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"VH1 Divas Live/99
Various Artists/Arista Music
Divas of both the heavy and lightweight classification get together for "VH1 Divas Live/99," the sequel to last year's similarly styled cable event that this year was VH1's highest-rated music special ever. As is mandatory for this sort of CD/special, the music is a true mixed bag of highs and lows, from the classic pairings of Tina Turner and Elton John on "The Bitch is Back," odd pairings such as Brandy and Faith Hill on "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You," questionable song choices such as Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" over "Believe," powerhouse moments such as LeAnn Rimes' "How Do I Live" and apparent shakiness as in Brandy's "Have You Ever."
Diva muscle flexing is at home here as well, as Whitney Houston completely takes over the final third of the CD. This isn't surprising because the CD was released on the same label Houston calls home, Arista. She and Mary J. Blige bring down the house honoring Aretha Franklin with the gut-bucket soul of "Ain't No Way," while the CD closes out fittingly with two takes on "I'm Every Woman," first with Houston and the song's originator Chaka Khan dueting, followed by a lesser version featuring Hill, Brandy, Blige and Rimes.
-- Kevin C. Johnson
"The Last Tour on Earth"
Marilyn Manson/Nothing/Interscope
"Nothing's Shocking," an album title and comment on modern life from Perry Ferrell of Jane's Addiction, pretty much sums up this latest outing from Marilyn Manson, a live album recorded on the Midwest leg of its "Rock Is Dead" tour that included Hole for about a minute. While some have seen its shock-rock tactics as proof of the moral decline of Western Civilization, anyone with a sense of history will recognize that most of Manson's act is derivative. Alice Cooper, David Bowie, KISS and, more recently, Nine Inch Nails, have done it all before and done it better. It appears there really is nothing new under the sun.
Even Manson's comments to incite crowds in Grand Rapids and Cedar Rapids sound like a cross between Howard Stern and the late Lenny Bruce. Lacking the political bite and insight...