Blind Melon - For My Friends

“Blind Melon’s new album comprises the band’s first new songs since the death of former lead singer Shannon Hoon in 1995. With new singer Travis Warren onboard, the group has tried to recapture the magic that made it a pop/rock darling in the early ’90s. The effort is not a failure by any means, but while the rest of the band remains intact, “For My Friends” doesn’t sound much like the Blind Melon Hoon left 13 years ago. Warren, though, is a very capable replacement; he sings in an upper register that fits well with the group’s jammy country-rock sound, and occasionally sounds eerily like Hoon. And at times, it all clicks, like on “Sometimes,” a funky, organ-driven rocker. But there’s nothing here that quite approaches the peaks of first-era Blind Melon. —Troy Carpenter”

Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords

“This self-titled debut album by HBO’s kiwi wunderkinds is an intelligently playful parody romp through about 10 genres in 15 tracks. Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie set themselves apart from trashy pop-culture comics with lyrics that employ childlike wonder rather than childish humor. Album highlights “Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros” (with the signature line “Ain’t no parties like my nana’s tea parties”) and “Ladies of the World” (which rhymes “cutleries” with “knees”) lean on goofiness rather than offensiveness in a way that is refreshing. There’s something slightly missing for the listener who’s seen them live or watched the show, as part of their charm is definitely in the visual delivery (and the spontaneous keytar solos). But the lyrics hold their own as comedy poetry, and the album as a whole is stuffed with feel-good laughs.—Lavinia Jones Wright”