Randy Newman - Harps and Angels
Artist: Randy Newman Review: Randy Newman has earned a nice living in recent years as a film composer, but connoisseurs covet his Seventies work, when he emerged as one of the most cutting and empathic of American singer-songwriters. So his return to political-minded material on Harps and Angels is reason to wrap yourself in the flag and cheer. Newman works with piano, an orchestra and a Dixieland-style combo, using American musical tradition to amplify irony and yank heartstrings. The best moments echo classics like... Rating: 4 Stars
The Corrections, Repeat After Me
This is a likeable but underwhelming album: Coldplay won't lose any sleep.
Jimmy Hughes - The Best of Jimmy Hughes
Artist: Jimmy Hughes Review: An overlooked gospel-turned-R&B singer with a keening, feminine voice, Jimmy Hughes put Muscle Shoals, Alabama, home of the Fame label and studios, on the map with his Top 20 hit "Steal Away" in 1964 — several years before Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding recorded there. His verge-of-tears intensity enlivens this collection, out of print for years, which spans from soft, elegant ballads like "Why Not Tonight" to greasy funk workouts such as "I'm a Man of Action." Some of the material, like... Rating: 3.5 Stars
Martha Wainwright - I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
Artist: Martha Wainwright Review: Part of Martha Wainwright's charm lies in her Tourette's-like impulse to overshare: Check out her 2005 ode to her singer-songwriter dad, Loudon, lovingly titled "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole." Her folky second album mostly spares family members, but old boyfriends aren't so lucky. On the dusty-road rocker "Comin' Tonight," she seeks revenge on a musician/ex-lover: "I could steal a melody. . . . 'Cause you would never sue me, baby/It wouldn't look good." Wainwright's relentless self-analysis and... Rating: 4 Stars
Blake Shelton - Startin' Fires
Artist: Blake Shelton Review: It's not hard to figure out why Blake Shelton is leading country's next generation of stars. He's a blue-eyed CMT dreamboat with a famous girlfriend (Miranda Lambert), and he's equally adept at schmaltz-dipped ballads and laugh-out-loud novelty hits. His fifth album leans toward slow, thoughtful stuff, like "Home Sweet Home," in which Shelton flees the Nashville circus for the comforts of a breadbasket backwater. But he's at his best in funny songs like "Green," a proud-to-be-a-redneck anthem... Rating: 3.5 Stars
Joan As Police Woman, To Survive
Joan Wasser had plenty to do to equal the brilliance of her debut, but in To Survive, she has done just that.
David Banner - The Greatest Story Ever Told
Artist: David Banner Review: Much of David Banner's charm lies in his bulldozer flow, his political awareness and his innovative production skills: His xylophone-laden beat for Lil Wayne's "La La" was one of the best on Tha Carter III. But on his fifth album, Banner battles with his urge to bring standard-issue Dirty South chart-toppers and cred-building hardness: The Greatest Story Ever Told is long on brawling tracks like "9mm," which banks on overbearing rhymes about gunplay. There are also pop-wise club jams like... Rating: 2.5 Stars
Raconteurs, The
Rok 2005. Środek upalnego lata. Spotkanie dwóch muzyków przy szklance schłodzonej lemoniady. Dalszy scenariusz jest prosty. Piszą piosenkę, świetnie się dogadują, powstaje zespół, nagrywają płytę, jadą w wielką trasę....
Loco Star
Efekt owocnego spotkania doświadczonych muzyków ? Marsiji i Tomasza Ziętka w avant-popowej przestrzeni....
Sizzla, Journey: Very Best Of
The idiosyncratic and mercurial Bobo sing-jay Sizzla Kalonji is well overdue another retrospective.
Silver Jews, Lookout Mountain Lookout Sea
Perhaps it's enough to say that this is the best album to come out of Tennessee this year; indeed possibly the world.
