New Music Reviews - 5/10/2011 - Raphael Saadiq, The Cars, & Sam Roberts Band

Raphael Saadiq Stone Rollin' - The Oakland born and former member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Tone! releases a new album of old school R&B jams.  His last album, 2008's The Way I See It, garnered three Grammy nominations and was voted best album on iTunes for the year.  While his last album was buoyed by guest artists like Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone and Jay-Z; this album has a more self-centered approach with only Swedish-Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano getting guest credit on this album (although former Earth, Wind and Fire member Larry Dunn does help out on another track).  Let's see if Saadiq can recreate the magic of his previous album without the household names helping out.

"Heart Attack" opens the album with a 70's funk beat in a song that's part James Brown and part Rick James with it's thumping bass guitar work and effective Soul lead guitar work.  "Stone Rollin'" has a modern Blues feel with Southern harmonica playing with well layered guitar work to create a silky song.  "Day Dreams" has a simpler and older Blues feel that allows Saadiq's singing and the backup vocals to really shine (especially during the catchy hook) and drive the song over the accompanying guitar and piano playing.  "Movin' Down the Line" has a slower tempo with subdued horn work and feels like a 60's Motown song in terms of melody although the singing style is more reminiscent of 70's Soul song.  "Just Don't" is a real standout track with one of the smoothest arrangements on the album with big orchestrations that never go overboard nor do they threaten to overwhelm the silky vocal harmonies. 

Raphel Saadiq proves with Stone Rollin' that the success he had with his last album was no fluke nor was it due to the many superstar guest artists that contributed as the songs given to us on this album match and surpass them in many ways.  The album is chock full of R&B-influenced songs from past decades although it's impossible to shoehorn the individual songs into any one particular style as Saadiq borrows from and is influenced by songsmiths from the earliest Motown days to more rocking Soul acts like a Bo Diddly or a Chuck Berry.  Not only does he borrow the style of past greats, he's also able to recreate the magic that made those previous artists so special while still adding small modern touches so the songs never come off as dated.  Stone Rollin' is head and shoulders above all other recent R&B releases and it proves that the 2008 album's success was no fluke nor was its success reliant on the big name guest artists that helped out. 

Score:  9/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Heart Attack" and "Just Don't" [sample it below]

The Cars Move Like This - Only one year shy of having a quarter of a century pass since they last released an album, Ric Ocasek and the boys are back with a their first new album since 1987.  Their new album features all of the original band members except for the late Benjamin Orr (1947-2000) who played bass and helped provide vocals with Ocasek.  Rather than replace Orr, the band either programmed the bass parts or had lead keyboardist Greg Hawkes lay it down with Ocasek solely providing the vocals on the album.  Now let's see if the band can recapture our imaginations like they did in the 80's.

The 10-track disc opens with "Blue Tip" which is a New Wave revival song with heavy emphasis on keyboards and synthesizers before familiar-sounding 80's guitar riffs are added.  Ocasek's vocals are instantly recognizable although he doesn't display the same range he did in the past.  "Soon" is a guitar driven rock ballad although Ocasek's voice is poorly matched with the song.  "Free" is a harder rocking New Wave song that has some dated keyboard work although it does feature some of the album's niftier guitar riffs.   "Take Another Look" is another throwback song although the early guitar work is most reminiscent of the jams the band used to give to us but the rest of the instrumentation and vocals are snooze inducing. 

Move Like This sounds like an extremely dated album that might have been fresh in the mid-80's but now just sounds terribly out of place in modern times. In a few of the songs, the band is somewhat able to recapture a sound that is similar to what they produced in their glory days but at no point on the album are they able to reconjure the magic they used to bring to their hits.  Also, Orr's presence is definitely missed as his voice would have better complimented some of the songs on the album than Ocasik's now somewhat raspy warble does ("Too Late" and "Soon" are two that spring to mind).  Using a couple of the song titles from the disc, Move Like This isn't so horrible that it seems to "Drag on Forever" but the sound is so dated that I doubt I will ever "Take Another Look" at the album. 

Score:  3/10
Song(s) to Sample:  "Blue Tip" [sample it below]

Sam Roberts Band Collider - Sam Roberts is a popular Canadian indie/rock music singer/songwriter.  His previous three albums all charted in the top three of the Canadian music charts with his last album reaching all the way to number one.  The previous albums all came out under the Sam Roberts moniker although on this album he/they rename themselves as the Sam Roberts Band although it looks like membership is pretty much the same as it was on the last album.  The band is also a multiple Juno Awards recipient, the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy.  Although the band's quite popular with our neighbors to the North, I hadn't experienced any of their music before so let's get on to the review! 

The album opens with "The Last Crusade" which showcases the robust indie sound the band gives with the numerous instruments they slowly incorporate like acoustic and electric guitars, horns, and even a some cowbell thrown in for good measure on top of the normal instruments you would expect from a rock band.  "Let It In" is a guitar driven song with a fun, jangly melody but it's the song's catchy hook that will have you playing it over and over again.  "Streets of Heaven (Promises, Promises)" starts off simply with an acoustic guitar before adding a funkier bass line and more subdued overall orchestration that meshes well with the Jack White-esque vocal style Roberts uses at the beginning of the tune.  While a song like "Sang Froid" is done in a quicker, guitar driven pop/rock style yet the album transitions smoothly from the two similar but not always compatible styles seamlessly. 

Collider is a well put together and entertaining album that had me add the band to my iTunes/Amazon "to get" list to see if their past releases had the same fun energy.  The band's music sounds similar in style and tone to a more active Pinback or a less harmonious Ambulance LTD with its infectious melodies with lots of indie-sounding life .  Roberts' vocals have a light modern feel and is done in a sing-song manner that helps add depth to the tracks.  There are one or two songs that could have been left off the album but those end up being very small bumps on one extremely smooth journey. 

Score:  8/10
Song(s) to Sample:  "Let It In" and "The Last Crusade" [sample it below]