HEROES & THIEVES - VANESSA CARLTON
Left-field thrill-seekers hoping for a hip-hop makeover on Vanessa Carlton’s debut for Irv Gotti’s The Inc. stand to be disappointed by “Heroes & Thieves.” Nowhere on her third album does the 27-year-old piano-pop princess rap, and only once, on the drum-line-assisted “Nolita Fairytale,” does a beat threaten to overshadow keys or strings. Fans of Carlton’s indelible white-chick anthem “A Thousand Miles,” on the other hand, have plenty to be excited about: “Heroes” presents another batch of appealingly wistful reflections on life and love. As “Nolita” and “Spring Street” suggest, the new album documents Carlton’s recent (mis)adventures in her adopted home of New York with ex-boyfriend (and producer) Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind. Don’t skip “The One,” on which Carlton duets with Stevie Nicks, whom she probably wouldn’t mind becoming.
