Review: Lovers - I Am the West

Label: Able Heart Records

Released: April 28, 2009

I wonder why it is that when a band rehashes 60s garage psych or 70s hard rock, I'm so much more open to it than I am to the now-popular revisiting of 80s pop. I think the answer is two-fold. First, I lived through the 80s. I missed the 60s and was too young to appreciate the 70s, so those decades hold more mystique for me than the 80s. I have to keep this in mind when listening to anything that looks from a distance at my own formative years. More importantly though, simply playing a style from the past doesn't cut it whether I like the original genre or not. The band has to tap into something deeper, into the music's soul. The trouble with revisiting the 80s is that soul was kind of the exception, not the rule. Looking back fondly on something empty often produces more emptiness.

Lovers creates a catchy amalgamation of 80s pop on I Am the West. A list of its influences would be a who's who of middle of the road 80s artists, but sadly, the album never taps into any of the darkness or creativity that was stewing just outside of the Billboard Hot 100 back then. The songwriting is solid, making for a pleasant experience, but not one that presents any challenge or anything that really sticks. I Am the West will likely have more appeal to those who didn't live through the 80s the first time. However, by definition of what it is, the album is thin on soul and that really limits it.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 4/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream

Label: Columbia

Released: January 27, 2009

"The Wrestler" is the bonus track on Springsteen's latest album, Working on a Dream. It's a honest tale set to poignant music. It connects in the way we expect Springsteen to connect. However, it is appropriately labeled as bonus material, because it really doesn't fit the rest of the album.

The strings on the opener, "Outlaw Pete," are a bit much. "Mr Lucky Day" is a good mainstream rocker, but lacks any real humanity. Springsteen finally connects on "Queen of the Supermarket," even getting away with some corny lyrical ideas that only he could pull off, but as the song builds, it too becomes more a caricature of Springsteen than the real deal. And it couldn't get much worse than "Kingdom of Days" which would sadly need little reworking for Muzak.

All isn't lost though. The rootsy "Good Eye" features better, subtler playing than is typically found on a Springsteen record. The Boss' take on Johnny Cash in the verses of "Life Itself" serve him well. At first, "Surprise, Surprise" seems like light pop, but it feels good and true. Juxtaposing it with "The Last Carnival," a darker, lower-key closer that mixes folk and a heavenly backup chorus, strengthens both songs and ends on a note more along the lines of the best that can be expected from the last 20 years of Springsteen's career.

Comparing Working on a Dream to anything in Springsteen's prime is just unfair. However, just over a year ago, he managed to dig down and churn out a decent album that didn't come across as a comfortable old man trying to relive what he found on Nebraska. There are enough good songs here to indicate that his well isn't dry, it's just no longer as deep as it once was and an album every year and a half might just be too much at this stage.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 5/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Rod Stewart - The Definitive Rod Stewart

Label: Warner Brothers

Released: November 18, 2008

Rod Stewart may have the perfect rock voice. It's raw and honest and warm and he expresses emotion with ease. Its rough edges are its primary strength. The first handful of tracks on this collection, rock songs tied tightly to their folk, boogie and blues roots, are ideal vehicles for Stewart's perfect imperfection. The heartfelt "Maggie May," the earthy "Mandolin Wind," the rollicking "Stay With Me" all draw the best out of Stewart and he in turn elevates them in a way that few if any singers could.

The trouble is that as Stewart cleans up his sound and adapts to the changing world of pop music, he tempers his strength. Sure, it doesn't all go south with the disco stylings in "The Killing of Georgie," but he has started down the slippery slope. Stewart still brings his best on "You're in My Heart" and makes it easy to forget that without him, "The First Cut is the Deepest" would be an average rock song at best. Even "I Was Only Joking" has its moments. But by "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy," Stewart had clearly crossed the line. Stewart is a great rock singer, but he wasn't able to re-invent himself to turn down each new pop avenue.

To be fair, Stewart doesn't kill his later material so much as it kills him. The synth pop of "Tonight I'm Yours" is the polar opposite of everything Stewart had done right earlier in his career. Even a rocker like "Infatuation" is so inundated with bad 80s production that it sucks out anything Stewart brings. Where the late 60s and early 70s were the perfect time for Rod Stewart, the 80s were anything but. "The Motown Song" has some charm and "Reason to Believe" from Unplugged is at least somewhat of a reminder of Rod Stewart the rock singer rather than Rod Stewart the pop star. The previously unreleased "Two Shades of Blue" sat in on the shelf for ten years and frankly, it could have stayed there. Nice try with the classical stuff, but Rod needed more rock, not more phony sophistication.

