Nostalgia – Annie Lennox – Yes, nostalgia, but not for the songs, for the great Eurythmics’ lead singer who has seldom sounded better than she does on “I Put A Spell On You” and whose “You Belong To Me” belongs in the same category as Patsy Clines or whose “Summertime” is a stirring soulful version of a song I’ve heard way too many times. Whether singing soul or jazz or Gospel, the voice is a magnificent thing and the arrangements do everything possible to highlight the voice – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
Aretha Sings The Great Divas – Aretha Franklin – Nobody doubts Aretha here, her singing on “At Last” is enough to keep you happy even with the production hi-jinx. The blame lies with Clive Davis who begs us to ask the question, why get Babyface involved if you want to fit Franklin for a contemporary audience? Didn’t his disastrous Toni Braxton collaboration teach you he has lost the touch? Some of this is inexcusable (come down “Nothing Compares to You”) and some of it is everything you hoped it would be, (“Rolling In The Deep” is sublime) but you wanna pin the tail on the donkey here? What the hell is that Supremes cover? – B
Happy Soup – Baxter Dury – He’s from Essex, in case you couldn’t tell. Ian’s kid sounds like his father with a little less dancehall (I mean UK vaudeville) and a touch of the Wreckless Eric. A surprisingly good album – B+
Islands – Bear’s Den – Indie folk UK style and no worse than any one else, if that helps – B-
I Forget Where We Were – Ben Howard – Dreary folk – C-
Kings & Queens Of The Underground – Billy Idol – the two songs about pills are okay, the these are people who died “Ghosts In My Guitar” is a horrorshow, and everything else straddles the two – C
Collide – Boys II Men – The vocal heavy lifting harmonies haven’t lost much and the songs are about as good as they ever are – C+
Burnt Offering – The Budos band – Instrumental jam band with soul, funk and jazz beats – C+
Man On The Run – Bush – Poor ol’ house husband Gavin Rossdale can do no right yet again, the beat samples don’t help in the slightest – C-
Down By The Water – Greta Isaac – Surprisingly effective singer songwriter old school, acoustic guitar you know, four songs, all goodies, especially the title track – A-
Broken Ones EP – Jacqui Lee – “The Voice” runner up sucks – C-
Tough Love – Jesse Ware – A very soulful voice, which she has been adding to big time EDM tracks for a coupla years now. This overlong album has some great singing, and some good songs, and some bad songs – B
Sound Of A Woman – Kieza – Sound of a drum machine, maybe it would click in time but who wants to find out? – C
Pain Killer – Little Big Town – I thought this might be major album after obsessing over “Quit Breaking Up With Me” for a week, and it is, a wide open, extremely smart collection of country songs the way they should be played, wait till you reach the “lalalaas” on the title track.Frankly, I’m in shock – A-
Melody Road – Neil Diamond – This isn’t Diamond’s roots, this is an album of “Crunchy Granola Suite” -maybe the next one he will find the middle ground – B
77 – Nude Beach – 18 songs in 63 minutes, so long without being lengthy. Jahn Xavier was raving about these guys when we caught em at 4 Knots this summer and this perfectly crafted power pop songs prove him right – A-
Irish Tour ’74 (Live 40th Anniversary -Rory Gallagher – I’m guessing the late guitarist is a far way from forgotten, a vicious and aggressive master of the slide who picked notes like a man on fire and so speedy where do the notes stop and the chords begin? – A-
Soused – Scott Walker and Sunn O))) – We knew this was gonna be an incredible sound, operatic over the top and beyond vocals over walls of drone guitars and synths and… whistling? – A-
For Madeleine – Seinabo Sey – A soul singer via Sweden with good good songs and a good good voice, not crazy about the EDM production – B
The Best Day – Thurston Moore – Just what we want, a quiet Sonic Youth – C+
Paperwork – T.I. – His best work in years and years, man since before he got out of jail, is the sound of modern r&b . Thank Pharrell and also thank T.I. – B+
Big Apple Blues – Tomas Doncker Group – I reviewed this the other day here, and maybe I didn’t make enough of the guitar but really it is a vocal force field more than anything else – A
Pour Another Round EP – Twang And Round – I know you are thinking “bro country” but no, these country drinking stuff are a uniquely and excellent country fun time EP – B+
:5 The Grey Chapter – Slipknot – Their first album since bassist Paul Gray’s death has one warning: “She’s sticking needles in her skin” sings Corey Taylor on this metal banger of sound fury and wild ambient. Depressing but in a cathartic way – B
Echo EP – Veritie -Pleasant enough indie pop – B-
Zella Day – Zella Day – A happier Lana Del Rey it says here, OK, I’ll buy in – B+
