Steve Winwood - Nine Lives

Columbia/Sony BMG

Mr. Winwood fits in just fine with his fellow Blind Faith allumni; plenty of blues lifting, twangy guitar and the occasional African riff keep the line toed. That's just fine, considering his target audience; the cover art depiction of the artist in his childhood, the lyrics spin romantic paeans to the sort of traveling and love-longing conducted by those in late middle age. This release should be considered a competent addition to the growing library of vaguely nostalgic music for aging baby boomers.

Eliza Gilkyson - Beautiful World

Red House

When the sizeable number of Americans who enjoy CMT country tire of that genre, they frequently turn to Americana tinged folk like what is to be found on Ms. Gilkyson's release.
This seems like something that both parties are aware of, as tracks like "Dream Lover" and the album opener reek of the CMT sound, though a little toned down. But there are moments where things are kept simple and pretty, and there's a good amount of melancholy there to keep it from becoming too gee-gawky. So, It works.

Various Artists - Cafe Cubano

Putumayo

The usual suspects, both artist-wise and in genre, are present here. Mazacote Carillo, Rene Ferrer and Armando Garzon are semi-familiar names to most fans of this genre. But unlike most Putumayo releases this one goes a little deeper than Buena Vista territory and brings us a sampling of the under-appreciated guajira; it's a style that's as Andalusian as it is African, played at a Caribbean pace. Kudos, to the label, for bringing something new to the table.

Blake Shelton - More Pure BS

Warner Bros.

CMT has bred it's own genre of country pop, and Blake Shelton might as well be it's posterboy. With lyrics about getting drunk (so drunk that "even bow-legged women start lookin' hot") and sometimes getting busted by the sheriff for taking those drinks outside, fans of this music are no longer allowed to object to the stereotypes leveled at them. In fact, those objections would probably come in the form of a quote from one of Mr. Shelton's songs; "I had to work hard to be the jerk I've come to be."

From First to Last - Self-Titled

Suretone/Interscope/Universal

With gas prices now firmly above four dollars per gallon and rising, a question faces whomever follows this sort of music; can mall rock survive without suburban malls?
In any case, this sort of rock music will probably reach it's apotheosis before the primary retail outlet (I've been assured that their Hot Topic in store tour is paying off as we speak) becomes completely unfeasible. All the elements one expects in this product are present, from glammy vocals one minute and instrumentation that sounds loud without actually being loud; there's a faux-folky cureball at the very end, though showing that this line is still sorting out it's proper, desired consistency.

Julie Ingram - Keep on Believin'

LongShot

This seems like it would be part of a feeder scene for the sort of country music that still enjoys immense popularity in what appears to be almost every census area of our country.
It's almost a mirror image of what Nashville/CMT produces; everything is a little too clean, the vocals inorganic.... but in that sense, it retains a perverse charm that convinces me of it's place in the mainstream country hierarchy.

The Beach Boys - The Capitol Years (1962-1965) 16 CD SET

Capitol/EMI

I once nearly lost a job for standing by the fact that the Beach Boys beat the Beatles, anyday. Forget about the radio staples present here, and focus on what came just a little later. Adolescent drama runs high and beautiful on oft-overlooked gem "Be True To Your School"; crazed, sunburnt school pride as nationalism via beautiful vocal harmonies, piccolo and lethargic cheerleader chants.
Even some of the familiar material shines just as bright as ever; "Don't Worry Baby" stands with the best of the Beach Boy's catalogue. That aching romanticism and wonderfully low-tracked piano will never, ever become tiresome."Let Him Run Wild"'s proto-powerpop, a nearly all-conquering cover "Do You Wanna Dance?", and the swooning sweep of "Please Let Me Wonder" will keep me in Wilson and company's corner till I'm in the grave.
************LATE BUT GREAT***********
***Shelton's Single Of The Week: "Surfin' USA"***

Edward Rogers - You Haven't Been Where I've Been

Zip

There's something confrontational about Mr. Rogers' claim that we haven't been where he's been. But he's right; I've been informed that the singer is minus a leg and arm due to a subway accident.
Even without that backstory, his music holds up in it's sincerity, even if it does (most notably on the first track) get a little snarky in it's delivery. When he calms down a bit, his pain once again becomes broader, relate-able, and independent of his exact sort of loss.

Neil Diamond - Home Before Dark

Columbia/Sony BMG

Neil Diamond. Neil Diamond! Though I haven't followed his recent career too closely, this latest release places him exactly where I feel he should be. This is a fuller extension of the yacht-worthy soft rock of his 1970's heydey; it's all a little slower and a bit warmer.
I'd like to call this pop music in one of it's most classic incarnations, something that doesn't owe a thing to R&B or "hard rock", and for that I'll salute Mr. Diamond.

