Each week I will listen to and review/preview a handful of the more interesting music albums released that week. The genres I will mainly focus on are Rock, Pop, Indie, Hip-Hop, Rap, and Electronic.
Happy holidays! Even though my travel plans are not as hectic this year as they were last year, I decided to keep the tradition of posting my Christmas album reviews this week. Have a holly-jolly holiday season!
Michael BubléChristmas - The multiple Grammy and Juno award winning crooner from British Columbia releases his second holiday album, his first being the five track EP Let it Snow from 2003. This album checks in with 15 tracks total and lasts over 50 minutes so it is much lengthier than his previous EP. There are a also couple of special guests lending their talents on the album; Shania Twain provides help on "White Christmas," Latin star Thalia teams up on "Feliz Navidad," and The Puppini Sisters do backup vocals on "Jingle Bells."
Christmas features one original song with the other 14 tracks being Christmas standards done in, primarily, a classic jazz or contemporary lounge style. Most of the songs are like the two that open that album, "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," which are done in the adult contemporary style one would expect with Buble's music in that it has instantly recognizable melodies but with more modern effects and instrumentation.
The real highlights are the whimsical adaptions like "Jingle Bells," a song I typically despise, but the quirky backup vocals by The Puppini Sisters (sounding even more like The Andrew Sisters than they normally do) make the song a real delight. The same can be said of Shania Twain's work on "White Christmas." Bublé's new, original song is fun and grows on you with repeated listens although it's not instantly catchy like the best Christmas songs are.
Christmas is the best holiday album released this year. Bublé's natural crooning style is a perfect fit for the Christmas music genre evoking memories of classic holiday albums from the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Mel Tormé. Yet Bublé is able to make the album his own not only through his unique vocal style but also with a jazzy accompaniment that is both retro and modern at the same time and with smartly used guest vocalists. Definitely the album you'll want playing when trimming your tree this holiday season.
Score:9/10 Song(s) to Sample: "Jingle Bells" [sample it below], "White Christmas" and "All I Want For Christmas Is You"
Justin Bieber Under the Mistletoe - Teen pop sensation Justin Bieber's second studio album is this Christmas release that features a ton of collaborators. The likes of Usher, Mariah Carey, Busta Rhymes, and Boys II Men all lend guest vocals on individual tracks while people like Sean Kingston, Taylor Swift, Randy Jackson and Chris Brown worked on the composition and production side of things. All of those guests make it a competently done album although there is a feeling of too-many-cooks-ruining-the-soup with the album struggling to find its balance between wanting to be a more classic Christmas album or being something Bieber's teen fans would adore. About half of the songs are original although the best of the new songs is the already heavily played "Mistletoe" which has a jaunty hook and a fun holiday feel. It's a step up from, say, the Disney Channel Christmas Album but it unfortunately lacks the childlike fun and whimsy of The Jackson Five's classic Christmas album that a teen heartthrob's holiday album should have.
Score: 5/10 Song(s) to Sample: "Mistletoe" [sample it below] and "The Christmas Song (ft. Usher)"
She & HimA Very She & Him Christmas - The indie folk/pop part-time collaboration between M. Ward (Monsters of Folk) and Zooey Deschanel (actress from Elf and "New Girl") release an album of Christmas standards. The disc has a dozen songs done in an intimate, slow tempo style featuring dual acoustic guitars providing most of the instrumentation on the album. As usual, Deschanel is the primary vocalist and she warbles in her limited but sultry way. Ward does sing both lead and backup on a couple of tracks and tracks like his "Christmas Wish" offer a nice respite as Deschanel's voice does come off as somewhat monotonous when sampled in large doses. Interestingly, the duo do duet on "Baby It's Cold Outside," a song she famously sang in a more memorable manner in the movie Elf. Overall, this Christmas album is very laid back, almost to the point of excess where it waivers between being treacly sweet and overly droll. But the brevity of the disc works in their favor here as by the point you start to feel yourself about to yawn it has already neared its end. Not an album you can listen to repeatedly while wrapping your holiday presents but if you intersperse it with your other Christmas favorites, A Very She & Him Christmas won't let you down.
