Rob Thomas - Cradlesong

Rob Thomas’ second solo album moves him back toward the Southern rock sensibilities we heard in the first Matchbox 20 albums.  Make no mistake though, Thomas’ solo material isn’t a Matchbox 20 redux, despite the presence of of a track titled “Real World ‘09.”

Cradlesong offers a solid collection of electric-guitar-and-vocals-driven tracks, with several lushly orchestrated songs (including “Her Diamonds” and the title track) that offer up more exotic instrumentation including African and taiko drums, a chamberlain, a bouzouki, an oud and a Portuguese guitar.

The variety of tempos throughout Cradlesong keeps the album interesting.  Thomas still knows how to reel listeners in with the big hooks, from the triumphant chorus of “Give Me the Meltdown” to his soaring vocals on “Someday” to his sing-shout of “Wait/I think I feel hell/No I can’t be myself/And I can’t be nobody else” on “Wonderful.”

Thomas isn’t dependent on the big hooks though, and it’s his skillful songwriting and vocals that make the album shine.  Well aware that he’s never going to be an “edgy” or “revolutionary” artist, Thomas sticks to his familiar themes of heartache, mental anguish and love gained, with a light detour into politics with the song “Fire on the Mountain.”  The result is an engaging, eminently listenable mix of uptempo tracks and gentle ballads that have less of a pop edge than Something to Be, his first solo album, and a touch more Southern rock and country influence.

Check out these cuts: “Give Me The Meltdown” and “Cradlesong”

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Black Eyed Peas - The E.N.D.

This album review comes a bit later than I intended, but sometimes the day job and the need to occassionally sleep has to take precendence!

Talk about truth in advertising:  the title of the Black Eyed Peas' newest album, The E.N.D., is short for "the energy never dies" and that's exactly what you get on track after track.  The E.N.D. is, in short, the album you put on when you and your friends are getting ready to go out to party for a night.  It's music that's guaranteed to get you dancing long before you walk out the front door.

Will.i.am throws every production trick in the book at these 15 tracks, from autotune to 808 drum beats. Different tracks reflect the variety of musical influences that the Peas bring to the table, with the pop dance beats that drive each track being the constant that ties the album together.

Fergie's voice continues to be the most notable one on the album.  The sheer range of vocal qualities that she tackles on any given album never fails to impress me.  On The E.N.D., Fergie transitions seemlessly from  a disco diva on "Meet Me Halfway" to the lazy rap of "Imma Be" to the power pop of "Missing You" to the reggae beats of "Electric City."
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Watch the slightly NSFW video for the second single, "I've Gotta Feeling":

There's nothing revolutionary about the cuts on The E.N.D. -- the relentless dance beats can start feeling overwhelming at some points, and overall it's not as strong as Monkey Business and Elephunk. But when it comes to creating an album where the dance floor energy literally never dies, BEP has certainly succeeded.

Check out these cuts: "Imma Be" and "I Gotta Feeling"

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Rascal Flatts - Unstoppable

So let's get one thing out of the way right off the bat -- many country music purists and critics don't like the country/pop sensibilities of Rascal Flatts. Those folks won't find much to like on the band's sixth studio album, but they're in the minority and have been for a decade.

Rascal Flatts know what works for them musically and stick with that on their newest offering, Unstoppable. The sound is unmistakably country, but it never gets overly twangy and listeners can relate to the lyrics about love, loss and family even if they grew up in an urban or suburban area.

The album starts strong with "Love Who You Love," whose non-gender-specific message has been celebrated by members of the LGBT community. Even more surprising -- in a good way, since much of the country music community tends to favor more conservative values -- all three Rascal Flatts members have stated that they have no problem with the song being interpreted as a message of acceptance for the gay community.

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"Here Comes Goodbye," the album's second track and first radio single, showcases the range of (oh-so-aptly-named) lead singer Gary LeVox's voice and the emotion he can bring to a song. The single -- which shares a theme of the unexpected loss of a loved one with a previous Rascal Flatts' smash hit, "What Hurts The Most" (2006) -- peaked at #11 on The Billboard Hot 100 and is currently #33 after seven weeks on the chart. This week, "Here Comes Goodbye" is also #1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.

"Close" and "Holdin' On," the third and third-from-last tracks respectively, feel like musical mirrors of each other, perhaps designed to show that the male and female experience isn't as different as we think. "Close," which was co-written by Flatts' bassist Jay DeMarcus, is the story of a woman holding on to mementos from her last relationship ("it's just a worn out Notre-Dame t-shirt/she's gotten mad and tried/to throw that thing away/at least a hundred times/but she's got it on tonight"). "Holdin' On" is the same broken-heart-not-ready-to-move-on story, but this time it's the man who's "holdin' on to the wheel/on to the way she made him feel/on to the shifter, on to the pictures/every precious moment with her."

