Safetysuit

SAFETYSUIT
"LIFE LEFT TO GO"
(Universal, 2008)


"Annie"


Another one of my in-store discoveries that I didn't know existed, this four-man band from Tulsa, Oklahoma, quickly reeled me in on the listening station when they demonstrated excellent vocal harmony in the first few bars of the first track. And, to my delight, that one track wasn't a fluke ... the album maintained a very respectable momentum all the way through, with no shortage of crafty hooks, intriguing instrumentation, and skilled vocals.

Newer-generation listeners will probably liken this band's sound to Switchfoot, which is a perfectly appropriate comparison (lead vocalist Douglas Brown even sounds quite a bit like Jon Foreman). But music fans of previous generations, like myself, may think of classic '80s bands like Journey (particularly when hearing the guitar in "What If") or Asia when they pay closer attention to Safetysuit's melodic sensibilities and tendency toward sweeping, echo-laden grandeur. But lest you think this is strictly an old-school affair, wait until you hear the eerie, spacey waltz that closes the album -- almost as if it were recorded in the future like a reverse message-in-a-bottle.

This is one of those bands that doesn't appear to have gotten any publicity from their record company, and it's a damn shame. Fans of any honest-to-goodness rock music -- including, but certainly not limited to, the groups named above -- will find plenty to like in this album, and should pick it up pronto.

Curtis Peoples

CURTIS PEOPLES
"CURTIS PEOPLES"
(Control Group, 2008)


"Back Where I Started"


I guess this blog is good for something after all ... like when a musician's publicity firm puts me on their mailing list and brings great stuff to my attention that I probably would have otherwise missed completely. Take Curtis Peoples, for example. The press release describes his sound as "coffeeshop arena rock", and if any phrase is going to pique my curiosity, that would be it. Add to that the fact that one of the songs was co-written by Tyler Hilton, and another by Ryan Tedder, and that's all the convincing I needed to give this disc a try.

Curtis Peoples' songs are as rich and lively as the likes of Tonic or Better Than Ezra, but he still manages to maintain the cozy feel of singer-songwriters like Teddy Thompson and Ben Lee. His voice reminds me of a cross between Alex Band (of The Calling) and Michael Tolcher -- yet another thing to love about him, as far as I'm concerned. Curtis Peoples has toured with artists such as Tyler Hilton, Josh Kelley, Hanson, and Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers, all of which make perfect sense; his music can be thought of as power-pop with a southern-rock twist.

I hesitate to call this album "perfect" (if there's one complaint, it's that a few of his songs in the middle sound samey, but then I still have yet to completely absorb the album), but it is only his first, and debut albums don't come much more impressive than this. And it really makes me wonder how much better he'll get as time goes on.

Joey McIntyre

With less than two weeks until the release of New Kids On The Block's first new album in almost 15 years, I thought I'd take this opportunity to revisit an album by the "New Kid" who's enjoyed the most productive solo music career -- and who also just happens to have been my favorite member of the group.

JOEY McINTYRE
"MEET JOE MAC"
(Atlantic, 2001)


"Easier"


Although the title might imply that it was his solo debut, "Meet Joe Mac" is actually Joey McIntyre's second album. It may be an unremarkable release in terms of its music and lyrics, but it plays an important part in his discography. It was on this album that Joey first collaborated with producer/songwriter/singer Emanuel Kiriakou, forging an ongoing working relationship that would help Joey to further define himself as an artist.

If there's one major fault in this recording as a whole, it's inconsistency. A few of the songs are handicapped with unimaginative lyrics, despite having decent melodies. You'll hear a great track one minute, and then a bad one the next (the worst being Joey's misguided attempt at hip-hop, "NYC Girls"). Furthermore, If you're the kind of listener who enjoys a cohesive set of songs that flow naturally from one to the next, you'll probably be disappointed ... but then I'm not an "album" kind of person, so that doesn't matter to me.