Also included in this set is a DVD of Stewart's music videos. It's not a bad bonus, but it'd still be a better idea to skip this and just buy the early albums individually. Videos are never a good substitute for better music and his early album tracks hold up better now than does his mid to late period output.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Copper Sails - Hiding Place

Label: self-released

Released: January 13, 2009

Copper Sails seems like one of those bands that could be poised for the big time. I mean, this thing they're doing worked for Coldplay, didn't it? Hiding Place is carefully thought out, constructed and performed. They steal form all the right indie and alt bands on both sides of the Atlantic. The melodies are catchy and the smooth vocals (and Thom Yorke-y falsetto) float on top of just the right mix of jangles, angles and crunch for those who enjoy the least common denominator served up over easy. At times, "Sleeping Giant" for instance, it's almost like an indie rock take on AOR. The problem here is that Copper Sails have been too careful. They never throw caution to the wind. They never cut loose. As a result, Hiding Place is safe and light, pleasant, but placid.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 5/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Cinematic Sunrise - A Coloring Storybook and Long Playing Record

Label: Equal Vision

Released: May 13, 2008

The presense of Chiodos' Craig Owens and Bradley Bell will likely lead listeners to expect that band's bold and expansive offshoot from hardcore, but nothing could be further from Cinematic Sunrise. This project replaces punch with pop and challenges with safety. While that might not make every Chiodos fan happy, it at least gives this side-project a purpose and life of its own.

Cinematic Sunrise leans heavily on 80s pop style and production values and mixes it up with more recent emo crunchiness without creating a harder sound. Whether they're drawing on 80s piano-pop or folk-pop along the lines of the Church, it all taps into that long tradition of teenage drama songs.

These songs are all well-played, but lite and that begs the question: Is the material believable? The hooks make me want to believe, yet they're just so slick that there's that nagging feeling that there isn't much under the surface. Perhaps the answer comes on the EP's final track, "You Told Me You Loved Me." It rings about as true as "Sister Christian" and makes me think more of those K-Tel collections from the 80s that compiled "rock's sensitive side."

While the songs are well-crafted and the packaging (see below) shows a great sense of childlike fun, in the end they are, like the band's name implies, ultimately just an image even when they seem beautiful.



All that being said, I did catch their set on the Warped Tour and the music has some teeth live. Don't get me wrong, it's still nothing like Chiodos, but some of the slickness is tempered by hints of edginess and a lot of good-natured fun.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 4/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: The Feelings Mutual - s/t

Label: Ares Records

Released: June 24, 2008

The Feelings Mutual take off where 90s alt rock left off, adding some hard rock riffs to hints of both darkness and pop gloss around each turn. They open with the riff-heavy rock of "Monolith," but quickly scale that back into slower guitar-driven pop. At times they hint at Queens of the Stone Age, but lack Josh Homme's ability to find that intersection of heaviness, quirkiness and catchiness. "Black Cloud Dream" captures Nirvana's dark pop sense, but the chorus is glossier than even Cobain would have been willing to try. "Ring Me Out" even dabbles in the drunk rock swagger of the Replacements. The EP finishes strong with the 80s hooks of "Sleep," but overall it's hard not to think of the bands The Feelings Mutual sounds like rather than concentrating on what they're doing now. The songs are listenable, but simply not distinguishable from the successes of their influences.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 5/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: The Offspring - Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace

Label: Columbia Records

Released: June 17, 2008

Punk rock made its way out of seedy clubs and into arenas over a decade ago, but that didn't always mean that the bands who made it just turned on the commercial rock and abandoned their roots. Green Day, perhaps the genre's biggest success story (unless you consider Nirvana punk), still really plays classic punk even on the ambitious American Idiot. They never really became a commercial rock band even if their music had become commercially viable. The Offspring, on the other hand, perhaps just by virtue of employing Bob Rock, have become a much slicker version of their former selves, evolving into something that might be called punk arena rock.

That leaves a serious question to be answered: Did they become more slick than punk? AOR-ish leads and choruses on songs like "You're Gonna Go Far Kid" and a couple power ballads (I had to skip through "Kristy, Are You Doing OK?") certainly point toward answering yes to that question. Still, those mersh moments aren't that prevalent through most of the album. Instead, they manage to meet Mr Rock's vision of rock n roll perfection (flawed as it is) without selling their soul entirely. Sure, it'd be better unadulterated, but if it has to be prettied up, this doesn't fall into the worst of the pitfalls. It's still more Offspring than Bob Rock and in the end that is the album's limited redemption. In their prime, the Offspring were more lucky than great, but entirely listenable. They're still listenable though even less essential now, but, a few real stinkers aside, they're also still kinda fun.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 4/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 5/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Man Raze - Surreal

Label: VH1 Classics

Released: June 3, 2008

A few months back, I heard a few pre-release tracks of this project which reunites Def Leppard's Phil Collen with former Girl bandmate Simon Laffy and brings in ex-Sex Pistol Paul Cook. The line-up certainly sounds like it could be flirting with disaster, but that preview raised my hopes that this would be a pretty good project. It mixed Collen's pre-AOR glam roots with a helping of punk rock swagger, removing the polish and safety that I would expect from any Def Leppard side-project. Sadly, the album in its entirety only delivers on that promise part of the time. Far too many songs stick to the regimented, overused AOR formula. The result is an inconsistent affair, occasionally delivering more than I'd hoped for, but usually being as dull as I'd feared.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 5/10
Aretha: 5/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) - Year of the Rabbit

Label: Count Your Lucky Stars

Released: January 2008

Sometimes there is a very fine line between great and terrible. Great bands stay just on the good side and awful bands may only take a single step over. Queen's bombast pushed right up to the line and they're one of rock's truly great bands. Meat Loaf (or really Jim Steinman) took one more step and he's reviled and written off as mere kitsch. Likewise the Smiths had their toes right up to the edge of mopiness while too many of their lesser followers took that extra step into a maudlin mess.

