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Black Sabbath: The Paul Carrack Years
Veteran musical journeyman Paul Carrack, whose vocal services graced popular singles by British alternative-pop group Squeeze and Mike and The Mechanics in the 1980's, is perhaps least known for his brief stint fronting heavy metal outfit Black Sabbath from 1991 to 1993. Fans of the band have maligned Carrack for watering down Sabbath's trademark occultist themes and hard-edged musical approach while ushering in a 'touchy-feely' phase, which began with 1991's tepid Gentle Shadows and culminating with the commercially disastrous 1993 release Tender Whispers. The Paul Carrack Years compiles the two albums released with Carrack and includes material from the aborted Silent Man Weeping album during which Carrack was fired by founding member Tony Iommi. The tracks from Tender Shadows remain most faithful to the traditional Black Sabbath sound, although there are considerably more strings and keyboards present in the final mix. The lone single from the album, "Be Still My Soul" is an impassioned plea from Carrack to the spirit of a deceased lover and the highlight of the collection. Silent Man Weeping features the first use of a saxophone on a Black Sabbath album and all but two tracks utilize a drum machine. Again Carrack is the sole composer on the single "The Wings Of An Angel" which remarkably finds Iommi plucking a harp. Not recommended for Sabbath faithful although fans of Carrack will find much to appreciate.
2Pac feat. Notorious B.I.G.: Never Say Die
In a move that can only be described as both surprising and more than a little bit suspicious, Amaru records has released yet another posthumous Tupac Shakur album - this time amazingly containing contributions from deceased rapper Notorious B.I.G. Amaru representatives insist the recordings are from a rare 1994 studio session prior to the artists' East Coast/West Coast feud, however a few anomalies seem to suggest otherwise. For instance, on the song "Murda Ain't A Thang", Tupac references "blowin' n***az away like Hurricane Katrina". And in another track entitled "Terrorize", Shakur states "suckas tryin' to bring me down like Saddam Hussein's statue" and even boasts of fleeing the country before anybody could kill him. And while it seems slightly more feasible that the Notorious B.I.G.'s input came from before his death, a line in the song "Coast to Coast" appears to contain a cryptic reference to the 2005 London Underground transit bombings. While this album leaves this reviewer more skeptical than ever that these two artists are actually no longer among the living, I'll ultimately let the listening audience decide for themselves.
Garth Brooks: The Life Of Brenda Hathaway
In 1999 Garth Brooks assumed the alter-ego of fictional alternative-rocker Chris Gaines for an album intended to be the soundtrack of a film which never materialized. To everyone's surprise the album reached #2 on the billboard pop charts and in the absence of an accompanying film remains the most curious entry in Brooks' expanding catalog. Until now, that is. Taking the alternate-identity concept one step further, Brooks' morphs into female lounge-singer Brenda Hathaway for an album of sultry torch songs in the style of Peggy Lee. Unfortunately this experiment makes the Chris Gaines project appear like inspired genius in comparison. Not only does Brooks look terrible in drag, his high falsetto delivery ruins what could have been an exceptional album in the hands of a truly gifted female singer. Hearing the "Friends In Low Places" composer squeaking out covers of Nina Simone's "My Baby Just Cares For Me" and Lee's "Fever" is disturbing on a multitude of levels. He fares even worse on original compositions, "Martinis At Midnight" and "Baby Don't Tease" despite tasteful orchestral arrangements. Here's hoping the film of this catastrophe meets the same fate as the first.
Lou Reed: The Lou Reed Children's Album
That Lou Reed has chosen to devote an entire album to children's songs is charming in an "Aw, how sweet" kind of way. Unfortunately Reed seems to have little grasp of the types of themes and subject matter that capture the imagination of small listeners. Although the music is sweetened up to appeal to the Raffi crowd, Reed attempts to relate his experiences about tramps, junkies and transsexuals under the misapprehension that such subjects resonate with little children. "A is for Addict", a song about the alphabet, is full of inappropriate references to sadomasichism and drug paraphernalia which are too sophisticated for young minds to grasp. The message behind "My Mommy Is My Daddy" is also cryptic and not likely to win over many parents. Great intentions, poor execution.
