American Kid – Patty Griffin – Modern American, all twang and deep lovely vocals with mostly semi-memorable vocals and occasionally a little more. Imagine a cosmopolitan Iris Dement without the twang and with Robert Palmer on one song. However, it gets boring long before the half way mark – B-
Unstoppable Momentum – Joe Satriani -Modern classical, one of the great guitarists shows off his chops on one melodic electric instrumental after another, and then on the grand finale brings a youthful fizziness to “A Celebration”/ Same as it ever was true, but same as it ever was – B+
The Greatest Generation – The Wonder Years – No, it isn’t The Upsides, and yes, the pop punkers are too clever for their own good too much of the time but Magpie faves are intoxicated by their own verbosity and if they wrote melodies as smart as they wrote riffs and drum licks they’d be major – B
Modern Vampires Of The City – The tick tock you hear is the third album blues and the Ya Hey is Yahweh calling the boys home and if the, as always, over arranged songs aren’t as joyful as they once were, the band are now grown ups – A-
Under The Influence – Straight No Chaser – You saw “Pitch Perfect” right? This is the boy a capella band in the real world, form at Indiana University in the 1990s. From classic to modern rock, all of it is good and “Some Nights/When We Were Young” is great – B+
Demi – Demi Lovato – Dealing with weight and self esteem issues in public might make you a role model but doesn’t make this obvious product any better. Cher Lloyd improves the entire enterprise on one of precisely two keepers – C
How Mercy Looks From Here – Amy Grant – Hookers and born agains become respectable the older they get. Which explains what Carole King and James Taylor are doing here but not what you and I are doing here – D+
Dreamchaser – Sarah Brightman – Lloyd Webber former muse and superb singer is a straight drag excpt her take on McCartney’s “Venus And Mars” which is, simply, hysterical. It is one thing for Paul to take it seriously, but why would Sarah? – C-
Never Regret – Greg Campbell – Nice deep voice, brace of smnart country rock songs. What’s not to like? – B
Love Is Everything – George Strait – George and son Bubba are down from 7 to 4 songs they wrote themselves here, but if you can get over that this is another superb album. Nothing stretches here, everything is part of the same world as it has been all century, with Tony Brown co-producing and a mix of hardcore troubadour ballads and swinging country hootenannys. It is so effortless it is easy to take for granted, so don’t take the great man for granted – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A
Behind Closed Doors – The Rarities – The Doors – Outtakes from the studio circa 1969., live recordings, Skrillex and the Crystal Method provide remixes. What, you are not in the market for seven versions of “Roadhouse Blues”…? Gonna have a real good time if you are – B+