Hope you made your spring break what you needed it to be. I had a blast! For a change I didn’t break anything or get arrested, though I did get thrown out of a bar in Australia. A lot of stuff has come out and here’s a scaled down look at them all.The Raconteurs: Consolers of the Lonely (Warner Bros.): I really liked the debut (Broken Boy Soldiers) by this Jack White side project, but this is a much stronger album. Better songs, diversity and confidence give the band a much needed kick in the pants.
Guitars, fiddles, grand piano and the Memphis horn section only helps White get what he hears in his head onto tape. Standouts include “Hold Up,” “Consoler of the Lonely,” “Carolina Drama,” “Attention” and “Salute Your Solution.
Counting Crows: Saturday Nights Sunday Mornings (DGC): Songwriter/vocalist Adam Duritz’s best work has always been work motivated by the people and relationships around him. What is the reason Counting Crows hasn’t had an album of new material in six years? Duritz admitted his inability to interact with society during that time.
The result is the band’s most emotional album to date. They’ve always been honest, but never this personal. Thematically split into two halves, the Saturday night half is really no different than the Sunday morning stuff, except maybe in pacing. “Los Angeles,” “You Can’t Count on Me,” “Come Around” are the standouts.
Gnarles Barkley: The Odd Couple (Atlantic): Going in, you knew it would be impossible to eclipse their St. Elsewhere debut which spawned the mega single “Crazy,” though you knew Danger Mouse of The Grey Album fame and Cee-Lo from Goodie Mob would give it a shot.
That being said, the perfectly titled Odd Couple is another brave, irrelevant look at the surroundings around us. Not too heavy, not too light, it’s perfect Gnarles. There’s no “Crazy” here but “Run” is just as hip.
R.E.M.: Accelerate (Warner Bros.): Everyone’s making a big deal about R.E.M. making this a guitar rock album, but they’re off base. What makes this a good album are the songs. Their last few albums were horrible because the material blew, not because they didn’t rock.
Not since before drummer Bill Berry left the band have they been this focused. Standouts include “I’m Gonna DJ,” “Man Sized Wreath,” “Horse to Water” and “Supernatural Superserious.”
Mariah Carey: E=MC2 (Island): I can’t recall a bigger comeback than The Emancipation of Mimi back in November 2005. It sold multi-platinum, brought Carey a Grammy and returned her diva status after she was professionally as dead as a doorknob.
Just as hard as resurrection, though, is following up that success, which is what this tries to do. Carey definitely has the formula down pat, wisely heavy on ballads because she’s not the same vocalist she was 10 years ago.
It’s a good album, not her best or as good as Mimi, but compared to what’s on the charts now, it’s a standout. Good ones include “I Stay in Love,” “Touch My Body,” “I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time” and “Bye Bye.”
Leona Lewis: Spirit (J Records): Winner of the X Factor, England’s version of American Idol, vocalist Lewis’ debut finally arrives on our shores. Both Lewis and Spirit have been given much more hype than they deserve.
She might be a big deal over there, but over here there’s better singers walking the streets of West Allis.
You can actually here Lewis (a Mariah Carey wanna-be by the way) wrestle with what conservative album producers Simon Cowell and Clive Davis want her to be and what guest producers like Akon and Dallas Austin can make her become.
Leona Lewis, enjoy your 15 minutes.
Van Morrison: Keep It Simple (Lost Highway): The guy was amazing back in the day, which by comparison makes his last few albums sound amateurish at best – they simply weren’t very good. That being said, Keep It Simple does exactly that, the album has an easy, straightforward philosophy behind it.
Morrison has never sounded more mellow. At this time in his professional life, it makes his vocals that much more effective. Good ones are “Don’t Go to Nightclubs Anymore,” “Lover Come Back,” “How Can a Poor Boy” and “School of Hard Knocks.” The vinyl version comes with three bonus live tracks.
Was (Not Was): Boo! (Rykodisc): Back in the day there was no band that could funk and R&B about, with the wriest sense of humor, the way Was (Not Was) would. “Walk the Dinosaur,” “Are You OK?,” “I Feel Better Than James Brown,” “Spy in the House of Love” and “How the Heart Behaves” are just a few titles of their eclectic catalog.
Here the band is pretty much back together in its 1993 original configuration. It’s very cool to hear vocalists Sweet Pea Atkinson and Sir Harry Bowens again. They are so diverse they can do anything. Many special guests drop in as well, including Marcus Miller, Booker T. Jones, and get this, Kris Kristofferson.
Standouts include “Semi-Interesting Week,” “Green Pills in the Drawer,” “It’s a Miracle” and the Bob Dylan co-written “Mr. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” Welcome back, boys.
(Duane Rodriguez)
