Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
This week's snack-sized helping of new album releases comes to you a week late courtesy of a dead hard drive, and on the same day that BC launches it's bee-yoo-tee-full extreme makeover of a new look.
So, how ya' like us now?
Anyway, with last week's computer problems hopefully solved permanently, we're letting our good pal Josh Hathaway break the rules a bit to talk about the delectable new slab of plastic from Nick Moss a week after the fact. Pico will also be along shortly to jizz all over the jazz fanatic's wet dream that is the new collaboration between John McLaughlin and Chick Corea.
In the meantime, we've got this new disc from some guy named Bob Dylan.
Dylan's lyrics continue to amaze on his 46th album, the bluesy, Tex-Mex flavored Together Through Life. "I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver, and I'm reading James Joyce. Some people, they tell me I've got the blood of the land in my voice," Dylan sings on "I Feel A Change Comin' On," one of this album's many standout tracks.
Still, Together Through Life doesn't feel quite like the masterpiece that was 2006's Modern Times. There's nothing here with the hell hounds on my trail sort of desperation of "Thunder On The Mountain" or "Ain't Talkin'" — although the best songs on this record, like "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" and "I Feel A Change Comin' On," come awful close. It's still a very good record, and one easily worthy of a four-star rating.
I have to admit that I really like the way that the Black Crowes have reinvented themselves by embracing their Southern roots since reuniting back in 2005.
As evidenced by last year's excellent comeback record Warpaint, the Robinson brothers have all but shed the big arena-rock trappings of their Shake Your Money Maker days, by becoming more of a modern-day southern-fried rock 'n' soul band.
On the new Warpaint Live, the Black Crowes bring the songs of that album to the concert stage, along with a few well-chosen covers like the Stones' "Torn And Frayed," Delaney Bramlett's "Oh, Elijah," and Eric Clapton's "Don't Know Why." In doing so, the Black Crowes give rise to their southern roots in such a way as to suggest that this may the real Southern Harmony And Musical Companion.
The Devil You Know is the new one from what amounts to the Ozzy-less, Ronnie James Dio led version of Black Sabbath. Calling themselves Heaven & Hell these days (after an eighties album Sabbath did with Dio), the current incarnation features Dio, drummer Vinnie Appice, along with original sab-sters Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler.
We're going to adjust our definition of "new" this week to include an album released last week because it's still new and you still need it.
Live at Chan's: Combo Platter No. 2 is the sequel to Nick Moss & The Flip Tops' critically acclaimed Live at Chan's. To make sure the sequel topped the original, the band invited Chicago blues luminary Lurrie Bell on stage to sit in with them and the results are some of the finest Chicago blues sounds being made today. Combo Platter No. 2 serves up 79 generous, scrumptious minutes of authentic blues so good you'll wear out your CD hoping and waiting for a third plate.
Don't let one more day of your life pass without your copy.
What happens when the founder of The Mahavishnu Orchestra and the founder of Return To Forever get together with Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride & Vinnie Colaiuta? Fusion jazz at its most artistic and challenging. Some of the material might be too profuse for some of today's rock-jazz listeners, but perhaps that only goes to show how watered down and bleached out fusion has become. Here is the genre as originally conceived by two of its most prominent living progenitors. Herbie Hancock sitting in for Miles' fusion classic "In A Silent Way/It's About That Time" is the cherry on top of this high-octane sundae.
Five Peace Band Live is a summit meeting that actually comes close to meeting the hype.
Here are all of this week's new album releases courtesy of All Music Guide:
Crocodiles
Summer of Hate
Fat Possum
Noise Pop, Indie Rock
Bob Dylan
Together Through Life
Columbia
Album Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Blues-Rock, Rock & Roll, Folk-Rock
Mike Jones
The Voice
Asylum
Southern Rap, Hardcore Rap
Sweet
Action: The Sweet Anthology
Shout! Factory
Glitter, Bubblegum, Glam Rock, Hard Rock, Pop/Rock
Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.