Emo too has such a line where one side is honest and pure and just a few paces away is a sappy melodrama. Michigan's not-so-concisely-but-very-emo-y named Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) sadly didn't quite know where to stop. Their latest release (and first with a full band), Year of the Rabbit, is two tracks of emo as it was done in the days when it first separated itself from its hardcore roots...but just a step across that line.

Both songs take their raw (over-)emotions on a low-key indie rock ride. "Year of the Rabbit" has a nice mellow progression and bit of sad jangle. "IDK, My BFF Jill" is decidedly uppity next to the title track, but never gets much punch behind it. The reason for the not-so-punchy music is because the punch is supposedly in the heart-felt lyrics, but while Keith Latinen and company may feel what they're singing, it still falls into the common trap. In the days before the genre lost it's edge, I don't know that a band like Rites of Spring would ever sing, "I tied my heart in a knot for you." (I really think Ben Gibbard is about the only guy on the planet that has figured out how to get away with things like that, but he'd find an even cornier way to say it and make it charming and meaningful). What was originally a willingness to open up about emotions in a scene that was increasingly dominated by mindless machismo has become an open door to melodrama that I find increasingly difficult to connect with.

Does this kill the record? No, but it does limit its appeal. Empire! Empire! does manage to be vaguely off-kilter and that gives their songs texture and a few surprises, but for me at least, that isn't quite enough to save it. When I can repress my desire to yell, "Get a hold of yourself! Stop whining!" I can hear the good things Empire! Empire! has done on this record. Sadly, I just can't keep that feeling in check. Perhaps a little bit of that same emotion would serve this record well. For those who can suspend disbelief in the way that I do when I watch a disaster movie, these songs are well-written and somewhat clever. Unfortunately, I can't do that and the overwrought emotionalism of Year of the Rabbit fails to suck me in.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 5/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Moby - Last Night

Label: Mute

Released: April 1, 2008

It's strange when a deep artist makes a shallow album. Is its shallowness actually well-disguised depth? Is it ironic? Is it a philosophical statement of the lack of substance in our culture? Or is it simply what it is, a musical treat with no goals other than to be a sugary snack?

Moby is a deep artist. He probably never should have become a household name, but 1999's Play was a great album that transcended all sorts of boundaries and launched Moby into the international spotlight. The man has a lot of opinions, and his inability and/or unwillingness to shut up about them earned him a cultural backlash that is nearly on par with America's backlash against disco.

Moby is a deep artist, but Last Night is a shallow album. This is Moby's tribute to his roots as a New York DJ in the mid- to late-'80s. New York dance music in the '80s was exciting -- hip-hop was exploding in the five boroughs and New Jersey, house was finding its legs on the post-disco dancefloors of clubs like the Paradise Garage, and the musical alchemy of bands like Talking Heads and Blondie was completely changing rock.

Unfortunately, Last Night makes it sound as if Moby was stuck in the DJ booth at some crappy club in the suburbs instead of immersing himself in the great music that was happening a few miles away. I don't hear an inspired reinterpretation of early '80s New York on here; I just hear a bunch of dance music clichés being poured through Moby's mixing board. And that's a shame, because Moby's mixing board has pumped out some pretty incredible dance music over the past 15 years.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 5/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Ministry and Co-Conspirators - Cover Up

Label: 13th Planet Records

Released: April 1, 2008

I'm not much of a Ministry fan. Sure, Land of Rape and Honey was a very good album, particularly for its time, but otherwise they've never grabbed me. Nonetheless, when I saw Al (or Alien as he's listed in the conspiracy-themed liner notes) Jourgensen and friends were releasing an album full of covers, I was intrigued. If irreverence ever served anything well, it would likely be covers of a bunch of rock staples and perhaps no one is as irreverent as Jourgensen.

Sadly, the end result sounds like someone covering Ministry covering these songs. It has all the tell-tale signs of industrial music (overly-distorted guitars, rapid-fire beats), but nothing that sounds like it was done by a founder of the sound rather than an imitator. To be fair though, the album isn't without its fun. "Mississippi Queen" gets a jump start (and keeps the cowbell). The already dirty "Roadhouse Blues" has that dirtiness amplified by the sludgy noise. "Lay Lady Lay" does a great job of walking the not very fuzzy line between Dylan and Ministry. "What a Wonderful World" should be exempt from the kind of mistreatment that I expected to hear on this album, but it's pulled off well enough that I'm not sure it gets disparaged, even when the speed gets turned on. Is there a softer side to Jourgensen? Probably not, but give him credit for making me ask. These few exceptions aside though, the album falls short of the expectations of even a non-fan.

