posted 10-23-2001 02:37 PM               

Ben Folds - "Rockin' The Suburbs"
I love this album. If I loved it any more, I'd desire it carnally. Coming on the heels of the first six months of the year, which had new releases by Neil Finn and ELO, Ben was hard-pressed to knock my socks off at this point. But despite the fact that the other two acts mentioned rank as my two favorites of all time, "Rockin' The Suburbs" is more consistently enjoyable, and connects more closely with me emotionally, than anything else I've heard this year. Folds really is inheriting Billy Joel's niche as both piano man AND master storyteller.

Afro-Celt Sound System - "Further In Time"
Possibly the most relaxing thing I've heard this year, this one could easily get ACSS the mass recognition they richly deserve - if someone would just promote the bloody thing! With guest vocals by Peter Gabriel and Robert Plant, as well as two smashing songs with the group's own vocalists, there's nothing saying that this couldn't cross over into mainstream airplay (with the possible exception that it's not a producer-created concoction with the heavily processed vocals of some teenager[s] overdubbed on it). "Lagan" and "Go On Through" are worth the price of admission in and of themselves.

Tori Amos - "Strange Little Girls"
I've seen some favorable reviews of this one which seemed to be parroting Atlantic's pre-press info word for word, which annoys me to no end. Truthfully, I thought Tori was trying way too hard here. Her theme of songs written by men espousing a violent or condescending attitude toward women was a noble one, but her execution put the message above the music, hitting me over the head with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Classics like "I'm Not In Love," "Heart Of Gold" and "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" were thoroughly shredded, barely sounding anything like their inspiration. But I suppose she'll be hailed as brilliant for this album. Pity - I really liked her early stuff. Tori has one more album - and
hopefully not a cover album - with which to impress me enough to keep me buying her stuff.

Moody Blues - "Journey Into Amazing Caves"
Not really a Moodies album per se, this is a soundtrack to a National Geographic IMAX film which is compiled from earlier Moody Blues songs, given an orchestral treatment with some hints of Native American motifs. However, Hayward & Lodge do play quite a bit on the instrumentals, and it makes the difference between a mere cover album and a cheesy re-interpretation. Two new songs featuring the entire band are contributed as well. Worth checking out.

posted 10-23-2001 02:49 PM               

Dude, I so hear you about it being just good enough that no mainstream station would play it. It's so good, it probably confuses them Reason number #364 for me to send a check to public radio.

posted 12-26-2001 12:53 PM               

Jewel - "This Way"
As much as I like the single "Standing Still," I have to say that much of the rest of the album it's from is, like the rest of Jewel's output, uneven at best. When she's good, she's very, very good. When she's not quite there, the result is usually worthy of the "banal" label.

Paul McCartney - "Driving Rain"
Paul's 1997 album, "Flaming Pie," was a hard act to follow, and the album he delivered between then and now - so memorable it was, I've forgotten what the heck it was called - just didn't strike my fancy. This is more like it. And as silly as the September 11th tribute "Freedom" is in a few places in the lyrics, c'mon, it's Paul. Very good stuff which I still need to listen to some more to really absorb it, but I like it so far.

Russell Watson - "Encore"
Once an up-and-coming British tenor, poor Watson is now forever doomed to be a Trivial Pursuit answer to the dreaded question, "Who sang the theme song to the Star Trek spinoff 'Enterprise'?" That said, this very eclectic album is worth a listen, and yes, it does include that song (as the last track), and the more I listen to it, the more I like it. Then again, I'm one of only five people off the Paramount Studios lot who seems to like it, so what do I know? The other stuff, particularly the tracks with more operatic leanings than pop, are very interesting - Watson occasionally sounds a bit like Sting. And there's nothing wrong with that - just like at what sounding like Sting has done for Sting.

posted 01-14-2002 11:38 PM               

Ryan Adams - Gold: This album has the already-mentioned-in-this-thread "New York, New York," which I gotta say I like more every time I hear it. The rest of the songs are pretty good, too, but it struck me as a wee bit on the slow side.

Dave Matthews Band - Everyday: The album that proves I definitely am not hearing what other people are hearing. I still think Dave and crew have lost the energy, rhythms and instrument combinations that make Under the Table and Dreaming such a great album.

