Matt Wertz

MATT WERTZ
"WEIGHTS & WINGS"
(Nettwerk, 2011)


I consider it a favorite album of mine, but the fact that half of Matt Wertz's 2006 Nettwerk release "Everything In Between" was replicated on his major-label effort "Under Summer Sun" less than two years later, plus the relative lack of appeal of any of the latter album's new tracks, gave me very little reason to buy it. So it's mostly understandable that his name wasn't high on my new release watch list another two years on. But, curiosity (and a couple of catchy song clips) got the better of me, and I decided to give his new album a try. Two listens in, however, I'm still only lukewarm to this album.

The overriding theme is love and relationships (although, when you think about it, that can probably be said of the majority of albums out there), and the songs tend to sound similar more often than not -- though I don't know if one of those characteristics necessarily has to do with the other. "Nobody's You" is the first track off this set that I came to love, possibly because it's reminiscent of "Over You", my favorite cut from his '06 album. I've also started warming to "Running Back To You", with its broad, almost power-ballad feel, and the lilting bounce of "Someone Like You", but none of the other tracks have made an impression on me yet.

Still, even though the ingredients seem the same, the snap, crackle and pop they created on "Everything In Between" is absent on this disc, or at the very least not as evident. If you were looking for a continuation -- a "disc 2" of sorts, with b-sides and outtakes -- of that album, or just another excuse to hear Matt Wertz's charming and likeable vocals, this album will satisfy you nicely; it'd be great for something to play in the background and not necessarily call attention to itself. But if you're looking to have your ear truly grabbed, you may need to look elsewhere.

Buy it digitally on iTunes
Buy it on CD from Amazon

The Posies

THE POSIES
"BLOOD/CANDY"
(Rykodisc, 2010)


A couple of years ago, I stopped actively seeking out new music -- hey, it's not like I don't have enough CDs already, plus I've always got a shopping list I'm trying to catch up on anyway -- and decided that, if I'm meant to discover an artist that I'll grow to love, their music will find me. Here's a perfect example: my brother was having trouble with his computer's speakers one day and asked for my help. After re-starting the machine and launching iTunes to test the speakers (he's not a digital music person, so I didn't expect to find anything at all in his iTunes library) I saw a couple of tracks by a group called The Posies. I double-clicked on one ... and not only did the speakers work, they showered me with a sound so delightful that I wasted little time in buying their two most recent albums, "Every Kind of Light" and "Blood/Candy".

The majority of The Posies' longtime fans consider their earlier work to be superior, but this is my first exposure to the group, and I for one am loving their Rykodisc years. Most of the tracks on this set, particularly "The Glitter Prize" (featuring Letters To Cleo vocalist Kay Hanley) and "So Caroline", remind me of the glory days of so-called "jangle-pop" like the early-'90s work of bands such as the Gin Blossoms, R.E.M., and a particular favorite of mine, The Connells. "Accidental Architecture" smacks (in the best possible way) of '60s psychedelia, and "Notion 99" seems to borrow a bit from British Invasion pop. Other standout tracks include the engaging "Take Care Of Yourself" and the vaguely Flaming Lips-ish "Holiday Hours". There's very little filler here, if any at all.

My discovery of The Posies can only be described as fate: I found out soon after that Microsoft pre-loaded Windows Vista machines with two tracks off the band's 2005 album, "Every Kind of Light" (which is a pretty decent album too, by the way). With music seemingly coming at us from all directions -- numerous other blogs, radio, TV, and in the case of most of us bloggers, emails from artists or their promotional teams -- it can very easily feel like we're drowning in a sea of sounds. Plus, if you're anything like me, the more music you hear, the more difficult it is to hear something that truly sets itself apart. So, with sincere apologies to the bands whose promotional emails I ignore, I'm perfectly content with just stumbling upon music all by myself ... especially if the results continue to be artists as appealing as The Posies.

Buy it digitally on iTunes
Buy it on CD from Amazon

from the bookshelf: The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music

Guess what? Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of this blog! (Like, yay, and stuff!) Since I haven't gotten around to writing up my thoughts on any more of the new albums I've acquired lately, I thought it would be somehow appropriate to write an all-encompassing sort of entry befitting this blog's overarcing, music-without-borders theme ... besides, it's high time that I wrote about another book anyway.

"THE BILLBOARD ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC"
by PAUL duNOYER
(Watson-Guptill, 2003)


Not being much of an actual reader, I tend to gravitate more toward "coffee-table" kinds of picture books and the more concise, browse-worthy reference volumes; this title fits neatly into both categories. It's quite literally everything (basic) you always wanted to know about all varieties of music, organized sensibly and attractively, with sections covering all the general genres (rock, jazz, country, etc.), each broken into chapters by subgenre (prog rock, jam bands, bebop, acid jazz, bluegrass, honky tonk, and countless others). Did you know there are almost a dozen types of reggae music alone? This book covers eleven of them!

Each chapter of this work provies a brief history of the subject genre, lists key artists in each field, provides entertaining and enlightening quotes from music luminaries, and even prints a bar or two of music from a typical work in each subgenre to illustrate its composition. As if that weren't enough, the book includes a glossary of musical instruments, and even a primer on how to read sheet music. At only 448 pages, it can't possibly go into a whole lot of depth, but it does cover an impressive amount of territory.

Since this book is strictly an encyclopedia and not a history of music, its coverage might seem a bit uneven -- dance music, which has been around for only a few decades, gets almost as many pages devoted to it as classical, which has existed for over three centuries. And then of course comes the categorization issue ... for someone like me, who knows how very blurred the lines between genres have become in recent years, the classifications of certain artists can seem somewhat arbitrary, if not downright inaccurate ... but that's a moot point to an extent, since specific artists aren't often mentioned except in short lists in the margins of each chapter, cited as rough examples of their respective genre.

The odd melange of items under the "popular and novelty" section can be a little irksome (Shouldn't Contemporary Christian be a part of the Gospel section? Why isn't Easy Listening at the beginning of the Pop section? And what exactly defines "Nostalgia"?), but that's a small complaint, given the wealth of information in the book as a whole. For anyone who's even a little curious about all the different kinds of music out there, or is otherwise unafraid to broaden their musical knowledge, this is a handy resource to have around and casually thumb through. Hey, music is a "continuum", after all.

