Campbell: Tuned In: Marcy Playground, Adelitas Way, Book of Love

Marcy Playground isn’t just playing

“LEAVING WONDERLAND ... IN A FIT OF RAGE,” Marcy Playground (Woz)

In post-grunge 1997, Marcy Playground charted with the mellow/droll single “Sex and Candy,” one of several rock hits at the time that signaled a refreshing new direction for music. Yet ultimately rock just sputtered in the shadow of rap and pop, and Marcy Playground quickly faded.

Interesting, then, that singer/guitarist John Wozniak’s band would return more than a decade later with a sometimes-neo-grunge-sounding “Leaving Wonderland ... In a Fit of Rage,” as if the group were attempting to resurrect a genre it helped bury.

However, it’s only a fleeting effort, confined to a couple of explosive tracks (“Emperor,” “I Burned the Bed”) plus opener “Blackbird” that could be Neil Young fronting Pearl Jam. Elsewhere Wozniak is all over the stylistic map, indulging and chasing off demons over 12 tracks that sound like the steps of a recovery program keyed to confession and redemption. Cocaine, women and God come up repeatedly as he swings from modern rock to blues to folk to strains of retro-rock that recall Paul Simon (“Star Baby”) and the Beatles (“Good Times”).

“Leaving Wonderland” is unusually affecting and painfully honest, and it’s easy to get a contact high from Wozniak as he caves in to the intoxicating appeal of dangerous lust on the gritty “Devil Woman” and the self-destructive allure of all manner of hedonism on “Gin and Money,” where a stirring rhythmic section churns under him as he sings, “I got cocaine, gin and money/Let’s take it to the end of the line.”

He employs Americana and country to seek enlightenment, looking forward to heaven on a steel-supported “Irene” and, against the gorgeous acoustic guitar work of “Memphis,” declaring that he has “come from the valley of the damned to Memphis” and he’s had his “fill from that well of poison.”

But the frontman seems to dig deepest for closer “Down the Drain,” where he makes the moving plea, “You could be my girl again/That’s all I ever wanted.” So maybe this whole exercise was driven by love, a wonderful old-school motivator.

Whatever, the point is “Leaving Wonderland” isn’t about trends in music. It’s a personal statement, imperfect and poignant.

Rating (five possible): 4

Resolute singer finds his way

“ADELITAS WAY,” Adelitas Way (Virgin)

A press release says Adelitas Way frontman Rick DeJesus had a tough time growing up in a Philadelphia neighborhood steeped in drug culture. He escaped the environment in 2005 by going to Los Angeles and landing a spot on the VH1 reality show “Strip Search.” That resulted in him temporarily becoming a member of the male-stripper troupe American Storm, which performed in Las Vegas.

DeJesus is still hanging out in Vegas, and he’s still willing to do what it takes to succeed, as evidenced by the new “Adelitas Way.”

The major-label debut from the rock band shows an obvious measure of compromise to make Adelitas Way as radio friendly as possible. DeJesus milks his sex appeal on the lusty, slow-cooking “Dirty Little Thing,” singing how he loves “the way you can’t say no.” Plus he channels his inner adolescent for the type of relationship songs gals love, including the buoyant “Hate Love,” the insolent “So What If You Go” and the desperate melodrama “Last Stand.”

Meanwhile, DeJesus and company also grab for the all-important angry male demographic, lashing out on “My Derailment” (“I’m never gonna let you disrespect me!”), working through primal therapy in “Scream” and riding a bullet train of testosterone on “Invincible.”

Yet of all these carefully aimed songs for men and women, only “Invincible” (an official theme song for “WWE Superstars”) strikes a memorable chord — as does the chugging “Just a Little Bit,” a snarky companion piece to “Invincible.”

However, in a heartening turn, DeJesus shows a thoughtful side on the reflective “All Falls Down” and drops pretense altogether for the powerfully poignant closer, “Brother,” where he relates the painful process of giving up on an addict.

It’s easy to imagine DeJesus, with his do-what-you’ve-got-to-do ethos, might have signed off on the formulaic tracks just to get the chance to express himself with “Brother.” And what better way to end “Adelitas Way” than with the promise of better things to come?

Rating: 3

Book of Love gets dusted off

“BOOK OF LOVE,” “LULLABY,” “CANDY CAROL” and “LOVEBUBBLE,” Book of Love (Noble Rot)

The criminally overlooked electronica quartet Book of Love was magic from the start.

Ted Ottaviano, Susan Ottaviano (no relation to Ted), Jade Lee and Lauren Roselli weren’t so much ahead of their time as they were creating a distinct, timeless sound — all of which is splendidly resurrected on the July 21 re-release (with bonus cuts) of the act’s four albums.

Featuring tracks such as the bass-heavy looping oddity “Boy,” the celebratory “You Make Me Feel So Good” and the romantic/obsessive “Modigliani (Lost in Your Eyes,” the group’s 1986 self-titled debut still feels sophisticated, revolutionary and touching on a near-spiritual level as Susan Ottaviano’s ingratiatingly warm voice wraps around the innovative multi-synth attack of her bandmates.

The glorious 1988 follow-up, “Lullaby,” one of the best releases of that decade, features a spectrum of sound and mood that’s almost unthinkable in today’s electronic genre. It includes the gorgeous title track, an enveloping “Pretty Boys and Pretty Girls” (which puts a spin of “Tubular Bells” from “The Exorcist”), the Burt-Bacharach-flavored “Sea of Tranquility” and the humorous “Witchcraft” that finds all three women rapping out a “Bewitched”-referencing spell. Electronic coven rap in 1988? That’s how original this band was.

Even as the act’s four members showed disparate artistic visions on the more fractured “Candy Carol” (1991) and “Lovebubble” (1993), they produced such gems as “Candy Carol’s” impossibly innocent “Sunny Day” and “Lovebubble’s” weirdly penetrating poetry reading “Salve My Soul.”

Fans should pick up at least the first two re-releases for the bonus cuts alone — “Book of Love” has an entire extra disc of them (live tracks, demos, remixes and the rarity “We Three Kings”), and “Lullaby” includes irresistible remixes of “Lullaby,” “Witchcraft” and “Pretty Boys and Pretty Girls.”

Rating: “Book of Love” - 4-1/2; “Lullaby” - 5; “Candy Carol” - 4; “Lovebubble” - 4.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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