Consumer Guide Album

Miriam Makeba: Eyes on Tomorrow [Polydor, 1991]
It was made in Johannesburg, and that's a triumph. But unless you live there yourself, which means taking your uplift wherever you find it, save this genteel schlock for your Afrocentric grandma, who may not appreciate the gesture--she knows how much vague promises are worth. Even if you ignore the corny crossover lyrics, the all-purpose synthesizers, and the received licks from many lands, Dorothy Masuka is singing better, and without dated stabs at modernization. Dizzy Gillespie don't sound so hot either. C