page: 5
 title: Revamped Fishbone hites right notes
author: Michael D. Clark


 	"revamped Fishbone hits right notes"
perfect circle adds to mix at S.J. Concert   by Michael D. Clark

	Winding down a summer overloaded with artists hawking their 
latest wares city-by-city, an oddity came to San Jose's the Usual on 
Saturday night.
	Fishbone and Perfect Circle:  Two acts with nothing to sell.
	After 20 years, headliner Fishbone still features bassist 
Norwood Fisher and frontman Angelo Moore, but any other physical 
resemblance to the band behind old party favorites "Party at the 
Ground Zero' and "Ma and Pa" is purely coincidental.  that's a good 
thing.  After a mostly miserable '90's, this group has never sounded 
better.  
	Perfect Circle is a loose collaboration of familiar people, 
including Tool's Maynard James Keen and former Primus drummer Tim 
Alexander, playing songs that can't be found at Tower records or 
downloaded from any MP3 site.
	Fans holding their breath for the follow-up to Tool's last 
album, the 3-year old "Aenima," need to exhale.  On Keenan's Web site 
(http://maynardjaeskeenan.com) is this pointed message: "This site is 
still under construction.  I have nothing to tell you or sell you for 
the moment . . . but thanks for asking".
	Nice.
	" The new Tool album will be out next year . . . late (next 
year)," said Keen from the stage.  "So stop asking about it."
	Keen never makes it clear if Perfect Circle is headed for the 
studio, but the band has at least 30 minutes of original material to 
build on.  Looking like an overgrown newborn with his bald head and 
indistinguishable markings, Keen has chosen this side project to 
reinvent his rock persona.  Cast as a prince of dark artrock in Tool, 
Perfect Circle allows his to explore less-emotionally exhausting 
territory.
	Straying from Tool's industrial intensity, the songs range 
from the wrenching pop dramas of Live to the conceptual politics of 
Rush.  The middle ground sounds a lot like "Fascination Street"-era 
Cure, a point Keen must have recognized.  Following a song he called 
"Show me the Way", the band whimsically noodled with a bastardized 
cover of the Cure hit "Lovesong."  The vocalist even did something 
unthinkable when fronting Tool.  He cracked a brief smile.   

Posted to t.d.n: 09/07/99 06:58:47