ALBUMS

Neil Young
Prairie Wind (Reprise)

Neil Young's Prairie Wind is a gentle-sounding, acoustic-based album that packs an emotional wallop. It rightfully is being cast as the third in a trilogy of albums that started with Harvest in 1972 and continued with 1992's Harvest Moon. The spectre of death hangs over Prairie Wind, influenced no doubt by the diagnosis Young received around the time of its recording that he had a potentially deadly brain aneurysm. Luckily for music fans, Young survived and now the album takes on more of a tale of survival than loss. Really, Young does just about everything right on Prairie Wind. The lyrics are simple and heartfelt. The music is melodic and emotional. Together, they are classic Young and are likely to make Prairie Wind one of his most loved albums. Just as the title suggests, Prairie Wind has an open, airy feel about it. The other musicians -- Spooner Oldham on organ, Ben Keith on pedal steel guitar and Chad Cromwell on drums -- provide a strong, familiar backbone. Many of the songs seem like farewell notes -- to loved ones, his father and even his guitar. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to interpret Here For You as being sung from the perspective of someone who's already passed on. "Just close your eyes and I'll be there," Young sings. On Far From Home, Young makes a rollicking request to be buried on the prairie, not far from home, where the buffalo used to roam. The final tune, When God Made Me, is more a hymn than a rock song. With the Fisk University Jubilee Singers in the background, and Young at the piano, the song tackles some of the eternal questions that face many even when death is not imminent. It may be one of the most beautiful things Young's ever written. -Reviewer: Nell Young

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All Jacked Up
Gretchen Wilson (Epic)

Fans of Gretchen Wilson's chart-topping 2004 debut album, Here for the Party, might have braced for a letdown with her latest, All Jacked Up. Feel free to unbrace. This album's even better than the first. The pride of Pocahontas, Ill., pulls no punches (again) and nearly every song sounds like a dare for someone to tell the country sensation she's all bluster -- and not expect a face full o' knuckles. The title track, All Jacked Up, is a romp about keeping an eye on your drinking. Wilson knows her way around a bar, she readily admits, and she's not one to shy away from a song about knocking a few back. But there's something responsible about her don't-do-it-while-driving caveat here. One Bud Wiser is a hands down instant karaoke classic. Every country girl worth her salt will be trying to belt this one out for years to come. Wilson looks to the bottle for a little solace after a bad breakup: "When he left me he took my brand new Silverado/ I started thumbin' and I finally hitched a ride/ I just came in here to drink a beer and watch the rednecks fight/ Now I don't feel so bad about going home alone tonight," she belts out in earnest. It's all here. Politically Uncorrect is the brazen flag-waver and Rebel Child is the strongly sung but cautionary tale about life in the fast lane that could use a little downshifting to avoid the mistakes of youth. Wilson turns tender for a moment on the waltz-paced I Don't Feel Like Loving You Today. She shows vulnerability, a rarity for a pretty girl without a smiling photo to be found on her website promo shots. Skoal Ring is the only weak link. Any song that glorifies a man halfway home to gum cancer is a dud. Sure, it's supposed to be country code for a hard working man of true grit. But it's a throwaway tune that unfortunately stayed on the album. That aside, Wilson is the real deal. If there's a better country act going, let's see it. -Reviewer: Roy Harris

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Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene (Arts & Crafts)

It's not an easy album. Sprawling Toronto indie-rock collective Broken Social Scene's followup to the Juno-winning You Forgot It in People journeys farther into ambience and cluttered noise, thumbing its nose at the obvious, intermittently indulging the delectable, planning hooks it casts in its slumber. Three songs in, on 7/4 (Shoreline), we soar alongside Feist, who lends her wispy voice to the achingly lovely, irregularly timed anthem. It is one of the more straightforward moments. For the most part, melody and mess struggle for space, each emerging from the other, before ceding right of way. Neither ever wins, but they battle on. It's intuitive, sleepy, dreamy, tireless, a tad unwieldy, but pleasant, and admirably uncompromising. The album is out in stores Oct. 11, but is already ranked no. 1 at amazon.ca.- Reviewer: Tcha Dunley.

