Michael McDonald – Motown (Motown) Michael McDonald does have one of the finest white soul voices in the world. With the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan and over twenty years of solo work his instantly identifiable baritone became a part of the pop music lexicon. So, it makes a certain amount of sense that on his … Continue reading
Olivia Newton-John-2 (Festival/Mushroom) Lately in Europe, there have been several slightly-past-their-prime artists who have done all-duets projects to show that they still have some hipster cred. Probably the best of these was Tom Jones’ Reload, in which he proved he could get the kids like Barenaked Ladies, Robbie Williams, Natalie Imbruglia and the Pretenders on board, and … Continue reading
Elton John – Greatest Hits 1970-2002 (Mercury) From 1970 to 1977 Elton John had an almost unprecedented run of musical brilliance, during that time his work with lyricist Bernie Taupin rivaled the work of Lennon and McCartney and Brian Wilson. In this short bridge of time, John recorded about two very good albums a year … Continue reading
Shania Twain – Up! (Mercury) Never in my life have I seen so many exclamation points as there are in the song listing for Shania Twain’s latest. There are nineteen song titles on Up! and ten exclamation points. It’s almost like a teenaged girl’s diary. Now Shania has a long history of unwieldy titles anyway, and this album’s … Continue reading
Axelle Red – Alive (Virgin-France) I might have never heard of Axelle Red if I weren’t channel surfing one August night last year in the Sofitel Méditerranée in Cannes. With my admittedly rudimentary skills in the French language, I was looking for something, frankly, which I could understand. That’s when I stumbled upon an hour-long interview … Continue reading
Rod Stewart – It Had To Be You: The Great American Songbook (J Records) With this album, Rod Stewart gives up any pretense of trying to hold onto his rock and soul following. And that’s fine, he’s well into his late 50s now and rock and roll is supposed to be a young man’s game. He really … Continue reading
Chicago – The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning (Rhino) Very few bands have had two completely separate stylistic periods. The late 60s-early 70s incarnation of Chicago was a pioneering force that wed rock and roll with jazz horns and improvisational playing in a way that was totally unique. By the time the late 70s … Continue reading
Tony Bennett & k.d. lang – A Wonderful World (RPM/Columbia) Last year’s dual tour between old smoothie Bennett and former torch-and-twang gal turned chanteuse lang turned out to be a surprisingly smart pairing. It has now spawned this album; a tribute to Tony’s old pal Louis Armstrong. While the songs of the scratchy-voiced Satchmo may seem like … Continue reading
Jennifer Love Hewitt – BareNaked (Jive) There is a stigma out there when actors release albums that they are usually bad vanity projects. And often, that is deserved (J.Lo, take a bow.) But sometimes, that is not the case. Sometimes, the star can actually sing and has something interesting to say. Jennifer Love Hewitt fits into … Continue reading
Raphael Saadiq – Instant Vintage (Universal) Raphael Saadiq has logged well over a decade in the music biz as one of the brains behind Tony! Toni! Toné! and last year’s supergroup Lucy Pearl. But other than a few solo soundtrack singles over the years like “Ask Of You” (from Higher Learning) and “Get Involved” (from The PJ’s), he … Continue reading
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