|
|
|
|
|
|
Brand New Day
There is a difference between being an inspired musician and an informed musician. Sting is the latter. As always, he surrounds himself with ultratalented artists: this time around Stevie Wonder, Branford Marsalis, James Taylor, guitarist Dominic Miller, and the prince of rai Cheb Mami, fill the roster. Brand New Day exhibits about as many musical styles are there are tracks, all encased in dense, meticulous production. The album begins promisingly. "A Thousand Years" pulses atop a lush, two-note foundation. "A Desert Rose" folds trilling Algerian pop into trip-hop. Melodic, late-night jazz ballads dominate the middle portion of the collection. But Sting's preoccupation with odd-numbered time signatures prevents the songs from grooving, while the choruses are yawns. "Fill Her Up" (no, not "Fill 'Er Up"), a country tune, represents Sting at his most self-indulgent. Listening to one of the wealthiest musicians in pop singing "Got no money to invest / Got no prospect / Or education / I was lucky to get the job at this gas station" requires a heroic suspension of disbelief. The song morphs into this rousing gospel number where Sting and a supporting chorus chant "You gotta fill 'er up with Jesus! / You gotta fill her up with life!" Who knew unleaded could be so rousing? Click here for more information or to order this CD.
|
|
Breakdown: Limited Edition [EXTRA
TRACKS]
Click here for more information or to order this CD.
|
|
Burn To Shine
Ben Harper's musical eclecticism has been well established, but what often goes unnoticed is that few musicians possess such an expansive emotional range. And those complex, unsettled emotions never seem to come one at a time; instead, they are layers to be peeled and reassembled. When the mood is ominous, you still sense an urgent hopefulness around the bend, and even on a jaunty Dixieland number like "Suzie Blue," with its playful trombone and clarinet, you can see the clouds on the horizon. The tension may not always be overt, but it's never lower than just below the surface. Angry, aggressive metal rants; bruising, bombastic, operatic rockers; lighthearted Caribbean grooves; strutting Southern boogie; deep country soul; and delicate acoustic folk play out like scenes within a Byzantine film. Harper's soulful moans, agonized groans, and earth-shaking whispers narrate this battle between shadows and light, and his sonic war zone is as dynamic, detailed, and diverse as it's ever been. As weighty as but more personal than its three predecessors, Burn to Shine has the sensation of grandeur that seems to accompany all of Harper's work, but this time around it's more than a delusion. Click here for more information or to order this CD.
|
|
Cafe Atlantico
Unlike Mar Azul or earlier releases Miss Perfumado and Cesaria Evora, which were largely collections of the Portuguese-influenced song form called morna, Café Atlantico finds Evora singing Cuban and Brazilian traditionals. Evora's voice is as smooth as ever, but it's a little odd to hear her croon to a bolero or danzon. Still, the connection fits snugly as this release is a tribute to Evora's hometown of Mindelo, a port on the Cape Verdean island of São Vicente where sailors from Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, and the Caribbean cross-pollinated the music of Cape Verde. On Café Atlantico Evora croons with her usual beauty, poise, and melancholia. Thankfully, instrumental accompaniment again includes the piano and acoustic guitar and bass, but with the flavorful addition of light (and only occasional) orchestral accompaniment, which highlights the creamy richness of this lovely Latin music. Café Atlantico takes a tasteful, innovative step in broadening Evora's repertoire, and its plaintive grace and relaxed romanticism emphasizes what the world has now come to realize: Cesaria Evora is the greatest living singer of our time. Click here for more information or to order this CD.
|
|
In The Life Of Chris Gaines
Click here for more information or to order this CD.
|
|
M.O.M. III: Music For Our Mother
Ocean
The third in the MOM benefit series aiding efforts to save the oceans contains just as much turf as it does surf. Brian Setzer and Brian Wilson's version of "Little Deuce Coupe" and tracks by soft-spoken James Taylor ("Gaia") and environmentally conscious Paul McCartney ("Wild Life") comprise the graying legend segment of the contributors. But the remainder of the album is definitely not aimed at mamas and papas. MOM 3 is largely a reunion of Southern California scenesters with tracks from Beck,the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Everclear, Smash Mouth, and Lit. Sprung Monkey serve up a surprisingly successful funk-rock version of Harry Nilsson's "Coconut" and the Butthole Surfers crest with a menacing cover of Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer in the City." Snoop Dogg contributes "Snoop Bounce," a wicked hybrid of metal and West Coast rap, while the Beastie Boys represent East Coast beach bums with "Nothing to Say." If that's not enough, the Butthole Surfer's pitch in a second time with a slithering remix of Jane's Addiction's "Ocean Size." A good cause and Jane's Addiction, too? The oceans will thank you, and so will your ears. Click here for more information or to order this CD.
