Posts Tagged ‘Album’
February 12th, 2010 | 
Author: Sade ‘Soldier of Love’ Review
Everything changes − except Sade.
For over a quarter-century, the singer has sported the same look, employed the same band, recorded for the same label, and for the most part, kept the same sound: a lean, wan take on lounge-jazz that never loses its temper or its focus.
So narrow an approach could easily bore a fidgety public. But Sade’s last CD, “Lovers Rock,” sold over 3 million copies without seeming to break a sweat. This, despite the fact that eight years passed between the release of that CD and its predecessor, a stretch during which the star passed the dangerous age of 40.
Now, another decade has passed in Sade’s life − and in her leisurely approach to recording. (The 51-year-old has produced just six studio albums.) “Soldier of Love” represents Sade’s first work since the turn of this century, which may have triggered something. For its initial 10 minutes, it seems like time finally has made an impression on the famously static star.
“The Moon and the Sky” kicks things off with a uniquely squiggly guitar hook that undulates around a skinny synth line. It sounds as fresh as anything from the singer’s first flush, transporting her understated character to an exotic new setting.
There’s even more surprise in the title track. A brutish beat mirrors strings that sound as stalwart as those in Led Zep’s “Kashmir.” An added whine from a guitar gives the song a hook that won’t quit. Sade’s voice, meanwhile, explores a deep, new register that lends her an androgynous allure.
Has the star finally broken the consummate cool that threatened to suffocate her for so long? Not entirely.
Nothing else on the CD cracks the whip with such force, even if does include flashes of what made her such a striking figure to begin with.
“Morning Bird” represents Sade at her most fine. The song’s piano has a classical formality, while her voice expresses just enough hard emotion to contrast the music’s composure.
She remains a sharp lyricist as well. The words in “Babyfather” paint an uncommonly vivid picture of a lust that brought about more entanglement than either member of the couple anticipated.
Unfortunately, by the last few tracks, Sade wafts back into her usual mood of chic control. Once again, she’s assessing thwarted love with a resignation as studied as a model’s pose.
Of course, that still leaves a CD with more life than her ’90s works. By that measure, “Soldier of Love” offers just enough variation − and comes after a long enough break − to give this steady star a worthy new tweak.
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Allison Moorer – Crows Review
Sure must be nice to be Allison Moorer. As if the success of her Grammy-winning sister Shelby Lynne wasn’t enough, the Alabama native is also married to alt-country legend Steve Earle and has been nominated for an Academy Award for her contribution “A Soft Place to Fall,” which appeared on the soundtrack to the 1998 film The Horse Whisperer. Last year, she was nominated for a Grammy for her work on her husband’s 2008 album Washington Square Serenade, and while Sheryl Crow made it ubiquitous, Moorer, the single’s original singer, made quite a dent on country radio with the Kid Rock duet, “Picture.”
On her sleepy and sedate new album Crows, her eighth and first on Rkyodisc, she seems to settle into a landscape of softness, dotting her album with only three upbeat numbers and ten (yep, ten) ballads. Thankfully though, most of it is done well, thanks in part to the deft production of R.S Field (John Mayall, Billy Joe Shaver). Aside from throwaways, “Should I Be Concerned” and “It’s Gonna Feel Good” much of Birds is absolutely ravishing. Take for example the bare piano ballad “Easy in the Summertime,” or the jangly “The Broken Girl.”
Though the disc starts off unhurried and threatens to dawdle, the gentle lilt of “Goodbye to the Ground,” makes for one of Moorer’s most creative efforts to date. The matriarchal ballad, “The Stars and I (Mama’s Song)” is equally compelling as the song’s first 90 seconds features ethereal instrumentation and a gauzy veneer not unlike Jann Arden. Other high points include the chill-inducing “Like the Rain,” and the torch ballad “When You Wake Up Feeling Bad.”
Since her 1998 debut Alabama Song, Moorer has always earned raves for the intimacy of her delivery and the poignancy of its timbre. These attributes are felt most on the panged, “When You Wake Up Feeling Bad,” and the equally wrenching, “Sorrow (Don’t Come Around).” And though Crows has its fair shake of heartache, it is not without its optimism. Penultimate track “It’s Gonna Feel Good,” points to the period at which a woman can confidently break free from emptiness, while title track and album closer “Crows,” candidly admits, “I guess a few crows in the backyard is better than bats in the belfry.”
