BEASTIE BOYS

Hello Nasty (Grand Royal/Capitol)

While the novelty of their approach wore off long ago, the Beastie Boys continue to create some of the most creative, imaginative hip-hop. Playing like an arena concert, and drawing from the group's widest, most accessible musical palette yet, "Hello Nasty" is chock full of catchy, rap-based pop tunes, with Beach Boys-like harmonies bumping up against Janet Jackson-like contemporary funk, conscious reggae, folk, Afro-Cuban, answering machine messages and state-of-the-art electronic beats that don't overwhelm the music but are organically integrated. Most of all, the Beastie Boys know how to have a good time. [ 1/10/98 ]

BELLY

Layered guitars duet with Tanya Donnelly's dreamy, perky voice, which recalls Debbie Harry's and is mixed way out front where it belongs on Belly's excellent sophomore effort, chock full of catchy songs, new- wavish hooks and great, minimalist arrangements. That the sound of British Invasion-era guitar-pop keeps bubbling under the mix isn't so surprising, given that producer Glyn Johns, of Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zep and The Who fame, directed this eloquent effort.

TONY BENNETT

The Playground (Columbia)

Bennett won over the MTV generation with duets with the likes of K.D. Lang and Elvis Costello. Here he goes after the Sesame Street crowd, sharing vocals with Elmo and Kermit the Frog. But as always is the case with Bennett, he pulls it off with class and aplomb, and with the Ralph Sharon Quartet approaches standards including "(It's Only) A Paper Moon" and "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" with accessibility and integrity. If along the way he makes some lifetime fans among five-year-olds, what's wrong with that?[ 12/6/98 ]

SANDRA BERNHARD

The actress/performance artist mixes original compositions, dance tunes and ballads with covers (Rolling Stones, Paul Simon), spoken interludes and postmodern medleys (Jimi Hendrix and Andrew Lloyd Webber together) in an effort to broaden the audience for her unique perspective on the war between the sexes. Stylistically ranging from Laurie Anderson-cool to Madonna-hot to Laura Nyro-lukewarm on songs about telephone psychics and phone sex and the like, Bernhard doesn't threaten to steal any fire from those divas she should definitely keep her day job.

BLACK 47

Black 47's third, full-length album best captures the group's essence, pulling together its contemporary urban drama ("40 Deuce," "Vinegar Hill"), its political fire ("Bobby Sands," "My Love Is In New York"), its wide-ranging, world-beat approach ("Brooklyn Girls," "Change"), its traditional Celtic roots ("Mo Bhron," "Gerty's Farewell") and its playfully self-referential rock-rap fusion ("Green Suede Shoes"). What ties it all together is lead singer/songwriter Larry Kirwan's wit, passion and intelligence.

BLACK 47

Frontman Larry Kirwan chronicles the immigrant experience _ specifically that of Irish-Americans _ in all its triumph and tragedy on this, his group's sophomore effort, produced by Talking Head's Jerry Harrison. On Celtic-inflected, brassy R&B mixed with contemporary urban sounds, Kirwan applies his playwright's knack for narration to historical epics and sordid tales from the battlefield of love and New York's mean streets, pubs and construction sites. He also rhymes ``dentist'' with ``existentialist.''

BLOQUE

Bloque (Luaka Bop/Warner Bros.)

It's not surprising that David Byrne would want Colombian salsa/rock outfit Bloque for his label. At its funkiest, the group sounds like a Latin Talking Heads. The octet, which got its start as the backup group for Latin superstar Carlos Vives, is deeply rooted in traditional styles, but is also deeply entrenched in rock. The result is a modern fusion -- sort of Colombia's answer to Los Lobos -- or what leader Ivan Benavides calls "psychotropical funk," ranging from Santana-flavored ska to Police-like jazz-rock to Latin rap. This isn't mere party music, either. Although there's definitely a party going on, some of the songs are acute protest numbers -- in one they sing, "We're doing the rumba and the world is crumbling." If this album were in English, it'd be the talk of the own.[ 1/3/98 ]

HUGH BLUMENFELD

This highly literate and eclectic folk and acoustic rock album is singer-songwriter Hugh Blumenfeld's third, featuring a baker's dozen original compositions showcasing his songcraft above all else. The title track is a clever novelty in which the narrator, a would-be artist of some sort, justifies his empty pockets to his wife by invoking a litany of poor, starving artists, including Poe, Blake and Mozart. "Waiting for the Good Humor Man" is a tender, nostalgic look at being a kid in the late Sixties, growing up oblivious to the great battles being played out on our national landscape. "Mr. Rain" is a moody appreciation of the late Kurt Cobain, and "Main Street Sky" is a piece of Raymond Carver-style, blue-collar realism. Blumenfeld's vocals are thin, understated and slightly nasal, occasionally suggesting a cross between Don McLean and Roger McGuinn. Aside from an occasional venture into blues, jazz or art-folk, his musical palette consists mostly of classic, folk- revival-era colors and tones, supported ably by Lucy Kaplansky, Gideon Freudmann, Michael Visceglia and Mindy Jostyn. But in the end, Blumenfeld's narrative gifts are undermined by a near-total lack of melody.