Nick Carter

NICK CARTER
"I'M TAKING OFF"
(Sony/Japan, 2011)


When you have to wait nine years for an artist to release their next album, especially if you loved their previous one as much as I loved Nick Carter's solo debut, "Now Or Never", it's nearly unavoidable that you'd raise your hopes and expectations to absurdly high levels. I got off on that album so much because it was such a departure from the squeaky-clean pop he'd been doing with the Backstreet Boys, and also because Nick's raspy, ballsy voice seemed tailor-made for good ol' guitars-and-drums rock. He was ready to burst out as the next Bryan Adams, and I could totally see it happening and was all set to follow him along for the ride ... but the album's sales fell flat and he put his solo career efforts on hold.

Unfortunately, much like McFly's latest effort, shifting gears from rock to R&B has also removed most of what made Nick's previous album so distinctive and enjoyable. He's even tamed his voice back to the milder and more inoffensive timbre heard on his Backstreet Boys recordings. While there's certainly nothing wrong with that in itself, since pop-R&B is of course BSB's home turf and calls for a smoother voice than rock, it essentially makes this sound like nothing more than just another Backstreet Boys album -- only not as good, since it lacks the vocal synergy that A.J., Brian and Howie bring to the group. Has rock somehow gone out-of-style in recent years? The synths and beats of R&B have always seemed colder to me than the warm and organic sounds of guitars and drums.

Lest you think I totally hate this album, I have to say it does have a few good moments, and it's already begun to grow on me a little. Several of the songs have fun grooves and good lyrics, particularly the energetic "Addicted", the power-ballad "Falling Down", the initial single "Just One Kiss", the fine ballad "Great Divide", and the title track. And then there's also the fact that it is, after all, Nick Carter's unmistakable voice which, though it lacks the grit and attitude of its rock persona, is still perfectly pleasant to listen to. If you still love Backstreet Boys, you'll love this album ... but if you're looking for more of the energy that made "Now Or Never" so special, you'll be disappointed.

Buy it from Nick Carter's official site
Buy it on CD from Amazon
Buy it on CD from ImportCDs.com

Teddy Thompson

TEDDY THOMPSON
"BELLA"
(Verve Forecast, 2011)


You know what I like about artists like Randall Bramblett and Teddy Thompson? It usually takes awhile for me to get to like their albums ... and yes, I mean that as a compliment. You see, with the attention spans of the American public whittling away more with every generation (and my patience for them seemingly eroding just as quickly), the music business appears to be preoccupied with grabbing the listener by the ears as quickly as possible with the catchiest nugget of ear candy that mathematical formulas and test audience feedback can cook up.

That's not to say that Teddy Thompson's southern-tinged (you'd never know he's British by listening to him) folk-rock is never energetic. Indeed, the upbeat tunes may even outnumber the tranquil ones on his latest album. "The Next One" seems groomed for AOR radio play, and there's a jaunty syncopation to "The One I Can't Have" which, together with the equally lively opening track "Looking For a Girl", show that his wry humor is still in fine form. Jenni Muldaur lends her vocal talents to the duet "Tell Me What You Want", and the album's more subdued moments come in the fine ballads "Delilah" and "Over And Over", and the delicate acoustic number "Home".

While I'll never outgrow the appeal of a fun pop tune that hits me over the head with its hook, I'll always appreciate the gentle and gradual pull of a singer-songwriter's subtle melody. Not only is it refreshing to hear an act that seems to want to take its own sweet time in turning on the listener (these kinds of artists are few and far between in my library, at least for now), but their "time-release" tunes serve to remind me not only that I've still got some patience, but also that patience is a virtue ... and can often be rewarded with songs that one grows to enjoy fondly.

Buy it digitally on iTunes
Buy it on CD from Amazon

McFly

McFLY
"ABOVE THE NOISE"
(Island/UK, 2010)

I can't remember the last time I had such mixed feelings about an album. When I first heard that McFly were taking a departure from their lovely and lively Beatles-esque pop sound and diving headlong into electro-pop/R&B territory, even recruiting the likes of Taio Cruz and Dallas Austin to help with songwriting and producing, I was puzzled and dismayed. Still being unclear as to why they've all but tossed aside the guitars and drum set (I can even picture poor Dougie and Harry standing in the background during a performance, not knowing what to do with themselves!), I can't help but feel like they've sold out to the latest trend.

That being said, however, they're still McFly, and that's the only reason I bothered to give the album a chance, figuring that whatever McFly do they'll probably do well. For the most part, I was right. Their songwriting is still pretty good, although we've seen better (I consider "Wonderland" to be their best in that regard), and of course their voices are as great as they've ever been. I actually find more to like on the second half of the album, like the cool neo-soul breeze of "This Song" and the bouncy old-school pop tune "I Need a Woman"; it doesn't help that McFly sound more like their old selves on these tracks.

As it turns out, though, McFly can lay down a good dance-pop tune with the best of 'em -- just listen to "Party Girl" and the '80s-tinged "iF U C Kate" for evidence of that -- although it's still the fact that this is McFly we're talking about that keeps me from enjoying them more (well, that, and the fact that I've never been big on dance-pop to begin with). Call it a nit-pick if you must, but I have to wonder if it might have behooved them to adopt an alias for this project, kind-of like Garth Brooks billed himself as Chris Gaines for his brief foray into rock. As a pop album in general, it's pretty darn good (up there with some of the best post-millennium R&B-flavored boybands), but as a McFly album I'm afraid it's just "okay" at best.

Buy it digitally from Amazon UK
Buy it on CD from Amazon UK

At Last ... My 2010 Countdown!

I really didn't have my crap together last year, seeing as how I'm already more than a month late on posting my annual favorites countdown. It sure wasn't because of lack of devotion to music; I bought as much music last year as I do every year -- that is to say, adjusted for the slight "budget cut" I've been trying to make each year. I just was so preoccupied with building a particular part of my music collection (which I hope to share with y'all sometime soon) that I didn't pay as much attention to new music as I usually do -- and consequently, I didn't buy a whole lot of 2010 releases in 2010.

As a result, this countdown isn't going to be what I, and probably some of you, would expect. For instance, I rather suspect that the latest Take That and McFly albums would have appeared on the list ... if I had gotten around to buying them in time (and no, shame on me, I still haven't). Other worthy but unfortunately absent contenders: The Posies, whose latest album is fantastic but whom I didn't discover until around New Year's Day; and Jamiroquai's fresh disc, "Rock Dust Light Star", which I added to my want list thanks to the clips I listened to just the other day.

