The Rolling Stones - A Bigger Bang Special Edition

(CD/DVD) Virgin/EMI

The Rolling Stones are the elders of the rock 'n roll world. They have come out with more than 30 albums in their career. After the 70's their albums became largely hit and miss, but nothing has really lived up to their days of "Beggar's Banquet" and "Let It Bleed". "A Bigger Bang" is a decent album, but, of course, I can't help but compare it their other albums which have been better.
This album is very consistent in its quality, if you like the first song then most likely you will enjoy the album. There are a couple ballads on the album including "Streets of Love" and "Back of My Hand". "Streets of Love" comes across with a little bang, while "Back of My Hand" lets it go with a saucy blues lick and squealing harmonica. The Stones also take a stab at the American administration with "Sweet Neo-Con" that was pleasing to here, although lyrics like, "There's bombers in my bedroom/ And it's giving me the shits" could use some work. Overall, another rockin' album from the rockers that, I am convinced, will never die.

Dre - Another Casualty

Deeper Still/Independent

Dre is a new face on the female folk rock scene. Some songs will remind you of Jewel, others will remind you of Dar Williams, but Dre has her own songs, guitar and song-writing style. Her recordings are unaltered by any synths, over layering or electronic effects: "Another Casualty" is just Dre and her guitar, no strings attached. Dre's voice is a full bodied, rich and acoustically pleasing accompaniment to her guitar style.
Her guitar style is versatile, throughout the album she does heavy strumming and quick chord changes on tracks like "Something's Not Working" and "Not So Gay" but also can handle delicate finger picking on tracks such as "Home" and "Gap Girls". Dre's lyrics touch on a number of topics that don't get much attention including racism with "Something's Not Working"; she boldly asks why there is such a gap between the African American community and the White community, and furthermore asserts that people who don't want to try to understand our differences are scared to change the status quo. Dre comes through on this album with pure style and an excellent collection of songs.
(Editor's Note: I go to the Ugly Mug nearly every day to have espresso and a brownie. Hearing Dre play made my coffee stronger and my brownie sweeter. And it is no accident that the band is between The Rolling Stones and John Lennon on my Top 21 list.)
***Shelton's Pick of The Week: "Something's Not Working"***

John Lennon - Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon

(2 CD Set) Capitol/EMI

This is a collection of the best John Lennon tracks during his solo career including "Give Peace A Chance", "Power To The People", and "Imagine". This album was released in honor of Lennon's 65th birthday and also the 25th anniversary of the day Lennon was taken from all of us. His songs transcend all barriers and cultures. His lyrics are applicable to all political arenas and all walks of life. "The Definitive Collection" takes the songs that made Lennon a great solo artist, highlighting his social/political activism and his idealism. Produced by Yoko Ono, this album is a unique insight into what made Lennon great, from the person who knew him best. This is certainly an extraordinary treat. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Canibus & Phoenix Orion (Cloak N Dagga) - Def Con Zero

(CD/DVD) Head Trauma/First Kut

Canibus has created a stir in the East Coast underground scene, and had a controversial misunderstanding with L.L. Cool J. But Canibus is back collaborating with Phoenix Orion with his new album "Def Con Zero". Canibus is making a statement about the state of the world today on this album, about the "bling-bling" rap industry, about the direction of the post 9-11 world we live in and the impending resource crisis of mankind.
"Def Con Zero" will remind the listener of the roots of rap, with hardcore beats that existed before the days of multi-platinum mainstream artists that ruined the social and political importance of rap music. Canibus and Phoenix Orion take on questions that matter, and it flows off their tongues flawlessly.

Various Artists - On A Dark Desert Highway: A Bluegrass Tribute to The Eagles

CMH

They were the biggest band of the '70s, cranking out chart-topping hits that rank among the most well-known songs in the history of popular music. Although The Eagles were originally from other parts of the country, the band formed in Los Angeles in 1972, and would forever be associated with the carefree lifestyle of southern California. Their popularity held steady even after their breakup in the early eighties with a new generation of music listeners embracing The Eagles' country and folk-tinged sounds that defined modern rock.
"On A Dark Desert Highway: A Bluegrass Tribute to The Eagles" offers heartfelt versions of the band's greatest songs with soaring harmonies and delightful pickin' on the banjo, mandolin, dobro and guitar. You won't believe how beautiful these songs sound in the hands (and throats) of some of the best Bluegrass musicians in the business. If the Eagles had settled in W. Virginia instead of California, this is how their music would have sounded.

