BY MIKE BREEN

Photo By Herb Huebchen

Hole's Courtney Love

Hole has always been in danger of being overshadowed musically by Courtney Love's antics, but the band's recordings make it hard to argue their talent (forgetting rumors that they were masterminded by arguably more talented male songwriters). Live, that danger comes to the forefront -- with Love berating the audience, appearing completely wasted or baring her breasts, the attention is on anything but the music. At this show -- the kick-off for the band's current tour supporting Celebrity Skin, following their departure from a joint venture with Marilyn Manson -- the antics didn't go far enough, which made them all too hard to bear. Maybe it was because Celebrity Skin was an inferior album to the previous Live Though This, or maybe the Courtney Show came off just a bit too fake this time (a previous show at Bogart's featured a Star is Born-like breakdown on stage that was classic), but this time out, I felt cheated. Love's "guitar playing" was also distracting: She has it on almost every song, but mostly as a prop since, when she stopped playing, you couldn't tell the difference. Without the guitar, though, Love seemed almost Vegas-ready. The saving grace was that, if you actually noticed the band, they were on, highlighted by an impossibly tight rhythm section and Eric Erlandson's engulfing guitar parts. I just wished that it would have been more of a "performance" than an "appearance."
CityBeat grade: C.For better or worse, Detroit has become the hot spot when it comes to white rappers who get as nasty as they want to be and are subsequently magnets for controversy. Kid Rock, Eminem and the duo Insane Clown Posse have caused stirs in their careers with their over-the-top imagery and violent, misogynist lyrics. ICP can boast the biggest cult following: Their fans (dubbed "juggalos") have bought over a million copies of their albums, since the group began releasing their own albums in the early '90s. The Amazing Jeckel Brothers is musically a tad more experimental than their previous raw output, but basically this album never strays far from the simplistic beats and punkish rhyme style that made The Great Milenko a platinum seller. The violent fantasies are in full force but, like the band's sense of humor, it all comes off overly childish. It's clear to see why adolescents find ICP so intriguing -- they're the musical equivalent of a brilliant fart joke. Juvenile, but worth a muted chuckle.
CityBeat grade: C.In 1993, singer/songwriter Alex Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens, founding members of Big Star, underground legends of overlooked but utterly brilliant and influential Power Pop, reformed the band for a series of shows with Posies members Jon Auer (guitar/vocals) and bassist Ken Stringfellow filling in for the late Chris Bell (guitars/vocals) and a not-interested Andy Hummell. The shows were incredibly well-received, resulting in a live album and very sporadic dates ever since. So this was a rare chance (one of just three dates this year) to catch the group before the notoriously fickle Chilton pulls the plug yet again. (He refuses to write and record a full new album.) Fans who made the pilgrimage to Chicago's noted pseudo-theater/nightclub were not disappointed. Stephens looks and plays the same as he did over 20 years ago, when the last Big Star album was released (after Bell had departed), Chilton's voice was dead-on and, while he missed a change and blew the beginning of "Back of a Car," his guitar tone and liquid, wiry playing were unmistakable. But the reunion wouldn't work, were it not for the young bucks in the group. Auer and Stringfellow's harmonies were impeccable, and when Auer stepped up to man the lead vocals on Bell's solo single, "I Am the Cosmos," it was pure Pop nirvana. Other highlights included "Big Black Car" (one of the few fragile numbers from the Sister Lovers period), the resilient "Jesus Christ," the soulful "September Gurls," and even a new song, the garagey "Hot Thing," which is set for inclusion on an upcoming Big Star tribute album. Chilton has also rejoined his pre-Big Star group, The Box Tops, for some shows (including community and state fairs as an oldies act) and his solo opening for Jon Spencer at Bogart's earlier this year was a dry, limping affair ("a wedding band" is how one fan saw it), but Chilton is at his best in front of Big Star. And unlike chronic reuniters like The Who, Chilton and Co. still sound as vibrant as they did all those years ago.
CityBeat grade: A.

E-mail Mike Breen

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