Angie Stone joins the reactivated Stax imprint with her fourth studio album “The Art of Love & War,” which is more about the former than the latter, and emphasizes gratitude above anything else. “God’s been too good to me to take things lightly,” she announces on “Take Everything,” and the songs strive to “keep […]
It took personal experience for LeAnn Rimes to get to the point where she could write, record and release “Family,” the sum of an extraordinary, still young life. But just because it’s a personal album doesn’t mean it doesn’t speak to the masses. The title cut is a rocking and defiant warning that no […]
That veteran Southern rockers Johnny (Lynyrd Skynyrd) and Donnie (.38 Special) Van Zant are releasing their second country album should surprise no one. They didn’t come to country — country came to them. One only need scan the country charts to realize how much they’ve influenced today’s country sound. But the rock legends don’t […]
Beirut leading man Zach Condon was not shy about the concept of his recent effort. Each song is inspired by a different city in France, the packaging featuring sepia photos from a bygone era. Condon’s melodramatic, dreamboat voice evokes romance and nostalgia, punctuated with the sounds of a street horn ensemble, strings, accordion, layered […]
The duo of siblings Adolfo and Gustavo Angel is the top-selling contemporary romantic Mexican grupo, known for original ballads that blend a grupero vibe with pop-leaning arrangements. But this first studio album in three years veers into territory previously covered by the brothers on “Veintisiete,” a covers album of ranchera standards. Some purists may […]
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 […]
Alter Bridge has been determined since its inception to be its own band instead of a Creed legacy — no easy task considering that three of its members hail from the latter outfit. But “Blackbird” documents a surprising evolution. Opening track “Ties That Bind” shows that the incorporation of singer Myles Kennedy as a […]
In the company of bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bill Stewart, John Scofield lays down some nicely contrasting pieces on this blend of seven originals and three covers. “Shoe Dog,” an ambling number with a slightly bent country feel, features a sweet give-and-take between Scofield’s twangful guitar and Swallow’s throaty bassline. “Memorette” has a […]
Judging by “Is There a Ghost,” the soaring, turbulent wash of guitars and reverb-laden vocals that open “Cease to Begin,” Band of Horses is aiming for the sky on its sophomore Sub Pop effort. There are additional moments of stoner-friendly guitar heroics, particularly the stirring, circular riffs propelling the early U2-ish “Islands on the […]
Four years after its last studio album, Cafe Tacuba (aka Cafe Tacvba) delivers a welcome return with its latest — even if it doesn’t recall the patchwork of rock and folklore, or the outer-limits experimentalism, that put the group on the map more than a decade ago. Though the sonic textures here may be reminiscent […]
If J. Lo really wanted to get bold, she would have led off her fifth album with its namesake track. It’s a declaration of newfound fearlessness that Lopez sings like a nymphish Madonna, set to a steady beat and triumphant strings. The song is so good and convincingly personal that you want the rest […]
Oh, yeah — Kid Rock makes music, too. It’s possible to lose sight of that amid the headline-making Pamela Anderson/Tommy Lee shenanigans, and Rock’s declining sales since 1998’s breakthrough “Devil Without a Cause” has thrown the personality/performer equilibrium a little out of whack. “Jesus” makes a strong bid to change that. “Amen” offers gospel-flavored […]
As the title “Songs of Mass Destruction” implies, it’s hardly tea time on Annie Lennox’s fourth solo album in 15 years. She uses every delicate edge of her dusky, seductive voice to paint a world-weary portrait of dreams lost, love scattered, shivering cold. Opener/first single “Dark Road” and cloudy, meandering “Lost” are definitive, gorgeous […]