Ten years into a much-lauded career, Moorer seems to understand her songwriting niche and seems supremely comfortable with her place. And while the understated, simplicity of Crows is at times underwhelming, its hard to argue with a voice as soothing and as striking as hers.
Album Review: Faber Drive – Can’t Keep a Secret
Taking an intricate look at a band in the leagues of Faber Drive requires a little more effort than most contemporary rock bands on the market. I mean sure they pretty much sound like any other current up and coming artist who can perfect modern production trends. Then everyone has to take into consideration that Faber Drive has borrowed from a wide array of influences whether its lavish backing harmony vocals or extremely infectious choruses Faber Drive has bordered on a modern melodic rock group all the while pushing the envelope and nearly crossing into the dreaded boy band genre. The final point to drive home here is Faber Drive’s relative inexperience with only one album under their belts so when the time came to release a follow up the band would have to push their collective talents to the breaking point. The end result is Can’t Keep A Secret which could be best summed up as an ambitious venture that has Faber Drive pushing several buttons in an attempt to push together some very polished harmonies with a dash of fun power pop and melodic bliss. The second time around however a new element is added into this tried and true formula with Faber Drive embracing a lot of dance beats and techno overtones. Talk about throwing a monkey wrench into the engine driving this machine it almost seems like there was a Jekyll and Hyde complex that had fueled the band throughout the entire recording sessions for this album. Consistency is scattered all over the place so even with the lead off track doing a fairly decent job setting the pace it kind of goes downhill from there and I don’t really know what these guys were thinking bringing in dance and techno influences into the mix unless they were looking to really expand their horizons in bringing even more commercial pop hits into their repertoire. Once Faber Drive puts their game faces on and decides to play everything straight faced is when some very finely crafted songwriting rises to the surface. As a whole Can’t Keep A Secret is good at drawing attention to itself and even though a group the likes of Faber Drive have decided to add in some new/risky elements which might leave some of their fan base scratching their heads asking why such an exploration had to be delved into. It pretty much feels like Faber Drive is trying to walk on egg shells with this album and since they threw everything in (except the kitchen sink) to hear a cover of The Cars’ Just What I Needed really didn’t surprise me yet if there was anything I was wondering when listening to Can’t Keep A Secret it was: Are Faber Drive going to continue throw up a wide array of different of colors and explore many different techniques before trying to paint a landscape all their own? It’s not that a band of this caliber doesn’t have the talent to go far no what it really comes down is branching out without too much of a radical departure from your core sound. Looking at it from another perspective though Faber Drive is a young upstart group trying some very bold things early on in their career so with such exploration bringing out some truly unique musicianship it’s going to be interesting where Dave Faber and company go in the next two to three years. As for me I look at this album with a real conflicted point of view as even though there are a couple tracks where I shake my head and go ‘What Were They Thinking?!?!’ when Faber Drive stops trying to bridge a very diverse gap they show the music world exactly what they’re made of. Everything is seamlessly falling into place for these guys so if they want to step into the fold and grab the reigns to lead this generation’s form of contemporary melodic rock groups into a bright future there is a lot of work to be done but if Faber Drive are willing to get their hands dirty and continue to give it all and reach for the stars I truly feel they’ll be able to take the bar to a higher level and the standard for where other groups who grew up in the stadium rock era.
The Good
When Faber Drive put on their game faces nothing can stop them. Can’t Keep A Secret is one interesting melodic pop/rock album to try and figure out and once the band goes into dance and techno mode it almost feels like a sharp slap in the face but once everything levels out midway and towards the end of this release the listener will grow to appreciate what Faber Drive has done on their sophomore outing. A lot goes into writing a song and to get a really good batch of material for an album is one of the toughest challenges for a band yet if they show a little grit and determination the end product will most likely result in a very satisfying listening experience.