But all was not lost, as I was able to find enough titles to warrant a 15-item countdown ... though it did involve bending my own self-imposed rule of a one-year, December 2009 through November 2010, release date window. But everything on the list is something I didn't know about until 2010 (though it might have been released in 2009) and bought in 2010, so as far as I'm concerned, that's close enough. So, such as it is, and as seriously (or not) as you want to take it ... here's the list of My Top 15 Favorite CD Purchases of 2010!!

#15 ~ BJØRN JOHAN MURI ~ "Airwaves" (Universal/Norway)
The latest Norwegian "Idol" alumnus to draw me under his spell, he conjured up a dreamy batch of lush, '80s-inspired, electronica-tinged pop tunes for this stellar debut. Not perfectly up my alley, but close enough to make me a fan.

#14 ~ JUSTIN NOZUKA ~ "You I Wind Land And Sea" (Coalition)
He set aside the bluesy sound of his first album in favor of a more pop-rock vibe on his sophomore disc, but that's not at all a bad thing -- his soulful voice and his knack for a tune are in as fine form as ever.

#13 ~ TOM LEHRER ~ "The Tom Lehrer Collection" (Shout! Factory)
A "Weird Al" Yankovic for the more intellectual set (and also a big inspiration for Al), Lehrer has finally gotten the career-spanning compilation he's deserved for decades, complete with a bonus DVD ... a real treat!

#12 ~ JOHAN PALM ~ "My Antidote" (Columbia/Sweden)
Sweden's 2008 "Idol" fourth-place finisher surprised me in a big way with a platter of ear candy that's jockeying for a place in my top five favorite albums ever from an "Idol" alum. His homeland must be proud!

#11 ~ JOHNNY MATHIS ~ "Let It Be Me: Mathis In Nashville" (Columbia)
He's got a voice that, even on the muzak in a crowded, noisy restaurant, grabs my ear and is instantly recognizable. He sounds as wonderful as he ever has on this disc of classic country favorites.

#10 ~ NELLIE McKAY ~ "Home Sweet Mobile Home" (Verve Forecast)
I'll admit this is the first album of her's that I've bought since her debut -- but only because her second was packaged cheaply, and because her third was a Doris Day tribute -- but she's still one of the best female artists around. The overtly political bite and broad sonic variety of her first album are mostly absent here, but her vibrant and airy voice, her gift for a good tune, and her sardonic wit (evidenced by the album title) have never been better. Listen to: "Beneath The Underdog".

#9 ~ RANDALL BRAMBLETT ~ "The Meantime" (Blue Ceiling)
After owning and enjoying one of his discs for a few years, I finally collected the rest of this guy's back catalog last year and have grown to love his music in recent months. This latest disc is a change of pace for him, a subdued acoustic set in contrast to his dynamic and layered full-band albums. But it's no less enjoyable -- his keen songwriting, instrumental finesse, and achingly roughhewn voice give this album (and all his others) a beautiful texture that few other artists can match. Listen to: "The Grand Scheme Of Things".

#8 ~ HANSON ~ "Shout It Out" (3CG)
I'm rather surprised this album fell out of my top 5, as big a Hanson fan as I am. I'm not sure how to account for its low ranking. The horn accents and Motown influence give the album a fresh and upbeat sound and, this being Hanson and all, there's no shortage of deft songcraft and musicianship. Perhaps it's just because it was a bit short on the truly grab-your-ear-and-never-let-go hooks, coupled with the fact that last year's Tinted Windows side project made me not totally ready for the next Hanson album. Listen to: "Give a Little".

#7 ~ MATT WHITE ~ "It's The Good Crazy" (Rykodisc)
I'm really starting to like the Rykodisc label. Aside from just generally putting out good music, they rescued Matt White from label-limbo after he was unceremoniously dropped by Geffen after one album (and a pretty darn good one, not that it matters). His first release won me over unexpectedly, so I was afraid I had my expectations too high for this one -- but I needn't have worried. This follow-up has the same unabashed charm as his debut, its stylings nimbly hopsotching between Paul Simon, Elton John and Jason Mraz. Listen to: "Colorblind".

#6 ~ TONY LUCCA ~ "Rendezvous With The Angels" (Rock Ridge)
Since a Tony Lucca album I'd briefly owned several years ago never grew on me and I ended up trading it in, I had few expectations when I found this one in the $2.99 rack at Rhino Records and half-heartedly bought it. Much to my surprise, this talented folk-rock troubadour's latest disc has grown on me so much in the four months that followed, that even the songs that first made me cringe I now find myself tapping my toe to or humming along with. I guess that means I'm going to have to go buy "Shotgun" again...! Listen to: "Anchored".

#5 ~ DAVID ARCHULETA ~ "The Other Side Of Down" (Jive)
I hadn't realized how much I'd missed hearing new material from my favorite finalist from my first year of "American Idol" until his sophomore studio album arrived. I was just as happy to see that he mostly stuck to the same young-adult-pop sound that graced his first album, but with a perfectly natural bit of maturity added here and there. It was also nice to see him have the chance to stretch his songwriting wings. But the best part of all? Getting to hear that beautiful, soaring voice of his again. Listen to: "Parachutes And Airplanes".

#4 ~ MATT MORRIS ~ "When Everything Breaks Open" (Interscope)
I've always had a soft spot for artists and albums that are a bit hard to define, a bit all-over-the-place. By that token, it would stand to reason that I'd find this one enjoyable. The listener hears some Jack Johnson here, a bit of Justin Timberlake there, and even dashes of Paul Simon and Randy Newman on other tracks. There's so much variety on this one, everybody's bound to like something. (Trivia note: this happens to be the second "Mickey Mouse Club" alum on this year's list, Tony Lucca being the other.) Listen to: "The Un-American".

#3 ~ BOYZONE ~ "Brother" (Polydor/UK)
It was supposed to be their big, triumphant reunion album, but after Stephen Gately's sudden and untimely death in the midst of its recording, it took on the guise of a tribute. But aside from the poignant highlight of Gately's angelic vocals on a few tracks, as well as the beautiful tear-jerker of a eulogy, "One More Song", the album is their brightest and liveliest -- which, in a way, is entirely fitting -- and just might be their best yet. It's as if their friend's death gave their music a new infusion of life. Listen to: "Gave It All Away".

