Grammy Award-winning 2005 best new artist Maroon5 makes good on the promise of its potential by making a mighty return with daring, playful dance jam “Makes Me Wonder,” which takes on top 40’s resistance to straight-ahead uptempo pop. To say this song is hook-laden is like suggesting that Angelina Jolie has a mild maternal instinct […]
Still pumped from last year’s sold-out “Have a Nice Day” tour, Bon Jovi readies a new studio album, “Lost Highway,” due in June. Lead single “(You Want To) Make a Memory” is a surprisingly sparse and intimate ballad about two long-ago lovers getting in touch again. Over a pulsing crescendo of acoustic guitars, piano and […]
Bigger than emo, Fall Out Boy has evolved into a voracious powerhouse feeding on a myriad of influences. You can hear snippets of R&B, soul, punk, arena-rock and teen-pop on “High on Infinity,” the Illinois quartet’s new album, which is packed with catchy, clever songs. One of two tracks produced by Babyface, “Thnks fr th […]
With throwback anthem “Lips of an Angel,” Hinder scored a momentus radio hit that soared hard on the heels of Nickelback and calls to mind pop-metal anthems of the neon ’80s. Another catchy power ballad, the acoustic-based “Better Than Me,” is smaller and less bombastic, but equally infectious. It opens softly with finger-picked guitars, relying […]
Five years after solo debut, “Simply Deep” sold 2 million records, Destiny’s Child alumna Kelly Rowland returns. The lead single, Polow Da Don’s drum-friendly “Like This,” unfortunately, buries her usually soulful voice and diva-esque harmonies behind a gimmick-ridden pop radio-friendly track, which, while set up to seduce top 40 and clubs (and particularly females who […]
Meat Loaf scores quite the coup, enlisting Jennifer Hudson on a track from “Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose.” In fact, this is the only major-label recording other than “Dreamgirls” that she has thus far appeared on. With an Academy Award win and the public’s general warm fuzzy for the artist, timing […]
JoJo does Toto. Delicious, and not just phonetically. This clever third single from the teen’s sophomore album, “The High Road,” takes the melodic hook from the group’s 1982 No. 1 chestnut “Africa,” places it on endless loop and adds an entirely new lyrical melody on top. Get that? “Anything” is not a cover, not a […]
“Hard Rock Hallelujah” opens with a church organ that sounds the requiem for taking rock too damn seriously. Lordi glories in a rave-up that stomps nu metal’s sobbing inner child into the ground with platform monster boots. True, “Hallelujah” isn’t far removed from ’80s hair metal, but it doesn’t depend on of-the-moment production, so it […]
The launch single from Josh Groban’s current “Awake,” “You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up)” again reaped top 10 rewards at AC, in spite of the format’s November-December indulgence of Christmas music. Follow-up “February Song” is more adventurous and features the majestic singer’s most alluring, elegant hook to date. Amid a lyric of hope for perfection […]
Infamous for a lack of format-exclusive artists, AC radio has embraced romantic piano man Jim Brickman with a record-breaking 24 chart smackeroos. The latest offering from current “Escape,” “Never Alone” features vocals from country-esque trio Lady Antebellum’s lead singer, 20-year-old Hillary Scott, with Brickman lending signature keyboards to a lyric professing steadfast love. Brickman has […]
Dashboard Confessional’s last album, “Dusk and Summer,” abandoned emo dramas in favor of arena rock, not long after touring with U2. For sunset ballad “Stolen,” Chris Carrabba keeps vocal catharsis to a minimum, sending only a few whispery lines over a soulful, less-is-more groove that unabashedly quotes “With or Without You.” Anyone can write a […]
“Tough” is one of those slice-of-life ballads that will make women smile and men nod in agreement. The first verse finds a man marveling at all the things his wife does every day as she chauffeurs the kids, runs errands, does aerobics and always smiles when he walks through the door. In the second verse, […]
On fourth album “Good Morning Revival,” Good Charlotte tones down signature pop-punk banner and etches a more straight-ahead rock stencil, albeit with iron-clad melodies that would bob grandpa’s head to the beat. Following late-2006 introductory viral MySpace single “Keep Your Hands Off My Girl,” the band gets down to business with “The River,” a fist-pumping, […]
Paisley previewed this clever uptempo number at last month’s Country Radio Seminar during the label’s annual showcase cruise aboard the General Jackson riverboat. If the roar of laughter coming from country programmers in attendance was any indication, here is Paisley’s next No. 1. The lyric chronicles a guy’s barroom come-on to a pretty girl — […]