The Bad
Dance and Techno influences + power pop and modern melodic rock doesn’t really make for good bedfellows. While I question such a decision to incorporate those genres into a group who was heavily influenced by U2, Def Leppard, Stryper, and Winger I don’t condone the guys for trying to change it up and swing for the fences. Would this album be better off with those songs being completely left off the finished product? I can’t really say I mean this is Faber Drive branching out and trying to make a natural attempt to do something different so if a balance can be reached the next time around that doesn’t drastically take the band into a completely different genre (ala Bon Jovi and Lost Highway) then Faber Drive will really come into their own.
Best Tracks:
Rockers: Our Last Goodbye, Lucky Ones, Never Coming Down
Ballads: You and I Tonight, By Your Side, I’ll Be There
Passion Pit “Manners” Review
Even if the rock kids aren’t doing the standing still as much these days, indie-friendly electro-pop bands are still liable to have their own backs against the wall– Hot Chip with their Urkel affectations, Junior Boys’ overriding permafrost, Cut Copy and their unflappable cool. Despite residing on the always trustworthy Frenchkiss, Passion Pit aren’t cool. Their approach to danceable rock music is more Friday night than year-end-list. It’s also distinctly, for a lack of a better term, American. It’s extroverted, brash, and unconcerned with nuance, each synthesizer used for maximum melodic impact instead of texture. Most of the time, singer Michael Angelakos’ half-eunuch/half-Jeremy Enigk voice is likely voicing some sort of commentary on his feelings. There’s an almost archaic belief that a record should have at least four singles and the nagging feeling that Passion Pit could just be another garage/emo band that traded in their guitars for samplers. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, just about all of this works in Manners’ favor, as it’s the sort of heart-to-heart populist record that’s every bit as sincere as it is infectious– though Angelakos sings in a manner rarely heard outside of a shower with unpredictable temperature control, it feels symbolic of a band that’s completely unashamed, not shameless, in its pursuit of a human connection.
It’s easy to be skeptical. I understand. Passion Pit are, after all, following a buzzed-about EP, Chunk of Change, that attracted detractors and admirers in equal measure. The story of Manners, however, is how Passion Pit evolve from a one-man pet project to a fully fleshed concern that gives substance to Angelakos’ melodic sensibilities over the course of more focused song lengths, more dynamic arrangements, and 40 minutes of joy-buzzer pushing.
Chunk of Change certainly had its rickety charms, but while “Make Light”, “Moth’s Wings”, and “Eyes as Candles” retain the EP’s building blocks– glycemic keyboards, insistent major keys, and falsetto– their compositional aspects go beyond what Passion Pit were capable of as a solo affair. “Make Light”, despite working patiently towards a satisfying hook, would’ve likely plateaued during its midsection, but Nate Donmoyer’s live drums keep it skidding perilously towards an organic collapse Chunk of Change never allowed. The elegiac tempos of “Moth’s Wings” and “Eyes as Candles” veer closer to first-kiss soundtracking than even Chunk’s mushier moments, but they’re rendered fleshy with slowly blossoming arrangements of church choirs, saxophones, and a winding synth lead on the latter that catches you off-guard with its similarity to “Walk of Life”.
Barely past drinking age, Passion Pit are obviously overjoyed with the studio as romper room, but the toy that has gotten the most attention is the kiddie choir that pops up on two of the first four songs. Call them behind-the-curve as they double up the “higher and higher” part of the chorus from “Little Secrets” (that’s the one that sounds like “D.A.N.C.E.”, Jarvis), but it’s more over-the-top, and that’s kind of the point– in a weird way, it’s heartening how little Passion Pit concerns themselves with decorum or trend-watching in the search of an irresistible hook. Manners does go for the quick knockout, pulling a similar trick five minutes later on the Hissing Fauna branch-off “The Reeling”, and while Side B tends to delay gratification, Manners is deceptively consistent even beyond its singles– if you like one Passion Pit song, you’ll probably like them all. Or you might not like any at all– though “Sleepyhead” has proven to be something of the consensus, its real-time chipmunk soul ambitions fitting in better on Manners than it did tacked as a transitional track at the end of Chunk of Change.