Jonatha Brooke - Steady Pull: I can only think of one or two songs off of this, but I do recall it being darned good singer-songwriter rock. Nice guitar work, the songs move, and she sings pretty well.

Bob Dylan - Love and Theft: I gotta give this one another listen. It had the same problem as the Ryan Adams album for me -- a couple of real great songs from a mixture of genres, with a lot of slow songs that either dragged on or flat-out depressed me.

John Hiatt - The Tiki Bar Is Open: Hiatt's country/blues/rock is skillfully done here, and Hiatt sings and plays with a lot of passion. The title track has some terrific guitar work, and "My Old Friend" blends nostalgia with the-old-guys-still-have-it determination. For some reason I can't quite get into the whole record, though; this is an album I want to like more than I do.

Natalie Merchant - Motherland: Why does Natalie have a recording contract, while it seems like 10,000 Maniacs don't? This album is just dull.

John Mayer - Room for Squares: This one's gonna get a full review from either Pattie or me, but for now, let me just say it's a damn fine record.

Alison Krauss & Union Station - New Favorite: I may have to start listening to more bluegrass music, or at the least, I may have to buy this album. I enjoyed listening to this a little more than I enjoyed listening to the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack, which I guess means I'm more of a neo-bluesgrass person than a traditionalist.

Travis - The Invisible Band: I really like the song 'Sides,' which has a nice melody and some nifty vocal work, but too much of the album sounds the same.

Raul Malo - Today: I'll let Pattie rave about this one in more detail, but man, can this guy sing. He also manages to blend genres really, really well.

posted 01-16-2002 01:39 PM               

Now, Re: Raul Malo - as I've mentioned elsewhere, he was the voice behind the group the Mavericks in the 90's. He also helped write most of their stuff. Their music was, at times, impossible to classify though it most often popped up on country radio. He's got one of the music industry's truly great voices and a willingness to sing just about anything. Today has more Latin overtones than many might be used to but it's still a very accessible album for those not into Latin music.

Speaking of Latin music, Kirsty MacColl's Tropical Brainstorm also came in on the countdown fairly high. This album is heavily influenced by Brazilian and Cuban sounds (pretty interesting for a former punk singer). Tracks like "In These Shoes?" and "Us Amazonians" (a woman's anthem in the making if there ever was one) prove that, in addition to a great singing voice, she also had one hell of a sense of humor. Believe me, I was envisioning a duet with Raul Malo but that will never happen. This was, unfortunately, Kirsty's last album. She was killed last year in a boating accident shortly after finishing the vocals.

Finally, I've heard more of Jonatha Brook's Steady Pull than Dave has so I'll add something - DAMN GOOD WORK! All the stuff I liked about Sarah McLaughlin's earlier work but happier and with more energy. That's the best way I can describe it and it really isn't doing her justice. This woman can sing. As a bonus, I've heard that this CD is loaded with DVD extras.

Most of Bob Dylan's Love and Theft is my new cure for insomnia - sorry Bob, that's the way I feel. And Lucinda William's Essence is, for me, right up there with sauerkraut on the "nausea-inducing" scale.

posted 08-29-2003 07:45 PM               

Jewel - 0304 - ye gods, Jewel, why? Okay, now that I've gotten the obligatory dig at Jewel's gear-box-stripping stylistic change out of the way, I actually do like some of the tracks on here, but it's just not what we expect from this particular artist.

Weird Al Yankovic - Poodle Hat - maybe it's just that I'm out of touch with what's on the radio, but I didn't really get the full effect of this album. All the same time, there's a brilliant Backstreet Boys spoof on the subject of eBay, a richly-deserved dissection of Avril Lavigne's "Complicated," a polka-fied medley of recent goth-rock wanna-be hits, and Weird Al's best original song ever, "Hardware Store," worth the purchase price of the album itself.

Ben Folds - Ben Folds Live - I don't normally spring for live albums, but Folds is so renowned for his wacky stage antics, how could I not? The surprise is, it's a one-man-and-his-piano show without much in the way of wacky antics, instead showcasing Folds' outstanding musicianship. I was truly impressed. If you like his music at all, you will want to hear this.

posted 12-22-2003 12:46 PM               

Just thought I'd ask this while I was thinking about it: Is anyone else really disturbed by the lyrics to Clay Aiken's "Invisible"?

I'm sure he's a nice guy and all but the song just creeps me out . . .