»Album Reviews For Release Date: 11.16.10
by Joshua Krage

Kids, it’s winding down. Get ready for turkey and eggnog and for your retail marathons to begin. Here’s a small list of what’s big this week to keep the musical gears turning:

Bryan Adams
Bee Gees – anthology, live DVD
Bizzy Bone
Lee DeWyze
Jackie Evancho – Xmas
Nelly Furtado – best of

Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, Ragged but Right – together with the long out-of-print gem Almost Acoustic, this constitutes a big score for the Deadhead on your shopping list. A large assemblage of tunes from the acoustic band Uncle Jerry rounded up after recovering from a coma in the late ’80s. Great time capsule and amazing acoustic performances from a man and a band that knew how to inhabit a song (their own or someone else’s) fully and magically. Little piece of nostalgia that will give you new ideas for your arrangements.

Josh Groban
Halestorm – live
Heaven and Hell
Jimi Hendrix – anthology, reissues
Billy Joel – best of

Norah Jones, …Featuring Norah Jones – a collection of many of the songs on which Ms. Jones has guested since her debut almost a decade ago. Granted, most guest spots are contrived affairs for up-and-comers to give them false credibility and boost sales. Not so for Norah Jones– every track here is gold, and what’s amazing is the range of styles on which she croons, from standards to country to avant-jazz to hip-hop to electronica, gliding in and out with her sultry smolder as effortlessly as if she were folding a napkin. This collection sounds a bit timeless since it could have been a label-calculated “superstar duets” album and still come out well, but the fact that all of these came from separate artists and bodies of work over the last eight years makes it more remarkable that they all turned out so amazingly and so consistent. This isn’t even all of them. Check out the nugget called “Angels” by a band called Wax Poetic, or check her spot on Mike Patton’s “Peeping Tom” project for some more interesting guest work.

Kid Rock
Annie Lennox – Xmas
Motorhead – reissues
Nelly

OST – 30 Rock – a double-disc set, splitting the difference between the amazingly clever offerings performed during episodes by the show cast and the perfectly-suited original scores and segues by composer Jeff Richmond. Every bit as good as the show in its own right and a hilarious place-marker for you fans.

OST – Glee – Xmas
OST – Tangled
P!nk – Greatest Hits

Pink Martini, Joy to the World – when it’s a Pink Martini Christmas album, expect something different and delightful. Some great originals penned by the eclectic genre collage collective themselves nestle perfectly among their ace arrangements of both classic and obscure (and even international!) holiday fare here.

Rascal Flatts
Rihanna
Smokey Robinson

Bruce Springsteen, The Promise – think of this as the original sequel to the iconic Born To Run album that would have been released immediately if not for major record label woes (he hadn’t paid the cost to be the Boss yet back then). So, chronologically, it hits between that work and Darkness On the Edge of Town, and is much louder and more epic than that album. I think his career still turned out pretty well in spite of it, but if you’re looking for a really good Springsteen album that you’ve never heard, after some long decades this one’s finally ready to go. Bonus Note: Catch him tonight (Tuesday) on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon; it’s a whole hour of the Boss, which is a win for everyone.

Keith Urban
Velvet Revolver – live DVD
Dwight Yoakam
Zappa – live DVD

I guess it’s time to get working on the all-important year end “Best Of” list, huh? Guess I’ll start doing that. Meanwhile, I’ll be back next week with some worth-it Christmas and holiday music wrap-ups for anyone interested.

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To view past reviews, visit our archives.

»Album Reviews For Release Date: 10.27.09
by Joshua Krage

It’s time for candy and costumes, but the only thing scary about this week’s new music is how good some of these albums are, and I’m not saying that for the (candy-)corny joke’s sake. That new Swell Season album is jaw-dropping, the new Tegan and Sara redeems their previous album for me, and we’re even getting some tejano versions of Disney songs that aren’t half bad. Plus, there’s an album from the chick who was backing Michael Jackson on guitar as he was gearing up for his concerts. Yes — scary good. See for yourself:

3
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
Atreyu

Awesome New Republic, Hearts – a dance-tastic indie duo (+touring drummer) that hits me like a hip update of Erasure. Lots of disco synth-pop with solid backbeat and outrageously good vocals that hold up just as well when the tempo slows down.

Devendra Banhart
Bassnectar
Between the Buried and Me
Birdman

Blind Boys of Alabama, Duets – just what it says, and the duets are with a roster including Ben Harper, Jars of Clay, Susan Tedeschi, Toots Hibbert, Asleep At the Wheel, John Hammond, and even Lou Reed. I suspect this is mostly just older recordings, but some of these are new to my ears and they’re all pretty good, in the suped-up contemporary style the Blind Boys have been sporting for the better part of this decade.