I removed the Dylan rating for this one, because they're all covers.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: ?/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Star Anna - Crooked Paths

Label: Malamute Records

Released: March 4, 2008

Crooked Paths is an album that is seldom just good. Instead, it sometimes struggles just short of good and at other times pushes fantastic. Without question, Star Anna's voice is wonderful. It's dynamic and has really good movement that can be both subtle and bold. The problem is she doesn't let it loose often enough. The opener, "If Wishes Were Horses," plays it entirely too safe, hanging out in the adult alternative end of the pool. "Black Cat Blues" adds some grittiness, but it isn't until the title track that the album really taps into emotion, being somewhat reminiscent of "Sitting Around Waiting to Die." From there, the album's heart rises and falls with her willingness to trust her voice. In the best moments, she can incorporate soul into her country twang. At her worst, she wanders through countrified alt pop. The band is entirely competent, but also utilitarian, lacking the same trust that Star lacks in her weaker moments.

Crooked Paths certainly has its moments, but by and large, it misses its mark, if just barely. Star Anna's voice is rich, but she plays it safe too often and the result is an album that has far too much adult appeal. It's almost as if she's a bit afraid of her country roots and has dummied it down for people who don't want to work to appreciate good music. She shouldn't be afraid though, because that's all that stands between her and a fantastic record.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Van Morrison - Keep It Simple

Label: Lost Highway

Released: April 1, 2008

Van Morrison has done some of his best work over the last decade or so. The old curmudgeon has shown that he still knows how to put his entire soul into song, whether he's making an album that concentrates on folk or soul or even skiffle. That makes Keep It Simple kind of puzzling. Everything he's been bringing to his music for over 40 years is strangely absent here.

First of all, there is entirely too much blues on this album. Morrison has a soul voice. It's rich and smooth and deceptively powerful. Blues is neither as clean nor as subtle so it robs Morrison of his strengths. One of those strengths is his ability to know just how much to give and how much to withhold from a song. It comes both from knowing the song and trusting himself. Instead, on this album, he seems detached from the songs and he over-trusts himself. That arrogance leads him to go through the motions rather than get into the songs. Sure, he loosens up on a few, like "That's Entrainment" and "End of the Land," but most of the album is stiff with Morrison stumbling through music from which he's a thousand miles away.

It has long been said that Morrison has never shown much regard for his fans, though he almost always cared about his music. But not here. He's just going through the motions and he's not the kind of singer that can get away with that. He needs the subtleties that come with intimacy, but this album has no love, only a cold feeling of obligation.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 5/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Ivoryline - There Came a Lion

Label: Tooth & Nail Records

Released: February 5, 2008

There Came a Lion is an entirely listenable album, but it is almost completely indiscernible from hundreds of other emo records. Sure, it's well played and the songs are nearly perfect fits for the formula, but Ivoryline is really just a modern Foreigner, flawlessly executing the script and doing nothing to make it their own.

Ivoryline's skills are top-notch. The rhythms are crisp and sharp beneath churning guitar and melodic leads. The harmonizing between parts is pristine. Unfortunately, the price for technical perfection in this case is creativity and heart. "We Both Know" is just a stones throw from AOR. While it has elements of the Descendants' mix of technical and pop punk, its heart is not that of the Descendants, but that of commercial rock. Likewise, "Hearts and Minds" has more in common with late 80s power ballads than it does with Rites of Spring. It tries to show emotion, but it's paper thin and that's really the problem with most of the album. The music is trying to convey passion. The vocals are trying to sound emotional. Instead, both come off like techniques from a book rather than an attachment to real feelings. "The Last Words" is, at least, a refreshing ending. It's use of strings may be entirely clichéd at this point, but it brings an organic sense that the album lacks everywhere else.

Ivoryline can't be fully blamed for their faults though. Emo is a genre that has for some time been drifting further away from the trait which gave the genre its name and moving into the realm of cold, hard execution. In the current state of emo affairs, Ivoryline fits right in. They excel even. The trouble is that they excel at something that has become a shell of its former self. Ivoryline has played it entirely safe, putting style over substance. They list five sponsors on their Myspace page, but only one is music-related. The others are clothing companies. Does this convict Ivoryline of crimes against rock on its own? Of course not. The ties between music and fashion are long established. It is another piece of evidence that appearance is what this band is about though. Don't scratch the surface too hard, because it's just skin deep...and it's a shame, because it could be so much more.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 5/10
Aretha: 3/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Voodoo Six - Faith

Label: White Knuckle Records

Released: 2007

England's Voodoo Six prefaced First Hit for Free, due out on March 24th, with this three song EP of their modern hard rock. "Faith" is the teaser's first and best track. It takes 70s hard rock and filters it through the 90s, largely influenced by Soundgarden's more mainstream, metally albums. The song isn't particularly original, but all elements are solid and Voodoo Six injects a fair amount of energy into it. They follow this up with "Feed My Soul" which is no more original, but lacks the previous song's electricity. The rhythms are lackluster, the riffs are flat and the solo is gratuitous. Like "Faith" though, it does display technical competence even if the songwriting and performance fizzle. "Crawl" splits the difference between the two, bringing back some of the punch of "Faith" without matching it. While I didn't find the Faith EP to be particularly compelling, it did show that the members of Voodoo Six are entirely competent even if they do struggle to standout. To their credit though, their skills are strong enough that they could be very flashy, yet they show quite a bit of restraint. Their biggest hurdle, even greater than a lack of any real originality, is their sacrifice of swagger for precision. Faith feels like everything is by the book rather than being elastic enough to show the band's personality.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 3/10
Dylan: 5/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - 100 Days 100 Nights and Angie Stone - The Art of Love and War