Thugz Bop, Vol. 1
Thugz Bop is actually a product of the marketing geniuses behind the popular multi-installment Kidz Bop series featuring an irrepressible chorus of cheerful cherubs belting out faithful covers of top-40 pop hits. Whereas the Kidz Bop discs were predominately wholesome affairs scrubbed of any offensive lyrical content, Thugz Bop makes no such concessions in rendering knock-offs of popular rap cuts like "Buy You A Drank (Shawty Snappin')" and "Pop, Lock And Drop It". The "K-Bop Unit" (as the sprightly little rappers are credited in the CD booklet) keep it real by leaving every unsavory expletive and gangsta reference intact and seeming to delight in dropping f-bomb after f-bomb on suggestive tracks like Lil Boosie's "Wipe Me Down" and Crime Mob's "Rock Yo Hips." Parents who choose to ignore the "Parental Advisory" sticker warning of the explicit lyrics (or miss it altogether) will have some unwelcome explaining to do to when their impressionable little tykes start reciting Young Jeezy's "Go Getta" for grandma. You have been warned.
Otis Redding: It Might As Well Be Otis
There was quite a stir when word leaked out that Zelma Redding, wife of late singer Otis Redding and the executrix of his estate, had negotiated the rights to a catalog of nearly twenty popular sixties soul songs not recorded by her husband with the intention of crediting him as artist. "Half the world thinks he recorded these songs anyway so why not make it legitimate?" Redding remarked in an unpublished interview with Rolling Stone earlier this year. The songs which were purchased include "Stand By Me", formerly credited to Ben E. King, Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves A Woman" and Wilson Pickett's "Land Of 1,000 Dances". A reported agreement with Spencer Davis and Steve Winwood for the rights to "Gimme Some Lovin'" was never finalized, although there are rumors that talks continue. While the terms of the settlement were not disclosed, an anonymous source revelealed that the naming rights to the songs totalled upwards of a million dollars. The first collection to assign the Otis Redding name to these classics is appropriately titled "It Might As Well Be Otis", an acknowledgement that many young music fans weaned on Napster, mp3's and Ipod's identify Redding with any early-period soul song. "I mean, what kid today knows or cares who Ben E. King is, anyway?" Redding argued to Rolling Stone. "Percy Sledge? For all kids know that's a heavy metal band." Other songs included on the album are Sam and Dave's "Soul Man", James and Bobby Purify's "Shake A Tailfeather", Jackie Wilson's "Higher And Higher" and the Isley Brother's "Shout".
Jimmy Buffett: Life Is A Sh*t Sandwich
Jimmy Buffett, shedding the tropical slacker image which has been an indelible part of his artistic identity since the 70's, turns in his darkest, most cynical effort to date on this expletive-laden collection of bitter ruminations on suffering, aging and death. In interviews, Buffett refers to the disc as "my primal scream album" and the spare instrumentation and vitriolic take-no-prisoners lyrics lend credence to that comparison. On the opening track, "Party's Over Motherfu**ers", Buffett acknowledges that his songs of pirates, sailors and idyllic island fantasylands were nothing but "escapist bullshit" and scolds his legions of Parrotheads for being so naive. He grouses on "Nobody Knows Me" that despite being in the music business over thirty years, his legacy is essentially "four or five tracks on that f**king 'Songs You Know By Heart' record." The title track is a brutal assessment of the human condition and concludes with his observation that the world is an inherently evil and miserable place. "There's no hope, no hope," Buffett sings over and over with tortured resignation. "Wasting Away" is a somber acknowledgement of the inevitability of death and the process of confronting one's mortality. If this is truly Buffet's "Plastic Ono Band", one hopes there's an uplifting "Imagine" waiting around the corner, or at least some stronger anti-depressants.