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Z
My Morning Jacket (ATO/RCA Records)

Jim James sings on the opening track of My Morning Jacket's solid new album, Z, "We are the innovators, they are the imitators." But are they? My Morning Jacket, who usually perform barefoot and headbang with their long brown hair, plays a '00s kind of southern rock -- what you might call a leaner, smarter Lynyrd Skynyrd. They aren't going to wow you with new ideas, but they'll rock just the same. The real difference of Z from My Morning Jacket's three prior albums is that the reverb, which typically draws out James's voice, has been tampered down. It's a welcome change from the previously suffocating, pristine vocals. It's immediately noticed on the first song, Wordless Chorus -- a striking, organ driven, soft groove that, true to title, has a chorus of only "ahhh." It sounds unlike anything My Morning Jacket has done before -- James even throws in some high, Michael Jackson-esque shrieks at the end. The other standout is Off the Record -- which is really three songs in one: a James Bond theme, an Elvis Costello single and a Portishead outro. The three parts, surprisingly, all work together to make a hell of a tune. My Morning Jacket still finds room for some reverb-soaked vocals and headbanging anthem (Anytime), but the band are easy to parody for such self-conscious rocking. Instead, they should keep the co-producer of Z -- John Leckie -- and stick to their new, more straightforward sound. -Reviewer: J. Cole

Sheryl Crow
Wildflower (A&M)

Point to ponder while contemplating Sheryl Crow's new Wildflower CD: will a bad review earn a set of tread marks on my back? Time to run. Don't be deceived into thinking that big rock on Crow's finger courtesy of fiancé Lance Armstrong will result in a giddy album of love songs. Instead, this disc is downbeat and downright boring. Crow is 43 now, beyond the point where all you wanna do is have some fun. She's brooding over the big issues of life, love, loyalty and mortality, and that's more than understandable. It's just harder to make that into engaging pop-rock tunes, and that's Crow's strength, where she beat the odds to become very successful in a style that's no longer fashionable. Here, you slog through seven earnest, mid-tempo songs until there's a sign of life: Live it Up has Crow urging someone to not let life pass them by, and it has the disc's strongest hook and quickest pace. Always on Your Side is the best of the rest, a stately ballad that benefits from stripping the music down. Otherwise, the production is simultaneously busy and rather anonymous, unwisely emphasizing Crow's thin vocals. Perhaps Wildflower has a few seeds that will take time to grow. Pass the fertilizer, though.-Reviewer: David Baudder

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Paul McCartney
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (Capitol)

Is Chaos and Creation in the Backyard the album Paul McCartney fans have been waiting for him to make? Not quite. While it has much more edge than most of McCartney's usual lighthearted pap, it doesn't dive into the darker recesses explored by his former bandmate John Lennon. That said, Chaos and Creation is a good album, picking up in some ways where 2001's Driving Rain, McCartney's last collection of original songs, left off. Chaos and Creation is much more restrained than Driving Rain, and in that regard has more in common with McCartney's early 1970s records. Hearkening back to his first solo album, 1970's McCartney, Paul wrote all the songs and played most of the instruments on his latest. Aided by Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, McCartney does show some emotional depth and vulnerability, which is usually hidden behind his aging mop-top facade. At the Mercy includes the very un-McCartney-esque line of "Sometimes my head is hanging low, but it's time to get on with the show.... I can think of nothing more to say." He sings of loss and friendship in How Kind of You and sadness and sorrow in Too Much Rain. Even with his darker side poking through, McCartney can't totally divorce himself from songs like English Tea. The catchy tune will burrow into your cerebral cortex, but your lyrical sense will cringe at lines like, "Do you know the game croquet, peradventure we might play, very gay, hip hooray." But as he approaches 64, Chaos and Creation gives McCartney fans another reason to still need him. Fans can only hope it's the sign of even better things to come. -Reviewer: Scott Bauder

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Extraordinary Machine
Fiona Apple (Epic)