Score:6.5/10 Song(s) to Sample:"Christmas Wish" [sample it below] and "Sleigh Ride"
CalexicoSelections from Road Atlas 1998-2011 - The indie rock/alternative country band from Tuscon, Arizona releases a selection of songs previously only available from albums sold at their live concerts. The songs from this disc are culled from a set of twelve vinyl albums titled Road Atlas that collects the tour-only CDs you could only previously get when the band performed live. Most of the tracks are from studio recordings although there are a couple of songs recorded live as well.
I'm not the biggest expert on Calexico's past albums, but from what I can determine there's only one track ("Crystal Frontier") that was previously included on a past album and the version on this release is the so-called 'original version.' Most of the tracks are tinged with a country music slant which shouldn't be a surprise to people that have listened to the band before although there are a handful of tracks that feature a funkier side of the band than I've heard previously, at least on this consistent a basis over a single album.
Overall, there are sixteen tracks in total on the disc with about a half dozen of the tracks being purely instrumental. It's a well diverse selection of songs from the band that covers the different moods they typically display on an album with folk pop vocals commonly mixing with country music influenced melodies. This disc makes for a worthy introduction to the band to the uninitiated and is solid pickup for longer term fans that probably didn't purchase all twelve discs that were only available at the live shows.
Score:7.5/10 Song(s) to Sample: "All the Pretty Horses" [sample it below], "Lost in Space" and "Crystal Frontier (Original version)"
Michael JacksonImmortal - This is the second release to posthumously bear the King of Pop's name since his untimely death. How is it he's become more prolific at releasing albums since he passed away than he was in the last decade of his life? Ah, good ol' corporate greed. This is actually an album of remixed and recombined songs to accompany the new Cirque de Soleil show about the beloved gloved one. The songs were redesigned by producer Kevin Antunes (Justin Timberlake, Rihanna) although there seems to be less remixing on this album than you can find on Cirque de Soleil's previous albums' of tribute shows on the Beatles and on Elvis. Most of the remixes/reworkings are above average although there are a few like the "Beat It/State of Shock" reworking that fails on multiple levels. Overall, Immortal makes for a decent remixed Best of album for the King of Pop although there's not enough in terms of new sounds or new songs to entice longtime fans to purchase this release unless they want a memento to accompany seeing the show.
Score: 6/10 Song(s) to Sample: "Man in the Mirror (Immortal version)" and "Can You Feel It/Don't Stop Til You Get Enough (Immortal Megamix)" [sample it below]
Kate Bush50 Words For Snow - The prolific British chanteuse of "Running Up That Hill" releases her second album this year and tenth studio album overall. This is also her second album to be released on her self-created label, Fish People. There are only seven tracks total on this album lasting over 60-minutes so the tracks run on the lengthy side. It's an extremely somber and mellow disc from Bush with the tracks exhibiting lengthy, morose piano refrains and somber vocal tracks. Not that one would expect up tempo songs on a concept album about walking in the snow but there's about as much life to be found on this album as can be found during a blizzard on the Alaskan plains in the middle of January. Even normally buoyant guests vocalists like Elton John and Stephen Fry fail to bring any to life the album. It's an extremely somnambulistic disc that I couldn't get into at all that had me wanting to take a nap about two or three tracks in. One of the most disappointing releases of the year to date.
Various ArtistsThe 30th Annual John Lennon Tribute - This tribute to one of the Beatles was recorded live at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. The songs given to us mostly cover Lennon's solo career but there are a few ditties from his Beatles years as well. Some of the wide array of artists lending their talents to this album include The Kennedys, Keb' Mo', Joan Osborne, Patti Smith, and Aimee Mann. There are fifteen tracks in total with no song and no artist being represented more than once.
