Article published November 01, 2009
The Avett Brothers mix modern and quaint with relish
I AND LOVE AND YOU The Avett Brothers (American)
Hailed as a Band-like return to roots music, rustic harmonies, and acoustic guitar/piano-based melodic forays, the Avett Brothers seem charmingly out of time with the times.
Their sound echoes the Band in many ways, all the way down to the sometimes ragged harmonies, deceptively complex arrangements and focus on lyrical details. At the same time, Rick Rubin's production is perfectly modern and at times the vocals veer into emo screaming that is a long distance from folksy harmonizing.
That it works so well is what makes the North Carolina band so intriguing. They dance right up to overly precious lyrics, especially on the title cut, which tells a great story of packing up and moving to New York, but loses a bit of its edge with an obsession over not being able to say "I love you."
Then the band plows into the rollicking, unabashedly sentimental "January Wedding" and you realize these guys aren't afraid of naked ambition even if they sometimes sound a bit moony on the obvious "I lost my heart" sentiment of "Tin Man."
What saves the Avett Brothers is their willingness to plunge - not wade - into whatever they're working on, most notably the sheer pop perfection of "Kick Drum Heart," or the confessional "Laundry Room."
- ROD LOCKWOODCAN'T SLOW DOWN Foreigner (Rhino)
Like so many bands of its era, Foreigner is now pretty much Foreigner in name only - Mick Jones and supporting cast. Nothing wrong with that, of course. If you've still got it, flaunt it. And for the most part, this version of Foreigner has.
This is a three-CD set - new material, classics remixed, and DVD. It's great value but the risk is in whether the new will hold up against the old, because the remixes are solid-gold classics like "Cold As Ice," "Double Vision," and "Juke Box Hero."
So the new material has a rough way to go, but Jones et al navigate it pretty well, especially seeing as the new stuff isn't that different from the old stuff, in style at least. Driven by the title track, now something of a NASCAR anthem, it's all about power chords, power ballads, and power riffs. Anyone sensing a theme here?
Songs like "Living In A Dream," a thumping rocker with harmony-drenched chorus, are typical. And get ready to flick the Bics. "I Can't Give Up" and "I'll Be Home Tonight" are quintessential power ballads - nice melodies, good harmonies, singalong choruses, and the solid thwack of the drums anchoring it all.
To provide some balance, there also are tracks that put the "blah" in bland: cookie-cutter rock like "Ready" or "Lonely."
There's no filler on the remix disc, though. The stated goal was to add more clarity and bottom end. Job done. Now these timeless rock songs sound even better.
So put this in the CD player. Crank it up. Search out the bell-bottom pants. And rock out.
- RICHARD PATONTHE RUMBA FOUNDATION Jesse Cook. E1 Entertainment.
From the opening notes on "Bogota By Bus," the first song on this mighty fine acoustic album, you'll forget that guitarist extraordinaire Jesse Cook is from Canada.
While some artists dip their toes into other musical genres from time to time, Cook has immersed himself in rumba flamenco, one of his faves. He did so by traveling to Colombia and being paired up with Latin Grammy winners Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, a traditional Vallenato group that makes its own instruments.
The result is some fantastic acoustic music fused by influences from two continents, a beautiful array of styles and creativity. The music is neither cute nor overpowering; it has a soothing texture that is deceptively bold. Cook's original mission was to bring rumba back to its birthplace of Cuba with this, his eighth album.
Just for good measure, there's a rhythmic hand-clapping version of the Simon & Garfunkel pop classic "Cecilia."
- TOM HENRYBriefly noted
FASHIONABLY LATE, Honor Society (Hollywood) Thanks to a big-time assist from the Jonas Brothers, Honor Society has no problem getting its music in front of fans. Problem is, that music is bland and homogeneous, soulless and trite. Whether power pop or ballads, it's all so drearily ordinary, so lacking in any semblance of a distinctive personality that "Fashionably Late" needn't have bothered showing up at all.
- R.P.
Permanent Link
|
|
 |
|
Search
advertisement