The Bravery
Broadcast & the Focus Group
James Brown live
Creed – yes, THAT Creed, with the original lineup
A Day to Remember
Florence and the Machine
Former Ghosts
Garage a Trois
Glass Ghost
Glasses Malone
Gov’t Mule

Gregorian, Christmas Chants – it’s a German modern rock band with gregorian monk singers, curbing their normal rock/pop leanings in the holiday spirit for some traditional Christmas classics, but with their contemporary styling thrown in for good measure.

Euge Groove
Halford
Hem
Hollywood Undead
Hot Chellie Rae
Jack Johnson live CD/DVD
Kid Sister
The Longcut

Los Lobos, Goes Disney – if you couldn’t guess from the title, this seriously is Los Lobos playing Los Lobos versions of classic Disney songs (i.e. rocking them out tex-mex style).

Yo-yo Ma box set
Brian McKnight
Morningwood
The Mother Hips
Joe Nichols
John Nolan

Orianthi, Believe – everyone would’ve been talking about this golden-locked guitarist if Michael Jackson’s concerts had gone off as planned, and the “This Is It” film should get some buzz going just the same. She’s basically a modern-day Jennifer Batten (MJ’s Thriller-era guitarist) out of Australia, and she’s already taken the stage with Steve Vai, among other six-string noteworthies. She does sing fairly decently, but it’s the instrument in her hands which sets fire to these songs.

Pelican

Pink Martini, Splendor In the Grass – one of the most versatile overall bands in the non-traditional pop world, seamlessly incorporating jazz, swing, and world styles into a thoroughly enjoyable multi-lingual hybrid of intoxicating classic dance music. China Forbes’ sultry singing is but one of many highlights to be found…

Radio Disney
R.E.M. – Live at Olympia
Kenny Rogers
Carly Simon
Keely Smith Christmas
Stephen Stills live
Sting live CD/DVD
String Cheese Incident
Suffocation

The Swell Season, Strict Joy – Rest assured, this album is worth lots more words than I can give it. Glen Hansard is no stranger to making quality music, and his seasoned hand is well on display in the songcraft, the arrangements, and production (shared with Peter Katis, another expert hand) of this complete work. Marketa Irglova’s wistful voice and piano provide the perfect counterpoint to Hansard’s weary tenor and urgent guitar playing, and the competing ideas which kept occurring to me listening to these tracks are “filling in the corners” and “keep it simple.” There are expert touches in the album’s small spaces (a backing vocal here, a sustained string swell there), but never any overcrowding, each stroke masterfully applied. These are not simple pop songs, they are small journeys that alternate course, taking detours through a busy city or stopping on the roadside to admire the scenery — and that’s just the music. Hansard and Irglova’s shared songs put the album’s title to the test, veering from quiet celebration to winsome pleading to wide-eyed, regretful wonder. Indeed, when Hansard sings “I’m stuck here killing myself” in standout “The Verb,” you’d be hard-pressed to tell whether it’s from despair or wry-smiled self-deprecation. This is a dynamite follow-up to their Oscar-winning debut, and if this is the direction they’re headed, we can expect even better…

TechN9ne

Tegan and Sara, Sainthood – for any of you uninitiated, these Canadian twins have more than just the nasally-sweet voice which dominated their last two albums, and if anyone enjoyed their first two LPs (This Business Of Art and If It Was You), you’ll be happy to hear their soulful, heavyweight rock voices making some appearances on this new LP. I personally felt a bit cheated by the brevity and scrappiness of the songs on their last album (though I shouldn’t — they called it The Con so it was right in the title), so I am happy to report this is a much meatier work: better songs, more musicianship, extra keyboard layers (the kind that made So Jealous so memorable), almost prog-level dynamics, and much bolder lead vocals from both of the Quin sisters. Last album had them composing separately (a mistake), and they began collaborating again on this one, which is evident in its significantly improved overall quality. A great return to form.

Tia Carrerra (the band, not the actress)
Train

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Night Castle – yes, a new one, and it’s a second non-Christmas entry into the prog/Broadway/rock ensembles catalog, so less holiday fare but still plenty of classical intertwines and underpinnings.

U2 – Unforgettable Fire 25th Anniversary

Wolfmother, Cosmic Egg – still calling them “Wolfmother” is a bit misleading, as it’s now just singer/guitarist/afro-helmet Andrew Stockdale and three brand new guys. However, Stockdale is the sound of this band with his classic-rock riffage and high-register vocal histrionics so proper album #2 is a faithful continuation of the chunky, riff-driven retro-metal style laid down so thickly by their (his) earlier releases. The music on the album is great and all, but I might buy it just for the cover alone.

This is a decent lead-up to the holiday season, so get’em while they’re hot. I’m about to burst with all the good music going into my ears from these last few weeks. I’m almost glad the flood will soon trickle down to a quiet stream… almost. Until next week, see you when I read you.

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To view past reviews, visit our archives.