Fania Brassy, sensual and incomparable, Cuban-born vocalist Celia Cruz boasts a set of pipes unequaled by any woman before or since’ sorry, Shakira. Her lively staccato delivery, reliably set against irresistibly hip-shaking grooves, can’t help but make you pine for tropical paradises. “Only They Could Have Made This Album,” a smooth, effortlessly slick recording, […]
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Catfish Haven-Please Come Back
Secretly Canadian Where have all the guitar solos gone? Ten years ago, they were as obligatory as drunken women flashing the stage, but now they are a rarity. The trend is growing, and most prominent with many of the roadhouse rock bands that are emerging. Catfish Haven is certainly one of the better ones, and […]
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The Sleepy Jackson-Personality(One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird)
Astralwerks If you’ve never heard the Sleepy Jackson before, your initial reaction is likely to be a long, slow shake of the head while wondering, “What the hell is this?” This is because the band’ Luke Steele and a circus of supporting musicians’ sounds like a collaboration between Brian Wilson and ABBA or a […]
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The Bottle Rockets-Zoysia
Bloodshot Always melodic, never mundane, “Zoysia,” the latest CD from Festus, Mo.’s The Bottle Rockets, finds the band adding political commentary to its usual humorous blue-collar anecdotes and anti-love songs. The result is an expansive Southern rock masterpiece that is both literate and homespun, with touches of irony throughout. The first four tracks’ “Better […]
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Vetiver-To Find Me Gone
Decristina Stair If you haven’t heard of Devendra Banhart, maybe you heard of him from that short-haired cutie who played his songs at Borders on your night off. Or if you were disgusted by his performance in Dallas. But this stuff is catching on. I knew him before that, when the songs were cut […]
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Darrell Scott-The Invisible Man
Full Light Records If Garth Brooks were to make a predominantly acoustic album, it would probably sound a lot like Darrell Scott’s “The Invisible Man.” Concerned mostly with spirituality and everyday struggles, Scott has created a collection of anthems that straddle the line between country, contemporary bluegrass, pop and even rock. The opening “Hank […]
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Tom Petty-Highway Companion
American Though Tom Petty’s career with the Heartbreakers is legendary, his best work has arguably come on his solo outings, “Full Moon Fever” and “Wildflowers.” His third solo album, “Highway Companion,” is another finely crafted collection of songs, though it’s noticeably more somber than the former two. Petty’s been through some rough times in […]
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Tab Benoit-Brother to the Blues
Telarc How can I not say nice things about a guy who does a fantastic cover of Sam Cooke’s “Bring It on Home to Me,” without a doubt one of the best songs ever? The answer is, I can’t. “Brother to the Blues,” guitarist Tab Benoit’s new album, mixes blues, country, rock ‘n’ roll […]
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Current 93-Black Ships Ate the Sky
Durtro/Jnana Like Antony Hegarty and his Johnsons, Current 93’s “Black Ships Ate the Sky” comes from a place so dark, it’s hard to imagine the melodious cubism being consistently imagined by the artists (in this case, industrial veteran David Tibet and the many guests introduced here). Here, “Sunset” bows down to cello with chivalric Tibetan […]
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Frank Black-Fast Man Raider Man
Back Porch The ongoing metamorphosis of Frank Black takes another interesting turn in “Fast Man Raider Man,” a two-disc outing in which the former Pixies front man veers further away from the diabolical shrieks that made him famous. Like last year’s “Honeycomb,” this latest batch of songs from Black brings together an assemblage of […]