Category: CD QuickTakes (Page 55 of 149)

Joss Stone: Colour Me Free

October 15, 2009 /


RIYL: Aretha Franklin, Christina Aguilera, Sly & the Family Stone

British soul singer Joss Stone’s fourth album finds her mining some familiar territory, but also stepping out with a variety of collaborations that touch on fresh ground. Opening track and lead single “Free Me” sets the tone with a feel-good, funky soul rock number that Stone does as well as anyone these days. Later tracks like “Incredible” and “You Got the Love” also mine upbeat funky grooves where Stone’s dynamic voice really shines. The sounds of the early ’70s are well represented on R&B lament “Could Have Been You” and “Parallel Lines,” which opens with some electric piano funk that recalls Stevie Wonder’s classic “Superstition.” No less than Jeff Beck adds tasty guitar fills while Sheila E. provides the backing vocals for one of the album’s best tracks.

“4 and 20” is a playful ballad not about the sweet leaf, but Stone’s desire for a man to prove his love 24 hours a day. Raphael Saadiq chips in vocals on “Big Ole Game,” a funky mid-tempo tune with a sexy vibe, while hip-hop ace Nas helps Stone out on “Governmentalist,” a socially conscious number with a dirty blues-funk sound that would fit right in on the “Dead Presidents” soundtrack. “Trying to find the truth behind the lies,” sings Stone, before Nas comes in to talk smack about cops, the FDA and others who try to keep the people down – “Governmentalists killed the Kennedies, I heard that Joss Stone got the remedy,” raps Nas. David Sanborn contributes some big sax lines to the old school Bo Diddley-type blues of “I Believe It to My Soul,” and Jamie Hartman trades vocals with Stone on moody ballad “Stalemate.”

Colour Me Free finds Stone, still just 22 years old, continuing to expand her sonic palette in a world that would seem to be her oyster. The fact that she’s also willing to take a deeper look at that world on a tune like “Governmentalist” shows that she’s got a lot more happening upstairs than most of her pop contemporaries as well. (EMI 2009)

Joss Stone MySpace page

Adult Contemporary, Artists, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Funk, Pop, R&B, Soul, Vocal

The Prairie Cartel: Where Did All My People Go

October 15, 2009 /


RIYL: The Klaxons, Simian Mobile Disco, The Black Ghosts

If the name Prairie Cartel sounds familiar to you then you’ve most likely played a lot of “Grand Theft Auto.” Their catchy dance-rock ode to murder, “Homicide,” is featured prominently in GTAIV and there’s even a radio station named after the group on the Nintendo DS GTA game “Chinatown Wars.” Obviously someone at Rockstar is a fan. Another odd piece of trivia behind the group is that they are fronted by Scott Lucas, the lone remaining original member of grunge stalwarts Local H. A surprising fact considering they sound nothing like Local H, and not just because they put just as much focus on synthesizers and drum machines as they do guitars. The Prairie Cartel is a sleazy band. Murder isn’t their only vice, it seems; sex, drugs (and by extension rock and roll) seem to be favorites as well, if tracks like “Suitcase Pimp,” in which Lucas inquires, “Do you like it when I lick it,” are any indication. Most of Where Did All My People Go is heavy on the electronic and less on the rock, and it suffers for it. The beats are bland, and when the lyrics aren’t hedonistic odes to drugs and boning, they’re pretty forgettable. When they plug in their guitars things are more memorable, with dance-friendly rock tunes like “Jump Like Chemicals” and “Ten Feet of Snow” easy standouts on the album. It’s an uneven album that has its merits, but if you’re a DJ at a strip club, you should really buy this. (Long Nights, Impossible Odds 2009)

Prairie Cartel MySpace Page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Electronica, Rock

Sam Bush: Circles Around Me

October 14, 2009 /


RIYL: Yonder Mountain String Band, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Nickel Creek

Sam Bush conveys the impression of an agreeable guy, a musician immersed in what he does. He boasts that same affinity for his fans that Jimmy Buffett displays in acting the role of cheerleader while readily encouraging unabashed celebration simply for celebration’s sake. But where Buffett’s built a reputation for being a party practitioner who induces his fans to wear silly hats and label themselves Parrot Heads, Bush invokes a merry mood simply by showing up, creating a communal Zen-like experience that takes its root in his music alone. Fans who flock to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival each year can attest to the joyful Bush bash that occurs every time he takes the stage, but for the uninitiated, his new LP, Circles Around Me, ought to suffice.

Bush helped invent the genre now known as “Nu-grass” while heading the New Grass Revival, and while he’s broadened his palette over the years, he’s also managed to maintain his populist appeal along the way. The title track opens the new disc with him marveling at the blessings generated by the kinship of his fan following, with Telluride accruing special mention. But then Bush gets down to business, tossing his limber fiddle and mandolin into the exhilarating frenzy of the album’s bluegrass banter. A trio of sure-footed instrumentals – “The Old North Woods,” “Blue Mountain” and “Junior Heywood” – provide the keynote offerings, but covers of Guy Clark’s mournful “The Ballad of Stringbean and Estelle” and a harmony-fueled “Roll on Buddy, Roll On” vary the template ever so slightly while adding a supple touch to the proceedings.

Truth be told, Bush’s main strength lies as an ensemble player and, in fact, aside from the fiddle workout “Apple Blossom,” Circles Around Me benefits tremendously from the collective input of Bush’s collaborators – Del McCoury, Edgar Meyer and Jerry Douglas included. Happily then, these circles remain unbroken. (Sugarhill 2009)

Sam Bush MySpace page

Americana, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Country, Folk, Instrumental

Air: Love 2

October 13, 2009 /


RIYL: Gary Wright, Tangerine Dream, Phoenix

The French electronic duo’s first album since 2007’s Pocket Symphony – and the first to be recorded in the band’s brand-new recording studio – Love 2 is a back-to-basics effort of sorts, dusting off several of the keyboards they used on their genre-busting 1998 album Moon Safari. But don’t think of Love 2 as a Moon Safari sequel; it shares a little bit of that album’s spacey loungey cool (hey, it’s Air, how can it not), but the goings here are much lighter and peppier. “Love” is the bounciest song the band’s done in years, and “Be a Bee” is a far better foray into rock than pretty much everything on 10,000 Hz Legend.

Air_Love2

Granted, it’s a bit slighter than their best work (we’ll pause while you crack your best ‘slighter than air’ joke), but as long as they give us something like “Heaven’s Light” every couple of years, you will get no complaints from us. (Astralwerks 2009)

Air MySpace page
Click to buy Love 2 from Amazon

Alternative, Ambient, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Electronica, Pop

Bill Engvall: Aged and Confused

October 13, 2009 /


RIYL: Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, Blue Collar TV

Bill Engvall aoppears to be an all-around good guy, and as one of the few clean comics working today, we take no pleasure from saying anything less than flattering about the man or his work. But it must be said; Aged and Confused, Engvall’s new album, is just…fine. It isn’t particularly bad or good – it just moseys along in that safe zone of zip lines, annoying kids, embarrassing naked stories and, something that will definitely appeal to his core demographic, colonoscopies. It’s all harmless enough, and the crowd at Chicago’s Vic Theatre lapped it up. (It is also, thankfully, free of Engvall’s catch phrase ‘Here’s your sign’ bits.) But the painful truth is that it’s just not terribly funny. Borrow it from the library, listen once, return it, and your Engvall fix will be complete. (Warner Bros. Nashville 2009)

Bill Engvall MySpace page
Click to buy Aged and Confused from Amazon

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Comedy

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