Deadboy & The Elephantmen - We Are Night Sky

Fat Possum (Release Date: February 7th, 2006)

Deadboy & The Elephantmen is actually a duo with Dax RIggs on guitar and vocals, with drums plus back-up vocals by Tessie Brunet. Just in 2004 Riggs and Brunet hooked up by chance and played a show together. This is their debut album together, with Riggs' metal background and Brunet just starting to play drums and sing the duo sounds like punk meets blues, which fits in perfectly with the nontraditional Fat Possum line up. A good way to think about the duo is The Clash meets White Stripes meets Robert Johnson. Deadboy & The Elephantmen have got a very good thing going here. Hopefully, they will keep the music coming.

Rosanne Cash - Interiors

Columbia/ Legacy

"Interiors" is the third Rosanne Cash re-release that we have reviewed here at JSI Top 21. These original albums are coming back out and reminding us all of what a great singer and songwriter Cash really is. "Interiors" was produced in a time of crisis in Cash's life, with a divorce from musician and producer Rodney Crowell. The result is a haunting and melancholy album that stirs up images of pain and sorrow. However, Rosanne Cash always retains her dignity and humor through it all which is expressed on "Real Woman". Cash consistently uses sparse musical compositions which works well for her songs. Simplicity not only sells, but also sounds great, particularly with Rosanne Cash. Cash is timeless; "Interiors" may have been released in 1990, but it still sounds fresh.

Dafnis Prieto - About the Monks

A/Allegro

Dafnis Prieto is a jazz musician with a serious interest in Brazilian music. "About the Monks" is the best fusion of Brazilian music, not just Brazilian percussion, and traditional jazz music that I have had the pleasure to listen to. Prieto gathered up musicians from both worlds, had them play together and meet at a place entirely different from either world.
The result is something unique, creative and intoxicating in that way that music is supposed to be. Jazz is one of the most versatile genres around, and it takes real intelligence to be able to utilize that versatility to create something new, but Prieto does just that. In one of the most surprising releases in modern jazz, "About the Monks" draws on the talents of several prime Brazilian and jazz musicians to create a masterpiece. The most stunning performance on drums that I have heard recently has been on this album, performed by Dafnis Prieto himself, on "Tumba Francesa". Prieto is young and has a whole career ahead of him, and if he keeps this up I would expect him to be a leading virtuoso in the modern jazz scene.
***Sean's Single of The Week: "Tumba Prieto"***

The Rider - My Way

V-Tone/Navarre

The Rider is derivitive country music. It has been done before. I can't really find an aspect of this album that is original to The Rider. The music is tired, the lyrics are used up and the guitar leads are simplistic. All the songs on "My Way" tend to blend together; it's hard to tell them apart. Main features on the album are the distorted guitar slide down the neck, and the group of light voiced back up singers. The Rider just rubs me the wrong way.

Various Artists - El Draft 2005

Boy Wonder/Chencho/Chosen Few Emerald/Urban Box Office

The artists featured on "El Draft 2005" are not well known, but are all talented up 'n' coming artists in the reggaeton and latin hip-hop arena. The purpose of El Draft is to offer some exposure to those little known artists that deserve credit for their talent. The differences in latin hip-hop vs. mainstream hip-hop are numerous, practically the only similarity is that they both use heavy backbeats.
The Spanish language offers itself up to the hip-hop style much better than English; the rhymes flow better in Spanish. These artists tend to use off beats with more frequency, different synths and use their melodies in a completely different style as well. Boy Wonder & Chencho have found some very gifted artists, and the result of this project is awesomely different from any mainstream artists that one is bound to hear.

Various Artists - TransAmerica: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Nettwerk America (Release Date: 2/7/2006)

The "TransAmerica" soundtrack features many well known and talented artists including Old Crow Medicine Show, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Lucinda Williams and Dolly Parton. There is a plethora of talent and even a few different genres of music. Miriam Makeba, from South Africa, starts off the soundtrack with an amazing traditional, South African folk song "Jol'Inkomo". Just a couple of songs later the Old Crow Medicine Show does folk the way folk was meant to be played, with "Take 'em Away" with lyrics such as, "Take 'em away, take 'em away Lord/ Take away these chains from me/ My heart is broken 'coz my spirit's not free/ Lord, take away these chains from me!"
The album is interspersed with movie dialogue samples which focus heavily on the main points of the movie dealing with transsexuality and the oppressive view points that our society takes on this topic. It is no wonder then that this album contains music from progressive artists and genres that deal with social and political justice. The music on the "TransAmerica" soundtrack is enchanting and captivating, and leaves one with an intriguing portrait of hopeful souls of the socially shunned.