Interstellar Guru and Zero
Homeopathic
Experimental Rock, Prog-Rock/Art Rock
Johnny Adams
Essential Recordings: The Great Johnny Adams Jazz Album
Rounder
Southern Soul, Vocal Jazz, New Orleans R&B
Ape School
Ape School
Counter
Acid Folk, Post-Rock/Experimental
The Audition
The Audition
Victory
Emo, Punk-Pop
The Black Crowes
Warpaint Live
Eagle
American Trad Rock, Southern Rock, Blues-Rock
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
Essential Recordings: Flippin' Out
Rounder
Modern Electric Texas Blues, Modern Delta Blues, Texas Blues, Electric Texas Blues, Modern Electric Blues
Ruth Brown
Essential Recordings: Ms. B's Blues
Rounder
Vocal Jazz, Contemporary Blues, Contemporary Jazz
Solomon Burke
Essential Recordings: It Don't Get No Better Than This
Rounder
Deep Soul, Southern Soul, Country-Soul, Soul
Jason Michael Carroll
Growing Up Is Getting Old
Arista
Contemporary Country
Johnny Copeland
Essential Recordings: Down on Bended Knee
Rounder
Electric Texas Blues, Electric Blues, Modern Electric Blues, Soul-Blues
Don Covay
Super Bad
The Great American
Deep Soul, Southern Soul, Soul, Early R&B
Diamond Watch Wrists
Ice Capped at Both Ends
Warp
Indie Electronic, Neo-Psychedelia
Donovan
Live Troubadour
The Great American
British Folk-Rock, Psychedelic Pop
Tim Easton
Porcupine
New West
Alternative Country, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Americana
Exodus
The Most Beautiful Dream
Metal Mind
Prog-Rock/Art Rock
Leon Fleisher
Hindemith: Klaviermusik mit Orchester; Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"
Ondine
Post-Romantic & Modern Orchestral Music
Ben Folds
University A Cappella!
Epic
Acappella, Pop/Rock, Alternative Singer/Songwriter
Rumon Gamba
Vincent d'Indy: Orchestral Works, 2
Chandos
Post-Romantic Orchestral Music
Elina Garanca
Bel Canto
Deutsche Grammophon
Romantic Opera Arias
Melody Gardot
My One and Only Thrill
Verve
Vocal Jazz, Vocal Pop
The Green Pajamas
Poison in the Russian Room
Hidden Agenda
Neo-Psychedelia, Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Paisley Underground, Power Pop
Ted Hawkins
Essential Recordings: Cold and Bitters Tears
Rounder
Soul-Blues, Contemporary Blues, Acoustic Blues
Heaven & Hell
The Devil You Know
Rhino
Album Rock, British Metal, Heavy Metal
Immaculate Machine
High on Jackson Hill
Mint
Indie Rock, Pop Underground
Jacques Loussier
Jacques Loussier Plays Bach [The 50th Anniversary Recording]
Telarc
Bop
John McLaughlin
Five Peace Band Live
Concord
Jazz-Rock, Post-Bop, World Fusion
Moderat
Moderat
Bpitch Control
Experimental Techno, Club/Dance, Alternative Dance
Melissa Morgan
Until I Met You
Telarc
Vocal Jazz
NOFX
Coaster
Fat Wreck Chord
Skatepunk, Punk-Pop, Punk Revival
Tracy Nelson
Essential Recordings: The Soul Sessions
Rounder
Soul-Blues, Soul
NewFound Road
Same Old Place
Rounder
Punk-Pop, Punk Revival, Emo-Pop
Michala Petri
Michala Petri: 50th Birthday Concert
OUR Recordings
Baroque, Romantic, Modern & Contemporary Music for Recorder
Antoni Wit
Krzystof Penderecki: Utrenja
Naxos
Contemporary Music for Voices, Chorus & Orchestra
Paper Route
Absence
UniversalMotown
Indie Rock, Indie Electronic
Pilot Speed
Wooden Bones
Wind-Up
Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
Quireboys
Homewreckers and Heartbreakers
Jerkin' Crocus
Hard Rock
Collin Raye
Never Going Back
Time Life
New Traditionalist, Contemporary Country, Neo-Traditionalist Country
Duke Robillard
Essential Recordings: Rockin' Guitar Blues
Rounder
Contemporary Blues
Silver Mountain
Universe
Roadrunner
Heavy Metal
Los Straitjackets
The Further Adventures of Los Straitjackets
Yep Roc
Surf Revival, Garage Rock Revival
Thee Oh Sees
Help
In The Red
Garage Punk, Lo-Fi
Tosca
No Hassle
G-Stone/K7
Downtempo, Ambient Dub, Trip-Hop
Various Artists
Stax: The Soul of Hip-Hop
Stax
Soul, Smooth Soul, Memphis Soul, Deep Soul, Southern Soul, Disco, Funk, Early Pop/Rock, Early R&B
Sylvie Vartan
Irresistiblement: Sylvie Vartan 1965-1968
RPM
French Pop, Pop/Rock
The Veronicas
Hook Me Up [Bonus Track]
Sire/London/Rhino
Teen Pop, Pop/Rock, Punk-Pop
Loudon Wainwright III
Essential Recordings: One Man Guy
Rounder
Contemporary Folk, Folk-Rock, Singer/Songwriter
Eric Woolfson
Woolfson Sings the Alan Parsons Project that Never Was
Limelight
Album Rock, Soft Rock, Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Pop/Rock
Young Idea
With a Little Help from My Friends
Rev-Ola
AM Pop, Sunshine Pop, British Invasion, Baroque Pop
Young Love
One of Us
Island/Fontana
Indie Rock, New Wave/Post-Punk Revival