The Traveling Wilburys: Volume V
With the passing of George Harrison in 2001 it was assumed that surviving Wilbury brothers Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Bob Dylan would permanently retire the geriatric supergroup leaving behind a legacy of two spotty but entertaining albums (Volumes 1 and 3, recently reissued as a boxed set). The announcement last March that the group would reform as a quintet with the addition of Kenny Loggins and Daryl Dragon (the "Captain" of Captain and Tennille fame) was met with stunned incredulity. Not surprisingly the resulting album, "Volume 5", lives down to every cynical expectation. Dylan tosses off a few outtakes from his 2006 "Modern Times" album and duets with Tom Petty on a rollicking update of "She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain". Kenny Loggins' contributions "Lead Me Back Home" and "The Gift Of Life" are essentially warm fuzzy re-writes of "House On Pooh Corner" and sound disconnected from the other tracks. Daryl Dragon's participation is limited to one song, the painfully trite "You Bring Out The Music In Me" and some inconsequential keyboard noodling. Several tracks feature each member contributing at least one line of vocal, the Lynne composition "Edge Of The World" and the Petty/Dylan/Loggins collaboration "Don't You Miss Me, Momma?" Once again Jeff Lynne approaches his production duties as if he's crafting the next E.L.O album and saturates the songs with his trademark multi-tracked harmonies. An abomination.
Tony Bennett: Outta Sight - A Tribute To My Favorite Blind Artists
Although Bennett has chosen a somewhat insensitive and musically irrelevant theme for his latest batch of cover songs, it is nonetheless intriguing to hear the golden-throated crooner covering the likes of Ronnie Milsap, Jeff Healey and Andrea Bocelli in an orchestral setting. His adventurous song selection has him sidestepping Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" to cover the more challenging "Boogie On Reggae Woman" and passing over Jose Feliciano's English language hit "As Long As I Have You" to tackle "Fue Culpa Del Destino." The only gaffe on an otherwise stellar collection is his take on Ray Charles' "Hit The Road Jack" (featuring a cameo by Bonnie Raitt) for which he adopts a uncharacteristic husky growl.
JouREO Styxship: JouREO Styxship
When the formal merger of corporate rock power-ballad heavyweights Journey, REO Speedwagon, Styx and Starship was announced in the Spring of 2007, incensed rock fans and consumer advocates cried foul, threatening anti-trust lawsuits to block the action. The RIAA vigorously defended the merger, arguing that the legitimacy of the respective bands had been gradually compromised by the defections of key original band members and an overreliance on substandard live albums and repackaged greatest hits compilations for CD sales. This self-titled debut release from JouREO Styxship plays it safe and manages to strike a nice balance between the harder-edged fist-pumping anthems and the softer heart-string-tugging power ballads. Starship frontman Mickey Thomas and Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw handle vocal duties on the former while REO Speedwagon veteran Kevin Cronin sings the latter, including the first single, "I Need Your Love." Shaw and legendary Journey axeman Neal Schon provide guitar pyrotechnics on such high-energy tracks as "Rockin' The Night" and the album-closer "Feelin' the Heartache". Bassists Jeff Adams, Ross Vallory and Ricky Phillips and drummers Brian Hitt and Todd Sucherman provide a rhythm section that performs capably but sounds cluttered at times. Keyboardists Lawrence Gowan and Jonathan Cain add some pleasant color on a few of the ballads, notably "Losing Your Love," but for the most part are buried in the mix.
Ric Ocasek: Duets
Ric Ocasek, who fronted the influential post-punk new wave band The Cars in the late seventies and early eighties, pairs himself with an eclectic assortment of celebrities both past and present on this, his first stab at recording an entire album of duets. His matchmaking succeeds for the most part, particularly with the partners who, on paper at least, seem unlikely candidates for collaboration. David Byrne is a fitting rival on a fun and bouncy duet of "Best Friend's Girl" during which the two stake claim to the same former love interest, while Cyndi Lauper is the perfect foil on a cover of "You Might Think." The songs featuring artists with big band credentials, namely Harry Connick Jr. ("Shake It Up") and Michael Buble ("Tonight She Comes") fall flat mostly through the fault of clumsy arrangements. Finally, a duet album wouldn't be complete without an appearance by Elton John, who lends his talents and charisma to "Let The Good Times Roll". Good times, indeed.