The title track, an ode to the power of love, shows the band at its best. The guitar-driven, triumphant ballad showcases both LeVox's earnest voice and the trio's beautiful vocal harmonies. "Unstoppable" is the kind of track that turns people who aren't country music fans into Rascal Flatts' fans.

For pure fun, the best track is "Summer Nights," co-written by LeVox. The playful tempo and lyrics capture the feel of a late-night bonfire party on the beach, a perfect feel for a springtime album.

While I don't invest in many country music albums, Unstoppable is yet another Rascal Flatts' album that's worth owning in full. The band doesn't reinvent themselves or their country/pop sound on the disc, but sometimes there's no need to mess with a good thing.

Watch the music video for "Here Comes Goodbye":

Listen to audio clips from all 11 tracks from Rascal Flatts' Unstoppable here.

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Prince - Lotusflow3r

With an $11.98 price tag, Prince's Target-exclusive, three-disc set is a steal. I must admit, as someone who had only listened to and purchased singles by Prince and never an entire album, I was curious to see if the experience would live up to the hype. He has, afterall, long been hailed by many fans and critics as a "musical genius."

The first in the trio of discs is the 10-track debut album by Prince's newest protégé, Bria Valente. As the album artwork shows, Valente certainly has the looks one would expect in a Prince protégé, but she seems destined to fade back into obscurity as quickly as most of those women have in the past. Valente has a pleasant singing voice, but Elix3r's smooth, bland R&B tracks slide one into the next without ever catching your attention. The music isn't offensive to the ears, but it's also completely forgettable, unlike the next disc in the set.

Prince's Lotus Flow3r is definitely the strongest album of the three. The guitar-heavy tracks cover a range of styles and subject matter and have kept my interest all the way through the album every time I listen to it. From the deliciously funky grooves of "Boom" and "Dreamer" to the retro flashback of "Crimson and Clover" (spiced up with a touch of "Wild Thing") and the smooth, sweet ballad titled "4Ever," Prince gives us quality track after quality track on this album. My personal favorite, along with "Crimson and Clover," is "Feel Good, Feel Better, Feel Wonderful." This jam is so unmistakably James Brown-inspired that you can see the late Brown dancing across the stage in your mind throughout the whole track, but Prince is the artist getting the cape thrown across his shoulders when the song ends.

MPLSoUND, the last disc in the set, opens strong with "(There'll Never B) Another Like Me," which has that familiar, confident, sexy Prince swagger, even as the singer's born-again roots show when he tells us he "can't stand nobody cursing at me/when I'm clean."

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Prince can't stop being Prince though -- his sexy lyrical come-ons start in Lotus Flow3r, but really kick into gear in MPLSoUND, which has a much more of retro, classic Prince sound and attitude. "Chocolate Box" and "Dance 4 Me" are perfect examples of this, along with "Valentina," the artist's enticing ode/invitation to actress (and mother of a baby girl named Valentina) Salma Hayek. What keeps MPLSoUND from being the strongest album of the three are the ballads, which bring the mood of the album to a grinding halt and very quickly make you want to skip to the next track.

Overall, the three-disc set is definitely worth $11.98 and a trip to Target. Prince fans seem to agree-- Lotus Flow3r/MPLSoUND/Elix3r debuted at #2 on The Billboard 200, and at #1 on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top Independent Albums charts.

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Doves - Kingdom of Rust

Four years since their last release (Some Cities) the UK's Doves are back with Kingdom of Rust. Way back in January, guitarist Jez Williams told the NME that the songs recorded for the record were "so schizophrenic, but... also strangely cohesive." Truer words have never been spoken.
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The first three tracks alone are a perfect illustration of Williams' statement. The album starts out with "Jetstream," which begins harmlessly enough before gaining a disconnected, tense quality thanks to its methodically-layered synths and percussion. This somehow manages to flow perfectly into the album's title track, which blends elements of country and orchestral music, while still managing to sound like classic Doves thanks to its cheerfully melancholy vibe. When the song is over, the listener is instantly transported into what feels like a chase scene in a science fiction movie during the first few seconds of "The Outsiders."

It looks like the Doves have gained back a bit of the edge they seemed to have lost back when Some Cities came out, and the end result is a delightful, genuinely interesting mix of sounds. This is also the album where Doves' past as dance act Sub Sub becomes obvious — this may be part of the reason why the album has such a triumphant sound.

