Fortune's Favor
Great Big Sea
Warner Music Canada 2008.
Great Big Sea's latest release, Fortune's Favor, departs from the previous release (The Hard and the Easy) and returns to the pattern of previous albums such as Play.
Where the Hard and the Easy was entirely the folk songs of Newfoundland, the majority of the songs in Fortune's Favor are rock or folk rock in sound. There are a few of the traditional types of music, such as the songs England and Banks of Newfoundland.
I personally prefer the Irish folk songs of The Hard and the Easy, so while this album does not have as many of those, there are enough to keep me happy. The rock songs are decent, not bad by any measure, just not what I listen to Great Big Sea for. If you are a fan of Great Big Sea I do not think you will be disappointed with this album, as it is more of what they do best. If you like folk rock or east coast folk music you should give this album a listen to as well. If on the other hand you are into more modern "Urban" style sound, then this album is not for you.
Underclass Hero
Sum 41
Montréal : Aquarius Records, p2007
"Weird Al" Yankovic may have stolen a bit of Sum 41's thunder when he wrote "Canadian Idiot" for his latest album. The Great White North (now L.A.-based) trio's fourth full-length is, wittingly or not, something of a homage to Green Day's "American Idiot," from its thematic (though not narrative) "us against them" unity to the fierce political sloganeering of "March of the Dogs" to the sophisticated arrangements that bolster Sum 41's punk roots with references to Queen, Weezer and Linkin Park. And with its acoustic guitar and strings, "So Long Goodbye"--a paean to departed guitarist Dave Brownsound--ends the album on a decidedly "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" note. But don't write off "Underclass Hero" as mere imitation; its growth feels genuine and, unlike Sum 41's punk peers, its musical maturation doesn't come at the expense of that all-important snotty 'tude.
Review from Billboard - Gary Graff,7/28/07.
Absolute Garbage
Garbage
Santa Monica, CA : Almo Sounds, p2007
Check Catalogue Availability
A newly recorded Garbage single, "Tell Me Where It Hurts," will be included on an upcoming best-of collection, "Absolute Garbage." Due July 17 via Geffen, the CD/DVD set includes 17 audio tracks on its first disc, a second disc with 14 remixes and a DVD with 15 music videos, live clips and behind-the-scenes footage. Among the acts chipping in with remixes on the bonus disc are UNKLE, Massive Attack, the Crystal Method, Todd Terry and Felix Da Housecat.
Review from Billboard - Jonathan Cohen.
Zeitgeist
Smashing Pumpkins
[United States] : Reprise, p2007
The long, weird saga of the Smashing Pumpkins opens a new chapter with "Zeitgeist," their first disc since splitting in 2000. The group was always primarily a fancy name for Billy Corgan anyway, so this quote-fingers comeback, which features only he and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin from the glory days, is actually more genuine than most. It's still a mess, though an ambitious and grandiose one. Corgan certainly hasn't forgotten how to make a Pumpkins record, as gleaming serrated guitars, fantastic torrents of drums and twisting layers of vocals dominate. But though his celestial indulgences are still in place (especially on "United States," the record's end-times centerpiece), Corgan's rock tracks sound weirdly thin, an odd development coming from Queen vet Roy Thomas Baker. He's more disarmingly effective on tracks like "That's the Way (My Love Is)," a pop gem that leaps off the record, and the "Mellon Collie"-referencing closer "Pomp and Circumstance."
Review from:Vrabel, Jeff. "The Smashing Pumpkins: Zeitgeist." Billboard 119.28 (July 14, 2007): 43(1)
Both Sides Now
Mitchell, Joni.
Scarborough, ON: Distributed by Warner Music Canada, p2000.
Review from Christian Science Monitor - Norman Weinstein
Three decades ago, an obscure Canadian folk chanteuse by the name of Joni Mitchell recorded 'Both Sides Now,' an original, wistful tune she hardly imagined at the time would become a hit.
Eighteen albums later, Mitchell has re-recorded 'Both Sides Now' with 70 members of the London Symphony Orchestra backing her. And the song finds solid company with jazz and pop standards about love and its discontents drawn from the last half-century on Both Sides Now (Reprise). Its release Feb. 8, in a special limited edition with three of Mitchell's original lithographs, was timed for Valentine's Day. The regular CD issue will be available after March 21.