#2 ~ STEVE APPLETON ~ "When The Sun Comes Up" (RCA/UK)
I took a gamble (well, if you can call five bucks a "gamble") buying this unknown (to me) singer-songwriter, and I ended up winning big-time. Not only is the cover reminiscent of Ryan Cabrera, but he also has the same breezy, tuneful style ... just with a heaping tablespoon of funk and a teaspoon of hip-hop blended in. Each and every song makes me tap my toes, hum along, and like it a little bit more each and every time I hear it. His music is hard not to love, and just as hard to get out of your head. Listen to: "That's Life".

#1 ~ THE YEAH YOU'S ~ "Seeing Through You" (Island/UK)
If you love The Feeling and have been waiting for their next album as much as I, then you'll love these guys too. Mike Kintish and Nick Ingram are a pair of Londoners who have crafted the most Supertramp-a-licious '80s-inspired electro-pop since Dan Gillespie-Sells and company. I came to love it so quickly that I had to stop myself from listening to this album too much too soon for fear of it losing its appeal. Word has it that they're no longer recording, at least not under this moniker ... a real pity, but at least the one album we did get from them was heaven. A special thanks to KulPop for bringing them to my attention. Listen to: "If I Could".

#0 ~ RON JONES ~ "Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Ron Jones Project" (Film Score Monthly)
I simply couldn't let my annual countdown go without mentioning this one. It's a box set -- make that an enormous box set, at 14 discs -- packed full of music from some 40 episodes of "Star Trek: TNG", much of which I'd been waiting to hear, uncluttered by dialogue and sound effects, for over 20 years. In every way, measurable and unmeasurable, it just wouldn't be fair -- either to itself or to the other releases -- to compare it to the rest of the titles in this countdown, so that's why it's in the "number zero" position, which leaves it mathematically ambiguous, so I'll let you decide whether it should be at the top or bottom of the list. Call it an "honorable mention" (I'm sure Worf would be proud).

Well, I hope you enjoyed my Favorite Purchases of 2010 countdown, despite its tardiness. The new year is already looking up, with spankin' new Teddy Thompson and Nick Carter albums just days away, as well as an unexpected opportunity that I seized to obtain the three albums I mentioned at the beginning of this post, all of which are now on their way to me. Here's to 2011 being an active year for this blog, even though it's gotten off to a sluggish start.

Vinyl Resurgence

I've probably never mentioned vinyl records on this blog, except maybe occasionally in passing. It's not that I hate the format ... I've always had at least a handful of LPs in my music collection, and almost always have owned an apparatus on which to play them, and I don't even doubt the people who claim that they hear or feel a certain indescribable "warmth" and fullness to the sound of vinyl records that they say doesn't happen with any other format.

The main reason I don't give much attention to vinyl, and almost never buy it, is purely circumstantial: its convenience, or (arguable) lack thereof. I'm a practical guy, you see, and the ubiquity of CD drives in most every computer, the instantaneous accessibility of any track on the disc with the touch of a button, and the ability to quickly rip a whole disc into a folder of neatly separated MP3 files that I can tote around on my iPod, are all factors that have made CDs my format of choice by a very wide margin. And then there's the relative fragility of records compared to CDs: they can easily get warped by heat, or get scratched and develop a skip ... at least more easily than their digital cousins.

But there is now an outside chance that my neglect of vinyl records could soon change. You see, at a garage sale recently I happened upon a stack of about 30 LPs, all in excellent condition, and most from the early- to mid- '80s. It was a dandy little haul: multiple albums each by The Commodores, Lionel Richie, Eagles and Air Supply ... and even one each by Wham!, Phil Collins, and Peaches & Herb. I have yet to fire up my turntable and delve into them, but I'm somewhat anxious to. This one acquisition has more than doubled my library of vinyl LPs, and the other evening I actually sat down and organized my record collection for the very first time, only because I hadn't needed to before.

These newly-acquired titles now intermingle with the handful that I already had -- some inherited from my parents, but the rest I'd bought myself over the years -- and all are now neatly alphabetized by artist and separated by genre. Will I become as avid a collector of vinyl records as I am of CDs? I don't quite see that happening. For one thing, I'm not nearly the audiophile that the majority of vinyl devotees are, and I'm happy with the sound quality of CDs and of MP3s of a decent bitrate (128Kbps and higher), which give me all the fidelity that my conscious ear discerns or requires. But I rather doubt that these will be the last records I ever buy.

The Sing-Off

I probably wouldn't have bothered watching "The Sing-Off", since I've broken up with "American Idol" and didn't otherwise have the slightest inclination to get into "another singing show" (as my friend put it, with an exasperated "Agghhh!" in front, fearing I'd talk his ear off about this one too). But that all changed once I found out that the University of Oregon's totally awesome male a cappella group, On The Rocks, was slated as one of the ten competing groups. Besides, I've always liked a cappella music (though I can't quite say I'm an ardent fan), partly because it takes a lot more talent and artistry when you don't have any instruments backing you up ... not to mention group cohesion -- if just one singer is off, it can make the whole group sound sour.

I was going to do a beat-by-beat review of the season premiere, like I've done with "Idol" in the past, but then I quickly changed my mind and settled on a more "free-form" approach for a couple of reasons, one of which is that only the judges unilaterally (or, since there are three of them, would that be "trilaterally"?) decide the eliminations all the way up to the final round -- not that my play-by-play of "Idol" was any less pointless, right? Don't get me wrong, I know they're all professional musicians and know their stuff, and the season has to move quickly (with just five episodes, all airing within a month), but what's wrong with at least some audience participation, like multiple-choice "clicker"-type gizmos that the studio audience can use to vote on their favorites?

Speaking of the judges, I like them. I've tried and failed to become a fan of Ben Folds' music, but the guy himself is still likeable (and not just because he produced William Shatner's last album) and has a good sense of humor. Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men is just as much fun to listen to, can also be pretty darn funny, and like Folds is a fount of musical know-how. Nicole Scherzinger ... well, she's kind-of the Paula Abdul of the group, although I feel guilty for selling her short like that ... she's not nearly as incoherent, for one thing, but she also doesn't get very deep with her critiques. And I love that their commentary is so much looser and wittier than that of the peanut gallery on "Idol". Nick Lachey, however, could take a lesson or two from Ryan Seacrest about relaxing a bit.

The format of the show is a little puzzling, too, in how they seem to randomly divide the ten first-round groups into two halves and eliminate one from each half. It begs the question: What if the two worst groups were in one half, and one of the better ones was forced to be eliminated just because they were in the wrong half? I have to wonder not only why they don't evaluate all ten groups at once and hold both eliminations until the end of the two-hour show, but also what determined which groups were slotted into which half. But, maybe that's picking nits (and maybe it's not).

