New Music

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This article was published 27/08/2011 (5475 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BARBRA STREISAND

What Matters Most (Columbia/Sony)

THE subtitle of What Matters Most is Sings the Lyrics of Alan and Marilyn Bergman, whom Barbra Streisand has been working with since the vocalist/actress was just 18. The 10 songs on the collection are all older, but none have been recorded previously by Streisand, who has added her smooth touch to the words of 51 previous Bergman tunes.

The material on What Matters Most is focused on love and romance, augmented with orchestral compositions by the likes of John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Johnny Mandel.

Every song is slow and tasteful with Streisand’s still strong voice adding emotional heft to the subtle big band feel on Nice SSRqN’ Easy, originally written for Frank Sinatra; the smooth jazz of Alone in the World; and I’ll Never Say Goodbye, the theme from the 1979 film The Promise.

It’s a dramatic, emotional album of ballads that will please Babs fans, some who might even need a few tissues if they get the deluxe edition featuring 10 previously released Streisand/Bergman collaborations including You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, Pieces of Dreams and The Way We Were. Three stars

— Rob Williams

POP AND ROCK

STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS

Mirror Traffic (Matador)

AFTER listening to Stephen Malkmus’s latest album with the Jicks, it’s easy to think he wrote it following last year’s Pavement reunion, but Mirror Traffic was actually recorded prior to the 2010 tour.

The reason Pavement comes to mind is not just Malkmus’s instantly recognizable voice, but the fact songs like Tigers, Spazz and Stick Figures in Love could have been written during the same period Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and Wowee Zowee were released in the mid 1990s. He’s lyrically obtuse and drops non-sequiturs like a klutz with an armful of dishes, plays fast and loose with tempos and sounds like he’s having fun with the roller coaster-arrangements.

Fellow oddball Beck handles production duties, so when a country flourish rears its head during Long Hard Book or a blast of punk comes roaring out in the form of Tune Grief it all makes sense, or about as much sense as Malkmus ever does. Three and a half stars

— RW

 

BLUE KING BROWN

Blue King Brown (Indica/Outside)

ACTIVIST world-beat combo Blue King Brown doesn’t hold much back on the Canadian issue of their second album. Released as a two-disc set elsewhere on the planet, this single disc distillation makes a case for this earthy combo to be the new go-to band on human rights and justice while you bounce happily on the dance floor.

Much of the credit boils down to the powerfully rich and elastic vocals of singer Natalie Pa’apa’a. Her chatty croon is at once forceful and delicious and makes you pay attention to the issue- and event-focused content.

The band’s hybrid of reggae-fied beats, deep soul and funky throwdowns is definitely attention-getting and the variety of tunes and pacing keeps the album a fresh listen through its long running time. For those inclined to read, the included booklet is full of not only lyrics, but website addresses to help get more engaged in earthly matters.

If this wise and funky band is providing the soundtrack to saving the planet and its occupants, sign us up pronto. Four stars

— Jeff Monk

 

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Muppets: The Green Album (Universal)

WHEN it comes to nostalgia trips it doesn’t get much more fun than listening to music made famous by Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear and the orange-haired creature named Mahna Mahna, whose lyrics consisted solely of repeating his own name and some scatting.

Mahna Mahna is one of the most famous songs in the Muppets universe, yet the snoozy band the Fray somehow get to cover the track and end up dulling the song’s manic edge. Thankfully, they are one of the exceptions on this new tribute album where OK Go offer up a woozy psychedelic take on the theme song; Weezer and Hayley Williams (of Paramore) team up for a heartfelt version of Rainbow Connection; and My Morning Jacket’s slight bluegrass makeover of Our World makes it even more uplifting than when Emmet Otter sang it on her Christmas Special.

Of course, not everything works and you’ll find yourself skipping a few clunkers (I’m talking to you Amy Lee) but for the most part, it’s pretty fun being green. Three stars

— RW

 

DUST ADAM DUST

Dust Adam Dust (Independent)

FRANKLY, we blame Nirvana, or, to be more accurate, what the grunge lords promoted all those (thankfully) long years ago. Indie-rock, in the local sense anyway, boils away in the bar scene, and like an unhappy Ouroboros it has long ago eaten its own tail, yet hasn’t birthed anything new for years. Our own Dust Adam Dust peels a page from the Vaselines’ playbook, and while this short album is interesting in its way, it is its lack of innovation that eventually chews out the insides of the eight tracker.

