Published on Jan 18, 2006
Looking at Amazon.com right now, you can buy Neneh
Cherry’s 1992 jazzy smorgasbord Homebrew for a penny. That’s
the same cost as a used copy of R.E.M.’s Monster. It’s
amazing that a sophomore album this diverse, accomplished and
flat-out superior to an excellent debut (Raw Like Sushi)
could have this many sellers. Still, it’s their loss.
To listen to Homebrew is to marvel at how
ahead of its time the album was. Cherry’s collaborations with
Massive Attack shows as the album retains a darker edge than its
predecessor. If Raw Like Sushi was created to set the dance
floors afire, Homebrew was created for the couch dwellers of
the after-hours circuit.
Along with brushes of trip-hop, Homebrew
contains jazzy, free-flowing rhythms. One can speculate that the
jazzy signatures indirectly came from Cherry’s stepfather, Don
Cherry, who was an influential jazz musician. The mix of hip-hop
and jazz may seem self-indulgent, but Cherry uses both structures
effortlessly. She even uses the slow percussion of “I Ain’t Gone
Under Yet” to demonstrate her underrated songwriting skills,
letting lines like “The kind of freedom that you can buy / my bank
won’t lend me yet” sink into your ears.
Neneh Cherry’s “Buffalo Stance” was an international
dance hit in 1989. She did not duplicate this success with any hits
on Homebrew. However, instead of the dance clubs, Cherry won
some college converts, namely with her pro-safe sex duet “Trout,”
which featured R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe. And if Stipe wasn’t enough,
the song has a wicked sample of Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee
Breaks.” Another guest appearance that works is Guru, from the
then-way underground rap group Gang Starr. He contributes a playful
rap midway through the funky opener “Sassy.”
Perhaps Cherry’s gutsiest move on Homebrew was
on “Buddy X,” a not-so-secret slam against Lenny Kravitz (who
wasn’t as much of an easy target back in 1992 as he is today). “I
don’t care what you do / but there’s a hypocrite that lives in
you,” Cherry sings under a bouncing backdrop. If “Buddy X”‘s happy,
thumping rhythms distracts from the scathing lyrics, the next song,
“Someday,” is as sobering as a hangover. Over a somber piano beat,
Cherry bemoans “Good Sundays are better than some days / Today, I’d
even take a bad Monday / ’cause this Sunday’s a pure pressure
inside of me.”
The final two songs, “Peace Of Mind” and “Red Paint,”
are some of the most soulful songs Cherry has ever recorded. The
percussion and keyboards sound like it could have landed on an
outtake from U2’s Zooropa album, which was released almost
two years after Homebrew was recorded. “By The Shore” may
not be the epic closer that Homebrew deserves, but it’s
still a good song.
Despite ten good-to-great songs and an overall sound
that was well ahead of its time, Homebrew has largely been
forgotten by the music press. For owners, however, Homebrew
is one of those albums that will find a place in your CD player at
least twice a year. It’s mood music of the highest degree.