This preview of Miranda Lambert’s forthcoming Columbia sophomore set is an ear-popping delight. She debuted the single on last month’s Country Music Assn. Awards show, and sometimes a high-powered TV performance demonstrates an energy that’s lacking in the grooves when a song hits radio. That’s not the situation here. The fiery intensity and wild-eyed abandon […]
Blue October’s album “Foiled” may be tagged as rock, but the Texas quintet keeps building airplay with a catchy, ’80s-style pop tune boasting crisp synth drums and warm electronic flourish. Mastermind Justin Furstenfeld’s clear vocals openly contemplate a death wish, telling the story of a man jumping into the ocean to end it all. “Not […]
JoJo’s youthful debut top 40 hit, “Leave (Get Out),” was a fruitful fluke, but her formidable 2006 follow-up, the No. 3 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Too Little Too Late” demonstrated that there is more to the pretty teen than “TRL” preening. Second album “The High Road” does a fine job casting JoJo as a soulful […]
Hip-hop and fashion mogul Russell Simmons said Tuesday he’s selling bling to help raise money for the development and empowerment of Africans.
The 49-year-old entrepreneur announced his “Green Initiative” jewelry, which is manufactured and designed by Simmons Jewelry Co. Twenty-five percent of proceeds from sales will go toward the Diamond Empowerment Fund, which will support institutions, […]
American songwriter David Crosby is famed as a leading light of the 1960s counterculture movement but his second memoir finds him showing a gentler side as a father of six children.
The title of the memoir — “Since Then: How I Survived Everything and Lived to Tell About It” — hints at the perennial Crosby question: […]
Ciara wants to set something straight. The hit-making dynamo — known for her hot moves and sexy tomboy style — is flattered by all those comparisons to Janet Jackson and the late Aaliyah, but she’s not a copycat. She’s doing her own thing.
“I do feel like we’re all different,” she told The Associated Press in […]
While most singers should keep quiet this time of year, Sarah McLachlan’s offering is a winner.
“Wintersong,” her first studio LP since 2003’s “Afterglow,” is suited for listening to while the snow falls outside and the hot chocolate is still warm. That it happens to have some Christmas-oriented songs – “O Little Town of Bethlehem” […]
Like perennial Christmas favorites Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, Texas music veteran George Strait possesses a vocal style as mellow and smooth as hot-buttered rum. His lived-in style is perfect for those who like their yuletide classics as if delivered in a wool sweater while sitting in front of a crackling fire.
On his third […]
James Taylor’s sweet voice proves well suited to lighthearted holiday fare with his collection, “At Christmas.”
With the accompaniment of pianist and arranger Dave Grusin adding a delightful touch of jazz, Taylor offers lively takes on some standards – “Winter Wonderland,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an […]
This is, quite simply, the best hard rock Christmas album ever made, and one of the best rock ’n’ roll Christmas albums – period – since Elvis made his. It’s that good.
The words “clever,” “intelligent” and “groundbreaking” have seldom appeared in critics’ assessments of Twisted Sister, but that’s exactly what this 11-song collection is. […]
Aimee Mann’s plaintive voice seems better suited to songs of sorrow and loss than Yuletide spirit. But she manages to deliver Christmas classics that are quietly festive – though still poignant – on “One More Drifter in the Snow.”
The collection of standards and lesser-known holiday songs borrows from popular Christmas albums of decades past, […]
Tenor Carl Tanner has always found himself drawn to “O Holy Night,” a song he has performed in venues ranging from the lighting of the national Christmas Tree at the White House to midnight mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, so he chose it to be the centerpiece on his first album, a tuneful Christmas […]
The surprise here isn’t that Andreas Vollenweider has recorded a Christmas CD. The surprise is it took him this long to do it. He’s never recorded covers before, but his mixture of fantasy and exotica make him a perfect candidate to score a Yuletide album. At his best, he makes these carols sound like […]
The surprise here isn’t that Andreas Vollenweider has recorded a Christmas CD. The surprise is it took him this long to do it. He’s never recorded covers before, but his mixture of fantasy and exotica make him a perfect candidate to score a Yuletide album. At his best, he makes these carols sound like […]
