NewBeats

Madonna’s new and final album for Warner Bros., Hard Candy, is coming out on Tuesday—it’s the leadoff single “4 Minutes” (a duet with Justin Timberlake) is actually quite good. Marking 25 years in the business for the Material Girl, here is a video of “4 Minutes” :


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R.E.M.
Accelerate
Warner Bros.
By David Chiu

The positive reviews that have graced R.E.M.’s newest album are rightly justified; not since 1994’s Monster has the band ever sounded this much brasher and rockier evident on the punky “Living Well is the Best Revenge.” This a straightforward rock album with none of the electronic experimentations that have arguably mired the last couple of R.E.M. records—even the mid-tempo and slower tracks such as “Houston” and “Sing for the Submarine” sound even louder. The driving single “Supernatural Superserious” follows in the vein of another strong recent rocker “Bad Day,” while the last song I’m Gonna DJ sounds delightfully narcissistic with its opening lyric: “Death is pretty final/I’m collecting vinyl.” Just when the band was on the brink of having its best days way behind them, Accelerate proves any doubts of irrelevance wrong.

Watch a clip of “Supernatural Superserious”:


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Elvis Costello and the Attractions
This Year’s Model—Deluxe Edition
Hip-O/UME
By David Chiu

This Year’s Model is prime Elvis Costello, part of a trilogy of great albums, sandwiched between My Aim is True (1977) and Armed Forces (1979). Introducing on record his great backup band the Attractions, Costello in some ways makes a much tighter-sounding and better album than his debut—Model contains a slew of great power-pop tracks including No Action, the reggae-ish I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea, the garage rock classic Pump it Up, and Radio Radio. This umpteenth and latest reissue of the original album is complemented by a 1977 live concert in Washington, D.C., and bonus tracks from the sessions including “Big Tears and “Crawling to the USA,” and an acoustic demo of “Greenshirt.” This Year’s Model is an essential part of any ‘70s music library.
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Nick Lowe
Jesus of Cool
Yep Rock
By David Chiu

Thirty years on, Nick Lowe’s Jesus of Cool is a power pop gem that displays the Englishman’s melodies, clever songwriting, and his ironic, quirky sense of humor. The latter is evident on songs about the industry like “Music for Money” and “Shake and Pop,” and the funky Bowie soundalike I Love the Song of Breaking Glass, and the disco-country-Fidel Castro-inspired “Nutted by Reality.” And though his music today seem more reflective and folkish, Lowe for a while really rocked out as in “So It Goes,” the reggae-inspired “No Reason,” and the punkish “Heart of the City.” The Yep Roc reissue generously tacks on 10 more bonus tracks including the single issue of Heart of the City and the original version of “Cruel to be Kind.” Falling in the tradition of the early Costello albums Lowe had also produced, Jesus of Cool is straight-up great power pop/New Wave.
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Lynyrd Skynyrd
Street Survivors—Deluxe Edition
Geffen/UME
By David Chiu

In hindsight, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s 1977 album Street Survivors is somewhat chillingly prophetic of the tragic fate that befell the band when members Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines were killed in a plane crash. It is represented in the now-classic “That Smell,” a cautionary song about excess and death; and more visually on the album cover in which the band members are surrounded by flames. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the record, Street Survivors is typical Skynyrd in its amalgam of Southern rock, country, R&B and soul, from another signature tune “What’s Your Name” through the jazzy boogie of “I Know a Little” to the lovely “I Never Dreamed.” As on previous Skynyrd efforts, the soulful grit of singer Van Zant and the guitars of Allen Collins, Gary Rossington and Gaines highlight the band’s sound. The second disc of this reissue features an earlier version of the album recorded at Criteria Studios that was eventually scrapped, in addition to live tracks from a California concert in 1977. Street Survivors remains a fine album and a swansong to the first and most memorable era of Skynyrd’s career.
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Kathleen Edwards
Asking for Flowers
Rounder
By David Chiu

So far in her nascent career Kathleen Edwards has not absolutely made one bad, or even mixed album—her intimate brand of soulful alt-country/roots rock continues to radiate, as is the case with her latest stunner Asking for Flowers. The music is rich and warm, just like Edwards’ vocals, as her lyrics are impressionistic and introspective (“Buffalo,” the gorgeous closing song “Good Night California”) and in some cases brash and provocative (“Oh, Canada” and the rocking “The Cheapest Key”). The stories of yearning, romantic complications, apathy, and of course love run through the record in convincing, tender-hearted fashion. Edwards scores another winning hat trick with this album.

