VARIOUS ARTISTS Wood For Rainer Epiphany ONE OF SEVERAL projects to benefit ailing local hero Rainer Ptacek, this 1996 acoustic compilation from Club Congress is as good a sampler of the current homegrown music scene as there is. The disk is 100 percent turkey-free, full of standouts like The Drakes' gruff "Caddy," Paula Jean Brown's winsome "Never Look Into the Sun," Mary Anne's acid "Wretched Song," Blackmoon Graffiti's jazzy "Mind's I," and the best single performance here, Shoebomb's remarkable "Red Boots." Rainer himself turns in a rollicking dobro version of "Top of the World," recorded live in 1994. Never mind feeling virtuous--pick up Wood for Rainer to fill your own private ears with some first-class treats. --Gregory McNamee THE WHY STORE The Why Store Way Cool/MCA 0 stars SORRY, WRONG MAGAZINE. Try Relix next time. Turn on, tune in, drop a tab and head to the H.O.R.D.E. tour with these Blues Traveler wannabes jamming out their fake roots/blues shtick for the tailgate party. The Why Store has exactly one thing going for it--a grittily soulful singer. To his discredit, however, he over emotes so relentlessly you can practically reach out and stroke his vibrato. (Take note, ladies: It's a big, throbbing vibrato.) And as with B.T.'s John Popper (who does play a mean harp at least) it gets old mighty fast, and the band's steady reliance on classic rock clichés is equally tiresome. Put another way: An entire generation had its chance to make a real white soul singer, Don Dixon, a cultural hero. Instead, they went with Bob Seger. --Fred Mills ARNOLD/KLINGENFUS Ensembles Azog SPARKLING PRODUCTION, WITH Jim Brady at the boards and the competent playing of various ensembles backing Dick Arnold's guitar and Jim Klingenfus' keyboards, points to a fair amount of local talent gathered into one place. But things move too smoothly, drifting into glibness--if there are deeper visions and emotions here they tend to submerge themselves in a kind of somnambulance, as if all the sounds have been clipped at the edge to blend without sparking. Overwrought constructs ground the lyrics, as in "Her Particular Place" and "Regional Girl" where decidedly unmusical words don't vocalize convincingly. But there's enough talent and an idiosyncratic spirit here that work when Arnold and Klingenfus let the music lead them away from conceptual cleverness. --Jessie Piper

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