This Song’s For You – Ronald Isley – Has it really been ten years since the Meets Bacharach album? What that album proved is Isley has a terrific set of pipes and is a real soul man with a sweet tenor. But he also is a victim of his material and here is more of the same. With up to the minute production and arrangements, and an appearance be one Trey Songz on the generic come on “Lay You Down”, he is still plagued by bad material – B
Lickety Split – Robert Randolph And The Family – Sure Randolph plays a mean pedal steel, nobody better. And absolutely, carlos Santana and the Family rip it up on “Brand New Mayo”… it might be worth the price of admission and is definitely worth streaming. But what then? Then not a damn thging, this material sucks – C
The Blessed Unrest – Sara Bareilles – As chick singer songwriters go, she isn’t bad. “Little Black Dress” and a couple of others aren’t morose downer suckers, though the rest of them are and as chick singer songwriters go, she is still a chick singer songwriter – C
Surfer’s Paradise – Cody – Influenced by elder statesmen like, ugh, Jason Mraz if you come to this Australian teen with a closed mind you won’t like him. If you come to him with an open mind you won’t like him much either – D
Are We There Yet? – The Verve Pipe – Quite why they remade themselves as a much much better Wiggles I don’t know, but better this than second rate grunge – B-
Teen Beach Artists – Various Artists – The soundtrack to a Disney TV movie in the spirit of “High School Music” this is precisely what manufactured pop rock sounds like: a twee, factory line eagerness. – C-
Trials & Tribulations – Ace Hood – Flo’s very own hood name checks Trayvon on “Another Statistic” before delving into the usual cut and parry Rick Ross, Chris Brown, Weezy and more come add to add some raps to a slightly above average gangsta rap. “Bugatti” is alright – B-
Where Does The Door Go – Mayer Hawthorne – Blue eyed soul by one man band, sweet sounding, and he kills it live, but the album is a snooze that could have done with some editing at 16 tracks, which all have the same mid tempo Atlantic shuffle – B
Kidz Bop 24 – Kidz Bop – This is a better than average one, with terrific versions of “Mirrors” (at a fast paced four minutes) and a very direct “Thrift Shop” leading the way – B
Last Of The Great Pretenders – Matt Nathanson – More singer songwriters, this time male division. A couple of pleasant songs but the quality is very slack – C
Connect – Sick Puppies – These Aussies were pretty good in the late 1990s, but now sound like every mainstream rock band out there – D+