European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 18, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse . Hammer s concert has Good bad sides by Walt Morrissette staff writer the show by . Hammer his Quot posse Quot of dancers in the almost full fest Halle in Frankfurt Germany on tuesday night had the elements of the. Good the bad the ugly. The Good parts were the hits the look. The sheer Power of Hammer his 20 Chest Pelvic pumping dancers his eight piece band his disc scratching disc jockey whipped the crowd into a frenzy with Here comes the Hammer Pray turn this Mutha out the finale u can t touch this the encore a please Hammer Don t Hurt pm. He brought Genie suits into Vogue they were a silk sequined hit on him his dancers. His Quot Oak town Quot Hammer Ese for his Hometown of Oakland v Calif inner City Street stage set straight out of the u can t touch this video was also a hit. The bad parts were the Libbing his rapping with Hart pop a singles. 1. You re in love Wilson Phillips 2. Baby baby Amy Grant 3. In be been thinking about you Londo beat 4. Hold you tight Tara Kemp. 5. Joyride Rosette a. 6. Sadness part 1 Enigma 7. Rico suave Gerardo. 8.1 like the Way i five. 9. Cry for help Rick Astley a10. Here we go a amp a music factory. Top a albums 1. Mariah Carey Mariah Carey 2. Gonna make you sweat a amp a music factory 3. Wilson Phillips Wilson Phillips 4. Out of time . 5. Shake your Money maker Black crowds 6 i m your baby tonight Whitney Houston 7. Heart shaped world Chris Isaak 8. The doors a movie soundtrack 9. My . A Enigma. 10. The soul cages sting country a singles 1. Down Home Alabama 2. Rockin years Dolly Parlon Ricky Van Shelton 3. Only Here for a Little while Billy Dean. 4. True love Don Williams. 5. Heroes friends Randy Travis. 6. Drift off to dream Travis Tritt 7. Two of a kind Workin on a full House a Garth Brooks a .8, pocket full of Gold Vince Gill. A 9. If i know me George Strait a 10. I d love you All Over again Alan Jackson amp by singles 1. Whatever you want Tony Toni tone 2. Wrap my body tight Johnny Gill 3. Stone cold gentleman Ralph Tresvant 4. In a dreaming Christopher Williams 5. No matter what you. Do Diana Ross Al b. Sure 6. Do me again a Freddie Jackson 7. Never been in love before Marva Hicks 8. It should be been you Teddy Pendergrass 9. My heart is failing me Ritt 10. Tell me a Wooten brother jazz a singles last week s listing 1. You won t forget me Shirley Horn. 2. Alone with three giants Marcus Roberts 3. Alive Chick Corea 4. A lonesome thing Frank Morgan 5. We Are in love a Harry Connick or. 6. Joey Defrancesco part Iii Joey Defrancesco 7. Why not Houston person 8. Roots revisited Maceo Parker 9. Post motown Bop Bobby Watson 10. Radio nights Cannonball Adderly. A compiled by billboard the homeboys Between each song to stretch his concert out to.1 hour 45 minutes. A. Some of his acts got pretty Hokey it such As bringing 11 fans up from the audience to try out for the posse. The dancers were kind acute but by the fifth fan it got kind of old. Fie stretched things out again with a 15-minute sad Story about returning Home from a tour finding his woman with another Man before going into the Ballad have you seen Here which worked Well the song not the Story ably backed by the Honey voiced Guys in the quartet called the real seduction the ugly part was waiting 45 minutes from the time that posse protege Joey 3. Ellis finished his 15-minute opening set at 8 15 . Until Hammer finally kicked off his show with Here comes the Hammer. Ellis is one of Hammer s posse members who was thrust to Fame with his go for it video from the Rocky v movie soundtrack. The problem with his performance of go for it was that the beat was there the crowd danced to it a but the video look was not. We re spoiled by mtg. The thin Content of Hammer s concert is a sign of changing times in the concert Industry. Times were that an act had to mature to record at least seven or eight hits songs Over two or three albums before the performer could produce a hit filled concert Strong enough to headline a world tour recent sellout world Tours by Michael Jackson Madonna Janet Jackson George Michael come to mind. . Hammer is in a class by himself among rap artists with the 10-million Selling album please Hammer Don t Hurt pm which along with Vanilla ice has led rap into. Pop Chart acceptance. Bui please Hammer his second album picked up the vast majority of its sales on the strength of one Mega hit video u can t touch this. Pepsi latched on to Hammer s popularity coattails sponsored the world tour. As a result Many fans spent the whole concert waiting for u can t touch this a then found out in the end that they could. There was a lot of dancing lot of chanting a lot of rappin color lights. But Hammer. A amps Michael Abrams . Hammer goes to work on the crowd. Does t have enough hits yet to fill a two hour show. He d be better served by sharing the Billing with another heavyweight dance pop Star then coming on to Cap the evening with a tight non Stop action packed hour Long set without All the Homeboy Chat in Between. . Hammers tour of Europe continues this month next. For schedule information see on Stago on pages 14-15. What a not record a . A out of time the new album by . Offers a revelation a these Guys Are their generation s Moody blues. . Would Likely cringe at the comparison. After All the Moody blues were artistic lightweights from England who relied heavily on violin strings . Is a critically acclaimed Georgia quartet that relies heavily on guitar strings. But there Are shared characteristics a Remote performance style that keeps the audience at a distance Lush textures to camouflage inconsequential lyrics airy melodies weighed Down by pretence. On out of time the similarities suddenly converge to form Texarkana an orchestra driven song that sounds nothing like the Southwest a As suggests a but would fit perfectly on this is the Moody blues. If that tune does t bring . S reputation Down a notch the rest of the record might. Only a couple of cuts would be Good enough to make the band s Early albums such As murmur or reckoning. The tempos Are stuck in Neutral the musical ideas Are a rehash the lyrics Are As opaque As Ever. Out of time does offer occasional payoffs. Shiny Happy people with a guest vocal from 13-52 Kate Pierson bears that band s bouncy stamp the Stark Erna is hypnotically reminiscent of the velvet underground. But . Has More in common with another cd group. A Steven wine the associated pres the rolling stones a flashpoint the rolling stones 1981-00 world Outing is turning out to be the most thoroughly documented tour in Rock history. There was a Cable broadcast of an Atlantic City n.j., show a radio simulcast snippets included in a video retrospective even a line of clothing. Now comes the definitive live album., the fact that Many of the 14 live songs on the steel wheels Urban Jungle tour Are a bit old arid have appeared on the previous four live stones albums does not detract from flashpoint. The new arrangements Overall vitality keep it from being redundant the. Technically dazzling production alone is enough to recommend it. The sound is crystalline giving every Riff a life of its own. Keith Richards described choosing the material for the album As Quot less a creative process than a process of elimination Quot but the choices Are Good ones satisfaction Brown sugar paint it Black others from the archives miss you Start me up from the Kite. 70s Early 80s sad sad sad Rock a hard place can t be seen from 5/ec/ wheels. Eric Clapton s turn on Little. Red rooster is one of die. Highlights. The Between Sung Patter features Bill Wyman flunking Mick Jagger s stones trivia quiz what album produced factory Cir Luj what seem to be the return of the. Woman in the crowd muttering Quot paint it him a you Devil Quot from get Sirur a yams jut. As a Bonus there Are two studio uts the topical High wire sex drive a Dir oof James Brown Turik that started out As a bar stage Warmup during the Lour. A William c. Trott United press International april 18, Viji stripes Magazine 3
