Sounds of 2000

Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, and more

by Matt Ashare

Now would be an excellent time to come to grips with the idea that . . . nothing's changed. That's right, the hangover on New Year's Day is still directly proportional to the quality and quantity of alcohol consumed on New Year's Eve, George W. Bush could still end up being the next president of the United States, and, no, there's still no firm release date for the new Guns N' Roses album -- assuming such a thing exists as anything other than a figment of the Geffen/Interscope A&R department's vivid collective imagination.

At least, that's how I'm guessing the world's going to look now that 1999 has become 2000 and we're setting about the task of finding a suitable replacement for "Y2K" -- because I'll be damned if I'm going to spend another year using that abominable contraction. Of course, if some massive technologically induced cataclysm should erupt between the time this page goes to press and the day this newspaper hits the streets, well, then all bets are off, because even in the absence of minor fluctuations in the stock market (they're all "minor," my portfolio analyst assures me), the CD-release schedules of most labels tend to shift around quite a bit. Hell, I'm still waiting for that Nada Surf disc Elektra sent me last January to come out. And I don't even like Nada Surf all that much. It's closure that I value.

Actually, the first quarter tends to be on the slow side for most labels, which shoot their metaphorical wads getting product into stores prior to the Christmas rush. Which is nice, because it gives all of us a music people a chance to spend some time with those big box sets that arrive every December. And winter tends not to be the favored time for artists to mount big tours, since a lot of the famous ones are, you know, cold-blooded reptiles. I mean, the Backstreet Boys are on the road in January and February, but they're not coming as far north as Boston, whereas both Beck and TLC -- two fine examples of the warm-blooded species of pop star -- will brave the sub-zero temperatures to amuse and delight New Englanders. Look for TLC to arrive at the FleetCenter with former Mouseketeer Christina Aguilera on January 20, and for Beck to preside over a two-night stand at the Orpheum in early February (the 11th and 12th). Harry Connick Jr.'s bringing his big band to the Wang Center on January 20 and 21, but there are exceptions to every rule.

The first big rock releases of 2000 aren't slated to begin arriving until February, when the diminutive Robert Smith marks his fourth successive decade of working under the Cure moniker with the new Blood Flowers (Elektra), a disc Cure fans will remember was originally scheduled for the spring of '99. This time, we're told the disc is actually done and will be in stores on February 15. Even if it comes to pass, that release will probably be overshadowed by two big rock albums due a couple weeks later from two '90s chartbusters from opposite sides of the Atlantic. The reconfigured Smashing Pumpkins (drummer Jimmy Chamberlain's back in, bassist D'Arcy Wretzk is out, and ex-Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur has taken her place) reassert their right to rock hard after the relatively mellow Adore with Machina/the machines of God (Virgin), a disc that runs the Billy Corgan gamut from new-wavish ballads to the black metallic crunch of its first single, "The Everlasting Gaze." And on that same day, February 29, those surly Gallagher brothers, a/k/a Oasis, drop another collection of fortified Beatlesque pop, this one appropriately titled On the Shoulder of Giants (Epic) and featuring brother Liam (he's the surly one who usually sings) taking his first turn as a lyricist on the track "Little James."

After that, things are a bit sketchier, though I can tell you that there's nary a ska lick to be heard on the four-song sampler from No Doubt's new Return of Saturn (Interscope) that I've got, and that the label is looking at an April 11 release date. Also, instead of an Art Alexakis solo album, we're getting not one but two Everclear albums in 2000. The poppier Songs from an American Movie, Volume I: Learning How To Smile will appear in April, followed by the grungier Volume II: Good Time for a Bad Attitude six months later.

On the hip-hop/R&B front, release dates tend to be even shakier, but here's how things are shaping up. Run-DMC have a big comeback disc scheduled for February release. What makes Crown Royal (Arista) such a promising contender are the veteran rap group's collaborations with Sugar Ray and Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst. Cameos are also said to pepper the new D'Angelo disc Voodoo (Virgin), which is due in January: he's got Lauryn Hill and Method Man among others helping out. Oh, and the now notorious Puff Daddy is said to be guesting on Ice Cube's War & Peace Vol. 2: The Peace Disc (Priority), an album that was supposed to be out ages ago and is now scheduled for late-January release. Meanwhile, look for a new Mya disc from Interscope in February and a killer new disc from underground hip-hop hopefuls Blackalicious in January.

Finally, all you technophiles can expect the debut of Clinton, a cool new collaboration between Cornershop's Tjinder Singh and Benedict Ayres, to show up on Astralwerks in late January, along with Madonna producer William Orbit's Pieces in a Modern Style (Maverick) and the Lo Fidelity Allstars' DJ-style mix On the Floor at the Boutique (as in Big Beat Boutique) on Columbia. Assuming, of course, that their hard drives don't crash in the meantime.