But as “Let Your Love Grow Tall” ushers in last call with a big ol’ group hug, I realize how it puts me in a difficult position as a music critic: what happens when you’re scrambling to think of why a record is worth hearing and you keep coming back to “it makes me happy”? Too often, we use a band’s debut simply to conjure comparisons to other bands, but Manners is every bit as likely to bring to mind a successful night out with friends, or the party where you finally got to talk to that person you’ve been eying all semester. The video for “The Reeling” certainly helps with that visualization, but in a manner similar to layers of faux-flesh being peeled off Angelakos’ face, the cracked-up lyrics themselves ache for some sort of connection after realizing the futility of physical and emotional bunkers. It’s a fitting contrast for a record that’s certainly not the most innovative or cred-boosting you’ll hear this year, but quite possibly the one that most demands to be socialized with and is just so easy to love back.
Corinne Bailey Rae – The Sea (Review)
When Corinne Bailey Rae crossed the Atlantic in 2006 following one of the last blitzkreig major label promotions, she arrived to a very welcoming US audience. Already a hit in the UK for her languid pop/folk sound, she was the perfect new star for 20- and 30-something year old women silently protesting that they were too young or too urban to be into Norah Jones. And with her bouncy first single, “Put Your Records On,” she gave her audience an easy-to-swallow, ersatz visit back to the pop music of their teen years. It and the accompanying album were smashes, with the latter staying in the top twenty for nearly a year.
But while her self titled debut album certainly hit its commercial mark, once all the hype was stripped away it was clear that the disc — though it had its moments — was musically rather lightweight, with one wispy acoustic ballad blurring into another. So the big question was whether Rae could use her auspicous entrance as the stepping stone to something bigger and more ambitious, or whether she would go all Jack Johnson and ride her mellow folkie sounds for the next decade, pandering to an increasingly niche middle-aged female audience.
Sadly, tragedy struck in 2008 and changed Rae’s world and musical outlook. The sudden death of her husband, Jason Rae (believed to be an accidental drug overdose), turned her life upside down and shaped her in-process sophomore album, the newly released The Sea.
Jason Rae’s shadow is all over the disc lyrically, from the opening track, “Are You Still Here?”, to the haunting closing title track: “The sea, the majestic sea, breaks everything, crushes everything, cleans everything, takes everything from me.” The listener literally aches for Rae’s loss, even when the lyrics are too personal or opaque to fully understand. But while The Sea spends substantial time on the subjects of love and loss, Rae does not allow it to wallow in gloominess for too long. After starting with a handful of the kind of acoustic snoozers that bogged down her debut, she kicks into a new gear on “The Blackest Lily,” a strong, bass-heavy rocker, and follows it with the uncharacteristically sexy, engaging R&B number, “Closer” (arguably the album’s high point). Rae picks up the pace again later with “Paris Nights/New York Mornings,” a laconic Steely Dan cum Doobie Brothers upbeat track, and the organ-drenched 60s-style rock song, “Paper Dolls.” The change of pace lifts the album when it needs it and provides a necessary contrast to Rae’s more lugubrious slow numbers. And even though she is not a classic soul or pop vocalist, on these cuts she shows she is an effective song stylist, able to move beyond the Janis Ian-like, overwrought earnestness that threatened to hijack her first disc.
I don’t know if there is a radio hit on The Sea, but those who enjoyed Corinne Bailey Rae’s debut album will find a lot more to like this time around — The Sea is, quite simply, a huge step forward. Rae likely received too much hype when she first broke out four years ago, but on this musically superior album she shows the kind of artistic growth and increased risk-taking that convinces me she is an singer/songwriter who hasn’t yet peaked, and makes me excited to hear where she can yet go. Recommended.
Howling Bells – Radio Wars – Review
Juanita Stein and her trio of impossibly beautiful bandmates return with an album so formless it’s barely recognisable as the product of one of the decade’s most promising debutante bands.
Sydney’s Howling Bells were one of the underrated treasures of 2006. Their self-titled debut album of haunting waltzes, country balladry, epic ambience and all-out indie rock was drowned in the swamp of bands emerging in the wake of Arctic Monkey mania, despite extensive touring with the likes of The Killers and Placebo. Their failure to gain notoriety thankfully prevented the possibility of being forgotten in the midst of that swamp, as was the case with so many of the new acts that year, and this second outing can be looked upon as their second chance at making a first impression.