Label: Daptone Records

Released: October 2, 2007


Label: Concord

Released: October 16, 2007

It would seem that the essential component of soul music (old school or new) would be the soul itself, yet that is often just what modern soul and R&B lack. Too often even a good R&B singer has a tough time overcoming assembly line songwriting and synthetic backing tracks. It is this old versus new soul difference that separates the new releases from Sharon Jones and Angie Stone.

Without question, both singers have great voices. In fact, Stone's is probably technically superior, but that is the only place that she manages to measure up to Jones on these albums. When you strip away that sheen, what's underneath, the soul, isn't even close.

Years ago, Sharon Jones was told that she was too dark-skinned, too short, too fat and once she passed 25, too old. Jones didn't get a break until she was 40 (singing backup on a Lee Fields record). In the meantime, she worked as a Wells Fargo armored car guard and a corrections officer at Rikers (!), but she kept singing. Angie Stone's break came much earlier, having a hit record as a member of The Sequence before her 20th birthday as well as at least middling success until taking off in the last decade. I can't help but wonder if the "business" hasn't robbed Stone of something that it in turn augmented in Jones through her struggles. While that may not explain why, these two albums leave little doubt that Sharon Jones just has more soul.

Sharon Jones' voice is everything that a good soul voice should be. It can be bold, soft, sultry, strong, defiant. She connects on a human level, because she sings with more than just her voice. After all these years, there's no going through the motions. She has hunger and confidence despite being ripped off. Her energy isn't angry though, just righteous. Her backing band, the Dap-Kings, whose horns helped light the fire on the otherwise soul-deprived Amy Winehouse's debut, is the kind of natural, organic band that has crossover appeal in the rock world. They have more in common with the Family Stone or even the Allman Brothers and Black Crowes than they do with modern R&B sounds. Rhythmically, they propel the music, giving Jones even more force. The horns are so natural that they work in the capacity of background vocals. They're just that rich. The intense interaction between Jones and the band is what makes the album so big and bold, so natural and alive. 100 Days, 100 Nights is essentially a 60s soul album, but it doesn't come off like a revival. The record is very much in the here and now despite its vintage approach.

There's no doubt that Angie Stone has the voice to make a great record, but The Art of Love and War is just formula R&B. The beats are measured and precise. The piano has all the emotion of light jazz. The background vocals are generic. The result is an album that sounds as if all the pieces were recorded in isolation and queued up to have Stone's vocals recorded on top like karaoke. There's none of the human interaction that makes Sharon Jones soar. Instead, it's just cold, synthetic music that robs Stone of any emotion she may have brought. Neither Stone nor the backing tracks have any touch, any feel, any swing. While this might be acceptable fare for an indiscriminate modern R&B fan, anyone looking for real soul, the kind that would crossover into other genres, will be sorely disappointed. This is a superficial soundscape and you don't have to poke very hard to find that it's paper-thin.

Whether it's their past or their present or some combination of the two, there's a world of difference between these two very talented singers on their latest albums. Quite simply, Sharon Jones has made an album that knows the true meaning of soul and Angie Stone has not.



Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 10/10
Overall: 9/10

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Angie Stone
Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 2/10
Dylan: 4/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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DVD: Yes - Their Definitive Fully Authorized Story

Label: Image Entertainment

Released: January 15, 2007

I'm a fan of Yes. I understand that they have serious flaws from Jon Anderson's esoteric, eastern-philosophy-lite lyrics to their frequent substitution of calculation for emotion, but somehow, they manage to get away with it in my book.

Like Yes' better moments, this DVD often finds itself short on thrills, but long on quality nonetheless. The biggest problem is that the whole thing is 95% interviews. There is very, very little live footage and only slightly more vintage images. While that makes it rather dull and difficult to connect to the music (isn't the music the point?), there is still value here. Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Peter Banks, Steve Howe, Bill Bruford and Alan White as well as managers, journalists and other insiders all share their point of view quite honestly. They deal frankly with firings, members quitting and the pressures of the business end of music. You also get to see Steve Howe looking like a mad scientist these days and that's kinda cool.

The second disc provides more interviews (probably overkill after the 204 minutes of disc 1) and three music videos. "Owner of a Lonely Heart," while perhaps not a true Yes song to prog purists, is a classic video, but the "Wonderous Stories" video doesn't add much value. "Tempus Fugit" is a strange inclusion, because there is a camp for classic Yes line-ups and another for the Trevor Rabin era, I doubt there's anyone who runs to the defense of Drama. Disc 2 also includes a still photo gallery, but I for one have never found the galleries on DVDs to all that interesting and this one is no different.

