New on CD 4/4/03

'Elephant'Remember the first time you inhaled from a cigarette and broke into a cold sweat for 45 horrible, nauseous minutes? If you were stupid enough to do it again and again ... mmm, blissfully hooked.

So it is listening to The White Stripes' fourth -- and arguably best -- album, a sharp-tongued, tweaked-out, menacing rock assault that secretly mocks you for loving every juvenile, sweaty, spittle-flying minute of it.

Imagine, wishing it were you who was being addressed on "There's No Home for You Here," as Jack White sings: "It's hard to look you in the face when we are talking -- So it helps to have a mirror in the room." Now that's cold.

The ambiguously related duo from Detroit still refuses to deviate from the formula of '60s vintage instruments and Jack's caterwauling, my-fifth-guitar-lesson riffs, all tenuously glued together by the maddeningly rudimentary drumming of Meg White, his alleged sister (but everyone knows they really used to be married).

And there's no excuse for dopey rhymes such as "Life is so boring -- It's really got me snoring -- I'm wearing out the flooring." No matter, because first, you love it anyway, and second, they are balanced by inspired lyrics such as "Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah ahhh." OK, maybe you just have to hear it to understand. And knowing it's wrong, you'll keep reaching for the play button for another dose.

'Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars'Ziggy Stardust, the orange-haired alter ego of David Bowie, departed on July 3, 1973, when he played his last show with The Spiders From Mars at London's Hammersmith Odeon.

This two-disc set, "Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars," remixed by former Bowie producer Tony Visconti, is the soundtrack to a documentary film of the final Spiders show. It captures the frantic mood that night. Hundreds of fans scream and squeal as England's favorite spaceman grinds out his metallic future tunes.

Bowie and The Spiders were at the end of a 40-date tour and in top form. Mick Ronson's guitar snarls with fanged power chords on "Hang on to Yourself," while "Moonage Daydream" thunders with orchestra-sized drum fills. Bowie croons over it all with a nasal deadpan.

They tackle some covers, turning out a sparkling version of "All the Young Dudes," the song Bowie wrote for Mott The Hoople.

Also included is Bowie-Ziggy's farewell speech, prompting howls of disbelief from his fans. Fittingly, he leads the band into one last tune, "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide." It's a lucid document of the ultimate Ziggy-era Bowie concert, bringing the feverish volume of that night to those of us who weren't lucky enough to be there.

'A Woman Alone With the Blues ... remembering Peggy Lee'Maria Muldaur has gone through various incarnations delving into American roots music since launching her career in the '60s -- and her most recent CDs on the Telarc label have been heavily grounded in the blues.

"A Woman Alone With the Blues ... remembering Peggy Lee" finds Muldaur re-establishing her credentials as an interpreter of jazz standards and ballads.

Not surprisingly, as a jazz singer, Muldaur comes out of the blues-based Billie Holiday tradition, relying more on raw emotion as she bends and stretches the lyrics rather than vocal technique or fancy embellishments.

The disc includes 12 songs associated with Lee, ranging from the familiar -- the sultry "Fever" and the gritty "Black Coffee" -- to the more obscure, the big-band swing-style "Winter Weather" featuring a vocal duet with Dan Hicks.

Muldaur, who is backed here by a jazz octet, also spotlights a lesser known side of Lee's career -- namely her songwriting skills. The CD features several songs co-written by Lee, including "I Don't Know Enough About You" -- also recorded by Diana Krall -- and the swinging, boogie-woogie-style "Everything Is Moving too Fast." Muldaur obviously has a special affinity with Lee's music, which is reflected in their common blues inspirations.

'Seed'The Afro Celt Sound System now call themselves the Afro Celts.

Simon Emmerson, one of the group's founders, says the switch is a reflection of their move away from drum programming and looped tracks and their evolution as a performing band in the traditional sense.

"Seed," their fourth album, has an array of special guests including flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook on the opening track, "Cyberia." The breakneck speed of Cook's virtuoso guitar work is superbly woven into a rich tapestry of percussion, rolling bass and chantlike vocals.

"Ayub's Song -- As You Were" is the album's standout, and perhaps best illustrates what this dazzling group can do. The track features Ayub Ogada, a Kenyan master of the nyatiti, a stringed instrument similar to the lyre, and lead vocal work by Afro Celt stalwart Iarla O'Lionaird.

The tune begins with the earthy plucked notes of the nyatiti, some transformative percussion and O'Lionaird's heart-rending Irish language vocals. Toward the middle of the track, the listener is walked though a magical aural gateway of colliding musical cultures by fiddler Martin Hayes. The cultural distances are narrowed, but not negated.

'House of 1000 Corpses'The soundtrack of Rob Zombie's new horror movie, "House of 1000 Corpses," does much to fuel the film's suspenseful terror.

Creepy sound bites such as "Stuck in the Mud," "Into the Pit," "Scarecrow Attack" and "Investigation and the Smokehouse" set the stage for a living nightmare. Zombie's new songs swing threateningly, from the stalking beats of "Run Rabbit Run" and "Little Piggy" to the industrial burlesque of "Pussy Liquor" and "Everybody Scream." Zombie includes oldies such as Buck Owens' "Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass," Helen Kane's "I Wanna Be Loved by You" and Slim Whitman's "I Remember You." He even boogies with special guest vocalists Trina and the Commodore himself, Lionel Richie, on the updated funky favorite "Brickhouse 2003." Scary good times!

'The Detroit Experiment'Following on the heels of his acclaimed "The Philadelphia Experiment," producer Aaron Luis Levinson has turned his attention to Detroit.

"The Detroit Experiment," recorded in a downtown studio during a five-day period, features the best musicians associated with the Detroit music scene over the last three decades.

The musicians assembled for the project include pianist Gerri Allen, violinist Regina Carter, saxophonist Bennie Maupin, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave and hip-hop artists Invincible and the Athletic Mic League.

Miles of musical ground are covered here -- from Belgrave's funk classic "Space Odyssey" to Allen and Carter's stirring, gospel-inflected duet performance on "There Is a God" and hip-hop flavored tracks such as "Vernors" and "The Way We Make Music." But this assembly of high-caliber musicians can seamlessly stitch together the various fragments of jazz, funk and electronic music history rooted in the Motor City.

'Who's Next' Any music fan is likely to have at least one copy of The Who's 1971 radio-friendly classic "Who's Next" in their collection.

Those copies should be thrown away and replaced with the newly remastered deluxe edition.

This isn't the first time the album has been remastered for compact disc release, but it is the first time the original master tapes were used as the source.

The difference is stunning.

The drumming of Keith Moon and the penetrating bass lines of John Entwistle sound more alive than ever. They mesh perfectly with Roger Daltry's vocals and Pete Townshend's guitar riffs.

With songs such as "Won't Get Fooled Again," "Going Mobile," "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Baba O'Riley," novice fans may assume the album is a greatest hits collection instead of a snapshot of The Who at their peak.

As a bonus there is an entire disc of live tracks from a 1971 concert, along with six alternate versions and out-takes from the album.

-- From wire reports