school of graphic design more than misses the mark, and it seems to set the stage for the rest of the album. It’s that murder mystery paperback that you start reading, then skip to the last chapter to end the agony. And I don’t mean suspense. Agony. And not good agony, either. Watch as former Men Without Hats co-conspirator, Colin Music Reviews Doroschuk, tries to cling to his synthesizer, adult-contempo- rary-prog ‘tock and short-lived, domestic success (read: “big in Canada”) and butchers the po- etry of Dylan Thomas and Milton Acorn, along with some of his own feeble lyrics. If only this album was interactive; then, teractive feature here is the pressing of the stop button. By Your Side TheBlack Crowes (Columbia/Sony) DJ Clue The Professional (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam) Bone Thugs-n- Harmony The Collection Volume One (Ruthless Records) Bizzy Bone Heaven’z Movie (Mo Thugs/Ruth- less/Relativity) Holy Rock, Batman! The band which has been called “The world’s most ‘rock & roll’ rock & roll band” do not disap- point on this album. I dare say that their sound is unparalleled in today’s world of rock & roll. This is what real rock & roll is supposed to sound like. The Stones are getting old, Led Zep- pelin’s gone, along with many other aging bands. With but a few exceptions, the music of to- day is without any champions Quite simply put, this al- bum is very good. Although the intro sucks because it features Puff Daddy, the rest of the al- bum is strong. DJ Clue is con- tinuing a new trend in hip-hop: a DJ releasing a disk with all his music and featuring different artists on every track. This is a switch from the traditional method of a rap group or the same MC’s and different DJ’s on an album. The Professional is also unlike releases by DJ If you love Bone thugs then you'll probably love this album because it has some Bone remixes and some harder to find Bone thugs tracks. If you only like them then the Collection is perfect for you because it has all their greatest hits. If you don’t like them then don’t expect any- Heaven'z Movie is Bizzy Bone’s (of Bone Thugs-N-Har- mony) first solo effort. For the most part, Bizzy sticks to the Bone Thugs’ style and some songs are pretty good. The weakest part of the album comes or figureheads of pure rock & roll. If the Crowes keep this quality up, they will truly be the undisputed “most rock & roll” band in the world. The bickering brothers, Chris (vocals) and Rich Robinson (lead guitar), have cre- ated some quality songs. The guitar playing is incendiary. Chris’s vocals are relentless and extremely energetic. Drummer Steve Gorman and bassist Sven Pipien supply “an array of no- Muggs or Funkmaster Flex. Clue gives you the feeling that it’s a mix tape by continuing one song into the next and shouting out his name. His constant men- tioning of DJ Clue, Cluemenaty and New Shit get annoying but without the original DJ shout out we would not have MCing or Four of the albums best songs are the first tracks. Clue starts it off with a remix of DMxX’s “Rough Ryders’ An- thing different from this Collec- tion cd. This collection features tracks of Bone with two of the three hip hop greats who have passed away in the past few years. There is “Foe Tha Love of $” with Easy-E and “Notori- ous Thugs” featuring Notorious from four “songs” (of the 13 on the disc) that are less than one minute in length. The first sin- gle — and by far the best song on Heaven'z Movie— is “Thugs Cry” which is on the level of most Bone Thugs hits. Sadly f***ing around grooves.” Eddie Harsch adds his finely-honed keyboard stytings, along with sassy soul-sister vocal backing, and the terrific horns of The Dirty Dozen. All of the artists’ are songs. This album is a culmina- tion of everything they've done over the last ten years. What's this point? A serious kick-ass, them” DMxX and lesser known rappers Jadakiss, Styles, Drag-On, and Eve. The Proffessional continues with another DMX song which is fallowed by “Fantastic 4" — a song that couldn't go wrong because it features Cam'Ron, Big Pun, Noreaga and Canibus. The fourth song (and the al- bum’s best) is “Queensfinest” featuring Nas. The middle of the disk contains songs featuring the likes of EPMD with Redman B.1.G., unfortunately “Thug Love” with Tupac does not ap- pear on this collection even though it is probably the best of the three. Another dissapoitment is “Crossroad” which is the original version and not the vedio version which is better and harder to find. How- there are only a few other songs that are good, including “Menesky Mobbin,” “Waitin For Warfare” and “Mr Majesty Il.” The CD is ended with an eerie joint called “Social Stud- ies” and a hidden mock news This is the Colonel's real spe- cial blend, 11 herby and spicy songs that create this tasty, southern-flavoured album. The next album you sink your teeth into should be this one. And the best part about it? Zero grams of fat. -Stephen McQuaid and Keith Murray, Nature, Flimode Squad, and others. The songs near the end of The Pro- Sessional which are some of the best are tracks by Mobb Deep with Noyd, Raekwon, MOP and Boot Camp Clik. The success of this album comes from the high caliber talent Clue features on his songs and the original beats he manages to produce for each track. Marc MacDonald ever, it is volume one and later volumes may feature songs that this one missed. The best joints of this cd are “1* of Tha Month”, “War” (Battlecry Remix), “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” and “If | Could Teach The World” (D.J. U-Neek Remix). Mare MacDonald trial after a break of silence. There are a few good songs on this album but far too much filler to make it great. Marc MacDonald