Despite uprooting from their homeland and firmly ensconcing themselves in London life, Howling Bells’ first record evoked Australia both in its sound and its imagery. It was a collection of tracks individual from each other and strong both standing alone and in amalgamation. Unfortunately, Radio Wars is the antithesis.
Much of the material here is so directionless it’s simply bland. Opener Treasure Hunt has the same echoes of shoegaze that helped to make the debut so enchanting, but lacks any semblance of a tune. It Ain’t You and Let’s Be Kids drudge and drag through their 3 minute durations, seeming twice as long and thrice as laborious.
Ms Bell’s Song brightens the outlook, albeit only slightly, with cute xylophone and a psychedelic run-on named Radio Wars Theme, inspired by an oddly behaving radio which went on to provide the album with its motif and its moniker.
Singles Into The Chaos and Cities Burning Down are the better tracks, but tellingly would have been the weakest if included on the debut’s playlist. It seems the quartet’s decision to produce this album ‘democratically’ – each member writing their contribution separately – has resulted in an ill-fitting and impotent collection. The second chance may well have been squandered.
Eels – End Times Review
Recently divorced and having taken a substantial break from the studio, Mr. E and his talented backing band’s latest offering End Times is a glance into the soul of a singer going through emotional turmoil. Eels could never be accused of being overly chirpy, but in End Times they dive headlong into heartfelt agony, exploring the loathing and self-doubt that comes with the end of a relationship, whilst still – somehow – managing to lay a soulful, bluesy piano sound over it all.
It’s been four years since Mr. E and Co last graced us with an album, and all the emotion of the between times has been rammed into tracks like delicate opener ‘The Beginning’, a sentimental return to when the singer’s love life was all simple and happy. ‘The Beginning’ is a depressing and fragile dive into a world of loved-up depression, and a taste of things to come, but it’s the personal touches that have End Times imagery sticking in the mind. In ‘A Line In The Dirt’, Mr. E opens with ‘she’s locked herself in the bathroom again, so I’m pissing in the yard’, while in the spoken word ‘Apple Trees’ he laments ‘I was looking at these rows and rows of trees all along the highway. I picked one tree a few rows back, just one in a billion. And that’s how I felt’.
Melancholy and slow-paced, with all the sentimentality of a Disney movie (if Mr. E’s ex-wife was to listen to this she’d probably think seriously about coming back), End Times doesn’t deny the reality of a relationship, and is all the better for it. By the time you’ve come through the album’s pointed stages of grief – anger, denial, depression and acceptance are all here in one way or another – you feel cleansed. Inundated with household sound effects, spoken word and gentile, snails-pace tracks, rarely has a break up album been so easy to relate to.
OK Go – ‘Blue Colour of the Sky’ Review
OK Go have been scratching at the walls of stardom for the better part of a decade. The band’s welcoming brand of power pop ought to have seen them join Weezer, Teenage Fanclub and The Postal Service in blaring out across college campuses the world over. But despite building up a solid fanbase in the US and Europe since the 2002 release of debut single Get Over It, OK Go have remained an unusual pop proposition – a band with a mainstream sound, but without a mainstream audience.
This might be partly explained by the phenomenal success of OK Go’s music videos, the choreographed, treadmill-hopping ingenuity of which have made them an online sensation. But while the videos (along with an eye-catching performance at the 2006 MTV VMAs) have raised the band’s profile, they may have also resulted in the band being recognised more as a YouTube sensation than a proper musical outfit.
OK Go’s third album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, is a determined attempt to create a collection of tracks as catchy and memorable as those music videos. The band’s lack of a defining musical style has proven an advantage here, as frontman Damian Kulash and co. were clearly able to explore their boundaries, unconfined by audience expectations.
And explore they do. From the 80s synth-balladry of End Love, which could almost have been recorded by Rick Astley (in a good way, somehow), to Skyscrapers’ weary blues-funk, in which Kulash’s gravelly falsetto finds a cosy space between Prince and Black Francis, OK Go are shooting from the hip here. Luckily, the band hit their marks in most cases, and the tracks are united by an eminent danceability and Dave Fridmann’s expansive production.
