Album reviews

Rock

Florence + the Machine

Everybody Scream (Republic)

Florence Welch screams at everything and everybody on Florence + the Machine’s sixth full-length album.

No wonder. In 2023, the English songwriter and performer miscarried her first pregnancy, which was ectopic, while touring her Dance Fever album. She opted to carry on, but one of her fallopian tubes ruptured days later and she had emergency surgery to remove the organ and save her life.

After a year-and-a-half of recovery — time spent communing with nature, researching the history of women’s medicine, examining the trajectory of her life and writing lyrics and music, Welch has re-emerged with 12 songs and 49 minutes of profoundly personal music that exorcises her rage, grief and torment.

F+TM has always been “big music” — dramatic, operatic and orchestral, full of ethereal background vocals, ominous synths and cascading string arrangements, all presented with a gothic hint around the edges of Welch’s soaring vocals and her diaphanous, swirling stage presence. This heady concoction has never been more relentless than on this album’s opening title track and second cut One of the Greats, a seven-minute statement-of-purpose in which Welch describes her rise from the primordial ooze of the music business and her greatest ambitions (while also decrying the fact male artists are given more room to be mediocre).

Working with co-writers and co-producers such as Mitski, Mark Bowen (Idles guitarist) and Aaron Dessner (of the National), Welch incorporates genuine, against-the-grain grit into the likes of the title cut and Witch Dance, while Dessner’s slow burn suffuses the likes of the piano-driven The Old Religion, the soul-searching Drink Deep and the confessional, acoustic-guitar-based Music by Men (another withering take on patriarchy).

By the time she’s done, Welch will have you screaming along. Four and a half stars out of five

Stream: Everybody Scream; One of the Greats; Music by Men

John Kendle

Soundtrack

Wicked: For Good — The Soundtrack (Republic)

Are you ready for more Wicked? Wicked: For Good — The Soundtrack offers a bulked-up take on the music of the original Wicked musical’s second act, grounded in yet-again stellar vocals from Cynthia Erivo as a misunderstood but defiant Elphaba and Ariana Grande as a conflicted but changing Glinda. New songs and lyrics raise the stakes — even if the music itself is at times weighed down by the plot it helps move along, like the film it accompanies.

The soundtrack opens with Every Day More Wicked with new verses about Elphaba’s perceived wickedness and Glinda’s presumed goodness set to bold orchestration. Drum beats and ensemble singers are the world builders here, twisting the melody into a march.

Thank Goodness / I Couldn’t Be Happier follows, bringing Grande centre-stage and providing a rare opportunity for her soprano head-voice to give way to a deeper belt.

The new tracks added to the movie are highlights. Erivo’s No Place Like Home pulls on the iconic line said by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. It starts with Erivo’s voice almost isolated, strings swelling behind her, and ends with the first of her transcendent vocal runs.

That power is felt tenfold in Erivo’s take on No Good Deed. The film may belong to Glinda’s emotional trajectory, but it is Erivo who steals the soundtrack’s climax. Drums return as the agony heard in her voice intensifies, the strings crescendoing with her final call.

Glinda’s emotional journey may be more subtle, but Grande portrays it deftly. Airy and introspective, Girl in the Bubble serves as turning point, filling in gaps about Glinda’s internal reckoning. Her voice is restrained but emotional, Schwartz’s lyrics straightforward with a cheese that feels earned, and thus earnest.

Both songs boost the emotional payoff of the character’s finale duet, the fan-beloved tear-jerker For Good. And it’s no surprise, years into their own journey with the characters, that Erivo and Grande nail the chemistry of their character’s friendship. HHH1/2 out of five

Stream: No Good Deed; Thank Goodness; For Good

— Elise Ryan, The Associated Press

Jazz

Chick Corea

Forever Yours: The Final Performance (Candid)

Pianist/composer Chick Corea died in February 2021 at the age of 79. His career places him in the top echelon of all jazz musicians. Check it out. Just a few months before his death, in October 2020, he gave his final solo performance at a venue in Florida. That concert is the parting gift offered by this new release. It is wonderful. It plays like an intimate house concert in your living room with a world class musician.

Corea chats with the audience throughout, introducing the music and offering insight into his reasons for each set. His style is warm, personal and casual as it explains his life and his outlook about his music. He says in the intro that he is a composer first and a pianist after that.

The explanations for the playlist are fascinating, and his relaxed and almost folksy introductions are a delight. He starts with a tune he wrote for his father, samples the classic American songbook, plays a terrific cover of Stevie Wonder’s Overjoyed, talks about the influence of Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and plays Duke as well as Mozart.

The album includes a feature that he apparently offered during solo performances. He chooses a random woman and man from the audience and composes a tune in their name on the spot. His Portraits to Sam and Terri are presented with wit and affection with terrifically improvised melodies. One of many highlights is a set of his Children’s Songs. He tells how they came to be and plays six of the 20 he wrote. Many years ago he played a couple at his concert in Winnipeg. They are small gems.

This album is a unique and captivating gift from a major jazz figure. In every aspect it is beautiful. It is different enough that it would be an affront to suggest a rating number out of five or whatever. This is ultimately a wonderfully played, intimately shared evening with a friend. Thanks, Chick.

Stream: Armando’s Rhumba; Children’s Song No. 1

— Keith Black

Classical

John Rutter

A Clare College Celebration — The Christmas Edition (Harmonia Mundi)

‘Tis the season for festive choral music, with 15 Christmas carols and anthems by John Rutter performed by the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge.

The digital-only version augments a prior album commemorating the revered English composer’s 80th birthday on Sept. 24, with the college alumnus having also served as its choir director during the 1970s. The choristers are joined by the Dmitri Ensemble; all led with finesse by Graham Ross.

Highlights include Ave Maria immediately showcasing the singers’ smoothly overlapping phrasing; the gently flowing Mary’s Lullaby; and What Sweeter Music, the latter particularly caressing the ear with its pure lyricism.

The more rhythmically propulsive Shepherd’s Pipe Carol adds contrast and further mirth to the overall program, while Carol of the Magi, spotlights the choir’s tenors and basses. A Ukrainian Prayer performed “a cappella” in that same language brims with dramatic intensity as the choristers’s voices rise and fall through its pungent dissonances.

Two larger suites are also included: the wittily titled Bard’s Eye View, and The Gift of Life, the latter notably Rutter’s first extended choral work in 10 years celebrating living earth and its creation, based on a variety of sacred texts.

Last but not least, A Clare Benediction becomes the album’s sweet spot, once more showcasing the sensitive artistry of the entire ensemble, as well as affirming the enduring appeal of Rutter’s communicative, emotionally satisfying music still bringing much joy to the world. HHHH out of five

Stream: Ave Maria; What Sweeter Music; A Clare Benediction

— Holly Harris