Oasis: Leave It Be
While Oasis has always worn its Beatles pretensions on its sleeve - most notably with their breakout album (What's The Story) Morning Glory? - they have always managed to restrain themselves from becoming an outright tribute band. Until now. Even the cast of Beatlemania would be hardpressed to turn out a Magical Mystery Tour knockoff as convincing as "We All Need Some Love." The Gallaghers' worship of Lennon is most apparent in "Always Raspberry Meadows," a string-laden nod to the bespectacled Beatle's more whimsical psychedelic experiments of 1967 and in the colorful wordplay of the acoustic "Across The Galaxy" which sounds like a second-rate Let It Be outtake. The title track tries to mimic (unsuccessfully, it has to be said) the uplifting spirituality of McCartney's own "Let It Be" by imploring "If I had my druthers, we would all be brothers, leave it be." Speaking of Paul, "Hey Jane" is a lustful ode to McCartney's sixties girlfriend Jane Asher, and includes an extended singalong coda of "La La La La's" worthy of a Rutles parody. One wonders what George would make of the sitar-drenched raga "Within Us All" or the shameful "As My Guitar Softly Sobs". There oughta be a law.
Wilson XXXL: Heavy Duty
Operating from the premise that bigger is better, singers Ann Wilson (Heart) and Carnie Wilson (Wilson Phillips) throw their considerable weight behind a project aimed at celebrating the plus-sized woman while debunking the myth that 'thin is in.' Harmonizing on a dozen songs ranging from the anthemic "More To Love" to the playful dancefloor romp "We're Chunky (But Funky)", Ann and Carnie seem to revel in the notoriety of being branded the "fat sisters". Musically the songs stick to a bland adult-contemporary style with the only hard-rocking number being "Get On The Scale", a vindictive diatribe against our weight-obsessed society featuring one of Ann's most impassioned lead vocals. Carnie's autobiographical "My G.B.S", which chronicles her much-publicized gastric bypass surgery, is arguably her most enduring and moving work and brings the album to a sobering conclusion.
Alison Krauss & Ted Kaczynski: River Of Jordan
One of the most improbable and unexplainable collaborations since Dennis Wilson and Charles Manson shared studio time back in 1968, Nashville songstress Alison Krauss and notorious "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski recorded an album's worth of bluegrass duets at the Federal ADX Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado last fall before a crowd of 100 stunned but appreciative inmates. Krauss approached Kaczynski about the project as early as 2006 through a series of letters after learning the convicted mail bomber was a fan of Bill Monroe and the Louvin' Brothers. The two exchanged song list ideas in the summer of 2007 for what was conceived as a half hour peformance and the unlikely partners settled on eight tunes ranging from the Louvin's "If Only I Could Win Your Love" to the Carter Family's "Distant Land To Roam." Krauss, nervously tuning her guitar, introduces the first number on the album, Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" with the near-whispered introduction "Um, Ted says he first heard this song on an Elvis record and it's been a favorite of his ever since." Alison takes the first verse alone before Ted somewhat hesitantly joins in on the second. Kaczynski's voice is surprisingly gentle and affecting and he seems content to harmonize without drawing too much attention to himself. Only after some playful prodding by Krauss does he reluctantly solo on the chorus to the Stanley Brothers' mournful "Cry From The Cross", giving it an understated reading almost touching in the vulnerablity it betrays. This performance alone demonstrates that the chemistry on River Of Jordan, pardon the pun, is quite explosive.
U2: Apple Inc. And Universal Music Group Present U2
U2, once the torchbearers for integrity and uncompromising honesty in rock music, abandon any artistic pretense on their latest album, a shameless collection of corporate-friendly anthems plugging a variety of Apple products and services. As part of an exclusive licensing deal reached in 2004, U2 sold the "conceptual" rights to their next album for a reported 1.5 million dollars, a controversial move that has engendered significant animosity among their fans and the music industry as a whole. Available for purchase exclusively through Apple's iTunes store, the twelve Brian Eno-produced tracks are blatantly commercial in spirit and sound depressingly like bland television jingles. From the pulsating leadoff track "Experience The Mac OS X v. 10.5 Leopard" to more subdued numbers like the acoustic "Xserve Raid Hard Drive Manager" the sound is one of U2 on autopilot, completely devoid of charm or substance. The first single for the album "(Can't Be Without My) Apple iPhone", is propelled by one of the Edge's trademark riffs and features Bono extolling the virtues of the popular multi-media cellphone. "Running In Quicktime" is reminiscent of some of the techno-heavy experiments on Zooropa and the most interesting cut here. "Me And My MacBook Air" features a cameo by Steve Earle who delivers a spoken-word testimonial on the lightweight Mac notebook computer against a backdrop of steel guitar and keyboard flourishes. The weakest track is unquestionably "(Surfin With My) Surfari Web Browser", an uninspired Beach Boys pastiche that borders on embarassing. While it remains to be seen how rewarding this particular investment will be for Apple, the real question is how damaging will something like this be to U2's image and viability as a major rock act.
Pearl Jam: Live At Khumbu Glacier Base Camp, Mt. Everest 17,600 Ft
This rare 2005 acoustic set, performed live in the inhospitable temperatures of Nepal's southeast ridge climbing route prior to Pearl Jam's ill-fated hike up Mount Everest is an intimate affair that is loose and relaxed without sounding sloppy or under-rehearsed. Looking to one-up the Beatles' fabled rooftop concert for the film Let It Be, Pearl Jam endeavored to perform an entire concert at the highest elevation ever attempted despite the logistical challenges posed by such a risky undertaking. Exhausted roadies hauled the band's gear up to base camp over a period of nine days using yaks and experienced human porters. Struggling against the elements, a makeshift stage was erected and the first soundcheck commenced approximately 2 hours after bandmembers arrived at base camp. Vedder and company took the stage near sundown and immediately launched into an exhuberant "Corduroy." At the conclusion, Vedder jokes "It's f**kin cold out here!" before signalling the intro to "Alive". While most of the tunes here are taken from the forthcoming self-titled Pearl Jam album, there are enough Ten and Vitalogy-era songs to please older fans as well. The band concludes their set with a cover of Rainbow's "Man On The Silver Mountain" before Vedder ends the proceedings by clowning "I hope we passed the audition!"
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