New Music

CORB LUND / CABIN FEVER (NEW WEST)

IT'S been a long three years between albums for Alberta's multiple award winning (Juno, CFMA, CCMAs, WCMAs) Corb Lund. I'll tell you right up front that studio disc number seven was well worth the wait.

Cabin Fever shows off Lund's diversity. He flashes his topicality with tunes about post-apocalyptic survivalists, gravediggers, touring musicians (Bible on the Dash with Hayes Carll), drinkers, Goth girls, cowboys and ranchers. Of course there are love songs to both the fairer sex (September) and his vintage BMW motorcycle (Mein Deutsches Motorrad)! Sonically he delivers rockin' edgy country blues, country swing (ala Asleep at the Wheel), traditional Wilf Carter style C&W, rockabilly and a Waylonesque stomper in Pour 'em Kinda Strong.

Corb Lund continues to grow as an artist. Not there is much fault to be found with his previous output but his writing and singing is better than ever. Cabin Fever is Corb Lund at his very best. 'Ö'Ö'Ö'Ö

-- Bruce Leperre

ALBERTA CROSS

Songs of Patience (ATO Records)

AT only five years old as a band, England's Alberta Cross has created the kind of listenable album that will please different types of music fans. They have worked in support of Oasis and toured with The Dave Mathews Band and both alliances make sense once you hear AC in full flow here.

They deliver a not unfamiliar sound sourced from baggy mod Brit-pop that is borne by the rising emotional chorus riveted neatly into nearly every song. Driving all these heaven-directed plaints is singer Petter Ericson Stakee using his high register voice to the limits of earnestness. It works, though the latter quarter of the album seems to begin to tread on familiar ground musically speaking and one can only feel uplifted for so long before something eventually will begin to sag, drag and fall.

At a short 10 tracks the band pretty much gets the job done without making you feel like they've lost their direction and started paddling on only one side of the canoe. Your patience will only be tested slightly and these songs are at least memorable when they are blasting into your ear buds. After that, it's up to you. 'Ö'Ö'Ö

-- Jeff Monk

TOM JONES

Spirit in the Room (Island)

EVEN when he became a big pop star and the quintessential Las Vegas showman in the '60s, with hits such as It's Not Unusual and What's New Pussycat, Tom Jones was a more than credible singer of blues and R&B. It's a talent he revealed again on 2010's great, gospel-drenched Praise and Blame, and more recently on his Jack White-produced cover of Howlin' Wolf's Evil.

On Spirit in the Room, the 72-year-old Welshman tackles bluesman Blind Willie Johnson's Soul of a Man, but he also ventures into different territory. Most of the material comes from contemporary songwriters such as Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, Tom Waits, Richard Thompson and Joe Henry. Jones shows the old sexy strut on Wait's boastful Bad as Me, but mostly he takes an understated approach that reflects the stripped-down but evocative arrangements. The mood is often autumnal or reflective, but thanks to Jones' unerring and worldly-wise interpretations, the performances still pulse with spirit. 'Ö'Ö'Ö1/2

-- Nick Cristiano, The Philadelphia Inquirer

ANTIBALAS

Antibalas (Daptone)

WHEN a band becomes a movement, you can forgive the occasional five-year recording lapse. So it is with Brooklyn-based Antibalas, the 11-member Afrobeat orchestra that almost single-handedly rekindled popular interest in Afrobeat and its progenitor, the late Fela Kuti.

In the half-decade since 2007's Security, several members of Antibalas were deeply involved in Fela!, the Tony Award-winning musical on the life of their forebear, "the James Brown of Nigeria." Getting inside Fela's head has put him deeper inside theirs, as Antibalas' eponymous fifth is the most purely Afrobeat of the bunch: deeply political (lead single Dirty Money is a 99 percent rally cry), hugely rhythmic (Ari Degbe has enough percussive gusto to spark a revolution), and massively soulful (Him Belly No Go Sweet nods to another late titan, Bob Marley). Given results this kinetic, it was worth the wait. 'Ö'Ö'Ö1/2

-- Brian Howard, The Philadelphia Inquirer

DEARLY BELOVED

Hawk VS Pigeon (eOne Records)

TORONTO'S wild Dearly Beloved takes no prisoners on their latest 11-track album, the strange and wonderful Hawk VS Pigeon. Of course, the pigeon would lose, but this brave combo beats down indie-rock convention just enough to bring blood to the surface of the skin.