Fiona Apple's long-overdue third album, Extraordinary Machine, doesn't match up to the more minimalist unfinished version that was leaked on the Internet months ago. But on its own merits, Extraordinary Machine is a good album and properly returns one of the most talented singers on the planet to the spotlight. Apple and her handlers handed over the production reins to Mike Elizondo after Jon Brion took a swipe and failed to impress someone, somewhere, in a suit. It's unfortunate for those who appreciate giving Apple room to shine, instead of saddling her with production room bluster. Red Red Red is an exceptional song about a relationship slowly changing, and the quest for emotional harmony without compromising individual identity. It's a slow-paced track, but infused with fire behind Apple's soulful voice. She's never sounded better vocally. However, Elizondo took the sting out of many of the tracks. He botched the steamy song O' Sailor by adding some corny background vocals where none were needed. And he took the energy out Please Please Please, a punchy potential hit now stuck with a lot of drum cymbals work and less of the whimsical staccato pace that made the leaked version shine. This is still good music mind you, but it's been better. The leaked album sounded like a bunch of talented youngsters snuck into an abandoned orchestra pit and made some beautiful music when no adults were around to give them "direction." The official release sounds like an annoying kid with Pro Tools tagged along.- Reviewer: Ron Haris

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Daniel Powter
Daniel Powter (Warner Bros.)

Piano-playing Vernon native Daniel Powter evokes a pleasant '70s groove on his major label debut, a record that hit the big time overseas behind the single Bad Day, a No. 1 smash in numerous European countries. He's liable to repeat the success in North America, particularly if female fans pick up what he's throwing down. To be sure, Powter, who spent a number of years in Victoria before moving to California in 2003, is strictly for the ladies. But on his self-titled effort, which hits stores today, he nonetheless finds a nice balance between white-boy funk and singer-songwriter fare, although he does so while liberally aping Honky Chateau-era Elton John.While his capable vocals, hummable piano melodies and fondness for vintage sonics puts him a notch above soundalikes Jason Mraz and Train, Powter falls somewhat shy of adult-oriented pop-rockers Maroon 5 and Matchbox Twenty. Where does that leave him? Powter seems to know already. On Free Loop, one of the album's highlights, he sings: "In my life, I've found only time will tell."-Reviewer: Mile Delvin

Souls' Chapel
Marty Stuart (Superlatone)

To tout Souls' Chapel as the best gospel record this year gives it short shrift, because Marty Stuart's latest work ranks with the best 2005 albums in any genre. The songs shimmer, and not just because of the tremolo guitars. Stuart's exploration of twangy, bluesy Delta gospel has produced 12 tunes filled with faith, love and humour that will play well even beyond the Bible Belt. Call it souls music. The material is far from staid: One tune swings, another rocks, and Move Along Train (with guest Mavis Staples) does the bump and grind. The well-chosen covers include two Pops Staples compositions, a Steve Cropper-William Bell song and Albert E. Brumley's 1958 gem, Lord, Give Me Just A Little More Time. Just as inspired are the original tunes. The instrumental closing title cut features surf guitar, Way Down benefits from a Green Onions-style organ vamp, and Come Into The House of the Lord is elevated by a classic couplet: "In my dissipation, I had a revelation." Putting Souls' Chapel over the top are the vocals, with Stuart and his band producing four-part harmonies pure as a prayer. Stuart makes a compelling case: Jesus loves you, so crank it up.- Reviewer: Stephen Winne

Late Registration
Kanye West (Universal)

