In the past few issues we’ve looked at recent box sets by Bob Dylan and John Lennon but they’ve all simply been opening acts for the most anticipated set of the year; The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story (Columbia) by Bruce Springsteen.Stuck in litigation with a former manager after the release of his breakthrough Born To Run album, Springsteen was unable to release any material until this issue was resolved. The result was over 70 songs to tape, which became his fourth album, the ten track Darkness On The Edge Of Town.
What happened to the unreleased songs? Well, 22 of them land here spread over two CDs. They range from awesome to brilliant and it’s never a dull moment. Available as a two CD or box set, the latter also includes a 1978 live video performance from Houston as well as a newly produced documentary and a live reading of the album shot and recorded last year in New Jersey.
Yea it’s exhausting but never a dull moment. Where the resulting album is dark, stark and brooding the other material he recorded is very genre-orientated. There’s Phil Spector Wall Of Sound, power pop, fist-clenching soul music as well as his signature Jersey rock.
Standouts include the first single “Save My Love,” the original studio versions of “Rendezvous,” “Fire” and “Because The Night” plus “The Promise” and hidden track “The Way (You Belong To Me).”
This set is an amazing look into the process of making an album. As great as the stuff here is and it is great (how did “The Promise” end up sitting on a shelf for 30 years?), ultimately it does not surpass what ended up on Darkness On The Edge Of Town, Springsteen’s crown jewel.
Quincy Jones is an American Institution; one of the few we have left since Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and Miles Davis have passed on. He’s won 27 Grammys and has worked with everyone from Sinatra to Michael Jackson and has been nominated for 7 Oscars.
Never one to rest on his laurels, he’s released Soul Bossa Nostra (Interscope) and the CD lives up to its creator’s legacy. Its concept is pretty simple but the end result is simply awesome. It has 15 tracks that Jones performed, produced, recorded or arranged and modernized them with some of today’s biggest stars.
Jones has always stayed current; he’s kept a young mind at 77 and here he doesn’t miss a beat. Whether it’s hip-hop, stirring soul or punchy r&b, Jones has it covered.
There’s some amazing stuff here like Talib Kweli’s take on “Ironside” or T-Pain and Robin Thicke covering Michael Jackson’s “PYT”, the title track tackled by Ludacris and especially Snoop Dogg’s “Get The Funk Outta My Face”.
In fact, even the expected stuff like “Tomorrow” by John Legend and Jamie Foxx’ “Give Me The Night” are bright and motivated.
I think that’s the key here. You have a group of talented vocalists who are motivated to work with one of their idols in Quincy Jones and they deliver on Soul Bossa Nostra, one of the better albums of the year.
Get Closer (Capitol) is Keith Urban’s eighth studio album and his transformation from country singer to pop artist with country tendencies is almost complete. This seems to be the norm nowadays where country guys are leaning towards a more commercial sound.
Urban has made a name for himself completely outside his musical endeavors. Having his name constantly in the newspaper either due to his marriage to Nicole Kidman, crashing his motorcycle, or entering the Betty Ford Clinic, he’s constantly in the media.
His music has always been good honest stuff without relying on easy, stereotypical shortcuts. With last year’s Defying Gravity and now with this CD, Urban has shown the growth and maturity to justify a long substantial career as a musician.
The guy is one of the better guitarists who’s playing, either electric or acoustic, is not pigeonholed into one specific genre. This allows him to jump back and forth between ballads and rockers rather easily.
Ok, this is a BIG disappointment. You’d just figure that after having his first book published, the autobiographical Decoded, Jay-Z would finally get around to releasing a decent Greatest Hits compilation. Nope. Just a string of a few of his most popular things thrown together and hastily called The Hits Collection Vol. 1 (Def Jam).
I mean c’mon man. Jay-Z is arguably the most prolific hip-hop artist ever. In a young man’s game, Jay-Z still sells tons of CDs and has been able to maintain both his street cred and artistic attitude. This set doesn’t come close to even scraping the surface of the man’s creative output.
The guy could have released a CD of just the work he’s done with other artists like Linkin Park, Eminem, Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Beyonce, R Kelly, Pharrell, Young Jeezy, Lil’ Wayne. you get the idea.
In the liner notes he admits that he has avoided a ‘hits’ compilation because he never felt a handful of songs defined him. Ok, that’s cool but a hits compilation isn’t meant to define him, it’s meant for his fans to have fun with. Lighten up.
Instead we once again have stuff like “99 Problems,” “Big Pimpin'” and “Run This Town.” All more than worthy stuff no question, though nothing that even a casual fan would get excited about.
Maybe someday soon we’ll get his collected works in a nice package but it sure isn’t The Hits Collection Vol. 1.
(Bob Hanson)
