Meredith Brooks Latest To Trail Morissette’s Style

Meredith Brooks

“Blurring The Edges” (Capitol)

The inevitable consequence of the breakaway success of an artist like Alanis Morissette is that it leads to an endless succession of imitators. The latest in the camp is newcomer Meredith Brooks, who floats her titillating, attitude-soaked lyrics over up-to-the-minute loops and grooves on such cuts as “I Need” and the button-pushing hit single “Bitch.” Elsewhere, notably on “Pollyanne,” Brooks brings to mind the harder side of Sheryl Crow. She’s an artist whose ample writing and performing talents are underserved by her tendency to follow rather than lead.

Toad The Wet Sprocket

“Coil” (Columbia)

Throughout its career, Santa Barbara, Calif.-based alternative rock band Toad The Wet Sprocket has amassed a large and loyal fan base on the merits of such deceptively catchy tunes as “All I Want” and “Fall Down.” The group extends the streak with its latest album, which offers a bounty of catchy, memorable tunes for modern rock, mainstream rock and pop programmers. Among the strongest moments are modern rock hit “Come Down,” the jangly, uptempo “Rings,” the driving “Desire,” the infectious acoustic “Little Man Big Man,” and the lush, lovely “Crazy Life.” An unassuming band that makes its presence known the best possible way: by delivering consistently good music.

Soundtrack

“Traveller: Music from the Motion Picture” (Asylum)

Executive producer Seymour Stein, primary producer Andy Paley, and the six other producers involved here deserve kudos for a soundtrack that finally makes impressive use of country music. There’s real depth and intelligence, not only in song and artist selection but also in arrangement and production. An example: matching the Cox Family with the old bluegrass weeper “Sweeter than the Flowers” makes sense, but to turn it into a dreamy two-step is sheer inspiration.

Cheap Trick

“Cheap Trick” (Red Ant)

With the eponymous title an apt indication, “Cheap Trick” is a glorious, tabula rasa return to form. Much that is classic and still contemporary about the band is on record here: The great first single, “Say Goodbye,” is the ideal introduction to the quartet’s considerable Beatlesque side; “Hard To Tell” and “Yeah Yeah” rock hard with smarts and spirit, pointing to the template Cheap Trick laid for today’s modern rock hitmakers; “It All Comes Back to You” is a heartfelt ballad without a hint of “power.” Indie in more than label status now, Cheap Trick co-produced the album and wrote all the songs (with a couple of assists from members of the Mavericks). This disc merits Cheap Trick a renewed heyday in a rock world as primed for princely power pop as it ever has been.