Yes - Their Definitive Fully Authorized Story is interesting, but that hardly qualifies it as a great rock film. For the die hard Yes fan, there is plenty of good information, but it might be more enjoyable to get your old Yes album out and listen while you watch, because there's just too little music here. If you're a casual Yes fan, there's just not a lot here.

Rating: 5/10

DVD: Kiss - Kissology Vol 2 1978-1991

Label: VH1 Classic Records

Released: August 14, 2007

I'd be surprised if anyone expected the Kissology installments to get better as they progressed just because the band clearly peaked during the period covered by Vol 1. I didn't find it odd that Vol 2 didn't have the thrill of the first one, but I was surprised at what a step down they took in the 80s. I really don't remember it being quite that bad. Where they were once innovators (as performers, not musicians), they were followers during this second period and while they brought in several more skilled players during this time, they became a great example of why the best technical skills aren't always what gets the job done.

While they may not have been able to survive with Ace and Peter any longer, Eric Carr, Vinnie Vincent and Bruce Kulick all exemplify why some bands are better off with less technically proficient players. There is no doubt that Carr and Kulick and even Vincent were better technicians, but the resulting cleaner sound was generally as dull as the new hair metal glory they were chasing.

After the Creatures of the Night material, there is little here that needs to be seen by anyone not blinded by a mindless love of Kiss. Nostalgia did make me want to see Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park again, but good sense made me turn it off and leave it in the memories of my Kiss-obsessed childhood. The unmasking on MTV may seem like a big moment in rock history, but it doesn't have any heart like the reunion did in the next decade even if both were strictly about maximizing their profits.

The make-up may have run its course, but once Kiss took it off, they also became followers, walking through the hair metal door that they may have opened, but that they had previously avoided walking through by being uniquely Kiss. Their music never broke down any barriers like their performances did, but through most of this volume, even their performances weren't over the top.

Like the other volumes, it is a nice package for the money (probably due to their marketing teams cost benefit analysis), but it isn't essential for anyone except die-hard fans.

Rating: 5/10

Review: Sebastian Bach - Angel Down

Label: Get Off My Bach/MRV/Caroline/EMI

Released: November 20, 2007

In light of the number of 80s hair metal has-beens trying to cash in on a sadly nostalgic public, I didn't have tremendously high hopes for Sebastian Bach's latest, his first album in eight years. The upside of this record is that Bach didn't entirely bow to the past. From the opening track, it's pretty clear that Angel Down isn't just a cash-in on the sound of the first and most successful Skid Row album. It's a pretty heavy affair that taps more into his Slave to the Grind-era work along with some of the churning crunch of metal's more recent practices.

The downside is that while the songwriting and playing is soild, it's also largely uneventful. There were five tracks that Bach didn't contribute to as a writer and he wrote the rest...with help. Unfortunately, that help streamlined everything into a very generic hard rock format. What do you expect when the producer co-wrote four tracks and another one got "help" from Desmond Child who wouldn't know innovation if it hit him over the head. Even the songs written by band members don't show any desire to establish their own sound rather than just rely on Bach's voice and waning starpower. As I got further into the album, I became hopeful that he may have forgone the ballad. You can imagine my disappointment when "By Your Side" began. On top of the writing, the band is tight, but not all that enthusiastic. Technical skill is seldom a substitute for actually feeling the music and the difference between those two becomes more and more evident over the course of the album. The over-hyped presence of Axl Rose on three tracks was completely forgettable.

None of this made the album outright unlistenable, but it did keep it from reaching the level of a few other hard rock/heavy metal blasts from the past that came out this year. The one thing that really did the most to point out what's wrong with Bach's work is his cover of Aerosmith's "Back in the Saddle." If you're going to take the swing out of an Aerosmith song, you better have something good in its place. Bach and company have nothing. They play it entirely safe, straightening the shuffle right out and robbing it of its swagger. This really sums up the album well. On the songs that don't have to measure up to Aerosmith's prime, Bach's conservatism isn't as clear, but the cover lays it all out in the open.

Rating: 5/10

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Review: The Flairs - Shut Up and Drive

Label: Bad Reputation

Released: November 2007 in Europe (June 13, 2006 in North America)

The Flairs play a brand of hard rock that falls somewhere between glam and punk. Shut Up and Drive is a peppy album of chunky rhythms and snotty vocals that seldom lets up. Aside from a 3/4 female line-up, it's nothing out of the ordinary. The music falls somewhere between the Donnas and the Pandoras, but lacks the light-hearted bluster of the former and the gritty toughness of the latter. Aside from their cover of Skid Row's "18 & Life," they are entirely listenable even if uninspiring. However, the cover is poor enough to drag the whole album down a notch. It does nothing aside from regurgitate the original only without the ability to sell its contrived nature as reality. There is nothing difficult about the Flairs and once the album is playing, there's no reason to turn it off. The trouble is there's nothing compelling to come back for another listen.

