Soulive fans looking for an all-together-different side to Eric Krasno’s playing style on his debut solo record Reminisce will most likely be disappointed. This is far from a stylistic departure for Krasno as his knack for the groove comes through as sharp as ever, which, for most, is a good thing.
For years country music superstar Dierks Bentley has made it known of his love for bluegrass music. So it was no surprise to his fans that he announced he was releasing a bluegrass project this year. Bentley recruited well known friend and producer/songwriter Jon Randall to help put together an album that would honor his love of this genre while putting his own spin on it.
After waning over the last couple of albums during Bruce Dickinson’s first stint, two ill-conceived releases with Blaze Bayley and a lackluster return for Dickinson on Brave New World, Iron Maiden stormed back to life with their last two albums and an outstanding tour documentary. Perhaps no other band in their third decade could raise such high hopes for a release, particularly after a four year layoff from the studio.
Mulennium is the first archival project ever released by Gov’t Mule, accurately timed for debut in the general time-frame of the loss of bassist Allen Woody a decade ago. Recorded at the cusp of the millennium on New Year’s Eve 1999-2000, this triple-disc package sounds (splendid) and looks like a blueprint for the band’s music throughout what is now a redoubtable sixteen year stint on the road and in the recording studio.
While "Trouble" celebrated being saved by a woman, Ray LaMontagne's God Willin' kicks that no good lyin' lady to the curb. But it doesn't take long for this pariah dog to beg her back, let her go again, then finally stroll on toward the sunset, head held high.
With their long hair, beards and edgy blues sound, The Black Crowes have epitomized what a rock-n-roll band sounds and looks like. With a pending indefinite hiatus looming, the band recently decided to record a double album’s worth of acoustic rearrangements from their catalog. Croweology is an exquisite slice of Americana complete with acoustic bottleneck slide, mandolin, and fiddles all done Crowe-style that never loses its swagger.
The challenge for a band with the longevity of Big Head Todd and The Monsters is how to subtly reinvent themselves without undermining the style they’ve cultivated during the course of their career. The Colorado group has struggled in that regard (see 2004’s Crimes of Passion), but Rocksteady is fresh in ways even the band might not expect.
In a stroke of awesome with The Dance, Faithless has managed to continue that dance trend, and their careful balancing act. The opening song, “Not Going Home,” proves once again that they have the chops to own a dance floor, with what is sure to soon be (or already be) a memorable, bring-down-the-roof riff.
With all that Danger Mouse has tackled of late, he’s giving T-Bone Burnett a run for his co-production, co-mastermind skills. And unlike prior recent collaborations like Gnarls Barkley and Broken Bells, Dark Night of the Soul features Danger Mouse at his most haunting. Perhaps it’s an ironic show of foreboding that DM’s collaborator on this project – Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse committed suicide last March.
Without any overtly topical songs within these eleven tracks, Los Lobos manage to capture the precarious tenor of our times and their cover of the Grateful Dead’s “West LA Fadeway” is particularly resonant in that regard. Like the iconic San Francisco institution, his band from East LA offers respite that’s as self-renewing as their own creativity and the music that arises from it.