DJ Baby Anne & Jen Lasher - Assault & Battery

(2 CD Set) System/Zone

DJ Baby Anne and Jen Lasher have compiled and mixed an album from various artists. They each get an entire CD to show off their electronic stylings. Baby Anne, from Florida, and Lasher, from DC, have combined their efforts to produce a 2 CD set with their latest mixes. The album is, most likely, best listened to under the influence of heavy clubbing drugs like ecstasy, to really get the "full" effect. However, the album can hold its own on the dance floor. You can expect to hear two opposing takes on electronica on this double album that fully reflects each DJ's personal styles. "Assault & Battery" won't kick the shit out of you, but does have some great dance mixes.

Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Ave Vol. II

Elektra/ Warner Bros.

Billy Bragg & Wilco have collaborated again to make an album full of Woody Guthrie songs that were never completed. These songs are a selection of songs that Woody Guthrie wrote the lyrics for but never wrote the music for. But, If there is one band that is deserving of the honor of creating an album like this it would definitely be Wilco.
Guthrie was well known for his political songs and saying what he felt like saying. Some of those songs that were fortunately selected are, "All You Fascists", "Stetson Kennedy" and "Aginst Th' Law". "Aginst Th' Law" focuses on a subject that is all but irrelevant these days: those damn law making bureaucrats making everything "Aginst Th' Law". "Stetson Kennedy" focuses on fighting for what we believe to be right and being active in doing so. For Guthrie it was voting for Stetson to outlaw war profiteering, "If we fix it so's you can't make money on a war/ We'll all forget what we're killing folks for". Natalie Merchant makes an appearance on the album doing the cool "I Was Born" song. This album is a winner from start to finish.
(Editor's Note: How much have we spent in the war against Iraq? The answer is just shy of $500 billion (half a Trillion). Now, has Iraq ever been, or will they ever be, a threat to the world's "greatest power"? I know you can figure it out. And I know you can figure out how else the money could have been spent.)

Jana Peri - Catching Flies With Vinegar

Hot Jupiter

Jana Peri knows punk. She knows punk in the way that The Ramones knew punk, in the way the Sex Pistols knew punk. In Peri's song "I Wanna Rock" Peri screams, "I don't get this reggae shit... I don't get this white bread noise... I wanna Rock!" Catching Flies With Vinegar is Peri's second release after she debuted with her self titled album that contained the underground hit "Dating Sucks" featured on ROCKRGRL magazine's "Discoveries 2004" compilation. Peri's music focuses heavily on her intense love for New York with songs about cabbies, NYC pride and one song in particular that makes fun of girls from L.A.. Jana Peri just proves that punk isn't dead; it's just inaccessible. You can learn more and purchase her CD at www.janaperi.com.

Rocky Dawuni - Book of Changes

Aquarian

Dawuni is an established artist on the reggae scene, playing with artists such as Saul Williams, Burning Spear, Majek and many more. His music is an interesting take on reggae with funk beats as well as jazz and soul blending perfectly with the songs. Dawuni has released three albums previous to his current release, which have received critical acclaim all across Africa and in the US reggae scene. He has played at Reggae on the River in Northern California, the UCLA jazz/ reggae festival and the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival. "Books of Change" is a great piece of work without filler tracks, all the way through the album, Dawuni is creative and spirited with his music. Rocky Dawuni is hot shit.
***So Nice, Gotta Do It Up Twice (Created by the Original NYC DJ, Jocko, 1955)***