The only place where the dance influence becomes a bit of a problem is during "Compulsion," which is a little too reminiscent of Blondie. While I'm not the first person to make this comparison, I would like to note that I'd actually avoided reading and listening to much about/of the album. But I actually found myself humming the melody from "Rapture," when I first heard the opening beats of "Compulsion," which indicates a slight lack of innovation in the latter.

Nonetheless, it can safely be said that this is one of the strongest albums to emerge so far in 2009, and it marks a positive return for the Doves. Long absence or not, they're still a band worthy of the attention they receive. It will be interesting to see what they'll do next.
Stream Kingdom of Rust below:

Kingdom Of Rust - Doves

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Hannah Montana: The Movie Soundtrack

It's a given that the legions of tween girls who have been devoted Hannah Montana fans for the past several years are going to love the soundtrack to the upcoming movie. Luckily, it's also an album that most parents can listen to with their tweens without cringing, and there are quite a few tracks that are more sophisticated than your standard kid-friendly fare.

The seven songs credited to Hannah Montana are high-energy tween pop tracks in the same vein as the two multi-platinum Hannah Montana TV soundtracks. The songs credited to Miley Cyrus are generally slower tempo songs with a slightly more mature sound. "Hoedown Throwdown" is one of the exceptions to this rule of thumb. Oddly enough, the song mixes bubblegum pop, country and a touch of hip hop, which should be a train wreck waiting to happen, but instead the result is cute, catchy and playful.

"The Climb" is part of the more mature, less tween-pop middle of the album that reflects the characters' return to Tennessee in the movie. It's Miley's strongest performance on the soundtrack by far. "The Climb" is also her most mainstream, radio-friendly single yet and further shows what the 16-year-old can do as a singer without the Hannah Montana persona. Sure enough, the track entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #6 (her highest-charting single to date) and is holding at #8 after 4 weeks on the chart.

Watch the music video for "The Climb":

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"Butterfly Fly Away" is a lullaby duet between Miley and her real-life and onscreen dad, Billy Ray Cyrus. This well-known connection gives the track a wistful sweetness, even though the lyrics are specific to their characters' backstories. Billy Ray Cyrus also contributes the title track of his new country album (which was released today) to the movie soundtrack. Unfortunately, "Back to Tennessee" isn't a very strong or memorable song. It lacks the fun of his most famous single or the emotional resonance of "I Learned From You," his last duet with Miley. The "I"s at the end of many of the lines sound more like the growls of a papa bear than the end of a musical lyric.

Country music superstars Rascal Flatts recorded new, acoustic versions of a couple of their hits for the Hannah Montana movie soundtrack. "Backwards" was originally released on their Me and My Gang (2006) album and is a hilarious novelty song that plays off of the old joke question, "what happens when you play a country song backwards?" The soundtrack version has been rewritten to eliminate less "kid-friendly" references to bars and beer, and a friend named Jack has been renamed Jackson, Hannah Montana's older brother in the show and movie. References to heart attacks were also changed (with a wink and a nudge) to "achy breaky hearts."

"Bless the Broken Road," the second re-recorded Rascal Flatts' hit on the soundtrack, was originally included on their Feels Like Today (2004) album. The acoustic version of this gentle ballad soars with a simple guitar accompaniment to the harmonies for which Rascal Flatts is known.

The album also includes two tracks from Steve Rushton -- an artist from the UK who recently signed with another Disney music label, Hollywood Records -- but no family-oriented album about a girl returning to her Tennessee roots would be complete without an original song from country music ingénue Taylor Swift. While not a standout track, "Crazier" is appealing to both tween girls and their parents and is a solid addition to an album whose country/pop mix will likely introduce a whole new audience to the current generation of country music.

Walt Disney Records usually releases a two-disc special edition set for high-profile soundtracks such as this, so fans who want possible bonus materials like additional or alternate version tracks, music videos and/or behind-the-scenes video features may want to hold out until around the time of the Hannah Montana: The Movie DVD release . . . although it's doubtful that many tween fans would be able to wait that long.

Hannah Montana: The Movie opens this Friday, April 10; soundtrack is available now.

Listen to audio clips from all 18 Hannah Montana: The Movie tracks and watch the "Hoedown Throwdown" music video here.

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Metric - Fantasies

Metric finally released their latest studio offering, Fantasies, in digital format via their website and iTunes on Tuesday. It's the fourth studio album for the group — and the first full-length album since 2005's Live It Out, if you don't count the 2007 rerelease of Grow Up and Blow Away.