Another concern I have is how varied the participants are. On one extreme we have a group of high-schoolers (Eleventh Hour, from Kettering, Ohio), and on another we have a group led by a veteran professional singer of 60-plus years (Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town, led by a founding member of a cappella pioneers The Persuasions). And then there are the relative sizes of the groups, which range anywhere from just five members to well over a dozen, and that must certainly have an impact on the results. But then, maybe that's just the point: having the playing field so uneven makes it a competition for them all, and the smaller groups have to work hard to sound "bigger" just like the larger groups have to work hard to not overpower their sound. Bigger can be better, just as much as less is more, and determining the right song arrangement and approach to the performance is just as big a part of the competition.

One of the biggest reasons I chose not to do a play-by-play commentary is because I can't help but admit that I'm biased as hell in favor of On The Rocks. I knew about and was watching and listening to these guys ten years ago, and they were just as much fun when they started out as they are now. They're talented, energetic, and one can clearly see how much fun they have doing what they do. Then again, that can be said for nearly all the groups we saw on Monday night's show. To be placed in the same class of performers as the venerable Whiffenpoofs is a big damn deal (their rendition of Mika's "Grace Kelly" was positively amazing, by the way!), but it also means that On The Rocks has got some serious competition. The only possible drawback I can see is that they have a potentially unwieldy size of 15 members (which makes me wonder if the show shouldn't set a limit on the size of the group ... say, 10 or maybe 12).

Will they make it all the way to the final round? I of course hope so, but I won't take anything for granted. After all, I thought Pitch Slapped (whose name I totally love!) was one of the better ones, but they somehow were given the boot. Personally, I think that The Backbeats (the collegiate "supergroup" from L.A.) and Groove For Thought (the jazzy Seattle group with the father-daughter duo) should have been the ones to go. But one thing's for sure: nearly every voice we heard on this show was more talented than 90% of the comparatively sorry crop of "American Idol" singers last season, which makes it all but inevitable that I won't be watching it ... unless my 2% doubt convinces me otherwise.

Kendall Payne

KENDALL PAYNE
"JORDAN'S SISTER"
(Capitol, 1999)


Ten years before "Glee", co-creator Ryan Murphy started out in television with "Popular", an hour-long comedy-drama, also set in high-school and with a similarly larger-than-life style, that ran for two years on the WB network. Chosen for the theme song to the series was the track "Supermodels" from Kendall Payne's debut album "Jordan's Sister". It was the perfect choice: a pointed commentary on body image versus self-worth, a struggle that the majority of teenagers go through at some point, and one of the ongoing themes of the entire series. I loved the show and its theme song so much, that I decided it was worth giving the album a try.

For a debut album by a nineteen-year-old, "Jordan's Sister" is a remarkably mature work, and sees Kendall Payne following in the finest singer-songwriter tradition of her contemporaries like Paula Cole, Joan Osborne, and Sheryl Crow. Sure, she's got an assist from veteran, award-winning producer Ron Aniello, but listening to this album, one can easily get the impression that she probably didn't need his help. Just check out the tuneful, upbeat tracks "Hollywood", "Closer To Myself", and "It's Not The Time", or the beautiful, delicate ballads like "Honest", "On My Bones", and "Wonderland".

The album may not be perfect -- her lyrics are often straightforward instead of subtle, and can therefore tend to seem out-of-place alongside such keenly composed melodies -- and her strong religious faith occasionally forces its way into the songs, and I much prefer my music to stay cleanly secular -- but the songs as a whole are catchy and enjoyable enough that I can look past these arguable shortcomings. This was Ms. Payne's only major-label release, but she's kept recording on independent labels since then, her fourth and most recent album appearing in 2009.

Buy it digitally on iTunes
Buy it on CD from Amazon

Welcome To The 24th Century

Holy crap! Holy crap! Did you know about this? I didn't until yesterday! Holy crap!! If I'd known about this earlier, I wouldn't have bought the last dozen or so CDs I did buy (well, not necessarily the last consecutive dozen, but a dozen) and would have saved up for this instead! But I still bought it anyway, 'cause I just gotta have it. Seriously, I honestly don't know how I would be able to go on living without having this in my possession as soon as humanly possible. Want to know what it is? Maybe you'd better sit down, 'cause I myself had a geek-out on a transphasic level when I found out about this.

It's a limited-edition box set of not four, not six ... no, not even eight ... no, keep going ... would you believe a whopping 14 -- yes -- FOURTEEN CDs jam-packed with never-before-released music from dozens of episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation"! Devoted solely to the work of Ron Jones, who traded off scoring duties with Dennis McCarthy through the first four seasons of "TNG", "Star Trek: The Next Generation -- The Ron Jones Project" includes nearly every note written and recorded for 42 of the series' first 94 episodes (the score for "The Best of Both Worlds" two-parter is already available on the GNP Crescendo label, so just some bonus tracks from it are included here) plus numerous outtakes, as well as a disc devoted to his work for a pair of "Trek" video games released later.

The panicked evacuation of the Enterprise in "11001001" ... the tearful farewell of Tasha Yar in "Skin of Evil" ... the appearance of the Romulans in "The Neutral Zone" ... Riker's escape from the Mintakans in "Who Watches The Watchers" ... the terrorist attack on the ship in "The High Ground" ... Lal's tragic demise in "The Offspring" ... the perilous journey across the arid wasteland in "Final Mission" ... they're all cues that I've been waiting 20 years to hear unobscured by dialogue and sound effects, and now's my chance! With this doozy of a package being limited to a production run of just 5,000, I couldn't waste any time in seizing the opportunity to add it to my collection, since the price is certain to only start going up on the aftermarket.

Widely regarded as the best composer that "Star Trek: The Next Generation" ever had, Ron Jones was known for delivering sweeping, attention-grabbing, feature-film-worthy scores for countless episodes. The problem was that "TNG"'s producers didn't want attention-grabbing music; they wanted the episodes' scores to lay quietly in the background. So after almost four full years of flying in the face of the producers' demands, Jones was fired and replaced by Jay Chattaway (quite a dandy composer in his own right, to give credit where it's due). But I always thought the "Trek" producers were not only making their episodes just a bit less memorable by taming down the music, but they were also forsaking a perfectly good merchandising outlet. Fans have been clamoring for Ron Jones' scores to be commercially available for years, and I have to wonder how many CD sales they missed out on by missing that opportunity and never licensing retail releases until all these years later.