Rating: 5/10

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Review: Patty Winters Show

Label: Vacuous Pop Recordings

Released: October 29, 2007

This two song limited edition white vinyl 7" features two songs that straddle post-punk and indie pop. "You Are Wrong" contrasts quick rhythms and grating guitar with the low-key melancholy of indie pop vocals. At times, it has shades of Joy Division, but doesn't fully tap into the cold emotion that characterized that band. "You Can't Force People to Care" sticks more to the indie side, but edgy guitar crops up almost insidiously to poke at the superficial sweetness. The second track doesn't seem to explore its musical possibilities in the way the first one does, making it consistent, but unspectacular.

Rating: 5/10

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Review: A Plea for Purging - A Critique of Mind and Thought

Label: Facedown Records

Released: October 2, 2007

Twenty years or so ago, most hardcore bands relied on raw aggression rather than technical prowess to drive their point home. Over the intervening years however, likely under the influence of metal as much as anything, many hardcore bands developed more and more chops. The result has been a mixed blessing, with some bands pulling it off and others failing dismally, but no one has upped the technical ante like A Plea for Purging does on A Critique of Mind and Thought.

From the start, there is little question that the album will be brutal. Wailing guitars, bludgeoning rhythms and growling vocals make it clear that this is not to be taken lightly. However, all elements throw themselves into the mix without direction and the result has no sense of cohesiveness or structure.

A Plea for Purging are trying to merge the musicianship of prog-metal with the raw energy of hardcore. It seems like a noble effort, but never comes together. Andrew Atkins is not a particularly gifted singer (or growler rather), but he throws everything he's got into each song. The dual guitar approach from Blake Martin and Lyle Paschal on the other hand sounds like it was recorded for an instructional video. The transitions between the Maiden-esque guitar passages and the hardcore substance of the songs is often clumsy, adding to the troubles.

Occasionally, especially over the second half of the album, they do manage to bring the pieces together into a singular vision, where the riffing is scaled back and the songs don't seem so forced and awkward. These are the moments that offer hope that A Plea For Purging's vision of super-technical hardcore can be a reality. At this point though, there isn't enough tangible evidence that they already have the answers.

Rating: 5/10

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Review: The Frantic - Audio & Murder

Label: Sinister Muse

Released: October 30, 2007

In the late 80s, whatever charm hair metal had a few years before was evaporating quickly. Most bands were more interested in fitting the mold than in breaking it. Yet there were still a few bands that worked the formula well enough that they were fun even if they were almost entirely meaningless. Pop punk has found itself in the same position over the last several years. Bands are a dime a dozen and almost none of them are punk bands in anything other than sound (and even that connection is tenuous at times). Chicago's The Frantic is very much in that class.

Their debut album, Audio & Murder, sets them up to be perhaps the Poison of pop punk with a little more work. Of course, that's the last thing any self-respecting punk wants to hear, but there are worse things (like being the Southgang or Trixter of pop punk). The Frantic don't break down any barriers, but they do play a catchy brand of punk that is maybe one part Ramones, one part Descendants and two parts Bad Religion. They don't ever have the sense of the simple pop song that the Ramones have, the teeth of Bad Religion or the clever fun of the Descendants, but they do have a fair amount of good time energy (they ought to, they're all 18 or under).

Most of the album's 25 minutes are standard fare, but played well and with enthusiasm. They do attempt to at least appear to branch out on "Movin' Along," but it just comes off as cheap 70s country rock. If you want to know the difference between The Frantic and a band that created the formula, compare "Heifer" to the Descendants' "Fat Beaver." Both have inane lyrics, but the Descendants pull it off both musically and lyrically. The Frantic end up sounding like they're just getting out of middle school, not high school.

All in all, this isn't a bad first effort from the Frantic. While their list of influences is probably a mile long, they won't be influencing anyone else anytime soon. Still, if they maintain their energy (and write some lyrics that are at least clever if they can't be intelligent), they could be a top commercial pop punk band. I guess that translates into a guilty pleasure at best.

Rating: 5/10

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Review: Irritant - Good Evening from the Machine

Label: self-released

Released: 2007

I first heard of Irritant at Rock of Ages. I was expecting Good Evening from the Machine to be a bit heavier, but it turns out to be more on the hard rock side of metal. It took a couple listens to adjust, but once beyond my preconception, I found the album to hold quite a bit of promise.

The songwriting on this four song EP isn't earth-shaking, but it is solid hard rock with a fair amount of complexity that approaches prog. Irritant's strength lies in their two-guitar attack. Will and Jack's guitar melodies are both the best written and best played element of Irritant's music. At their best, they hint at Iron Maiden and at their worst they still give purpose to their two-pronged approach. The vocals are adequate, but lack the dynamics required to be integral. Rather than a strong hard rock voice, Niall seems to have taken some influence from the thinner, whiny approach of emo, only occasionally having real power. Still, his voice is good overall and may become a strength if used properly. The result isn't bad, just lacking the punch needed to match the guitars. The rhythm section provides a mundane backdrop for the music and never really gets into the driver's seat, but that's no more the fault of the band than it is tied to the album's glaring weakness, the production. The sound is crisp, but especially in light of the guitar work, this album should pack a lot of punch and it doesn't. The sound is too thin and that keeps the album's hidden thunder at bay.

