The Afromotive get freaky on their debut album Scare Tactics with nine tracks of funky polyrhythms that could summon James Brown's ghost.
On Born Into This, the Cult don't quite bring the same energy level that they shocked us with six years ago (or at least they don't bring it in the same way) and that makes the first listen a little disappointing. However, subsequent passes leave that last album in its time as the Cult rediscover a more distant past. This album isn't as consistent as most Cult albums. Instead of really melding their hard rock and goth egos, they alternate with one side dominating and then ceding control to the other on the next track.
Dirt Farmer is Levon Helm’s first solo studio recording in a quarter of a century and the debut album on his own label. . An outgrowth of informal sessions in his Woodstock barn studio, its music flows with all the ease and grace with which Levon sings. Meanwhile, musicians including multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell and Helm’s daughter Amy (co-producers of the project) imbue the music with warmth and an inviting informality.
he problem with making a really great sophomore album is that the question later becomes, "How long can they keep this up?". Unfortunately for Zach Rogue and Co.,the two years since the release of their stellar second album, Descended Like Vultures, were not only rough on their personal lives, but it also resulted in a sprawling, less focused third effort, Asleep at Heaven's Gate.
Releasing one, two and sometimes three studio albums a year, calling Ryan Adams prolific would be an understatement. However for every brilliant Cold Roses there is a "did we really need this" 29. With the Follow the Lights EP, Adams has released perhaps his most unblemished recording since Gold.
Backed by an army of world-renown percussionists, Global Drum Project again explores the rich poly-rhythms of the world beat sound that the two musicians have journeyed through together for the past thirty years.
Open Your Box is a dance mix collection of quintessential Yoko Ono songs. The unique feature here is that the lyrics are understandable, and quite often full of pain, not your typical mind-numbing dance fare. Even though the songs didn't originate as dance music, Open Your Box does contain one essential ingredient in successful dance mixes: sex.
Either Queensryche doesn't love the songs on Take Cover or they are completely incapable of conveying their love. Either way, this album is a failure even among all the failures that make up this sad new convention practiced by bands that are desperately trying to show their relevance.
It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that White Chalk is another interesting slice of Harvey that is calmer but just as pleasing beginning with “The Devil” and continuing on with “Dear Darkness.” Perhaps the album brings to mind her “Dance Hall At Louse Point” period most clearly during the carnival-tinged “Grow Grow Grow” that is quirky, unsettling and yet strong. Throughout it all, Harvey plays the light, airy vocals to a tee, especially on the haunting, retro-laced title track.
On John Fogerty’s new album Revival the ex-leader of Creedence Clearwater Revival acknowledges the brilliance of his past work rather than deny it. But the wry likes of “Creedence Song” notwithstanding, an air of self-consciousness pervades the album, which begs the question of whether Fogerty’s embrace of his past now overcompensates for that period he boycotted it over twenty-years ago?