If you can't live without it, like I couldn't, this incomparably amazing Trek-a-thon of music will set you back a healthy $150 (plus shipping), but at 14 CDs that ends up coming out to less than $11 per disc, which is a great price, especially for something that's a limited-edition collectible like this. It's available for purchase now at SAE and at Intrada, and further information is available from the Film Score Monthly website (and thanks to them for the links to the audio clips!). A friend of mine has all but challenged me to bundle it up in giftwrap when it arrives and not open it until Christmas morning ... but that's gonna be a really tough test of my will.

A. J. McLean

A. J. McLEAN
"HAVE IT ALL"
(Avex/Japan, 2010)


As far as his image and appearance are concerned, I never cared much for A. J. McLean, but I've always thought he had one of the best voices out of all the Backstreet Boys. So I was understandably pleased when I found out that he had released a solo album while I wasn't looking, and I didn't waste a whole lot of time in getting around to buying myself a copy.

By and large, A. J. McLean's solo debut sticks fairly close to the core Backstreet Boys sound: a mix of sweeping pop balladry ("London", "I Hate It When You're Gone") and energetic electro-tinged blue-eyed R&B ("Teenage Wildlife", "What It Do"), with a bit more of a leaning toward the latter. But at the same time, he does put just enough of his own mark on this set to make it unique. A. J. gets his Prince on with "Gorgeous", puts out a heartwrenching piano ballad on "Sincerely Yours", lays down a first-class Motown groove with "Love Crazy", and gives an entertaining try at a cross between Billy Joel and Gavin deGraw on the cheeky "I Quit".

As if that isn't enough, this album is a fine showcase of A. J.'s songwriting talents, since there isn't a song on it that he didn't have a hand in -- and, interestingly, two were co-written with one-time rival boyband singer-turned-solo-artist (and fellow two-initials-for-a-first-name guy) J. C. Chasez. I am a bit puzzled as to why this album wasn't released in the U.S., since I would have thought the domestic BSB audience is still strong enough to support one more of its members' side projects. But at any rate, with a debut this good, I sure hope this isn't the last we hear from a solo A. J.

Buy it on CD from Amazon

The Track 4 Hypothesis

Allow me to introduce you to "The Track 4 Hypothesis". A friend of mine once told me that, when he browses or shops for music, he pays particular attention to the fourth song of an album when checking out audio clips. It seems to have been a reliable gauge for him; a good track 4 bodes well for the rest of the disc. Ever since he shared this strategy with me, I've been tempted to put it to the test ... and now, some two years later, I've finally remembered to.

As it turns out, it's not an entirely half-baked theory. The other evening I perused my CD collection, surveying quite a few of my favorite albums and several other titles at random, to see just which songs lay in that normally unremarkable position in the track list. Many of the ones I found were more-or-less representative of the albums they're on, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how many favorite songs of mine just happen to reside on track 4. Among the most noteworthy, in no particular order:

• "Everything We Are", on The Shore's self-titled album
• "Boy Meets Girl", from Bleu's album "A Watched Pot"
• "Racing", Erik Faber's duet with Marte Wulff on his album "Passages"
• "Don't Say Sarah", that scrumptiously Hall-&-Oates-y tune on Wave's album "State of Mind"
• "Ghosts In My Machine", from Annie Lennox's album "Songs of Mass Destruction"
• "I Gotta Move", on Ben Kweller's self-titled album
• "Over You", by Matt Wertz on his album "Everything In Between"
• "It's Gotta Be You", that should-have-been-a-single on Backstreet Boys' opus "Millennium"
• "You Make Me", one of my all-time favorite "Weird Al" Yankovic tracks from his "Even Worse" album
• "That Girl", perhaps the best song on McFly's debut "Room On The 3rd Floor"

There are more, but I figure ten examples was more than enough. (I could have listed Ben Lee's "Catch My Disease" off his album "Awake Is The New Sleep", but since nearly every song on that album is great, finding a good one on track 4 was pretty-much a given.)

Of course, every rule has its exceptions, so there were a few albums I came across from which I can remember most of the songs, but in which case track 4 ended up being one of the forgettable ones (but not necessarily one of the worst), such as:

• "Tail of the Sun", on Stroke 9's album "Nasty Little Thoughts"
• "Kettle's On", from The Feeling's debut album "Twelve Stops And Home"
• "Save The Day", on Train's album "My Private Nation"

And then there were the ones that are memorable, but only for how unimpressive they were compared to the brilliance of the rest of the album:

• "Hollywood's Not America", from Ferras' album "Aliens & Rainbows"
• "Curly's Train", one of the less-appealing George Huntley penned songs by The Connells from their album "Still Life"
• "I'll Sue Ya", "Weird Al" Yankovic's bland nu-metal style parody on his album "Straight Outta Lynwood"
• "Just Got Paid", one of the duller gems (and one of two covers) on NSYNC's tour-de-force "No Strings Attached"

... and I've saved for last the most stunning example of all ...

• "Always In My Heart", the least impressive track by far on my favorite album ever, The Moffatts' "Submodalities"

So, the conclusion I've reached is that my friend's theory is pretty sound (no pun intended), as the average or outstanding examples seem to significantly outweigh the bad. I'm not sure if it'll change my shopping habits or not -- I usually take the time to sample as many sound clips of an album as I can before making a decision on whether or not to buy a title -- but I might end up paying a bit more attention to what's on track 4 than I used to.

David Archuleta

DAVID ARCHULETA
"THE OTHER SIDE OF DOWN"
(Jive, 2010)


"I've always been your token nice guy," sings David Archuleta on the track "Stomping The Roses", from his sophomore studio album "The Other Side of Down". That's not any great revelation to those of us who have followed the terminally adorable kid during and since his rise to runner-up of "American Idol" season 7. So it also shouldn't surprise us that there isn't any bitter heartache or sullen melancholy to drag down the mood of his latest release; instead, as with his debut, it's mostly either lightly wistful tunes about young love or optimistic anthems about the good things in life. But thankfully, none of the tracks are as off-puttingly adolescent as his first post-"Idol" single, "Crush".