The Go Go's: Live In Orlando With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
This concert, recorded in the spring of 2006, was intended to establish the Go Go's as artists of indisputable integrity whose timeless music could translate effortlessly into a symphonic format. A team of composers and arrangers were hired to score what amounted to an evening of orchestrated 80's pop against which the Go Go's would perform their most infectious hits. Listening to the results, it is not clear that the Go Go's catalog warranted such high-brow treatment. Despite the best efforts of Belinda Carlisle and company to downplay the teeny-bop appeal of most of the selections, the inherently vacuous nature of songs such as "Vacation" and "Head Over Heels" cannot be denied. The RPO struggles to breathe life into girl-friendly party anthems such as "Our Lips Are Sealed", "Cool Jerk" and "We Got The Beat". The thankless task of conducting such an unconventional and insubstantial score falls to Leonard Slatkin, an internationally recognized talent who certainly deserves better. Having put this brief exercise in pretentiousness behind them, hopefully the Go Go's can go back to recording the kind of inoffensive pop that soccer moms everywhere grew up on.
Neil Young's Wife: Neil Young's Wife Warner Bros, 2007
A project thirty years in the making, the wife of rock and roll icon Neil Young finally releases her debut album under the tutelage of her famous husband and producer Elliot Mazer. Neil Young, a living music legend who first garnered attention in the sixties as one of the chief singer/songwriters in seminal L.A rock band Buffalo Springfield before embarking on a solo career which to date has spawned over thirty albums, accompanies his wife on a variety of instruments as she ruminates capably on the price of love and the cost of freedom. Neil, whose 2006 album "Living With War" was essentially his first "protest" album and contained the anti-war anthem "Impeach The President", took a break from his own successful solo career of nearly forty years to assist his wife in giving voice to an album's worth of original songs. Few songs on this collection match the intensity of "Impeach The President", Neil's most overt call for political action since "Ohio", a song he recorded in response to the shootings at Kent State with his sometime associates Crosby, Stills and Nash. Although there are no current plans for a CSNY reunion, there is speculation that Neil may return to the studio as early as the fall of 2007 to begin work on his follow-up to "Living With War".
Yoko Ono: Ono Sings Gershwin Astralwerks, 2007
Yoko Ono has always been one to confound expectations so it should come as no surprise that she has chosen to lend her notoriously discordant vocal stylings to the songbook of legendary American composers George and Ira Gershwin. Ono's cacophonous phrasing transforms such beloved standards as "They Can't Take That Away From Me", "Nice Work if You Can Get It" and "Our Love Is Here To Stay" into a uniquely miserable listening experience. Even with a highly professional big band ensemble at her disposal Ono manages to wreak musical havoc. Her rendition of "Summertime", replete with the type of caterwauling and tortured wailing that continue to haunt the collective memories of John Lennon fans, is nothing short of traumatic. Most egregious of all is her decision to improvise new lyrics to "I Loves You, Porgy" and rework it as a feminist diatribe against "oppression by pig-headed men". One wishes she had heeded the advice of the Gershwins and called the whole thing off.
Kenny G: Fly By Night - The Music Of Rush Arista, 2007
Hearing Kenny G wrap his sultry soprano saxophone around the riffs of Canadian progressive rock icons Rush is startlingly incongruous on first listen, however the more time spent with this collection, the more it's charming nuances and carefully crafted aesthetics reveal themselves. "Spirit Of The Radio" kicks off the disc with Kenny G's breezy sax copying Alex Liefson's original frenetic fretwork nearly note for note against a backdrop of jazzy keyboards and fluid drumming courtesy of Jeff Lorber and Paulhino De Costa respectively. Tasteful orchestral backing accompanies a softly understated "Closer To The Heart" while "Cygnus X-1 Book II Hemispheres Part IV: Armageddon (The Battles Of Heart And Mind)" is dominated by swirling synthesizer and a pulsating bass riff. "New World Man" swings along at a brisk pace and a bossa nova interpretation of "Tom Sawyer" exposes the song's melodic warmth. Only "Limelight" and "2112 Overture" miss the mark and are poorly served by their smooth, relaxed arrangements. A respectful tribute and an all-around enjoyable listen.