Surprisingly, there aren’t as many huge choruses here as one might expect from a band as inclusive as OK Go. But, truth be told, there are probably enough huge choruses in the world, and this dancefloor-baiting synth-funk sound seems like a more exciting direction for the band. One gets the feeling that, while this probably won’t be remembered as OK Go’s masterpiece, it might be fondly recalled as the moment the band stopped chasing the power pop dream in favour of unlocking their own brand of pop power.
Lostprophets – ‘The Betrayed’
So, 2010. No hover-boards, robots or flying cars yet, but look a little closer, and I’ll bet you find all that good stuff we’re getting used to is evolving and improving rapidly. Mobile phones, computers, internet… and Lostprophets. January 18th 2010 brings the release of their 4th studio album, ‘The Betrayed’.
Consisting of 11 brand new tracks, front man Ian Watkins calls the album “by far the finest, darkest and most real album” they have created to date. It’s a fast-paced, energetic bundle of raw aggressive rock music, and it works. It’s had long enough to come together, mind you. Having started writing and recording the album with producer John Feldman back in 2007, the band scrapped their efforts and reworked the album themselves in the studio. “We were just being taken in a completely different direction and became somewhat lost”, said Watkins during the Q&A session that followed the pre-release album playback in central London.
‘The Betrayed’ begins with an epic, drum-driven intro that has a somewhat cinematic feel to it, a recurring theme of the album as the tracks flow seamlessly together. These interludes really do encourage a start-to-finish listen of the album, and each song is distinctive enough to make the listen entirely enjoyable.
It’s obviously an album to be enjoyed live too. The first single form the album ‘It’s Not The End of the World But I Can See It From Here’ is crammed full of ‘Woah’s’ and various group vocals, and the anthemic choruses of ‘Where We Belong’ and ‘A Better Nothing’ will almost certainly be crowd-favourites. A perfect climax is achieved in the album’s final, and most dynamic track ‘The Light That Burns Twice As Bright’. It’s intelligent and intriguing, holding out on the climax for far longer than you expect.
The album marches through catchy, dancy hooks mixed with full on hard rock, a difficult art to master, as proved by many a failed pop/rock band currently struggling in the UK scene. There’s even the odd ballad adding favourably to the album’s diversity. Despite the pop edge, this album has a certain brutality that wasn’t as present in the band’s previous work. It’s angry and bitter, while somehow remaining uplifting. Watkins obviously felt comfortable self-producing the album. ‘Because we didn’t have a producer I could say what I wanted to say’. And that he did. At the top of his lungs.
‘The Betrayed’ is a massively encouraging example of a band that has progressed and evolved, without ever losing the spark that makes them who they are. This album is distinctly Lostprophets, and distinctly good. “Writing a song is about not being ashamed of where you’re from, and drawing from that.” Watkins muses after being asked about the band’s writing process. They’ve come pretty far from playing the clubs and bars of Pontypridd, and ‘The Betrayed’ looks set to catapult them even further in 2010.
Review: Train – “Save Me, San Francisco”
Honestly, I have been getting pretty weary of Train. A huge fan of their first couple records, I found their subsequent ones to be hit and miss. Their last one, 2006’s “For Me, It’s You”, was a real snoozefest – more fun could be had watching CSPAN. Making matters even worse, in 2007 lead singer Pat Monahan put out a steaming pile with his solo effort, “Last of Seven” (reviewed here). After that, I reached the conclusion that Train was at the caboose of their career.
I was in no rush to hear their fifth album, “Save Me, San Francisco”, especially after hearing the rather silly and annoying first single, “Hey Soul Sister”. But after a few more tracks in the album really picks up, sending you back in time to their early days. Train has finally stopped taking themselves so seriously and simply recorded a fun roots-rock record – their specialty, and what most fans fell in love with in the beginning. Additionally, Pat Monahan sounds fantastic on this record – he seems re-energized and has written melodies that allow him to showcase how great of a vocal talent he really is.
Train are full steam ahead on this one from the get-go…the record is short and sweet, but most of the songs are bright and playful, free of the over-production that dragged down their last couple of records. Fans of the first two albums are going to appreciate “Save Me, San Francisco” the most. Catchy songs abound, but the highlights include “Parachute”, “You Already Know”, and “Brick By Brick”.
With “Save Me, San Francisco”, Train is finally ‘back on track’: it is easily their best release since their masterpiece, “Drops of Jupiter”.