William Lee Ellis - Conqueroo

Yellow Dog/Burnside

One sort of music that never seems to be totally sapped of it's legitimacy, regardless of how it's packaged, is bluegrass. I'm thinking specifically of that which bears the mark of mountain music, and you'll find some of that on this record. There's nothing here that isn't heartfelt or at the very least, empathetically listenable.

Walter "Wolfman" Washington - Doin' the Funky Thing

Zoho/Allegro

Mr. Washington's got credibility; he's associated with an act that George Clinton called the impetus for his entrance to the realm of funk. But, unlike Mr. Clinton, Mr, Washington isn't interested in melting the face of funk.
No, he just wants to hold down the fort, and keep a more digestible, vaguely bluesy version of the genre alive. Sometimes, and these are his strongest moments, he drops the funk altogether and focuses on the blues. That's alright by me.
***Shelton's Second Single Of The Week: "One Day From Being A Fool,"***

Simone - Simone on Simone

High Priestess/Koch

The younger Simone (Nina's daughter) has the right voice for this sort of music. I just wish the production team enveloped it with the right amount of space; the finest moments here are simply her in a void, occasionally violated by quiet piano. The one exception to this is the period-perfect "Go to Hell". Even then, though, the mood is mellow without molding over.

Charlie King & Karen Brandow - Higherground

Vaguely Reminiscent Sounds

A certain type known to all smaller college towns (these two hail from Amherst, MA), the left-leaning political acoustic duo; most of these are reworkings of established songs to incorporate contemporary political commentary. They're sincere, though, and they keep optimistic and clever when one could be snide. I like snide, but hey.

Gary Gates Band Acoustic - Live at the San Gregorio General Store

Self Released

Self released, simple, cozy. There's nothing to prove here, just a few old friends having a go at the local general store. I can name several friends of my friend's parents who'd love to have this sort of thing in their lives.

The Morning Benders - Talking Through Cans

+1

I can't tell if these guys are drawing from the Beatles or the Elephant Six acts (on of the first track, a least) but I do like it. Rather than blow it all trying to jump from style to style or something like that, they get into a jangly pop mentality and let it unfold from there. The linchpin here are the vocals of Chris Chu, which sound peculiar enough to be interesting, without becoming a perverse novelty.

Tye Tribbett & G.A. - Stand Out

Axis/Columbia/Sony BMG

Although I have a strong dislike for slick Christian music, there are a few charming things about Mr, Tribbett. His delivery is geeky enough to be endearing without masking his sincerity, for one; he makes headway into producing listenable "contemporary gospel" by invoking several key plays from the book of 90's neo-soul on the track "Look Up". And then he blows it all by going dc Talk on "Prodigal Son" and half the songs that follow.

Allison Sattinger - Vox

Self Released

Easy playing, well polished music, suitable for commercials. Yet, if I imagine a bit of soot thrown on her voice, the backing music a little more strained and urgent, we've got something truly original. Or interesting, at the very least.
As it stands, however, all we have is another case of potential that hopefully won't be squandered in the future.

Caribbean Jazz Project-Afro Bop Alliance - Self Titled

Heads Up/Telarc/Concord

The second track on this album is Coltrane's "Naima", which should be played as slow as possible. That doesn't stop the ABA from force-fitting it into a Latin jumpsuit. Still, the big-band arrangement and somewhat eased pace give a hint (along with certain aspects of the later track "Stolen Moments") of what this set up could do if they put themselves in a more somber frame of mind.
Even when hornwork straight out of the Henry Mancini playbook (on "Picture Frame", most notably) show up, Dave Samuels' vibraphone cheers everything up.
But somberness isn't what most folks think of when they think of the Caribbean or Afro Pop, and these fine instrumentalists are no exception.
***So Nice, Gotta Do It Up Twice (Created by the Original NYC DJ, Jocko, 1955)***

Tom Middleton - Lifetracks

Six Degrees/The Big Chill

So this is where all the music for the History Channel's "Modern Marvels" comes from! Mr. Middleton can't seem to make up his mind if he wants to be ambient or immediately engaging; not to say he's got to choose, one can do one by doing the other.
The best moments here are when he just gets repetitive and sinks into the background, like exceptional wallpaper.

Tokio Hotel - Scream

Cherrytree/Interscope/Universal

With bands like Whitesnake and Motley Crue finally fading away from the upper chart regions of the world, central Europe has found a new realm of mediocre bands to worship and make their own; as far as I know. Tokio Hotel is the first German version of US based names like My Chemical Romance. Congrats to them on being trailblazers!