|
|
Macy Gray On How Life Is
Macy Gray's debut draws heavily on '70s funk traditions to make its progressive-R&B points. With help from a band including former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Arik Marshall, she uses her raw yet controlled voice to celebrate sex ("Sexomatic," "Caligula"), God ("I Can't Wait to Meetchu"), and injustice ("I've Committed Murder"). Gray's songwriting doesn't seem fully developed yet, but On How Life Is is a striking first shot nonetheless. Click here for more information or to order this CD.
|
|
Mary
Much has been made of the way Mary Jane Blige's raw, compelling voice reflects the upheavals in her personal life. Black American divas are meant to suffer for their soul and few of today's sanitised swing girls match Blige for inner turmoil. 1995's troubled My Life was a kiss-off to former beau K-Ci Hailey of Jodeci; 1997's reflective Share My World was made after leaving mentor Sean 'Puffy' Combs and, seemingly, a visit to a charm school. Since then, all has been apparently well. Even so, the new, calm Mary J. Blige isn't above exploiting her personal traumas. Mary features Not Lookin', a duet with none other than K-Ci Hailey. A cheap trick, but it works, the painfully slow tempo wringing out the uncomfortable tension. Less successful, at least lyrically, is Deep Inside, a track so self-referential it would embarrass Alanis Morissette. 'Why can't you love the person inside, instead of looking at the outside?' she complains: a bit rich coming from a notoriously monosyllabic conversationalist. The track is saved by a guest appearance by Sir Elton John pounding a piano line that pastiches his own Benny & The Jets. John joins a stellar cast of guests, including Eric Clapton on Give Me You and George Michael on the slick cover of Stevie Wonder's As. Lauryn Hill leaves her indelible production mark on the opening All That I Can Say. The conjunction between Blige's urban hip hop soul and Hill's more downhome definition is a delight, with liquid bass, stuttering samples and swooping, double-tracked vocals. Cheeringly, none can overshadow Blige's voice. Half of Mary's tracks end with extended scat codas that would pass for space-filling in lesser hands. Whether freestyling over skipping, Timbaland-influenced beats on Beautiful One or the straightforward swing of Your Child, Blige can turn from sassy to agonised to vulnerable in the space of a single phrase. On record, at least, The Queen Of Hip Hop Soul remains classy and invincible. Click here for more information or to order this CD.
|
|
The Fragile [BOX SET]
Click here for more information or to order this CD.
|
|
To Venus And Back
Click here for more information or to order this CD.
|
|
Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions
Emmylou Harris once said of her four-shows-a-night salad days that she refused to sing anything on the hit parade, opting only for "bizarre, left-field songs" that "made it hard to make a living." Decades later, Harris still spends a lot of time in left field, and it's those offbeat, haunting gems--more than the classics here from Leonard Cohen or Jackson Browne--that make Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions, her duet album with Linda Ronstadt, so memorable. That, and her exquisitely pained soprano--reminiscent of "cracked crystal," as Linda puts it--nestled up against Ronstadt's thicker, corduroy harmonies. With arrangements that meet somewhere between Harris's Wrecking Ball and Ronstadt's Hasten Down the Wind, the two explore a mood of morose dreaminess, but profound beauty. Ghosts gather here, to the sounds of rattling bones--in songs of abandoned love, of musical giants now gone silent, and of World War I soldiers, who parade from the arms of prostitutes to the arms of death. Left field, dotted with the wreckage of heartache and regret, never sounded better. Click here for more information or to order this CD.
|
| |
![Melissa Etheridge - Breakdown: Limited Edition [EXTRA TRACKS] Cd](melissa_etheridge.gif)
![Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile [BOX SET] Cd](nineinchnails.gif)