He is still just nineteen years old, though, and with his boy-next-door demeanor and the sweetly husky voice we all fell in love with two years ago both still intact, it would seem wrong to expect any bitter heartache or sullen melancholy out of him quite yet. David has, however, jumped with both feet into the songwriting process, having co-written all but two of this album's songs, and just like he wowed us with his vocals, these first writing efforts show just as much potential. Some of my favorite tracks here are the lighter-than-air toe-tapper "Elevator", the soaring ballad "Parachutes And Airplanes", the soul-searching "Who I Am", and the rocking "Stomping The Roses" (co-written by Bryce Avary, better known by his artist name The Rocket Summer). The only thing I don't care for is the overuse of wordless refrains in the choruses of most of the songs on the first half of this album ... a trend whose popularity I trace back to (or, more to the point, blame on) Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber.

Most "Idol" artists follow a pattern in their album progression -- the first album is heavily commercial, professionally written and produced; the second is a comfortable step away, with a good amount of the singer's own input, but still very similar to their debut; and usually by the third album, the artist is able to deliver a sound that is fully of their own choosing, cutting the "Idol" strings once and for all. What do I hope to see David Archuleta do on his third album? By then he should be ready to move away from the white-boy-R&B that this album is peppered with, and more toward a pop or pop-rock style. Seeing as how he plays piano, he could easily take after Daniel Powter or Gavin deGraw.

Buy it digitally on iTunes
Buy it on CD from Amazon

Babies Got Back ... Covers!

I've probably touched before on why I enjoy CDs more than MP3s. Mostly what it comes down to is the tangibility, the "realness", of them. A digital music file isn't something I can hold in my hands and appreciate, or become sentimentally attached to and pull off the shelf to look at fondly several years later, or (not that I necessarily have this in mind when I shop) trade in for a little store credit should I lose interest in it at some point. Even better, my CDs won't vanish into thin air if my computer's hard drive ever crashes or my iPod gets lost or stolen. Not to mention the thrill of the hunt, the rush of the catch, and the pride of owning a hard-to-find title that often come with anything of a collectible nature -- and I do consider my CD library a "collection".

Another reason I like CDs is for their sometimes beautiful, sometimes provocative, sometimes amusing front cover art -- and their often underappreciated or flat-out unappreciated back covers. I just recently was reminded of this while I was consolidating some of my home-burned discs from separate, single-disc jewelcases into the space-saving double-disc cases -- a chore which, more than coincidentally, went hand-in-hand with re-designing said covers, which is just as fun a part of the mix-making process for me as assembling the track lists and burning the discs. I was about to consolidate one particular series of homemade compilations (now numbering eight volumes, so it'd save a fair little chunk of real-estate), but looking at the back covers I joyously toiled over so many moons ago, I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them.

Which brings me to the reason for this post: an ode of sorts to the rear cover art of compact discs. While their main purpose is of course to provide the track listing for the CD, perhaps in an attractive font and with a picture of some sort for a backdrop, the more imaginative designs take it to the next level by giving the track listing an interesting visual twist, or maybe even going so far as to make it a work of art in itself. A few of the more appealing designs I've come across in recent years include:

• NSYNC's "No Strings Attached", which carries over the carnival-like motif from the front cover by displaying each song's name in a variety of whimsically ornate typefaces ...

• Duran Duran's "Wedding Album", which stylized the title of each track to look like labels or clipped-out newspaper headlines ...

• Landon Pigg's debut album, "LP", in which the artist laid out a grid and gave each song title the "Pictionary" treatment ...

• Johnny Mathis' latest release, "Let It Be Me: Mathis In Nashville", featuring a beautifully nostalgic design of textured block letters in various heights, weights, and colors ...

• and (if I may be permitted to toot my own horn) the back cover design of my own that I'm perhaps most proud of, Volume 2 in my "I Love Music" series, made to look like the selection board on an old-fashioned jukebox, complete with a charmingly imperfect manual-typewriter look to the font.
  

Obviously, when I compact two or more discs into one jewelcase, it means twice as many songs to list, so I have to make far more efficient use of space in the layout, usually requiring me to eliminate my unique, "panoramic" designs in favor of the simplified, columnar listings that are my more practical fallback scheme. That's not to say that less artistic designs are any less appealing; sometimes the old saying "less is more" is totally true. Track listings can be laid out in neatly arranged columns or in the more flexible method of paragraphs, and they can be written in a minimalist sans-serif, a formal serif, or a casual script font.

But anything, in my opinion, is better than the cold, unartistic, bland and lifeless "system" font in which the track listings appear for each and every album in each and every user's iTunes library ... all of them exactly the same. Sure, iTunes gives us a JPG image of the album's front cover art (or we have to go hunt for it on the web ourselves), but that's only half the artwork. The back covers are oftentimes just as fun to look at as the front covers, because they're part of the graphic designer's vision ... and they're one of the things I'd miss most in a world without CDs.

Teddy Geiger

TEDDY GEIGER
"UNDERAGE THINKING"
(Columbia, 2006)


As big a Teddy Geiger fan as I am, I didn't bother checking out the 2008 movie he starred in, "The Rocker", until last night. Turns out it's a pretty decent movie, and Teddy a pretty decent actor ... and, of course, that is what prompted me to spotlight his major-label debut album today. I still remember being instantly impressed with this album back when it was released, and hoping that enough people would see beyond his "pretty-boy" exterior and his tender age to recognize the genuine talent he possessed.

From the dynamic debut single "For You I Will" and the earthy ballad "Thinking Underage", through the energetic "Air Dry" and soaring "Seven Days Without You", to the blue-eyed-soul bounce of "Possibilities" and the subdued anthem "Gentlemen", Teddy Geiger's softly raspy voice -- a pleasing blend of John Mayer and Ryan Cabrera -- and his all-American musical style -- which can at times sound as big-city as Billy Joel or as small-town as John Mellencamp -- never cease to charm and endear the listener. The beauty of Teddy Geiger is that he can be sweet without being saccharine, and he can be earnest without being naive ... which is tough for a boy of 17 to pull off.

The initial, March 2006, release of "Underage Thinking" was apparently enough of a success that Columbia issued a deluxe edition, with bonus tracks and an accompanying DVD, in October of the same year. I don't know if it was disappointing sales of the deluxe version (When will they learn that only the most die-hard fans will be willing to buy an album twice?!?) that caused Columbia to drop him from their roster, or if lackluster performance of the "Rocker" soundtrack (I was disappointed in it myself ... though the songs were sung by Teddy, they weren't written by him, and as such they lacked any real charm.) was to blame, but I've been left hanging ever since, hoping to see another album from him. Maybe I will ... eventually.