While Mitchell is far from the first female pop vocalist to nostalgically mine old romantic standards backed by a huge orchestra - Linda Ronstadt's collaborations with Nelson Riddle come to mind - hers is the most movingly accomplished recording marking a major stylistic shift from pop vocalist to dramatic torch singer.
Following in Billie Holiday's footsteps
Part of her success needs to be credited to arranger and conductor Vince Mendoza, whose thickly voiced and finely detailed arrangements do for Mitchell what Ray Ellis's similar arrangements did for Billie Holiday's final recordings. The sumptuously rich massing of strings and woodwinds brings a symphonic richness to songs that are mini-dramas largely about lack and loss.
The connection between Mitchell and Holiday is immediately apparent when hearing Mitchell's version of 'You've Changed,' a song identified with the end of Holiday's career. Both singers understate the agony of lost love while surrounded by strings that ironically counterpoint the lyrical expression of emptiness with a powerful, full sound.
To read the rest, visit the database Canadian Reference Centre. (You may be prompted for your library card number.)
The Good, The Bad and The Queen
The Good, The Bad and The Queen.
[Beverly Hills, CA]: Virgin Records, p2007.
Damon Albarn spent the first half of his career as a pop provocateur, but he's spent the second half as a musician, and nobody seems more surprised about this than he is. After achieving Nineties stardom with Blur,, he's settled into a head-down, hardworking life of adventurous projects like Gorillaz and his new band, the Good, the Bad and the Queen. The group is an odd mix, to say the least - Clash bassist Paul Simonon, Verve guitarist Simon Tong and Africa 70 drummer Tony Alien, plus the production of Danger Mouse. But the eclectic elements combine for dark, muted balladry a la Syd Barrett or the Beatles' White Album, with a touch of dub. Fantastic tunes like 'Kingdom of Doom,' 'Nature Springs' and the doo-wop pastiche '8o's Life' set the tone for the album's strange beauty, but it peaks with the cinematic strings and megaphone-vocal melancholy of 'Herculean.'
Review from Rolling Stone -- Rob Sheffield
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The Arockalypse
Lordi
[United States]: The End Records, p2006.
- Tracks:
- SCG3 special report
- Bringing back the balls to rock
- The deadite girls gone wild
- The kids who wanna play with the dead
- It snows in hell
- Who's your daddy
- Hard rock hallelujah
- They only come out at night
- Chainsaw buffet
- Good to be bad
- The night of the loving dead
- Supermonstars
If Beavis, Butt-Head, Jack Black and Ronnie James Dio sat down together to imagine their ideal band, the end result would probably be something a lot like Lordi. Never seen out of its lords-of-the-Klingon-underworld get-ups, the Finnish band powered onto the scene last year when it won the fifty-year-old Eurovision Song Contest, which usually rewards the likes of Abba. Guest spots by Twisted Sister's Jay Jay French and Kiss' Bruce Kulick are obvious nods to Lordi's costumed predecessors, but this band seems much more in on the joke than those groups ever were. 'Bitch, who's your daddy?' bellows singer Mr. Lordi, employing an almost dance-rock chorus against Judas Priest-style guitar riffs. The one Lordi will be remembered for, though, is 'Hard Rock Hallelujah,' a bombastic tribute to rock & roll, complete with a demonic backing choir, Dio-like banshee wails and killer lines, including "On the day of rock-oning, it's who dares wins." The day of rock-oning has arrived.
Review from Rolling Stone -- Andy Greene
So Jealous
Tegan and Sara
[Vancouver]: Superclose Music; Toronto: Distributed by Universal Music Canada, p2004.