Keep in mind that this is a young band with members in their late teens and early 20s and the only logical conclusion is that Irritant has a lot of potential. Not many young bands write with this level of complexity and even fewer have a single guitarist at this level, let alone two. Still, they need to figure out how to better use Niall's voice. Better production and more interesting rhythms would also drive the songs better, allowing those guitars to shine even more. While this album is short of amazing, it may set the stage for amazing things to come.

Rating: 5/10

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Review: Watershed - Three Chords and a Cloud of Dust II

Label: Idol Records

Release Date: September 11, 2007

As Watershed well knows, a live album is a difficult proposition. Their 1994 debut (on Epic Records) didn't pan out the way I'm sure they'd hoped and now, 13 years later, they're trying again. The real difficulty with live albums is that it's hard to find that middle ground between too live, making it difficult to appreciate the music, and not live enough, making it difficult to feel the band's (and the crowd's) energy. While this album occasionally strays into the former, overall, it does a fine job of finding the best of both worlds.

Having successfully dealt with the most precarious problems of a live album, you'd think Three Chords and a Cloud of Dust II would be in the clear, but it's not. It's real troubles stem from Watershed's rather generic power pop/pop punk sound. The songs are all solid and there is little doubt that the large hometown crowd loves them (it was recorded at a sold-out show in Columbus, OH). The fact that this is an unedited live recording and nonetheless maintains its listenability is certainly a tribute to the band and their ability to be a tight live act that keeps the show moving. There are a few tracks like the opener, "Suckerpunch," and the lyrically and musically quirky "Mercurochrome" that stand out, but by and large the songs wouldn't have large appeal to anyone who doesn't care for Cheap Trick and all of their many followers. However, if that is your thing, this may be at the top of your live album hit list.

Having captured the energy of their live show, it's a shame that Watershed doesn't have a better repertoire to draw in people outside of their established fan base. Having spent time with their latest live effort, I am probably more prone to catch them when they come to town than I am to stock up on their studio efforts.

Rating: 5/10

Review: Spider Rockets - Ever After

Label: Screaming Ferret Wreckords

Released: July 17, 2007

The opening track of Spider Rockets' Ever After kicks right in with that churning metalcore sound that is a dime a dozen these days. It doesn't raise any hopes for the album even if the song itself is listenable enough. Don't stop listening there though unless metal or hardcore just isn't your thing, because it does get a little better.

As it turns out, the album's best offerings are its simplest ones. The hardcore leaning "Simple" and the more straightforward metal of "Hate" both stay fairly basic and capitalize on the band's biggest strength, Helena Cos' perfectly imperfect vocals. Her voice isn't crisp and clean, but it's raw, pleading passion is always a step above the less vivid music that backs it up.

When Spider Rockets get away from this simplicity in either songwriting or production, they go from being a little above average to a little below. The dull and over-processed "Facing Fear" relies more on effects than it does on songwriting. The pace changes in "Names" are clumsy and should have been worked out better before recording. The cover of "Helter Skelter" is the album's big disaster. Their attempt to use vocal harmonies for tension falls flat on its face and their seeming indecision as to whether they wanted to mix it up or play it straight robs the song of it's punch. Throughout the album their are some hints that they're fond of Prong's Tommy Victor, but they don't have the chops to pull it off and knowing their limitations would turn into a strength for them, because the album's basic energy is good.

They do stretch themselves a few times and pull it off though. The vocals in "What I Want" alters the cadence of the album for a nice change-up. The closer, "Whispers," gets a little off-track, but they nail enough of what they try to make it an interesting end, leaving some curiosity for the next album.

Spider Rockets have been around awhile, so they should have a better sense of themselves than they do on Ever After. However, they have some definite points that that keep their footing on solid ground and the final track leaves a lot of hope out there for the future.

Rating: 5/10

Review: The Sammus Theory - See (It) Through

Label: OCI Records

Released: May 1, 2007

Sometimes, it's good to hear a really tight band, but not always. The Sammus Theory is certainly a tight band, they even play with passion, but they fail to excite. That's not to say that See (It) Through is without promise though. The Phoenix-based band's previous effort, Man Without Eyes, was primarily a solo effort from frontman Sam Hughes who wrote and played everything but drums. Less than two years later, they have become more of a group with all members playing and contributing. While Hughes suggested to the Idaho Falls Post Register (a city where the Sammus Theory seems to have quite a local following) that the writing process was inspired by the Beatles, it's pretty clear that this is a gross overstatement. The Beatles created the future, but the Sammus Theory rehashes the past. Their alt-metal sound peaked several years ago and has been done a thousand times, sometimes better and sometimes worse. They list Tool as an influence and that is clearly their direction, but unfortunately, their voice is also Tool's rather than their own.

Considering that the Sammus Theory has taken this new direction of joint creativity within the last year or so, they work remarkably well together. Playing in a tired genre doesn't help them though, but the very fact that they are still listenable when so many alt metal bands simply aren't is a tribute to their potential. Hopefully, their new collaborative approach will help them grow in originality that will put their considerable abilities to better use the next time around.


Rating: 5/10