Be Still And Know… Hymns And Faith – Amy Grant – If you’re in the market for Christian music, Amy Grant has returned from the secular… husband Vince Gill adds his voice to “Rock Of Ages”… need I say more? – B+
Dark Place – Jessie Baylin – Blue hued singer songwriter stuff, she has a good voice but her material isn’t good enough – C
Constant Bop – Bop English – First rate rock popper from the White Denim leader, a sweet surprise and I hope it gets the attention it deserves, very melodic, very well played and it does indeed bop along very well – B+
Southern Gravity – Kristian Bush – Half of Sugarland, the half that wrote the songs apparently. The embodiment of country bland but it is sincere, professional and catchy. Maybe it has a soul, it is kinda hard to tell. No worse than the new Darius Rucker, if that helps – B-
Edge Of The Sun – Calexico – Pretty Tex-Mex, though sometimes Tex and other times Mex – B
The Damnwells – The Damnwells – If you can get past the band opening for the Fray as a main claim to fame, what will you make of the mainstream rockers songs? You’ll admit “Money And Shiny Things” isn’t as bad as you’d assumed it would be and then lose interest – C
Second Hand Heart – Dwight Yoakam – Hip honky tonk lives on, and this is better than the 2012 album 3 Pears, which was pretty good itself. In full voice, Dwight dials back the years with a collection of country rockers from left of Bakersfield… “Dreams Of Clay” sounds suspiciously like “Suspicious Minds” (just sayin) – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
Into The Wildlife – Halestorm – Dreadful mainstream rock – C-
Spotify Sessions – Laura Marling – From London, six songs, all new, all live, sounds great to these ears – A-
Love Somebody – Reba McEntire – White MOR soul, for folks who still need to hear their story. But the songs aren’t there, though the singing and the heart is – C+
Handwritten – Shawn Mendes – Sixteen year old youtube sensation is opening for Swift on her tour and this album, of singer songwriter teen angst proves he may have more than “Life Of The Party” in him. A shame about the whistling – C
Kids In Love – The Mowglis – Ho hum alt poppers, feels a little obnoxious before you’re three songs in – C
Make Some Room EP – The Suffers – Like the Alabama Shakes with a taste for jazz – B-
Suuns And Jerusalem In My Heart – Suuns And Jerusalem In My Heart – not bad instrumentals by two noise merchants with enough rock and roll in their armor to immerse themselves in riffs – C+
Crown – The-Dream – In the wilderness since 2011, this EP shows The-Dream back with his powers still intact. An excellent six songs of r&b and soul headed by his best song since “1+1”, “Prime”. If The-Dream is a natural born behind the scenes guy who can’t seem to sell himself as a leading man, he still has the songs of a major modern songwriter and a natural born behinds the scenes guy – A-
Cherry Bomb – Tyler, The Creator – A long way from Goblin, but whereas Goblin was a snapshot of a teen from the projects of LA, and Wolf was a portrait of the artist as an up and coming rap star with daddy issues, Cherry Bomb is mainstream rap with experiments and big rap songs like “Pilot”, and an eye on the charts. Plus featured performers. Big ones – B+
Unity: The Latin Tribute To Michael Jackson – Various Artists – In the market for Tito Puentes covering “I Want You Back” or India’s “Earth Song”? Of course you are – B+
Darling Arithmetic – Villagers – Hip new folk guy, opened for Laura Marling recently, lo fi and lovely… but a little boring – B-
Glitterbug – The Wombats – Once the wittiest purveyors of romcoms as rock songs in the land (the land being England), they kinda blew it over the years. So happily, this is a strong, steadfast collections of not as witty romcoms – B