So this is where Kanye West wants to take hip-hop -- beyond the sped-up soul samples that made him famous, beyond his first album's gospel and R&B influences... into the orchestra pit. Fashioning himself on the adventurous Late Registration as more of a streetwise composer than arrogant producer-rapper, West piles on lush layers of strings, pianos and horns. Then some more instruments. And a few melodic lines from a choir. The abundance of sound results from the Chicago star's collaboration with Jon Brion, a southern California musician who has scored films, produced for Fiona Apple and had never before touched a hip-hop record. Together, they have created an album that is musically far more rich and complex than West's acclaimed first disc, and is easily the year's best hip-hop CD. Their quirky creativity makes Registration, which comes out Tuesday, less instantly accessible than The College Dropout, but more rewarding for repeat listeners. West's sometimes-mumbly voice is crisper, and his range of topics is again vast and intriguing. From his perch atop the pop world, West warms up with a few easy crowd-pleasers. Adam Levine of Maroon5 supplies the delicate chorus for Heard 'Em Say, a softie of a first song. Touch the Sky exuberantly jacks Marvin Gaye's Move on Up with one-liners about the hard life before fame: "Any pessimists, I ain't talk to them. Plus, I ain't have no phone in my apartment." The sly single Gold Digger features Jamie Foxx doing his Ray Charles I Got a Woman thing on the hook, and another rather obvious sample, Shirley Bassey's James Bond theme Diamonds Are Forever, gets reworked as Diamonds From Sierra Leone. That track and its remix, both included, feature West at his best -- introspective, political and witty. He raps in the original version about his night of petulance at the American Music Awards, where he lost in the new artist category and complained backstage. In the remix, featuring Def Jam label head Jay-Z, he examines African conflict diamonds: "I thought my Jesus piece was so harmless, til I seen a picture of a shorty, armless." West tends toward more such duality in production. Near the end of the car-celebrating Drive Slow, the jazz-infused beat gets stuck in syrup, slowing in the southern chopped-and-screwed style until the song title comes off as a rather ominous command, from a guy who famously knows well the consequences of car crashes. And in the odd yet enjoyable We Major, the pairing of lyrical heavyweight Nas with the drum break used in Run-DMC's Sucker MCs -- a perfect opportunity for some back-to-basics street rap -- is nearly overwhelmed by a Brion-style cacophony of twinkling pianos and swelling horns. West is at his creative peak when focusing on his family through the sweet la-la-laing Hey Mama and equally touching Roses, which uses a tale of his grandmother's hospitalization to criticize the state of health care. Determined to prove he's his own man, West invites Game to sing the hook on Crack Music despite the Compton rapper's coy rap war with Jay-Z, and doesn't even rap on My Way Home, given over to friend Common for a single magnificently crafted verse. Other guests on the 14 songs include Paul Wall, GLC, Brandy, Cam'ron and Consequence, who delivers a song-stealing verse on Gone. Conducting them all like a hip-hop maestro is West, a virtuoso of beats flaunting his laudable inability to be locked into a single style. -Reviewer: Ryan Pearson

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Yerba Buena
Island Life (Razor & Tie)

The skyscrapers and concrete that cover Manhattan make it easy to forget that the bustling place is an island. And considering the influx of Latin immigrants of recent years, life on this island is growing more tropical. Thus a listen to the second album from Yerba Buena, the electic New York-based collective, is like taking a walk through the jungle of Latin sounds echoing across the island these days: salsa, merengue, hip-hop, funk, samba, cumbia, Gypsy, even Middle Eastern flavors like on the fun Belly Dancer. (The lamenting voice of flamenco singer Diego "El Cigala" on Corazon Bandolero is exquisite.) The group, led by producer and performer Andres Levin (acclaimed for his work with Latin artists such as Aterciopelados, Los Amigos Invisibles, and Carlinhos Brown as well as performers like David Byrne and Tina Turner), is winning fans for its raucous live shows, where musical stars are known to join them on stage. The energy of these concerts comes through strong on Island Life as well, making one feel sweaty just by listening. The bilingual lyrics are sly and funny, such as actor John Leguizamo's slick-talking intro to Sugar Daddy, or the mantra "two tongues are better than one" on Bilingual Girl. Yerba Buena is uniting the polyglot of New York City into a joyful, partying, sexy and smart voice. What could be more American? -Reviewer: Michele Morgan