Canadian twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin were barely out of high school when Neil Young and Ryan Adams began singing their praises. Young, gay and wielding acoustic guitars, a Lilith Fair tour and an Ani DiFranco-esque debut album (This Business of Art) could've sealed a semi-obscure indie-folk future for the duo. But the siblings' collective musical heart yearns for Eighties pop, and on their third release they set their confessional lyrics to buoyant punk-pop melodies and flood their mostly three-minute-and-under tunes with synth-y keyboards (provided by ex-Weezer/Rentals member Matt Sharp) and an occasional rhythm lifted from the Cars. The twins' vocals are more girlish than angsty, which makes lines like "I wouldn't like me if I met me" ("You Wouldn't Like Me") all the more charming. Co-produced by like-minded Canucks John Collins (New Pornographers) and David Carswell (Smugglers), who also worked on their second release, So Jealous reveals flashes of brilliance and hints at what is bound to be a long, fertile career ahead, especially in the build-up of the cleverly arranged "Where Does the Good Go", and the completely addictive "Speak Slow", which sounds like Sleater-Kinney on a sugar-candy-and-Toni-Basil bender.
Review from Rolling Stone -- Meredith Ochs
Light Grenades
Incubus.
United States: Epic Records, p2006.
Like a fine wine, mature is the word which best describes the sound on Incubus' new album titled Light Grenades. Unlike that same fine wine, mature isn't always better especially coming from a band known for its diverse musical styles. Incubus was always one of those bands that were difficult to define and put a label on, and that was what made them special. Their mix of hip/funk/rap/metal tones always made them sound unique. Bands like 311 or Red Hot Chili Peppers are easier to label, which I like to call funk rock. That said, Light Grenades is a very different album than their previous releases, in some ways good and in some ways not so good.
First the good. There are some really great tracks on this album, most notably 'Anna Molly' and in particular, 'Dig'. 'Dig' is a track which sounds like Incubus' attempt to break top 40 commercial status. The lyrics are quality as Brandon Boyd melodically sings out "If I turn into another, dig me up from under what is covering the better part of me! Sing this song. Remind me that we'll always have each other when everything else is gone". The hook, verses, and chorus really invite and draw one into the song. The album also starts out rockin' heavy with 'Quicksand' which is basically an intro for 'A Kiss To Send Us Off'. The track 'Pendulous Threads' is probably the most typical sounding of their previous work.
Now the not so good. The entire second half of the album is almost forgettable. It almost seems as if the creative fuse just burned out halfway through the writing phase. The wild and chaotic title track Light Grenades is sandwiched between two ballad-like tracks in 'Love Hurts' and 'Earth to Bella Part 1'. The theme of this album seems to be love, or the lack thereof. The album almost feels too somber as if someone in the band really had their heart crushed recently.
Mature, Light Grenades is. Incubus' best album, it is not. They are showing that they are a career band and in it for the long haul (after all they have been together since 1991 minus a couple of roster changes), but they have diverged so far from what made them the great band they once were. They have progressed into a more mature sounding band, and that's the problem. Light Grenades is a decent album, but Make Yourself and Morning View are classic sounding Incubus albums, and are better.
Year Zero
Nine Inch Nails
Universal Music Group, 2007.
Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails (NIN) have jumped headfirst into the world of politics with their newest album release titled Year Zero, so much so that the whole album is oozing about many of the social issues that are affecting America today such as the new global war on terror, the military industrial complex, the loss of fundamental liberties and freedoms, and the resultant new world to be.
The album is Reznor's prophetic attempt to describe a world that he sees coming in about a decade or so. Specifically, the date 2022 is being thrown around, contrary to the more popular 2012 doom-and-gloom prophecies. It is a no-holds-barred assault on our senses with strong lyrics and fat, raunchy synthetic sounds which are the trademarks of NIN.
Year Zero is both a step forward and a step back in that he seems to be going back to a sound that is classic NIN yet delves into the world of politics like an activist on a mission. The album is accompanied by several multimedia add-ons such as links to several new websites, a new flag of the so-called "resistance", a mock "turn yourself in" toll-free hotline that dials the mock "US Bureau of Morality", all of which are above and beyond the album itself. The CD also has a special thermo-chrome heat-sensitive coating that changes its face when heated, displaying binary code. In other words, the CD looks different before and after you play it (just don't stick a lighter under it).
Gimmicks aside, the album is quite good if you're into NIN. Not as good as say The Downward Spiral or The Fragile, but still highly recommended for all NIN fans.