Watch a video of Kathleen Edwards’ “The Cheapest Key”:


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Sia
Some People Have Real Problems
Hear Music
By David Chiu

Soul and pop dominates this Australian singer’s latest album, which sounds like a throwback to the confessional melodic pop of a Laura Nyro. There is a romantic and whimsical aspect to the songs, from the upbeat pop of “Academia” (which features Beck) and “Playground,” to the jazzy Lullaby and romantic-sounding Lentil. Sia sings like a gospel singer especially on the bluesy and grandiose “Death by Chocolate,” and she delivers a rather sexy tone on her intepretation of the Ray Davies song “I Go To Sleep.” Her voice complements this rich soulful record with majestic grace and elegance.

See a clip of Sia's "Buttons" on YouTube:


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Joe Jackson
Town Hall, NYC
April 16, 2008
By David Chiu


While Berlin remains his current residence, Joe Jackson made a recent stop to his old home of New York City as part of his current tour in support of his latest album Rain. Joined by the two members of his original band from the late ‘70s, bassist Graham Maby and drummer Dave Houghton, Jackson performed a set drawing from the new album and some old favorites. Just like his eclectic career, the music from the set list all was equally diverse, combining power pop, classical, a bit of rock and jazzy soul. Behind his grand piano, Jackson started off the show with “Steppin’ Out” and went deep with a lot of the songs from Rain, which is his strongest record in years, particularly the ballad “Wasted Time,” the lovely “A Place in the Rain,” and the rollicking “Good Bad Boy.” Older songs that Jackson and hand performed such as “On Your Radio,” “One More Time,” and “It’s Different Girls” still rocked even without the guitar from the original recorded versions. While Jackson is renowned for his soulful and feisty voice, he is also a great piano player as this show reminded the folks; Maby and Houghton were equally superb. The encore included the obvious signature tune “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” and the ballad from the Night and Day album “A Slow Song.”


Set List:

Steppin’ Out
Invisible Man
Goin’ Downtown (?)
Wasted Time
Rush Across the Road
Frankie and Ava (Suzanne Vega cover)
Stranger Than Fiction
On Your Radio
Solo (So Low)
The Uptown Train
Chinatown
Scary Monsters (David Bowie cover)
It’s Different for Girls
Good Bad Boy
One More Time
A Place in the Rain

Encore:

You Can’t Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)
Is She Really Going Out With Him?
A Slow Song
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The Lemonheads
It’s a Shame About Ray (Collectors Edition)
Rhino/Atlantic
By David Chiu

Listening to the Lemonheads’ breakthrough 1992 album again and watching its accompanying DVD for this reissue edition is like revisiting a time capsule of music in the early ‘90s. Yet there is something very genuine and heartfelt about It’s a Shame About Ray, a combination of aggressive folk, alt rock, and punk attitude fronted by Evan Dando’s deadpan vocals and good looks. Sure the album is best known for the band’s buoyant cover hit of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson,” which is a shame (pun or no pun intended) because there are 12 other really standout songs such as the title track, “Rudderless,” the gentle “My Drug Buddy” and “Confetti.” (this reissue contains demos of the songs). The aforementioned DVD, entitled “Two Weeks in Australia” features music videos and live performances of songs from the album and serves to show the band’s popularity at the time. It’s unlikely that this album will ever make it to those 500 great albums lists, but certainly for the ‘90s, It’s a Shame About Ray somewhere belongs with the likes of Nevermind, August and Everything After, and Ten.

Watch a video of the Lemonheads' "It's a Shame About Ray"


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I know it's been a while since I've last posted stuff on the site, but here are two recent articles I've written for AOL's Spinner site. One is an interview with  The Chapin Sisters, who recently released their full-length debut album Lake Bottom; the other is the great Daryl Hall, who has his own web cast called Live From Daryl's House.
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