Reviews of new releases from Unida, Noreaga, and Teri Thornton   Teri Thornton I'll Be Easy to Find (Uni/Verve) Of related interest: Nina Simone, late Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae Just when we thought all the great jazz singers had headed to that late-night club in the sky, Thornton comes out of obscurity and wins this year's Thelonious Monk Competition. As a young singer coming up in the early '60s, she recorded one disc for Fantasy (just reissued) and seemed headed for the big time (or at least as big a time as jazz could then offer). Thirty-five years later, she's back--kicking. She isn't your usual lovely Wunderkind passing as this year's model. Thornton's voice is a deep and husky contralto, not pretty by conventional standards. But like Nina Simone's vox, Thornton's singing is strong, emotive and filled with the power of her convictions. She has Betty Carter's ability to slur a phrase like she's dropping a yo-yo off the World Trade Center; or, she can play it straight in the world-weary tone of Carmen McRae or Sarah Vaughan, turning lyrics inside-out with a delicate subtlety that lets you know she's been there, done that, and lived to sing about it. And when she sings the blues, she rocks like she wants to shake them off forever. That must be what 35 years of waiting will do to a girl. Bill Smith   Noreaga Melvin Flynt Da Hustla (Penalty) Of related interest: Capone-N-Noreaga, N.O.R.E. Don't get it twisted--Noreaga is thugged out for real. It's well known among headz that Nore lived the street life many talk about, surviving to tell his own tale. He took the hip-hop world by storm last summer with N.O.R.E., a joint that had necks snapping nationwide to highly charged beats. The spazzed-out "Superthug," a track you either loved or hated, had cats going nuts and became one of 1998's top songs. On Melvin Flynt, he adheres to the murderous spitfire raps associated with Queens MCs, lacing the album with many memorable lyrics: "Chinaman, Chinaman, need some coke/his girl do the wild thing/like she know Tone Loc." The production, handled by EZ Elpee, SPK, the Neptunes and Trackmasters, is thorough for the most part, falling down only on a couple of cuts. The third installment of "Blood Money" is one of the dopest tracks heard in a while, with its rock introduction flipping into a beautiful, pounding melody. As he collaborates with Missy Elliot (on "Wethuggedout") and the Ca$h Money crew ("Play That Shit"), Noreaga proves that he possesses the skill to keep it fresh for the headz. H.V. Claytor Jr.   Unida Coping with the Urban Coyote (Man's Ruin) Of related interest: Kyuss, "Fairies Wear Boots," ditch weed, motocross I admit it: I harbor a non-stoner's weakness for heavy stoner sounds. Still, since I have a roommate who favors Pink Fairies, Motörhead, AC/DC and--oh yeah--those mighty Black Sabbath clowns, I rarely have to seek out any new like-fried metal throb. Now and again, though, I'll trip over a bit of hard rock in the course of my curmudgeon's daily orbit, discovering a new crew of longhairs homesteading in hell with a proper mix of technique and wild abandon. Hatched in the bombastic drug-rock desert scene that lingers in the American West, led by former Kyuss vocalist Johnny Garcia, Unida currently ranks as my guiltiest of guilty pleasures. This yelping pack of sunken-chested, red-eyed youngbloods nips and snatches at the tail of its leather-lunged point man with a propulsive, seething mix of rubbery guitar riffs, high-as-the-sky vocal wailing and furious leaden backbeats. Unlike Kyuss' wonder stew of psychedelic rumblings, Unida carries its Sabbath-ine weight on a quicker set of paws. If you haven't gotten in touch with your inner 13-year-old white boy all summer, reach out for Unida today. My best advice: Keep a tape of Coping on hand for those desperate moments when you're trying to convince your one friend with a pickup to give you a ride home from the Jockey Club. Just don't expect the tape back. Ever. Sam Soule   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published October 6, 1999