If Hollywood’s marriage with pop music is too often a marketing-driven shotgun affair, there remain musicians whose artistry can’t help but elevate whatever film project they’re associated with. This 19-track compendium underscores that notion, gathering a career-spanning collection of the Irish rock-R&B legend’s contributions to an eclectic body of films that stretches from Pope […]
Fans of Rickie Lee Jones and Jesus Christ can decide whether this devotional music is rapturously spiritual or deliriously strange. It sounds like nothing Jones has previously released, or anything characterizable as contemporary Christian. Instead, her voice soars and wobbles through repetitive, stream-of-consciousness incantations over rhythmic throbs and pulses. On “Where I Like It […]
If your impressions of Ashley Tisdale are fuzzy around the edges but include visions of singing schoolgirls, blond supercuteness, and shrieking, hysterical 10-year-olds, you’ll want to check them at the door before checking out Headstrong. It’s not that fourth graders won’t like the long-limbed High School Musical star’s hooky, happy, and at times hyper […]
The follow-up to their smash debut, “Silent Alarm”, is every bit as bright, powerful, and catchy, with the addition of more muscle, attitude, depth, and a bit of polish courtesy of their producer, Jacknife Lee (U2, Snow Patrol). Inspired by lead singer Kele Okereke’s interest in what he calls “the living noise of a […]
As a Sinatra-molded swinger, Harry Connick, Jr. may have had some of his thunder stolen by young star Michael Buble. But with his raved-about performance on Broadway in Pajama Game and his continuing development as a jazz pianist, he’s doing quite nicely, thank you. Chanson du Vieux Carre is one of two new simultaneously […]
Thrive Records, home to the world’s biggest DJ’s, brings you the biggest dance compilation of 2007: ThriveMix03. This twenty-four track, double CD continuous mix features a combination of the latest club smashes along with hard to find dancefloor remixes of some of today’s biggest hits. Mixed by DJ Skribble, from MTV’s Spring Break, and […]
Pop enthusiasts might be quick to dismiss Lily Allen as just another bratty Brit import. But the vibrant young singer proves anything but on her unexpectedly saucy debut “Alright, Still.” (Released last summer in the United Kingdom, the disc is just now touching ground in the States.) Whether the foul-mouthed songstress is cursing her […]
This beautiful record may be the best of the new century’s glut of second-generation visits to the Great American Songbook. Here, Garfunkel embraces 13 standards that are right up the 65-year-old singer’s Tin Pan Alley. A few songs (”I Remember You,” “You Stepped Out of a Dream” and “Quiet Night of Quiet Stars”) have […]
Broadway audiences know Elisabeth Withers as Shug Avery in “The Color Purple.” The singer/songwriter is also a graduate of the Berklee School of Music and New York University. But don’t let those credentials fool you into thinking Withers is a highbrow who doesn’t possess the right stuff to command mainstream attention. Right from the […]
From the opening bars of “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” to the closing notes of, er, well, “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” (the album is book-ended by a solo version and one that features longtime pals Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw) Lawrence’s first release on his own label is as comfortable as […]
My Morning Jacket so utterly conquers “It Makes No Difference,” whipping it into an enrapturing, heart-jarring, sax- and organ-laced epic, it kind of makes you feel sorry for the other 16 artists on this tribute to iconic roots-rock innovator the Band. At disc’s end, not even relative unknown Steve Reynolds’ worthy take on “Stage […]
In advance of a North American tour, the Soweto Gospel Choir unveils “African Spirit,” with 19 dazzling tracks, sung in Zulu, Sotho or English. This choir is versatile; “Avulekile Amasango/One Love” begins with a very cool bit of township jive that segues effortlessly into the classic Bob Marley tune. There is a powerful live […]
Baby Spice is about to pass on her moniker to someone more suitable.
Former Spice Girl Emma Bunton announced Friday she’s expecting her first child with her boyfriend of more than eight years, British boy-band alum Jade Jones.
“We are so happy, it’s unbelievable news!” Bunton and Jones said in a posting on her Website. “We’re really […]
The Police have booked rehearsal space for their upcoming reunion tour, according to reports.
The news seems to confirm claims that the band are on the brink of reforming, more than 20 years since they last played live.
Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland are expected to reunite at Lions Gate Studios in Vancouver in the coming […]