To their credit they have a way of cobbling together a kind of credible progressive rock slurry that at times weighs the eyelids and brings on a slight change in the listener’s brain chemistry. The biggest issue is the twinned vocals of Anna and Jason Hovland. This method of singing is never easy and while impeccably mismatched vocals can work in certain situations (Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazlewood, the aforementioned Vaselines’ Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee) the Hovlands need some work to sound anything more than clumsy. Two and a half stars

— Monk

 

HUGH LAURIE

Let Them Talk (Warner)

THE star of House gets behind the piano and shows his love for the blues, with 15 evergreens and lesser-known samples of the genre. As a blues interpreter, conventional wisdom would suggest, he’s got two strikes against him going in: he’s white and British (which, incidentally, never stopped, let’s say, Eric Burdon) and he’s an actor.

Yet Laurie still delivers a loose, funky, enjoyable set, singing his heart out and pounding the keys with rollicking great style through the likes of St. James Infirmary, Buddy Bolden’s Blues and Tipitina. Guest appearances by the likes of Irma Thomas, Dr. John and Allen Toussaint pour fuel on this modest fire.

There is nothing here to challenge the originals or best-known interpretations, but great fun anyway. Three and a half stars

— Bernard Perusse, Postmedia News

 

GAME

The R.E.D. Album (Universal)

IT’S fitting that the first and last voice you hear on the Compton rapper’s fourth album is not his own, but his mentor Dr. Dre’s. On this overstuffed, overproduced affair, Game at times sounds like a guest on his own album, repeatedly elbowed off centre stage by an A-list of rappers (Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Drake, Big Boi, Young Jeezy, et al.) and vying for attention amid a torrent of beats from a who’s-who of hip-hop production stars, current and rising. (He fares best with the classic DJ Premier track backing him on Born in the Trap).

It’s a shame that Game isn’t confident enough to step out completely on his own; once you get past his monotonous gangsta posturing and tiresome assertions of West Coast rap superiority, there are traces of an insightful and engaging urban storyteller. One and a half stars

— Basem Boshra, Postmedia News

 

COUNTRY AND ROOTS

DOC WALKER

16 & 1 (Open Road /Universal)

The title 16 & 1 refers to the highway crossings where Old School Studios is located in lead singer Chris Thorsteinson’s hometown of Westbourne, where the new album was written, recorded and produced. In fact, the band’s new studio is in the school Thorsteinson attended as a youth.

Recording much of the material live off the floor with Ridley Bent producer John Ellis, there are some surprises. There’s a hint of soul on Never Letting Go, and on Hard Act to Follow guitarist Murray Pulver shares the microphone with Thorsteinson like a country Hall & Oates. Tailgate Revolution is an infectious funky party anthem with bassist Dave Wasyliw chiming in. Manitoba’s hottest country act also delivers a hard driving version of Bob Seger’s Get Out Of Denver while Brad Roberts himself guests on the Crash Test Dummies’ I Think I’ll Disappear Now.

The rockin’ lead single Country Girl has country boy Thorsteinson singing of a girl with “more rubber boots than high heel shoes.”16 & 1 is like that girl… and that’s not a bad thing. Three and a half stars

— Bruce Leperre

 

CLASSICAL

LANG LANG, VIENNA PHILHARMONIC, VALERY GERGIEV

Liszt My Piano Hero (Sony)

Lang Lang’s entry honoring the Liszt bicentennial year stays with the familiar and mostly the flashy, spiked with some awful images of the pianist with digitally enhanced strands of seemingly electric currents coming from his fingers.

Lang Lang isn’t yet in the upper tier of Liszt players but he’s not far off. Velocity and tonal lustre are never problems for him, but Liszt was a prolific song composer and his music is full of vocal elements needing firmly arched phrasing to stand in relief of the hammers, which often eludes Lang Lang, especially where we need the vocal line in Liebestraum, Consolation No. 3 and Un sospiro.

Lang Lang nails the octaves thrillingly in the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, and the Horowitz arrangement of Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 is pretty stunning, too, though missing the teasing nonchalance Horowitz himself would bring to his bewitching setting. Lang Lang delivers a fine account of the Piano Concerto No. 1 though the VPO sounds as if on automatic pilot. Three and a half stars

— James Manishen