The Guardian du lieu suivant : London, Greater London, England • 44

The Guardian Friday November 10 1995 1 6 1 Music Cool and collected Gangsta's Paradise (Tommy Boy) It's a rap trap Gangsta's Paradise (Ibmmy Boy) 13.99 13.99 THIS, Coolie's second album, Is a revealing exploration of race and class in Los Angeles. And it taps into a range of sentiments hope, disillusion, despair and serenity to document a city on the brink of chaos. The title track bristles with melodrama: not since Run DMCe Walk This Way has there been a rap single so unfaltering in its Intent, yet so suited to crossover appeal. intonation may not be as distinctive as Ice Cube's, as robust as Chuck Dto, as malicious as lce-Ts, but it speeds up and slows down in all the right places. His delivery on Smilin', an elegaic observation of fatherhood, strikes the perfect balance between finesse and formula.

And what Coollo's rhymes lack In improvisa-tional flair, they make up for in the breadth of emotions: "I sing a song of the plight of the Mack man in America Livin' in a state of hysteria," he shouts on Revolution. In Bright As The Sun he sketches a ghetto culture burdened by racist police and dwindling state aid: "How in the hell do you think you can run, when the helicopter light's as bright as the sun." It's an invigorating dispatch from the frontline of contemporary culture by this self-styled "ambassador of funk, with amps in the Burhan Wazir COOLIO hails from the district of Compton, Los Angeles that's gangsta central to you and me and the question smart people will be asking is "is his fairy godmother a Blood or a Crips?" Because, really you'd want to make sure you were on her side, wouldn't you? A platinum debut album last year (it Takes A Thief), has been followed up this year by the remarkable sight of the single Gangsta's Paradise becoming the first rap single to enter the British charts at number one. Now the LP of the same name looks set to ship by the frigateload, despite being, once you get past some well-chosen quotes and samples (Billy Paul's Me And Mrs Jones, Smokey's Cruisin') extraordinarily bland. Not that the record is untis-tenaMe, or that interesting: it's simply that every style Coolio has a shot at is already being done better by someone else. The opening rap verKe number, That's How It Is, sounds exactly like Ice Cube's It Was A Good Day just nothing like as compelling: the funky stuff (Exercise Yo' Game et al) is not a patch on that man Snoop and if you're feeling In the mood for something sugary like Cruisin', you'd best make a date with Janet Instead.

You get the feeling that Coollo's trying to be all things to all people. The upshot is rap music for peoplo who dont like rap. Andrew Smith Mk iBBaaSHrBSSHHBHSB This weeLtfs on Marvin Gaye's I Want You. This collection spotlights Madonna's major strength and weakness simultaneously: the gentler side invoked is by far her more appealing, but the slow tempos expose her great limitations as a vocalist. Not that this would normally matter, but in the sleeve note she asks to be judged as a musician for a change.

Happy to oblige. (CS) mmmmmmmmmmmommm Happy Mondays Loads: The Best Of Happy Mondays (London) 13.09 cd releases The full story of Queen. (It'll have you in Rhapsodies.) Indispensable Excellent Oood Mediocre Appalling Cher It's A Man's World (WEA) i3.gg GIVEN their partiality to drugs, it's a wonder the Happy Mondays produced as much music as they did in their THIS is being heralded as 1 some sort of artistic rebirth, but the only palpable difference between it and Cher's other six-year life. That some of it was superb is even more wondrous. The bulk of the CD and the accompanying seven-track remix CD derives from their groundbreaking Madchester period.

The shuffling polyrhythms, loping basslinesand Shaun Ryder's justfallen-out-of-bed vocals greatly influenced British pop in the late eighties the sound can be heard still in LPs is the songwriters. Rather than employing her usual LA tunes-by-the-yard merchants, she's covered more "challenging" material by James Brown, Paddy McAioon, etc. That doesn't mean that she has learned how to project her tuba of a voice without stripping paint, however. Only a sleazy, brassy version of Brown's It's A Man's Man's Man's World keeps one hanging on. (CS) Ryder's current outfit, Black Grape.

This collection could have done with a bit of tweaking, such as replacing the meandering long version of Kinky Afro with the much groovier short one, but otherwise it's nearly perfect. (CS) Passengers Original Soundtracks 1 (Island) 14.99 Madonna Something To Remember (Maverick) 13,99 MADONNA wants this ballad compilation to be taken on its own merits she even removed her nose ring for DESCRIBED by Bono as "a soundtrack album but not for one this finds the Dublin quartet thinking later 14.99 the cover shot. Most of it is familiar fare dating back to 1986's Live ally with a batch of mostly instrumental pieces, tweaked up with sequencers, string sections and electronically warped vocals. The W00LW0RTHS To Tell; new songs include the album's hotspot, a melting trip-hop collaboration with Massive Attack An rttmi VJbKil toMftUMiy.