Buy it digitally on iTunes
Buy it on CD from Amazon

The La's

THE LA'S
"THE LA'S (DELUXE EDITION)"
(Universal, 2008)


I was about to write a review that slathered on the superlatives and waxed snobbish about how anybody who didn't recognize how great this album is just can't truly call themselves a music fan ... but then I realized I'd be a bit of a hypocrite if I did. I'm actually a relative newcomer to The La's, at least as a serious listener. I'd had the cassette of this album back in the day, but didn't listen to it very much, and I might have picked up the CD once since then as an afterthought (so much of an afterthought that I still can't be sure I did) ... but when I found the recently released, 2-disc deluxe edition of the album at Rhino Records a few weeks ago, I finally decided I had to give them my full attention. I could now kick myself repeatedly for taking two whole decades to do so.

Few things in this world break my heart more than when an artist releases a truly brilliant album that could justifiably and without hyperbole be called a "masterpiece" -- and then abruptly ceases to exist as a recording artist. In the case of British jangle-power-pop band The La's, it was (according to the liner notes in this package by Ian Harrison) the intense perfectionism and arguable eccentricity of frontman Lee Mavers that all but doomed their discography to only one album, which itself was almost never released at all. This deluxe package contains both the original release of the album, produced by Steve Lillywhite; and an earlier, nearly-lost version, produced by Mike Hedges but aborted by Mavers.

Everyone has heard "There She Goes", one of the biggest singles of the early '90s, but that's hardly all this album has going for it. The irresistibly infectious and utterly hummable nature of each and every track make it little wonder that dozens of current bands cite The La's as an influence. There are so many heavenly songs on this damn-near-perfect album that I can't hope to single out any. In any sane world, this album would have been enough to keep this band from being consigned to the one-hit-wonder status that they now seem to forever be entombed in. Sigh ... so much for not slathering on the superlatives ... but once you hear this album, you'll understand.

Buy the deluxe edition digitally on iTunes
Buy the standard edition digitally on iTunes
Buy the deluxe edition on CD from Amazon
Buy the standard edition on CD from Amazon

The Big Reveal...

Hey, look! It's the new judges lineup on "American I..."

















...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

from the bookshelf: Record Store Days

I'll admit that I'm not much of a reader, but I've come across a handful of great books about music lately, so I figured I should chip away a bit at this blog's overwhelming dominance on audio and occasionally mention a book I think y'all might like. Here comes the first one...

"RECORD STORE DAYS: FROM VINYL TO DIGITAL AND BACK AGAIN"
by GARY CALAMAR and PHIL GALLO
(Sterling Publishing, 2010)


I was browsing the neighborhood B&N one day, idling in the aisle and talking on my cellphone -- something I almost never do in a store but maybe twice a year -- when I ended my call, nonchalantly glanced to my left, and saw this book staring me in the face. After thumbing through it for less than a minute, I knew I absolutely had to have it. Hey, a thick, attractive hardcover book about music stores, and for only twenty bucks? How could I not snap it up? It took me a couple months to finish reading it (mostly 'cause I'm not in the habit of regularly picking up a book, so I kept forgetting it was there), but I immensely loved every page of it.

"Record Store Days", by Gary Calamar and Phil Gallo, is an illustrated history of how changes over the years in technology, business, and culture, have shaped the evolution of American recorded music retailers, from their beginnings alongside the birth of the phonographic industry a century ago, through their grassroots groundswell and explosion into the mainstream in the '60s and '70s, up to the recent collapse of the mega-stores and the die-off of independents that brought about the creation of Record Store Day, the annual celebration that has galvanized the tenacity between the remaining retailers and their fiercely loyal customers.

What it might lack in atmospheric and enthralling narrative -- though it's well-structured by chapter and does share plenty of commentary and insight by a multitude of artists, record label insiders, and record retail veterans, it reads kind-of like a history textbook -- it makes up for in its snappy layout, which boasts hundreds of rare, exciting, and revealing black-and-white and full-color photographs, as well as some entertaining sidebars throughout. It features a foreword by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck (who, like many musicians, worked in a record store in his youth), and regularly mentions some of the most beloved and influential stores in the country, past and present ... a few of which I've patronized, which makes it all the more fun.

So, whether you're old enough to remember the glory days of record stores, or young enough to not get what all the fuss over them is about, whatever method you use to shop for and discover music, chances are this book will either re-kindle an appreciation for the past, or make you long to dip your toes into a world you might never have explored before ... a world that, in my opinion, every music lover should.

Hanson

HANSON
"SHOUT IT OUT"
(3CG, 2010)


Hanson really had me worried with this one. Everything I'd read about "Shout It Out" suggested I'd love it, so I hurriedly bought it when it was released a few months back, eagerly popped it in and listened ... and for the first time, I came away from a Hanson album underwhelmed. Did the purely incidental fact that they're married and are starting families (consequently bringing attention to the fact that they're getting older) make the album's sound -- decidedly of a more youthful pop bent than pretty much every album since their debut -- seem forced? Because of my nonplused reaction the album went unheard, sitting on my shelf, for several weeks ... until a few days ago. What a difference a month or so makes!

Apparently it just needed time to sink in ... not just the album's subtle charms, but also the realization that musicians don't always need to act their age. Indeed, with the weighty themes and moody textures they gravitated toward on "This Time Around" and "The Walk", and even to a lesser degree on "Underneath", one could argue that it's about time they let loose again. But then, this is Hanson we're talking about, and with the sophisticated sense of melody and structure they've always had and have only refined over the years, they can only make themselves sound so young anymore. The liberal use of a horn section helps, and what says "fun" more than adding a cowbell to the percussion? As if to illustrate the two extremes of the album, my favorites happen to be the syncopated pseudo-Motown bouncer "Give a Little" on the youthful side, and the sumptuously gospel-ish love song "Kiss Me When You Come Home" on the grown-up end. And "Voice In The Chorus" is one of the best anthems I've heard in quite a little while.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you dismissed Hanson as a bubble-gum pop act with their first album and the ubiquitous single "MMMBop" and haven't given them a second thought, you really don't know what you've been missing in the twelve(!) years since. Hanson have yet to fail in delivering a thoroughly listenable album, or in impressing me with their songwriting skills and musicianship, so take it from me: they deserve a listen.

Buy it digitally on iTunes
Buy it on CD from Amazon