Free Tibet: A week prior to the release of the three-CD set Tibetan Freedom Concert (Grand Royal/ Capitol), Chinese President Jiang Zemin cavorted around Washington with President Clinton, talking trade and mugging it up for the cameras. During his visit, U.S. leaders failed to challenge Jiang on the subject of Tibet, a country China annexed in 1949 before stripping away its citizens' rights and working to eliminate its culture. The task of addressing this injustice seems to have fallen to actor Richard Gere, who's been extremely hard to take seriously ever since his part in the mangled update of Breathless, and the Beastie Boys, who have now sponsored two Tibetan Freedom Concerts--in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park in summer 1996 and earlier this year on New York's Randall's Island--to benefit their Milarepa Fund, a nonprofit Tibetan relief and information organization. A documentary with extensive footage and performances from the San Francisco concert has yet to find distribution, but the CD set--which compiles one song from each band that performed during the two-day New York City event--is perhaps the most eloquent and musically satisfying album for a cause since 1976's No Nukes. The first CD begins with one of several hymnlike prayers from Tibetan monks, then yields to one of the worst tracks of the wide-ranging collection, Ben Harper's feedback-meets-folk attack, "Ground Down." Almost every other artist on Disc One, however, accents his or her strength: Patti Smith's haunting dirge "About a Boy"; Radiohead's drifting and dramatic "Fake Plastic Trees"; Sonic Youth's nine-minute noise workout "Wildflower"; and KRS-1's expert MCing and gutsy beats in "South Bronx Melody"--all capture these acts at their most effective. U2's "One," Liam Gallagher's Neil Young-like reading of "Cast No Shadow" and the Foo Fighters' "This Is a Call" fall short in part because they're such obvious song selections, but the performances are laudably heartfelt. Disc Two features more heavy hitters and mixed results. Michael Stipe and Mike Mills should have brought the rest of R.E.M. along for "Electrolite"; Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready probably should have convinced other Pearl Jam mates to make the trip; and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' joyful ska is out of place. The highlights come from disparate sources: Pavement's loping "Type Slowly" sounds thoughtful and poignant; Alanis Morissette fortunately suppresses her warble on "Wake Up"; Björk creates edgy atmospherics with "Hyper-Ballad"; and the Beastie Boys rock the house with the funky "Root Down." A third disc includes five songs from the San Francisco fest--by Cibo Matto, Beck, De La Soul, the Fugees and Rage Against the Machine--and also contains CD-ROM footage of the shows, and of Chuck D. and others speaking out on Tibet's plight. For the most part, the performers on Tibetan Freedom Concert eschew preachiness for straightforward renditions of their songs, thus letting the Tibetan monks and performers on the compilation serve as a reminder of this stolen country's culture. With President Clinton more focused on rekindling George Bush's war with Iraq just weeks after throwing his backbone to the wind in the company of the man who continues China's stranglehold over Tibet, this CD set makes the Beastie Boys and their invited cohorts important messengers in an otherwise forgotten battle. Musically, it's an essential addition to any modern-rock fan's collection. More urgently, it's one of the most vocal statements about the Free Tibet cause. Portland Postscripts: If Details' predictions for 1998 are to be believed, two of the hottest bands of the coming year will be from Portland--the Dandy Warhols and Louie Says. In case you haven't heard of the latter, it's an adult-rock outfit put together by Clark Stiles, whom you're more likely to see playing out with Absynthe; Louie Says had a major-label debut due on RCA in August, which now won't hit the shelves until next year. Another local act to garner high-profile magazine coverage of late is blues guitarist Kelly Joe Phelps, who graces the cover of Acoustic Guitar's December issue. The national glossy calls him a "dazzling new voice in slide guitar." |