While some bands have a tendency to change their sound as much as possible during a hiatus from the studio, the members of Metric seem content to stick with their usual sound. On one hand this is slightly disappointing — the acoustic tracks that accompanied Fantasies preorders are fantastic, and frontwoman Emily Haines has shown that she can do the quiet, broody piano thing on solo album Knives Don't Have Your Back. It would be pretty interesting if the band would start incorporating a greater variety of influences and ideas while working on Metric material.

That being said, Fantasies is a great spring/summer album. In classic Metric fashion, it features a hefty amount of new wave-influenced fuzzy guitars, synths and punchy beats. Haines' vocals alternate between sweet (as heard on "Gimme Sympathy") and slightly sinister (as evidenced on tracks like "Blindness"). Though songs do slow down a bit and begin to blend into each other during the latter half of the album, Fantasies goes out on a strong note with the rousing "Stadium Love."

It may not be the next White Album or Kid A, but Metric have proved that they have a strong formula that works for them. So if you're looking for some indie, alternative pop to bop around to, you're definitely in the right place.

Stream Fantasies below:

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Glasvegas - Glasvegas

Glasvegas' eponymous debut album was released in fall 2008, but with a busy spring and summer ahead of them, a lot more people are about to learn about this band. They've just started a 16-date North American tour that wraps up with a plum spot on Coachella's Saturday line up, and this summer in the UK they'll be opening for U2 and Kings of Leon.

Even if you don't know about the band's Scottish origins, the moment the vocals on the opening track, "Flowers and Football Tops," start, you'll know that Glasvegas is European rock, not American. Lead singer James Allan has a brogue so thick you could cut it with a knife, but even when you lose the lyrics in his accent, it doesn't detract from the musicality of the songs. The album as a whole is angsty, but with enough lightness to be appealing and not just depressing.

Glasvegas includes quite a few strong tracks. "Geraldine" transitions seamlessly into "It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry," although both songs are enjoyable singles on their own. "Daddy's Gone" takes its place alongside Harry Chapin's "Cat's In the Cradle" and Everclear's "Father of Mine," although it may be the most cheerful-sounding song ever in which a son mourns his abandonment by his father. "Stabbed" opens memorably with Allan voicing the lyrics, "I'm gonna get stabbed," over the mournful strains of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. "S.A.D. Light" starts with a sweet mournfulness before the intensity ramps up on the chorus.

While I can easily listen over and over again to all of the tracks I've already mentioned, the one that's become my favorite is the playful-sounding "Go Square Go," which, when you listen to the lyrics, is actually about a frightened kid working himself up to face off with the schoolyard bully who's been terrorizing him. The chorus and the crescendoing "here we go" end of the song beg to be shouted out loud along with the band during a live performance. With any luck, quite a few people will be doing exactly that in '09.

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U2 - No Line on the Horizon

The last U2 album I fell in love with at first listen was 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind. For me, reaction-wise No Line on the Horizon is closer to their last album, 2004's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb -- I liked the album after the first listen, but I can tell that I'll fall in love with it slowly as I discover something new to appreciate and enjoy each time I listen to it.

Though public response has been lukewarm, I liked "Get On Your Boots" right off the bat. It's a get-happy bit of spun sugar on an otherwise soulful album. Other early favorites include the almost seven-and-a-half-minute-long "Moment of Surrender," which pairs mellow instrumentals with Bono's passionate vocals. My one complaint about this track is that the lyrics "I was punching in the numbers/at the ATM machine," while relatable, may rank right up there with George Michael's "guilty feet have got no rhythm" on the Why Would You Include a Phrase Like *That* In a Song list.

Another track that immediately caught my ear and that I could see being a second single off the album is "Stand Up Comedy." The song has an upbeat, anthemic feel and driving guitar line that sounds like the U2 most people expect. It's definitely less challenging and experimental than the cut "FEZ-Being Born," which starts out with over a minute of ambient-style music with repeated echos of the "let me in the sound" cry from "Get On Your Boots," along with other melodic vocalizations. Listeners definitely feel the presence of album co-producer Brian Eno in this song.

While it's an album that takes a little longer to fall in love with, U2 takes chances in No Line on the Horizon, continuing to experiment with new sounds and influences while putting together lyrics that are smart, unique and never fail to produce an emotional response. And somehow the experimentation doesn't feel like the band is pushing at their boundaries for vanity's sake -- trying something new just because they've been around for 30+ years so they can. Perhaps it's the moody earnestness of the album, but in No Line it feels like U2 is experimenting because these musicians are still looking for ways to grow, improve and make their music more.

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