Music reviews! You want ’em? We got em. Here’s a fine variety of critics’ thoughts on some of the latest releases from around the web.
Bullz-Eye’s Jim Washington gives his well-written report on Snoop Dogg’s latest Ego Trippin’. Sez Jim, “At first listen, Snoop’s latest album seems to fall into a pattern arguably going back to his first solo disc – a couple of killer singles surrounded by a lot of filler – but the more you listen, the more the filler grows on you, and the singles reveal themselves as some of his most entertaining work in years.”
Gnarls Barkley surprises everyone by releasing their latest earlier than expected. Jeff Giles writes up The Odd Couple, noting that “nothing on The Odd Couple offers as much in the way of immediate gratification as St. Elsewhere’s breakout hit, “Crazy”; though Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo still sound just as disconnected from current trends as they always have.”
“If you’ve been with PUSA from the beginning, you’ll surely enjoy this one.” So says I in regards to the latest from The Presidents of the United States of America and their great new CD, These Are the Good Times People.
The B-52’s are back…again. For good or bad, David Medsker states what many may have predicted about their new album Funplex: “Funplex is more traditional B-52s, for lack of a better word, with a surprisingly strong libido. It is neither their best nor their worst album, but it rights the band’s ship better than anyone had a right to expect.”
Over at Billboard, critic Kerri Mason tackles Junkie XL’s latest Booming Back at You. “Booming still sounds like music to machine-gun an alien attacker by, but with the subcultural electricity of a guy who’s played a packed Los Angeles nightclub or two, in the current, rock-happy decade,” quoth Mason.
Rolling Stone’s always enjoyable critic David Fricke gives a higher than average review for R.E.M.’s new album Accelerate, saying “[Michael] Stipe has not sounded this viscerally engaged in his singing and poetically lethal in his writing since the twilight of the Reagan administration.”
Ben Sisario of Blender covers The Kills’ new Midnight Boom and isn’t exactly bowled over. “‘Getting Down’ is a dizzy, horny dance; the lyrics are faux-menacing boho nonsense, but if you turn it up loud enough it won’t matter.”
Finally, Ink 19‘s Jeff Montgomery takes a listen to the new reissue of Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey’s Mavericks: Calling Mavericks ‘precious’—in the best sense of the word—is a pretty accurate summation. The album showcases more of the acoustic ’60s folksy pop influences of the two songwriters and even throws in a cover tune that was originally recorded by the Byrds.”