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Medulla by Bjork

Bjork has said she finds her best, most loved music has been the songs she was selfish in making. On her latest, the Icelandic chanteuse has cast out even the instruments. Bjork's seventh album, Medulla, which refers to the spinal cord in Latin, gets to the heart of the marrow, so to speak. The singer has pared away nearly all but the voices -- hers and those of backing choirs and vocalists. But this largely a cappella performance is no Bobby McFerrin record. The sound is otherworldly. Bjork croons above layers of mixed and unmixed vocals and the background of two choirs: a soaring, angelic one, and a deep, baritone chorus that could easily double as the voice of God or a cranky whale. Bjork's voice, it must be said, in its wild, unpredictable fluctuations of soaring soprano and devastating frankness, is one of few that deserve such a spotlight.There are moments when her voice melds on top of the others, building into a frenzy of sound. The best example of this is Mouths Cradle, which is paced by a "glug, glug" sample of what might as well be the emptying of a bottle of water. Speaking of water, the first single from the disc is Oceania, a tune Bjork crafted for the Olympics opening ceremony. It is a bizarre, watery song of jumbled waves of vocal samples. When Bjork performed the song in Athens, she wore an ice blue gown that flowed out like water -- reminiscent in its uniqueness to the infamous swan dress she wore to the Oscars in 2001. On this conglomeration, it makes sense that even Rahzel of the Roots shows up. For years, Rahzel's imitation of a DJ mixing has been making hip-hop fans exclaim, "That's his voice?" Still, it is easy to miss the usual dichotomy of Bjork's past albums, with fierce electronics swirling around her unbridled energy. It is no coincidence that the most exciting tracks here, Where Is the Line and Who Is It, both contain more percussion and instrumentation than the others. Though Medulla may not be as dynamic as Bjork's past albums, the minimalist sound is undeniably beautiful. -J. Cole

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Mind, Body & Soul

Oh, what feeling there is during Mind, Body & Soul, Joss Stone's follow-up to her debut EP, a compilation of soulful covers. The not-so-pop singer finds the emotional climax in every song on the 14-track disc. Her husky voice is both eloquent and vulnerable, more Taylor Dane than Mariah Carey. And Stone's vocal acrobatics are intentional, not showy. This -- combined with her honest lyrics -- creates an atmosphere of authenticity. Mind, Body & Soul recalls '70s soul, but it isn't a trip to the past. There are musical and lyrical traces of 2004 from sleek R&B beats to gratuitous iPod references. You Had Me, the most upbeat track on the CD, is a sassy disco-ish rallying call against a moocher and a scumbag, probably best played while dizzyingly tossing your ex's stuff out the nearest window. A plucky harp adds another dimension to Snakes and Ladders. Less is More is hypnotic, infused with reggae rhythms and a sturdy chorus. The oh-so-mature lyrics beat anything an American Idol could conjure. Probably because Stone is English. She chants about love and vodka, which is surprising considering she's only 17. But with behind-the-scenes help from soulster Betty Wright and her own mum, Stone is free to travel outside PG-13 territory. However, Stone lyrically skips during faint but frequent references to stone. You know, rocks. That's right, Stone tell us in song that she's "not made of stone" and doesn't want "no stones outside my window." It's a trite reminder that Stone has room to grow. The sheer power of her voice and command of it make such small mistakes forgivable. During the opening track, she croons, "I might be singing out of key, but it sure feels good to me." Well, she isn't singing out of key. And it doesn't feel good. It's feels great.-D. Lang

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DURAN DURAN'S ASTRONAUT

More than 20 years since Duran Duran released a full studio album, the original band returns with the sound that made them famous: catchy, simple anthems and harmonies over driving dance grooves and slick electronic sounds. The album is a swath of effects-layered, slow- to mid-tempo songs, ranging from radio-friendly pop anthems like leadoff single Sunrise to more groovy and disco-influenced numbers like Nice, which recall the group's early '80s work on Rio. That said, Astronaut is not exactly a return to roots -- at least four tracks feel so contemporary, they would sound at home on a Jamiroquai or Backstreet Boys album. After guitarist Andy Taylor and drummer John Taylor (no relation) left the group at its peak of popularity in 1985, the band's ensuing releases mostly lacked the tight feel of a full band involved in the writing process. But on Astronaut, Duran Duran sounds more like the cohesive unit that delivered driving yet danceable tunes like Girls On Film and Planet Earth. Tensions over how hard their sound should be appear resolved, with Andy Taylor indulging in few solos and little distortion. There's little experimentation; they play to their strengths. And singer Simon Le Bon's vocals are in great form, even if his lyrics remain light in the depth department. Among the strongest songs are Sunrise, featuring drum work that echoes Girls On Film, and What Happens Tomorrow, another catchy rocker with soaring vocals reminiscent of the 1993 hit Ordinary World. Nice is perhaps the best of the bunch. Bassist John Taylor drives this disco number, which casts Le Bon in his familiar seducer role: `"Take the beautiful sting of a Scorpio / A careless smile and it begins to snow / And it hurts me to think that you might never know / That I've got this thing about you."