THE BOGMEN

This wacky debut introduces Bill Campion, another original, rock 'n' roll eccentric in the tradition of Crash Test Dummies' Brad Roberts. This Jerry Harrison-produced effort of self-styled ``Hi- Fi/Lowbrow Supercharged Lounge Fodder'' is highly rhythmic and darkly comic, with hints of Celtic, world-beat, funk and prog-rock. The best Long Island band since Blue Oyster Cult.

BOUKAN GINEN

Formed by ex-members of well-known Haitian group Boukman Esperyans in 1990, this band is a prime exponent of Haiti's "mizik rasin," roughly analogous to "chimurenga" in Zimbabwe or Brazilian "tropicalismo." This new sound, as represented by the 11 stirring tracks on this group's debut recording, integrates the sound and spirit of Afro- Haitian "Vodou" and the street rhythms of "rara" with commercial pop, world-beat, rock and reggae. The result is an infectious, impassioned stew of political protest music sung in Creole but with no need of translation - Eddy Francois' compelling vocals and the incessant groove speak directly to anyone's head, heart and dancing feet.

DAVID BOWIE

Bowie hasn't sounded this relaxed and alienated _ they go together like a hand in glove when you're David Bowie, apparently _ since ``Scary Monsters.'' Reunited here with genius producer Brian Eno, Bowie once again soars like a disembodied muezzin over instrumental tracks of stark, ugly beauty. There's allegedly a concept embedded in here _ something about an ``art- ritual murder'' _ but if you ask me the only crime is that it took him 15 years to make this album. He pioneered industrial-, trance-, mope- and synth-rock, and now he has returned to show his legions of pretenders how to do it all right, and then some. Bowie's back.

BILLY BRAGG AND WILCO

Mermaid Avenue (Elektra)

More than a few rockers would do well to study the lyrics of Woody Guthrie, whose simplicity belies their artful craftiness. The unlikely bedfellows of political English songwriter Billy Bragg and Americana roots-rockers Wilco team up here to bring 15 newly discovered Guthrie lyrics to life. The result is a gloriously rootsy tribute to Guthrie himself. From the sounds of things Bragg and the boys in Wilco spent some time studying Guthrie's melodies, and so numbers like "Christ for President" sound remarkably Guthrie-esque. The more rocking tunes, like "I Guess I Planted," rank with the best of The Band, which would have undoubtedly been Guthrie's backup group had he lived long enough.[ 11/15/98 ]

DAVID BROMBERG

Years before Lyle Lovett rode his particular, quirky fusion of American roots music to superstardom, David Bromberg marked out similar terrain, even to the extent of utilizing "large band" arrangements. Bromberg's pioneering roots-fusion attracted a bevy of superstar collaborators, and this retrospective of 15 early-'70s recordings includes cameos by George Harrison, Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Emmylou Harris and Andy Statman among others. The collection also shows hints of the vicious streak that probably kept Bromberg from attaining Lovett-like heights of popularity, but nevertheless it's a worthy document of a small but essential chapter in pop-music history. [ 7/12/98]

JONATHA BROOKE AND THE STORY

Freed of the obligations and constraints inherent in writing and arranging for what was ostensibly a duo, singer-songwriter Brooke ditches her co-singer (Garfunkel to her Simon?) and indulges her musical and poetic muscles on this moody, edgy collection of original songs that touch down in The Beatles, Steely Dan, Neil Young, R&B, new-folk, world-beat, jazz and art-pop. _Paris'' is a stately reverie about an illicit wartime liaison with string-quartet backing; ``War,'' featuring Bruce Cockburn's eloquently laconic voice, will satisfy those longing for a duet. Mostly, though, it's a showcase for Brooke's pensive poetry and her affecting vocals.

GREG BROWN

As the title indicates, Greg Brown's latest CD finds the gruff-voiced singer-songwriter in a more personal, intimate mode than on 1994's sprawling, epic "Poet Game." Here Brown sounds isolated and withdrawn from his fellow man and woman. But solipsism has always suited Brown well, heightening his powers of observation, and no one makes being alone sound as sexy and inviting as Brown: "Gonna turn off the radio, control nothing remotely....I gotta be all alone, and just think about you." Brown's dozen portraits of the artist as a lone man give new, chilling meaning to the term "solo album."

DAVID BYRNE

Byrne's fifth solo album is by far his best. He has finally found a way to integrate his far-flung, eclectic interests; thus, funk rubs up against salsa, electronica, string quartets, Cajun, raga-rock, ironic pop and lounge music, but with catchy melodies and accessible arrangements the transitions are seamless. After 1994's inward-looking, eponymous effort, "Feelings" is a surprisingly generous, outward-looking canvas -- call it "pure pop for now people." [ 8/3/97 ]