Rolling Stone Magazine
THE BODEANS- LOVE & HOPE & SEX & DREAMS (COLLECTOR'S EDITION)
The Bodeans 1986 debut has become a cult classic, and this new, 23rd Anniversary (?) reissue ups the ante by featuring new remastering, unreleased songs, a NEW song, and a DVD with a live performance from 1985.
KELLY CLARKSON- ALL I EVER WANTED
Anyone who did not see the brilliance behind "Since You've Been Gone," just wasn't listening. "Behind These Hazel Eyes" wasn't bad either. But her last CD, "My December," was released amidst drama and controversy, and just didn't have a single with the same punch as the two I just mentioned. That's not to say Kelly Clarkson doesn't have a full album of pop perfection in her. This is. "Kelly Clarkson doesn't have a full album of pop perfection in her." The new single, "My Life Would Suck Without You," is just a silly, annoying, rewrite of "Since You've Been Gone," and the 30 seconds I heard of each subsequent song sound like rewrites of themselves. And that my friends, is 50 words too many on Kelly Clarkson.
CHRIS CORNELL- SCREAM
One of my favorite voices currently making music has just released a new CD that to my ears is on par with such legendary mistakes as Frank Sinatra's "Duets," the Yankees signing Steve Balboni, and Michael Bolton. I am actually quite confused. Cornell has abandoned the formula of his previously successful bands, Soundgarden, Temple Of The Dog, and Audioslave, for a misguided foray into electronic beats, and cheesy dancehall sounds. Hip-Hop producer Timbaland is behind the scenes for a record that makes bad, post-Bad Michael Jackson sound good.
MADELEINE PEYROUX- BARE BONES
Peyroux hit it big after a 9 year span between her debut and the critically acclaimed 2004 release "Careless Love." "Bare Bones" is more of the same "Billie Holiday learns acoustic guitar and strums her way through love and loss for 40 minutes." This is NOT a bad thing.
GLENN TILBROOK & THE FLUFFERS- PANDEMONIUM ENSUES
Currently available as an import only, with a US street date of April 7th, "Pandemonium Ensues," the 3rd solo release from pop genius and one half of Squeeze, Glenn Tilbrook could be his best. With the exception of one song, an obvious misstep thanks to some sad lead vocals by the bass player, each song seems to invoke a favorite Squeeze hit of the past. Tilbrook has not lost his knack for melody or the hook, of which there are many on this upbeat collection of pop joy. Well worth the reasonable import price tag.
Here's a cool clip of "Still" from "Pandemonium Ensues." Enjoy.
4 comments:
I can't help it, Sal. I love Kelly Clarkson. Maybe it's a dirty old man thing.
Did somebody say Kelly Clarkson?
http://powerpop.blogspot.com/2009/03/son-of-irksome.html
love the tilbrook song..always and still one of my fave singers and songwriters..reminds me of new years eve, the palladium (acadamey of music?) '81?,elvis and squeeze...just heaven
Chris Cornell is one of my favorite singers and the songs on his 2 solo albums show what a really strong writer he is. Based on the 30 second iTunes samples it sounds like Timbaland has smothered his voice and songs with production that makes the songs sound like poor remixes of popular songs. Think of of Christina Aguilera's Beautiful with a disco beat. It is a shame as I've been drooling about a new Cornell solo album for so long. Thankfully I was able to download it from Amazon for $2.99 so I'm not going to feel so disappointed to maybe get a couple of songs where the Timbaland/Cornell combo works.
I used to love Tilbrook but got kind of blah about it because his later Squeeze and solo stuff left me feeling 'so what'. The clip you had sounded real good and I will check it out.
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