Having said all that, though, this album definitely has its enjoyable moments. Joey knows his way around a great ballad (the single "Rain", and the gorgeous "Easier" which would sound wonderful covered by David Archuleta, whose voice I now realize reminds me a lot of Joey's); his charm works for him in the quirky "National Anthem Of Love" (given a slightly heavier sprinkling of cheese thanks to a guest appearance by the B-52s' Fred Schneider) and the flippant kiss-off song "If I Run Into You"; and there's not much to dislike about the energetic pop songs like "Walk Away" and "With a Girl Like You".

Looking back from what he's done since this album, it's more apparent now that he was trying to introduce his playful sense of humor into his music; perhaps he was being just a little too subtle about it here (although the tongue-in-cheek front and back cover photos hint at it) and that may partly account for its less-than-warm reception. But I think his natural likability makes up for any of the shortcomings the album may have. Suffice to say that this may not necessarily be his best album, but it's my favorite, and it's a fine way to "Meet Joe Mac".

Espen Lind

Oh, Poster Girl, Poster Girl ... where the flů¢ж are you?!?!?!? Does anyone out there know what's happened to her? I hope she's around to read this, 'cause I know she's as big an Espen Lind fan as I am -- so if anything will get her attention, this post will. Come back, Girl ... we all miss you!!!

ESPEN LIND
"ARMY OF ONE"
(Polydor/Norway, 2008)


"Sweet Love"


One never fully knows exactly what sort of album Espen Lind will put out next ... but then, that only makes it a little more exciting waiting for the CD to arrive in the mail. After the aurally intricate "This Is Pop Music" (I couldn't have written a better review of it than this one here), I was a bit disappointed to find that his follow-up, "April", was a comparatively stripped-down, ballad-heavy, back-to-basics album. Sure, it was good, but I must have been more disappointed in it than I originally realized, because it seems that almost no time at all had passed before his latest release, "Army Of One", suddenly appeared -- although it has actually been three years, just one year shorter than the wait time leading up to "April".

For the first time, Espen Lind has entrusted the producer duties of one of his albums to someone other than himself or his longtime partner, Amund Bjørklund (credited sometimes by himself as "Bluefish", and with Espen as "Espionage"*) -- in this case, Bjørn Nessjø. The result is the most sonically diverse album that Espen Lind has ever released. The use of ukulele (in the single "Scared of Heights" and the opening track "Sea Of Love") brings to mind the relaxing vibe of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version of "Over The Rainbow". There's something about "Sweet Love" and "The Music Takes You There" that bring back warm memories of the '80s for me (probably the saxophone in the former, and the vaguely Elton John-like piano in the latter).

Lyrically, the song I enjoy the most at the moment is "Clearly You Are Falling In Love" ... it's filled with rhymes that are clever without being cutesy. There are a few nice ballads on the album, such as "Childhood Fields Of Clover" (if you can look past the Hallmark-card title), the breezy acoustic-guitar number "Nightrider" (nothing to do with David Hasselhoff, don't worry), and the beautiful, almost hymn-like closer, "I Don't Let My Heart Be Troubled".

I've only listened to this CD three times so far, the first time being about four hours ago, but I can already tell this is one of my favorites of the year, and far more enjoyable than its predecessor, "April". It basically reinforces Espen Lind's standing as one of my ten favorite artists of all time, and it makes me all the more curious for what he might come up with for his next album.

*assuming the info I got from the web was right!

Michael Franti and Spearhead

MICHAEL FRANTI AND SPEARHEAD
"EVERYONE DESERVES MUSIC"
(Boo Boo Wax, 2003)


"Everyone Deserves Music"


I'm not really a fan of Michael Franti and Spearhead, just because it's generally not my kind of music -- I've never been a big fan of socio-political "message" songs, for which Franti has earned a reputation -- but this particular CD has a poignantly ironic significance to me. You see, on the day that a local CD store, which I had patronized faithfully for years (and browsed in on an almost daily basis) went out of business, this CD -- specifically its title track -- was playing as I morosely walked out the beloved establishment's doors for the very last time. So, maybe you can understand when something inside me told me that I simply had to buy it.