Róisín Murphy
Kobieta o niebanalnej urodzie i niepokornej duszy artystki, pochodząca z małego miasteczka Arklow na wschodnim wybrzeżu Irlandii, w 1994 r. spotyka na imprezie o 13 lat starszego producenta i muzyka Marka Brydona, którego uwagę przyciąga, pytając:...
O.A.R. - All Sides
Artist: O.A.R. Review: Like fellow jam bands Phish and Dispatch, O.A.R. have built an impressive fan base by touring incessantly and encouraging fans to trade bootlegs of their shows. That strategy has helped them sell over 1.4 million records and score headlining gigs at Madison Square Garden, and on their sixth album, they've cultivated a slick pop sound to match their arena-size ambitions. Produced by Matt Wallace (Maroon 5), All Sides features glossy modern-rock songs that range from sweeping ballads ("One Day,"... Rating: 2 Stars
Geppert Edyta
Wydała 13 płyt i z pewnością na tym nie koniec jej płytoteki. Współpracowała z kabaretami Wojciecha Młynarskiego i Jana Pietrzaka. Śpiewa nie tylko w języku ojczystym, ale również po hiszpańsku i angielsku....
Dion, Son Of Skip James
Son Of Skip James is one for both longtime fans AND blues afficianados alike?
Randy Newman - Harps and Angels
Artist: Randy Newman Review: Randy Newman has earned a nice living in recent years as a film composer, but connoisseurs covet his Seventies work, when he emerged as one of the most cutting and empathic of American singer-songwriters. So his return to political-minded material on Harps and Angels is reason to wrap yourself in the flag and cheer. Newman works with piano, an orchestra and a Dixieland-style combo, using American musical tradition to amplify irony and yank heartstrings. The best moments echo classics like... Rating: 4 Stars
Kylie Minogue - X
Artist: Kylie Minogue Review: Kylie Minogue has never commanded the zeitgeist like Madonna or stalked a stage with the queenly cool of Beyoncé or hurtled across octaves like Mariah. But in a two-decade career, the pint-size Aussie has ruled the British and European charts by supplying nonstop fizzy fun — she's pop divadom's party planner in chief. Minogue's tenth album arrives on the heels of her battle with breast cancer; thankfully, the experience hasn't made her music discernibly deeper. X compiles... Rating: 3.5 Stars
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tounge
Artist: Jenny Lewis Review: This Rilo Kiley frontwoman is everything a mother could want in a daughter: She's bright, talented — and ready to slice 'n' dice anyone who's done Mom wrong. "In your honor, I'm going to cut that man in half," she wails in "Jack Killed Mom," an enigmatic domestic fable that segues from chugging rock to a revival-tent rave-up. Lewis is indie rock's most sharp-elbowed songwriter, a crafter of taut meditations on love, sex and politics that are full of violent emotions and, occasionally, plai... Rating: 4 Stars
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection (Deluxe Edition)
Artist: Elton John Review: Elton John was a lot of things — sideman, session man and flop, with a long tail of failed solo releases, including the 1969 LP Empty Sky — before 1970's Elton John made him an overnight star. He wasn't afraid to admit it. John packed a bonus scrapbook in the original lavish packaging of 1975's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy with bad-hair photos, comic music-press ads ("You've been warned! Elton John is 1968's great new talent") and other ample proof of his time, with... Rating: 4.5 Stars
Brett Dennen - Hope For The Hopeless
Artist: Brett Dennen Review: Brett Dennen was a hippie camp counselor before he became a John Mayer-approved troubadour on 2006's So Much More. So brace yourself for "Closer to You," where he admits to "wearing nothing but my birthday suit." That unsettling mental image aside, Dennen's third disc suggests he may soon give Dave Matthews a run for his tour grosses. "Make You Crazy" is a jubilant rave-up with Femi Kuti on vocals, while the quiet ballad "So Far From Me" is perfect for a dorm-room make-out. Dennen can be heavy-h... Rating: 3 Stars
Christine Perfect, The Complete Blue Horizons Sessions
Although hardly essential, a very welcome listen.