The album opens well with strong and mostly faithful versions of "Power to the People" and "And Your Bird Can Sing" by Rich Pagano and The Kennedys, respectively. Unfortunately what follows is a forgettable version of "God" by Meshell Ngedeocello and a slow and stripped down version of "Help!" by Alejandro Escovedo that loses both the fun and desperation of the original. The tracks that really stood apart in a positive way are the slightly blues-y "Watching The Wheels" by Taj Mahal & Vusi Mahlaseli, Keb' Mo's synthesizer heavy and deeply sentimental "In My Life", Bettye LaVette's gospel interpretation of "The Word", and Aimee Mann's faithful cover of "Jealous Guy".
Overall, it's an above average tribute album especially given that all the tracks were recorded from live performances. There are a couple of covers that don't work well because of the funky arrangements by the covering artists but there's more good than bad to be found on the disc as a whole. In fact, after an inconsistent start to the album, it really finds its legs by the middle of the album offering one delectable cover after another by the middle of the disc beginning with Joan Osborne's Hey Bulldog through Jackson Browne's You've Got To Hide Your Love Away before losing its way again, although to a lesser degree, towards the end of the album. Those seven tracks in the middle are worth the price of admission, are a real treat to fans of John Lennon, and make a fine tribute to the man himself.
Score: 8/10 Song(s) to Sample:Aimee Mann's "Jealous Guy" [sample a short recording from the concert below] and Bettye LaVette's "The Word"
Betty Wright and The RootsBetty Wright: The Movie - Betty Wright is the Grammy winning Soul/R&B singer and songwriter best known for her hits from the 70's, "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is The Night", so don't confuse her with former Golden Girl Betty White like a friend of mine did! ("Betty White is singing on an album with The Roots??? How cool!" Uh, no.) On this release the classic Soul diva teams up with modern hip-hop legends The Roots to give us a disc of new songs with funky throwback melodies behind Wright's soulful warbling. The Roots once again does its job wringing out as much as they can from the simplified throwback melodies and Wright's vocals still sound good. Wright also gets a handful of great guest vocalists to assist on individual tracks like Snoop Dogg, Lil' Wayne, and Joss Stone. The thing that prevents this album from being a classic is the songwriting in general is nothing special with many credible jams on the album but no standout singles to attract casual listeners to the release. Fans of Wright and of soul music in general won't regret picking up this album but it won't be a crossover hit for Wright, unfortunately. Still, for an artist that hasn't released a solo album in about a decade, it's a decent album that will mainly appeal to her fans from times past.
Score: 7/10 Song(s) to Sample:"Real Woman (ft. Snoop Dogg)" and "Baby Come Back (ft. Lenny Williams)"
The Color BarsProsopopoeia - The Color Bars is a quirky indie pop band from Brooklyn, NY. How quirky are they? Well, according to their bio on MySpace, the band began "as three mildly autistic doorknobs with nothing but a swimming pool full of pureed television sets and a petri dish full of bone cells from the spine of Joseph Stalin." Okie-dokey then. Their music features primarily guitar and synthesizer driven melodies with a male lead singer although some of the songs feature both male and female leads/vocal harmonies. Prosopopoeia is a smart and sweet album in the vein of Matt & Kim and Apples in Stereo that I enjoyed a great deal from beginning to end. The first single off the album, "Mustached Messiah", is a keyboard heavy song with a clever hook and cleverly worded lyrics that should find radio airplay hopefully in the near future. While songs like "TripleSSS" show a funkier side with jive-heavy synthesizer work and disco era vocals. It's a high quality album in a fun, jaunty indie pop style wherein the band smartly incorporates various indie genres to create an album that never seems tired or overly derivative of another band.
Score:9/10 Song(s) to Sample: "Mustached Messiah", "TripleSSS", and "Mendax Cries Fowl"