Take for example Aimed Right At Me's overdriven howl and the demons and money littering the lyrics of Living Proof. Informed by the underlying vibe of a studio called Rancho de la Luna, the trio (and friends) created a finer brand of progressive outsider fire. Sonic Youth devotees can look no further than the boiling mid-tempo throb of Lizard Fight for gut level satisfaction. Indeed, the short sharp shock of To Better Days is impactful, and it's neck snapping acceleration will have the punks and punkettes spitting sloppy superlatives. She is a stun-bass showcase, reminiscent of J.J. Burnel's death-defying sonic depth charges with first generation English art punks The Stranglers. If it sounds like a dirty nighttime party of fed back guitars and banshee howls and purrs courtesy of singer Niva Chow then that would be correct. Beware of the hawk. 'Ö'Ö'Ö'Ö

-- Jeff Monk

POP

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Sparkle: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (RCA)

CURTIS Mayfield and Aretha Franklin's union for the soundtrack of the 1976 musical drama Sparkle made for an instant soul classic, so the 2012 remake already has a lot to live up to.

The burden for greatness is shared among the main cast, which includes Whitney Houston, Jordin Sparks and Cee Lo Green. Houston has become the focus of the film and soundtrack since she died earlier this year. Her songs here should have served as a high note for the icon, but unfortunately her swan songs -- His Eye Is on the Sparrow and Celebrate with Sparks -- falter as the singer struggles to find her once sparkling, soaring voice.

Four Mayfield-helmed originals make the 11-track album (Jump, Hooked on Your Love, Something He Can Feel and Look Into Your Heart), while R. Kelly gets in on the action by writing and producing a few funky, but too-modern sounding contributions (Love Will, Jump and Celebrate). Mayfield's compositions stand the test of time as the most vibrant and nuanced: Kelly doesn't deliver, and at times his contributions sound cheesy.

While the record is adequate enough in reproducing the sound and cheerful naivete of 1960s, the period in which the film is set, it ultimately fails to linger in one's heart, mind or feet past its last note. 'Ö'Ö

-- Christina Jaleru, The Associated Press

JAZZ

BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET

Four MFs Playin' Tunes (Marsalis Music)

DON'T let the understated title of the new Branford Marsalis Quartet album mislead you into thinking this is some loosely arranged jam session. Saxophonist Marsalis leads one of the most cohesive, intense small jazz ensembles on the scene today. The group's three long-standing members -- Marsalis, pianist Joey Calderazzo and bassist Eric Revis -- each contribute original tunes to Four MFs Playin' Tunes and there are covers of Thelonious Monk's Teo and the 1930s ballad My Ideal.

The CD begins with two tunes showcasing Marsalis' prowess on soprano sax -- Calderazzo's playful, energetic The Mighty Sword, with a catchy calypso-like theme reminiscent of Sonny Rollins, and Revis' bluesy Monk-influenced Brews, where Marsalis turns in a blazing solo. It closes with Marsalis turning down the heat on the romantic standard My Ideal with a touching, tender tenor sax solo and on the bonus track Treat It Gentle, an original old-style Marsalis ballad that pays homage to his New Orleans roots.

This album shows that Marsalis' quartet hasn't skipped a beat with the change in the drummer's chair, effortlessly playing often complex original tunes that are thoroughly modern while referencing past jazz masters. 'Ö'Ö'Ö'Ö

-- Charles J. Gans, The Associated Press

CLASSICAL

MONTEVERDI CHOIR, JOHN ELIOT GARDINER

Bach: Motets (Soli Deo Gloria)

GARDINER sets up some pretty strong expectations, looking at the cover of a tightrope walker in full challenge followed by Gardiner proclaiming Bach's Six Motets as the most perfect, the most hypnotic of all his works, bar none, and among the most challenging to sing.

Here though, Gardiner with all his splendid recordings and career integrity casts a fresh light on such well-earned hyperbole. This is not only a dazzling display of choral singing but a deeply inviting window into a profound and endlessly inspiring listening experience.

The choir is spellbinding in its precision and characterization, the depictions of instruments in BWV225 one example among many. Gardiner spotlights, underscores and colours fearlessly, his astonishing choir on hair-trigger alert with unfailing response to Bach's frequent stance of joyful release in death plus many moments of response in faith and prayer that find exactly the right emotional settings. One is in awe of Bach's airtight musical arguments throughout. Very likely the choral album of the year. 'Ö'Ö'Ö'Ö'Ö

-- James Manishen

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 18, 2012 G4