Category: CD Reviews (Page 230 of 399)

Sony BMG’s Playlist series has almost all the marks of a well-thought-out and potentially trendy new product line. It’s environmentally friendly – the packaging is made of 100% recycled paperboard, and the CD booklet is accessible on your computer as a .pdf file to save paper – and the price is relatively low. Add a solid song selection, and it’s a sensible (if typically redundant) way to hawk the label’s back catalog. However, in the case of Heart, who hopped across at least four different labels over the years, the disc suffers from an ever-present problem that has plagued single-label compilations by multi-label bands for years. Granted, hearing a stripped-down, acoustic treatment of their ‘80s smash for Capitol, “Alone,” among Heart’s ‘70s Epic and Portrait classics is awfully refreshing, who on earth would prefer the 2002 Alive in Seattle versions of “Magic Man,” “Crazy on You” and “Dreamboat Annie” over the original hit records from ‘76? On the flip side, this otherwise decent collection rightfully fetes buried album tracks like the mandolin-laden acoustic folk of “Dream of the Archer” and the dramatic, slow-burning “Mistral Wind.” (Epic/Legacy 2008)

Heart MySpace page

You’d think a band with a name like Wild Sweet Orange would offer up bouncy, immaculately produced pop music – you know, somewhere between Cheap Trick and blink-182 – but this Alabama four-piece draws its wild sweetness from Southern roots. This isn’t to say they sound like Skynyrd or Kenny Chesney – they’re far, far from either – but there’s a strong component of dark Southern gothic to the group’s full-length debut, reflected strongly in atmospheric, melancholy tracks such as “Land of No Return.” Frontman Preston Lovinggood has a bright, elastic voice with pleasantly ragged edges, and the band – rounded out by drummer Chip Kilpatrick, guitarist Taylor Shaw, and bassist Garret Kelly – does a fine job of building the sort of gloomy tension you’d expect from an album with a title like We Have Cause to Be Uneasy. Songs like opener “Ten Dead Dogs” hearken back to the best of the downcast mid-‘90s alt-rockers, and “Seeing Is Believing” proves they can pull off a power ballad with the best of ‘em. The album stumbles when the band shows off its dynamic range by veering into screechy emo territory, but otherwise, this is a strong opening statement from a band that – wonder of wonders! – actually has something to say. (Canvasback 2008)

Wild Sweet Orange MySpace page