Mary J Blige - Growing Pains

Mary Jane/Geffen/Universal

Mary J. Blige is rightly considered her musical territory's reigning sovereign, and she's no slouch on the throne; with production more reminiscent of Clipse than Rihanna, stylistic cues reaching back to the genre's origins in disco and soul, in both theme and form.
With contributions from Ludacris and Usher, you'd think she was trying to reassert herself as "current", if you only gave the tracklist the slightest glance. But you'd be wrong. She's a woman, and wants you to know it. The libidinous yearning found on "Till the Morning" (which demonstrates how disco is the prefect realm for an aging soul star; I can only hope Andy Butler takes notice and Ms. Blige returns his call) is not that of a young girl looking for a good time; she wants to know if you think she still has it. She does. center>

***If You Like Music, You're Gonna' Love This!***

On silver mount zion
All buried in ruins
We was dancing the hora
Until we vomited blood
Spinning like crazy
Shoshana was jonesing
The towers had fallen
And the wind called out
My grandfather's name

Let's kill first the banker
With his professional demeanour
Let's televise and broadcast
The raping of kings
Let our crowds be fed on
Teargas and plate-glass
'Cause a people united
Is a wonderful thing

I know that you're dying
And i know i'm unwell
And together we sashay
Thru variations of hell

And as you walk through valleys of fear
The lure of my bed is ever near

Oh, don't be afraid, though the parade
Will not pass our way
It's nobler to never get paid
Than to bank on shit and dismay

Political Article: For His Treatment of Children in the 'War on Terror,' Bush Is a War Criminal By:Dave Lindorff Back To Top Surely nothing that President Bush has done in his two wretched terms of office - not the invasion and destruction of Iraq, not the overturning of the five-centuries-old tradition of habeas corpus, not his authorization and encouragement of torture, not his campaign of domestic spying - nothing, can compare in its ugliness as his approval, as commander in chief, of the imprisoning of over 2500 children. According to the US government's own figures, that is how many kids 17 years and younger have been held since 2001 as "enemy combatants" - often for over a year, and sometimes for over five years. At least eight of those children, some reportedly as young as 10, were held at Guantanamo. They even had a special camp for them there: Camp Iguana. One of those kids committed suicide at the age of 21, after spending five years in confinement at Guantanamo. (Ironically and tragically, that particular victim of the president's criminal policy, had been determined by the Pentagon to have been innocent only two weeks before he took his own life, but nobody bothered to tell him he was slated for release and a return home to Afghanistan.) I say Bush's behavior is criminal because since 1949, under the Geneva Conventions signed and adopted by the US, and incorporated into US law under the Constitution's supremacy clause, children under the age of 15 are classed as "protected persons," and even if captured while fighting against US forces are to be considered victims, not POWs. In 2002, the Bush administration signed an updated version of that treaty, raising the "protected person" age to all those "under 18." Treaties don't mean much to this president, to the vice president, or to the rest of the administration, but they should mean something to the rest of us. But capturing and imprisoning children isn't even the worst of this president's war crimes when it comes to the abuse of the young. Under Bush's leadership as commander in chief, the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan has been considering any male child in Iraq of age 14 or older to be a potential combatant. They have been treated accordingly - shot by US troops, imprisoned as "enemy combatants," and subjected to torture. In the 2004 assault by US Marines on the city of Fallujah, things were even worse. Dexter Filkins, a reporter for the New York Times, reported that before that invasion, some 20,000 Marines encircled the doomed city, which the White House had decided to level because it harbored a bunch of insurgents and had angered the American public by capturing, killing and mutilating the bodies of four mercenaries working for US forces. The residents of the 300,000-population city were warned of the coming all-out attack. Women and children and old people were allowed to flee the city and pass through the cordon of troops. But Filkins reported that males determined to be "of combat age," which in this case was established as 12 and up, were barred from leaving, and sent back into the city to await their fate. Young boys were ripped from their screaming mothers and sent trudging back to the city to face death. In the ensuing slaughter, as the US dumped bombs, napalm, phosphorus, anti-personnel fragmentation weapons and an unimaginable quantity of machine gun and small arms fire on the city, it is clear that many of those young boys died. This was a triple war crime. First of all, it was a case of collective punishment - a practice popular with the Nazis in World War II, and barred by the Geneva Conventions. The international laws of war also guarantees the right of surrender, so those men and boys who tried to leave, even if suspected of being enemy fighters, should have been allowed to surrender and be held as captives until their loyalties could be established. The boys, meanwhile, were "protected persons" who were by law to be treated as victims of war, and protected from harm. Instead they were treated as the enemy, to be destroyed. For these crimes, the president should today be impeached by the Congress and then tried as a war criminal. After watching this Congress cower from its responsibility to defend the Constitution, I have little hope of that happening. But I do harbor the hope that once Bush has left office, some prosecutor in another country - perhaps Spain, or Canada or Germany - will use the doctrine of universal jurisdiction to indict him for war crimes, and, should he leave the country for some lucrative speaking engagement, arrest him, the way former dictator Augusto Pinochet was arrested by a Spanish prosecutor on a visit to the UK. For his abuse, imprisonment and killing of children, this president should stand trial for war crimes.

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