Albany Times Union<br>
Section: PREVIEW <br>
Page: P43 <br>
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Thursday, August 3, 2000 <br>
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LISTEN UP <br>
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COUNTRY: "Red Headed Stranger." Willie Nelson. (Columbia/Legacy): "Red Headed Stranger" wasn't Willie Nelson's first concept album. The maverick Texan had already mastered the form with such efforts as "Yesterday's Wine" and "Phases and Stages." But the 1975 album, now reissued as part of the American Milestones series, was his most successful. In going multiplatinum and earning Nelson his first Grammy (for "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain"), "Stranger" helped break the hegemony of the slick countrypolitan sound and give commercial legitimacy to country's earthier Outlaw movement. The story itself is set in the Old West and is a familiar one of love, betrayal, murder and redemption, but Nelson makes it resonate anew in a manner that carefully avoids melodrama. The extra-spare, mostly acoustic arrangements, which take on a new clarity in the remastered version, help to conjure everything from the Old West's quiet, open spaces to its loud, freewheeling saloons, and also to subtly build the drama. The four bonus tracks are similarly fine performances, but don't add anything to Nelson's tightly crafted tale. The other new American Milestones reissues are "Johnny Cash at San Quentin," "The Spectacular Johnny Horton," and the Carter Family's "Can the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music's First Family." Willie Nelson is slated to play Friday at the Turning Stone Casino Resort in Verona and Tuesday at the Clavin Theater in Northampton, Mass. -- Nick Cristiano, Philadelphia Inquirer 
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ROCK "Diet for a New America." 58. (Americoma/Beyond): What is it with faded pop-metal stars these days? If they aren't trying to revive acts 10 years past their prime (Ratt, Poison, Great White), members are forming side-project bands that shamelessly leap on the trend "du jour" while adding nothing to the trend in question. (Ex-Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee and his rap-metal act Methods of Mayhem, for instance). The latest bandwagon jumper is Lee's former partner in Motley Crue, Nikki Sixx, who remains bassist and songwriter for the Crue and somehow found time to form the glam-rock, techno-pop, hip-hop aggregation called 58 (its name comes from Sixx's birth year). Steve Gibb (son of Bee Gee Barry Gibb) is part of the group as guitarist. Otherwise, 58 attempts too many styles and proves a master at none, and features Sixx's typically addlebrained lyrics. Skip this diet. Nikki Sixx and the rest of Motley Crue are scheduled to play Monday at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. -- Howard Cohen, Miami Herald R&B "Kina." Kina. (Dreamworks): Take Tina Turner. Drop the last name, replace the "T" with a "K" and subtract a few decades from her age. Now what have you got? This. Really. If the soulful rocker formerly known as Annie Mae Bullock was making her bow this year rather than in 1956 (and were she doing a better job of choosing material than she did on her recent coaster "Twenty Four Seven"), it's pretty easy to imagine that she would sound like Kina. A former member of Brownstone ("If You Love Me"), just before that early-'90s R&B trio went away, Kina returns with a solo debut of love-me ("Girl From the Gutter"), love-you ("Give and Take") and leave-me-alone ("Have a Cry") songs roared in Tina's husky twang. At times it becomes a little too easy for a listener to drift away into the prominent guitars, rendered unable to make out a hook or her seemingly straight-from-the-journal lyrics. But then, out of this nowhere, comes Kina imitating a fiery wah-wah guitar, on "Hurt So Bad," or stabbing away with every line of crowd-rouser "U Don't Know." No, Kina, we might not "know you or your situation," as you so snappily snarl on the first release from this album. But we can't help but feel you, and be moved. -- Sonia Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution 
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Toshi Kubota, "Nothing but Your Love." Toshi Kubota. (Epic): When you listen to Kubota's latest, it's hard to believe this is only the second English-language release by this Japanese star, who has nine previous albums. Kubota sings soul as if he were born to it, grooving with Raphael Saddiq, The Roots, Pras and Angie Stone. The title track is reminiscent of the breezy '70s funk of Roy Ayers or George Duke, with Kubota's smooth vocals drifting over it. The finger-popping "Body Bounce," which samples Roger Troutman's "More Bounce to the Ounce," and the pulsing "Never Turn Back" with Pras also stand out. Kubota made his first foray into this market with 1995's "Sunshine Moonlight." This latest effort could make him a fixture here. -- Steve Jones, USA Today