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Remember Me? by Domino

Domino
Remember Me?
Slipdisc/Platinum Status/Mercury Records

The Long Beach player who mixed singing with rapping, Domino, is betting hard on your memory not being hazed over by the same indo smoke and 40 ounces he has advertised through his records. On his new album, Remember Me?, he relies on a sound that's so 1994 it could be playing Super Mario Brothers on regular Nintendo. It's not that sexing numerous women and shooting at people isn't interesting -- there's a new James Bond movie coming for god's sake -- but the differences in presentation say a lot, and since his last album someone must have tipped him over, because he's fallen off something unpleasant.

Domino begins with a 46 second montage of his "hits" this far, a ploy reminiscent of an aging Vegas headliner near the seedier side of the strip. The rest of the album could easily pass without notice -- even with Teena Marie, Surface, and Mokenstef guesting, there isn't a distinctive note on this entire album. Of all 12 tracks, the most enjoyable are in the intro, borrowing from past glory.

If one strains to find good points, the cut "69" is a passable dance floor interlude, with a upper midtempo beat that could be easily workable if you have the right partner to distract you. Surface's guest appearance on "Closer than Friends" is tolerable in a forgettable way -- not bad enough to hate nor good enough to remember. "Reality" offers some sonic variety with horn stabs and an upbeat tempo, but it substitutes west coast stereotypes for east coast stereotypes with its sounds, and will again have you jabbing the fast forward button like an epileptic with a heron jones.

Bad points are easier to pinpoint. "Cum on Over" with Teena Marie could be used in ritual executions, as repeated playings make the sensible listener want to peel their own skin off with their fingernails and then leap from the nearest high window. "Hendo" could be a perfectly mediocre advertisement for the makers of Hennessy, but stands as merely another offensively bland ghetto tale. "Cocoa Tang" is another one considered cruel and unusual punishment by the Geneva Convention and illegal to use as a weapon in 43 countries.

As this review draws to a close, the flames of the stove melt this CD into its constituent elements. That's probably the best entertainment it's provided since it came into existence. If you perk up your ears, you can hear the sound of Dominos slapping down on flat surfaces ... no, not brothers in back rooms with blunts, playing the game! That's bored listeners returning CDs to their local record stores. Listening to this is like ending the game with Big Six and Big Five still in your hand ...

-- Hannibal Tabu/$d®-Parker Brothers

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