Kathy Mattea - Right Out Of Nowhere

Narada/Virgin/EMI

Kathy Mattea has been on the forefront of the country/folk world since her debut, self-titled album was released in 1984. Her music represents the perfect blend of country story telling, blues and gospel feel and folk harmony. Mattea's voice is larger than herself and rich enough to satisfy any sweet tooth.
"Right Out Of Nowhere" captures the emotional passion that Mattea has the uncanny ability to infuse into her albums; if she sounds this good in the studio, she must sound amazing live. "Love's Not Through With Me Yet" is a tear-jerking song where the music is just as brilliant as the lyrics, "Can you love without needing/ lift it up as a silent prayer/ can you open your heart without bleeding/ take your open heart everywhere/ can you hold a place within your breast/ for someone you've never met/ then love's not through with you yet." Kathy Mattea is some kind of majestic, soulful force of folk music, "Right Out Of Nowhere" reflects just that.
(Editor's Note: I was born in New York City. Uptown. On the wrong side of Broadway. We had Latin brothers, Black brothers, Irish brothers, Italian brothers and Jewish brothers all hanging out at the pool hall; spittin', talkin' trash and kickin' each other's ass. A true melting pot that I will cherish forever.
When Kathy Mattea came to town, a southern angel of mercy, I begged her publicist, because I was a heavy metal god, at the time, as the editor of Hit Parader magazine, to get Kathy to shoot pool with me. She was a serious hero of mine, having created "eighteen wheels and a dozen roses" : "Eighteen wheels and a dozen roses/ Ten more miles on his four day run/ A few more songs from the all night radio/ Then he'll spend the rest of his life/ With the one that he loves." If you need a good cry, and don't we all, you must listen to Kathy Mattea sing. It wasn't long thereafter that I quit Hit Parader, the heavy metal bible, and became editor of Country Song Roundup. I would thank nobody deeper, than Kathy Mattea for changing my life.)

Cinderpop - Their Skies Are Beautiful

Bongo Beat

Cinderpop takes you on an enchanting and beautiful journey into the pits of hell. Dear God, Cinderpop might have made a better impression on me if they had recorded themselves spitting from 50 story buildings; now that would have been at least original, I don't believe I've heard that before. I have seen what other people are writing about Cinderpop: "Tour de Force!", "instant classic!", "Breath taking", "Blah Blah Blah" and other such bullshit. No! Cinderpop is a tour de farce, an instant flop... Cindercrap.

Various Artists - Fred Everything: House Of Om

OM

Another release in the house of Om series, Fred Everything mixes these tracks with the style and quality that one would expect from an Om artist. Fred is Om's Canadian partner, and he meets the challenge of this "House Of Om" release with a different taste than many of Om's great artists. Fred's house style backs away from the heavy, multi-layered string synths that Om is known for.
He plays with the original tracks in such a way that the resulting creation is mostly his, with samples from the selections. His independence from the original tracks sets Fred Everything apart from many other house DJs that saturate the house world. The "House Of Om" series has been exceptional and exceptionally well received. Fred Everything has now taken them to the next level.

Roy Clark - Bluegrass: It's About Time, It's About Me

Varese Sarabande

This long awaited release, is the first ever Roy Clark Bluegrass collection. It features traditional country music with a touch of Bluegrass and a bit of the Appalachian sound. This collection features several tracks with Buck Trent on banjo (acknowledged as one of the best banjo players in Country music). He worked with Roy for a number of years, recording several albums with him. This album also features many of the all-time classic traditional country songs including "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," "Blue Moon Of Kentucky," and "Rollin' In My Sweet Baby's Arms." All tracks are making their CD debut, and Roy Clark is proving himself to be worthy of the Bluegrass genre. The man is a legend in the country world.

Various Artists - United Tribes: International Powwow

Makoche

I have so far enjoyed all the releases that I have heard on the Makoche label: Joseph Fire Crow, "The Makoche Masters" and, of course, the amazing Annie Humphrey. However, as much as I tried, and believe me, I tried; I just could not get into this album.
This album is a collection of different drum and dance groups performing live at the United Tribes International Powwow. There is undoubtedly an entire experience and atmosphere that has been lost in the transition from live performance and involvement to recorded album. The "United Tribes: International Powwow" album is approximately two hours of steady beats and Native American chanting: sometimes the beats speed up, sometimes the beats slow down. Sometimes I can tell the difference between chants, sometimes I can't. However, if this is your first experience with Makoche, do not be put off: Makoche supports some very influential and talented musicians; this is just not their best release.

Shakira - Oral Fixation Vol. 2

Epic/Sony BMG

The second in the "Oral Fixation" Volumes shows off Shakira's vocal talents that have been generally, corporately glossed over during her Spanish to English crossover. She has obviously matured as a singer and songwriter. The music on this album is even more eclectic than the first "Oral Fixation".
Musically and vocally, Shakira reaches out and grabs a hold of different styles, like the offbeat alt-rock style of the Cranberries, Spanish rock which she came to the scene with (but now featuring guitar stylings of Carlos Santana) and even some contemporary folk sounding songs that seem slightly reminiscent of Jewel. Having Rick Rubin help produce the album is an excellent opportunity for Shakira, anything Rubin touches turns to gold (or platinum). What I like best about this album is the way Shakira has come to use her powerful voice; she takes her singing to the limit, pressing her voice into soulful, gut wrenching (in a good way) baritone vibratos and then shooting into tasteful falsettos. Shakira really blew me away this time.