Ehhhh...

It occurred to me recently that I always talk about the good albums that I have in, and regularly add to, my collection. Well, I've run into a few not-so-good albums in just the last month or so, and as much as I believe in the old adage, "If you can't find anything nice to say, don't say anything at all", I figured it's as much my duty to steer you away from albums that I think you might regret buying as it is to point you toward the albums that I love. So, if your musical tastes are at all like mine, don't say I didn't warn you....

Johnny Mathis: "A Night To Remember" -- My two favorite "classic crooners" are Tony Bennett and Johnny Mathis, so I was eager to pick up this newly-recorded album. What I didn't expect was that I'd be left so cold by it. I can only figure that it was the choice of songs ... the original versions of most of them were kind-of cheesy, AM-radio fluff, and I had hoped that Mathis would have found a way to improve on them. Sad to say, that didn't happen ... either that, or I'm just so unforgiving of the originals that I'm unable to find anything to like in Mathis' versions.

Everclear: "The Vegas Years" -- Another cover album that seriously underwhelmed me. While I'm not necessarily a big Everclear fan, I've enjoyed a handful of their songs over the years, and was intrigued by the possibilities that the track listing hinted at. But unfortunately, this album just didn't work for me for some reason. Some of the songs I wasn't familiar with, and others just didn't seem to fit the band ... and a couple of them made me seriously wonder what they were thinking (the themes from "Speed Racer" and "Land of the Lost"!?). I didn't like Everclear's or Johnny Mathis' cover albums, but I ended up liking Clay Aiken's ... and I can only assume it was the songs that each artist ended up choosing.

Jesse McCartney: "Departure" -- I've only listened to this album once so far, but just one song on it was the least bit memorable to me ... and even that one was just a bit better than "okay". What disappoints me is that I really liked the rock-ish sound he had on his last album, and I'd hoped he would continue in that direction. But instead, he pulled a U-turn and went back toward the R&B-pop of his debut. I also felt kind-of betrayed by McCartney building up to the album's release by promising that it was going to be something unique and different ... sorry, Jesse, but all I hear is some warmed-over Craig-David-meets-Chris-Brown. I'm going to listen to it a few more times before considering getting rid of it, but let's just say that I'm not holding my breath.