Sublime: Hey Bro, This Is Brad MCA Records, 2007
90's Ska-Punk rockers Sublime disbanded after the death of lead singer/songwriter Brad Nowell two months prior to the release of their third and most successful album, 1996's "Sublime". In the ensuing decade a number of vault-emptying posthumous compilations have surfaced containing rare tracks, studio outtakes and live cuts of questionable integrity in a shameless attempt by MCA to cash in it's remaining chips from the squandered potential of a once-promising young band. Unable to track down any additional studio or live material to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Nowell's passing, MCA managed to compile approximately 30 minutes of answering machine messages left by Nowell for family, bandmates, his manager and record company personnel over the years and recruited the surviving members of Sublime to record an album's worth of instrumental accompaniment. The resulting album, "Hey Bro, This Is Brad" is a barely listenable hodge podge of drunken and stoned ramblings nearly muted out by the annoying strains of outdated, bland ska music. One wishes the producers had let the voice messages stand on their own as some of them are genuinely intriguing, but the project as a whole will leave a rancid taste in the mouth of Sublime fans and non-fans alike.
Yanni: Yanni Comes Alive!
This limited-edition live disc chronicles Greek keyboardist and composer Yanni's ill-conceived (albeit brief) flirtation with aggressive rock rhythms and instrumentation during his short-lived "Balls Out" tour, which played to half-empty stadiums along the West Coast in the summer of 2006. Augmented for the first time by a three-piece rock and roll ensemble featuring ex-Cream bassist Jack Bruce, Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke, and Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera, Yanni abandoned his signature expansive new age dreamscapes and debuted a shocking fusion of funk, rock and blues that both confused and alienated his fiercely loyal fanbase. Forsaking his beloved piano and keyboard for a mellotron and Hammond organ, the composer gamely adopted a more macho stage persona, often taking the stage clad in black leather and knee-high boots with spikes. The shows were coolly received by critics and fans alike, and the tour was abruptly cancelled after a contentious concert in Los Angeles during which Yanni stormed off the stage mid-set. This CD is a fairly accurate representation of the show in its entirety, although the Edgar Winter cover "Frankenstein" was edited down to seven minutes and the unwieldy drum solo "Ropeburn" is absent altogether. Sadly, the disc reveals that in contrast to the inventive interplay of his bandmates (which on several tracks, notably "Street Walking Child", border on incendiary), Yanni's own solos are tentative and uninspired. The hypnotic groove of "(I Wanna Be Your) Sex Pants" is nearly shattered by seemingly random staccato bursts from Yanni's Hammond organ. The pulsating rocker "Hot 'N Nasty" exposes Yanni's unwillingness to completely embrace the genre. And finally, his contribution to a guitar-organ interplay with Manzanera in the middle section of the song "Freak On" is tepid at best. Frankly, that this document of Yanni's worst moment is now seeing the light of day is cause for much head-scratching. Until the release of this CD, most fans were spared the embarrassing circus which was the "Balls Out" tour.
What Have I Done to Deserve This?: A Country Music Tribute to The Pet Shop Boys
It comes as no surprise that an album paying tribute to the enduring legacy of alternative dance-pop pioneers The Pet Shop Boys is finally seeing the light of day some twenty years after their first single topped the charts internationally and established the London duo as synth-pop heavyweights. What makes said tribute album so remarkable is that the contributors are an impressive assembly of country music's most pedigreed honky-tonkers and hellraisers. As one might expect, this unlikeliest of marriages struggles through its fair share rough patches. Big & Rich's raucous interpretation of "Domino Dancing" ignores the rhythmic complexity of the original arrangement and is reinterpreted as an anthemic, shit-kicking stomp-rocker in the spirit of "Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)". Toby Keith stumbles awkwardly through a twangy, lifeless rendition of "West End Girls" and Kenny Chesney's subdued "Suburbia" oozes insincerity. Though Tim McGraw is to be commended for stepping outside of his comfort zone to give "Left To My Own Devices" a Caribbean flavor, he manages to ruin an otherwise convincing performance by singing in a ridiculous mock-Jamaican accent. Gretchen Wilson almost single-handedly salvages the proceedings with a spirited reading of "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)" and Keith Urban strikes gold with his impassioned delivery of the lovers lament, "It's A Sin". Though the collective admiration for the music of the Pet Shop Boys cannot be disputed, the final verdict is that this was a road best left untraveled for the participants involved.
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