Album Reviews

You can immediately tell what light-year a Joe Satriani album is traveling in by the way the first song definitively captures you with your first listen.  The vibrations of his initial entrance are defining points of both his live shows and studio records which electrify listeners time and time again. 

When the title track of the new Michael Franti & Spearhead album The Sound Of Sunshine takes off, you might catch yourself thinking that our favorite soldier of peace has gotten a little formulaic. The chukka-chukka-strummed acoustic guitar and walloping backbeat combined with a gotcha-singing-along-the-first-time-through chorus can’t help but remind you of “Say Hey (I Love You)” off 2008's All Rebel Rockers.

Neil Young has just about done everything in his 50  career:   country, new-wave, CSNY, Crazy Horse, Pearl Jam, rockabilly, proto-grunge, acoustic folk, rock operas, films, and the list goes on.  But it took until 2010 for Young to do something entirely different – record an album without any backing musicians.

Laura Cortese is a singer/songwriter who plays a mean fiddle and has put together an all female string quartet to record her Acoustic Project EP.  The group of players consists of Natalie Hass on cello, Brittany Haas contributing the 5-string fiddle parts while Hanneke Cassel strums and plucks the 4-string fiddle.  The style of tunes presented by the ladies ranges all over the folk world.  There are acoustic pop such as “Perfect Tuesdays”, old rural traditional numbers like “Greasy Coat” and a Celtic flair that emerges on “Women Of The Ages”. 

The title of Peter Case’s new album sounds more like a command the more you listen to it. A raucous rock and roll affair (in a mini-lp package right down to CD sleeve) Wig! is decidedly different than the generally low-key, folk-styled recordings Case has done over the last few years, but it’s no less credible.

It’s a challenge to get through this album sitting down and I imagine that is just what Behrens and Turner envisioned.  Just like Rajon Rondo ran circles around NBA defenses last year, so too will his namesake of an album run through your head and leave you in wonder and awe.       

The release of 100 Miles from Memphis was preceded by more buzz than is typical of a Sheryl Crow album, mostly because of the news that it would be a soul album. Though many people were excited, most were skeptical. Whenever talented artists step outside their comfort level to take on a new type of music, the results can be profound (Cat Power’s The Greatest) or disastrous (Chris Cornell’s Scream). Luckily, Crow’s latest effort is an example of the former.

It has been 20 years since the Vaselines have been in the studio to record a new album. Their new recording titled Sex with an X on Sub Pop Records, is worth the wait. The Vaselines may have gone by without many people knowing much about the Scottish duo in the late ‘80’s if Nirvana hadn’t covered their songs that include:  “Son Of A Gun”, Molly’s Lips,”  and “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam.” 

Heavy on the Vine's appeal isn't nearly as broad as the palette of musical styles featured on the album. By the same token, there are a lot of reasons to like it. Fans of soulful white-boy pop looking for more songs to sing in the car will likely swoon, while those with edgier tastes will want to look elsewhere. The band's wide-open approach means that the album is equally wide-open to interpretation, and reactions will largely depend on the mindset of the listener.

If you thought that Raising Sand, Plant’s dabbling in country, with modern bluegrass great Krauss, was an unlikely musical success story, Band of Joy will be every bit as much of a pleasant surprise.