3.0 – Marc Anthony – He has never sounded this good and after ten years of lousy marriages and crappy pop slop, this Salsa album is just about perfection. The mood is a subdued adult Latin American soulfulness to match the rugged black and white album cover, the beats are tom tom paddicakes and when he moves to salsa swing on “Volver A Comenzar”, it is a hip swirl of delight. Terrific album – A
Rich Gang – Rich Gang – Members of the Young and Cash Money, Kweezy, Nicki, Rick Ross, Birdman, you know, the usual, and they all bring their C game for this resolutely lousy bunch of nothing much rap music. Usually they salt the mines – C
Emo Fascism – Kevin Mathews – Former leader of the Watchmen, a pop rock band from Singapore, has released a singer songwriter album of love lost and found and dwindling about as good as you will hear by any one this week. 10 songs and all lovely, tasteful, well written and melodic. It is hard to find a flaw in it, no, wait, his voice could be stronger – A
Body Music – Alunageorge – English EDM duo with an Aluna who has a lovely English accent and a George who can program a drum machine, the songs are catchy and melodic and the lyrics know their way round a metaphore – A-
Outra Vez – Segio Medes – The title track is composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim and based solely upon that piece of information you should be able to decide whether this piece of soft sell Bossa Nova is for you – B
Zero (Standard Version) – Hawthorne Heights – Emo rockers write a dystopian rock opera in the great rock and roll tradition. The emo parts, “Hollow Hearts Unite” is qute lovely, the rockers much less so – C+
Bakersfield – Vince Guy and Paul Franklin – The Bakersfield sound from the 1960s revisited with a couple of obscurities thrown in and guitar instrumentals a-plenty – B+
Neon – Jay Sean – UK neo-soul pop boy could do with a better voice but if the soulful numbers are a little weak on the bottom, the poppier numbers, “The Luckiest Man In The World” for instance, will get the girls bopping – B
Rhythm & Blues – Buddy Guy – I wish I could do this at 77 years of age, I wish I could do this at any age, But been there and done that on another iffy blues album plus whatever guest stars – C+
Nothing To Lose – Emblem3 – US X Factor winners arrive with a debut album of power pop rappers like they were a midern day LFO or something – B
In A World Like This – Backstreet Boys – All grown up and an adult pop band like a modern day Take That – C
The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell – Five Finger Death Punch – Bowels of hell singer and hard throbbing straight up no chaser metalcore all performed near peal energy levels. Sure the songs aren’t there but when have they ever been? – B