The group's music is hard to categorize, at least as far as this album goes ... and that's the kind of album I like. Whether you're a fan of rap ("We Don't Stop"), R&B-glazed hip-hop ("What I Be"), 21st-Century reggae ("Pray For Grace"), soul from the '60s ("Yes I Will") or the '70s ("Love Invincible"), moving balladry ("Love, Why Did You Go Away?"), or even pseudo-bossa-nova ("Crazy, Crazy, Crazy"), it's all here. And let's not forget the cornerstone of the album, the moving anti-war song "Bomb The World", written in the aftermath of 9/11.

One thing I've learned over the years is that you can't go out and expect to find your next favorite artist; if you're meant to hear a song or an album or an artist and fall in love with it, it'll find you. That must be why "Everyone Deserves Music" was playing at that particular moment, in that particular place, on that particular day -- serendipity. I'm not exactly saying that Michael Franti and Spearhead are a "favorite" of mine or that I've "fallen in love" with them, but it's hard not to like an album like this.

Backstreet Boys

BACKSTREET BOYS
"UNBREAKABLE"
(Zomba, 2007)


"Any Other Way"


I've just completed yet another significant pruning of my CD collection (having lost my fondness for this CD and that CD, as well as getting rid of a Huey Lewis & The News album for the first time, a bittersweet occasion indeed), and this title was one of the first that I pulled off my shelf, so certain was I that it was going to be one that I would be getting rid of. But just to be sure I was making the right decision, I decided earlier this week to listen to it once more on my iPod. Well, imagine my surprise when I had a change of heart and put it back on the shelf.

I won't sugar-coat things here (bear in mind that it took months for me to really warm up to this disc) ... the Boys are a long way from their glory days of "Millennium", and this is by no means a perfect album -- its lead single "Inconsolable", aside from being just an okay song, is placed right next to a tune with a very similar bar at the beginning of its chorus, thus diluting the originality (for lack of a better word) of both songs -- but it's not half-bad either.

Apparently taking a cue from their less-than-lovingly received 2005 effort "Never Gone", the guys break up the somewhat monotonous adult-contemporary sound of that album by mixing in some of the more energetic synth-pop that made them famous a decade ago. The result is a totally listenable album in which even the dancey numbers sound surprisingly non-pretentious being sung by guys in their late 20's and early 30's.

Sure, they've no longer got Kevin Richardson with them, but they're not suffering at all from his absence. And yes, they've done better stuff than this, but they're not quite washed up yet. The ballads here are mostly so-so but with a couple of standouts ("Helpless When She Smiles", "Trouble Is"), but the upbeat numbers ("Everything But Mine", "Panic") make them sound almost as good as they did in their heyday. Maybe it's just me, but I can still hear an energy in their vocals that I just can't imagine coming from people who don't still thoroughly enjoy performing together as a group.

George

GEORGE
"BELIEVE"
(Avex/Japan, 2007)


"I Wanna Love You"


Remember Justin Nozuka, whose CD I reviewed about a month ago? Well, allow me to introduce you to his brother, who bills himself by just his first name, George. But their parentage is about all they have in common; whereas Justin specializes in soulful, bluesy, singer-songwriter pop, George Nozuka has taken a rather different route, namely contemporary R&B.

At first listen, there really isn't much of anything that distinguishes George from the rest of the young male R&B crowd clamoring to be the next Usher. But something about this CD has made it grow on me faster than any other R&B release in years. I'm not sure if it's the songs -- every one of which was co-written by the artist, which always earns extra points in my book -- or the voice behind them -- soulful, tender, husky but smooth ... enough to give Chris Brown or Justin Timberlake a run for their money.

Truth be told, the simple fact that I like his brother so much is the only reason I bought this album in the first place, and may have a lot to do with why I've come to like George almost as much. It was a risky purchase, since I've tried and failed to enjoy music by siblings or cousins of some of my favorite artists more than once before, but in this case it paid off handsomely.