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Back Home
Eric Clapton (Reprise/Duck Records)

Sure legends die and stars inevitably begin to fade. If you're Eric Clapton, though, you simply return home. So it is for the 60-year-old British bluesman's aptly titled Back Home, which brings into sharp focus the reflections of a music man of four decades who has grown to value home and family above all else in the twilight of his years. To make that point, the album's opening track So Tired doesn't chronicle the bone-deep fatigue a seemingly endless string of show nights would bring. Instead it's an uplifting melody to accompany a parent's lament on the daily grind of raising children. Wait a second. Babies and band practice? Has one of the most influential guitarists ever grown soft? Say it ain't so. The truth is that even the wildest grow timid with years. And following his reunion last summer with his bandmates from Cream, that 1960s psychedelic British powerhouse, Clapton has reason to step back and count the blessings his guitar has brought. As much as the album is a reflection, it's also homage to the songs that move Clapton just as those life-changing blues die. Stevie Wonder's I'm Going Left and George Harrison's Love Comes to Everyone bookend Clapton's first original material in five years, even if the recordings sound closer to elevator ditties than soulful biographical ballads. Still, the three-time Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer has earned time to ponder where his music has taken him. The album's title track and final number does just that. Flush with countrified blues and foot-tapping rhythms, Clapton captures with electrifying sentimentality that road-weary moment when going home is more soothing than any melody. Going home and leaving the scene? Clapton has earned that right.- Reviewer Lyon Rens

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Somewhere Down In Texas
George Strait (MCA Nashville)

While country trends (most of them regrettable) come and go, George Strait has varied little from the buttoned-down traditionalism that's earned him more than 30 No. 1 hits, including Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind and The Chair. Strait's latest, Somewhere Down In Texas, won't change that. On weepers like the Lee Ann Womack duet Good News, Bad News, his unaffected tenor allows stock lines like "But I'm in love with you/ With all my heart" to land without so much as a smirk. Other songs, such as If the Whole World Was a Honky Tonk, feature twin fiddles and more imaginative rhymes: "We'd tell our troubles to the bar/ Over cryin' steel guitars." Coming at a time when country seems self-consciously hip, Somewhere Down In Texas keeps things on the straight and narrow. -Reviewer: Paul Griffin

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TP.3 Reloaded
R. Kelly (Jive)

On R. Kelly's last album, Happy People/U Saved Me, which was released after he was hit with child pornography charges, R. Kelly chose a family-friendly, spiritual vibe -- praising the joys of God instead of his usual wild sexual shenanigans. With his new disc, Kelly will have plenty to repent for. If you thought the man who came up with such freaky songs as Bump 'N Grind or Ignition (on which he compared lovemaking to driving a car) couldn't come up with anything wilder, take a listen to Sex In the Kitchen. Remote Control continues his penchant for comparing sex to machinery -- "baby push enter, than fast forward," he croons on one delightfully naughty track. Put My T-Shirt On sounds like a reply to Destiny's Child's pillow-talk slow jam T-Shirt, but of course Kelly ratchets up the foreplay and a whole lot more (take that, Jay-Z!) -- never has a white T sounded so erotic. And his duet with fellow Jive artist Nivea on Touchin' sounds so tender and lovely, it would be appropriate for a wedding -- if it didn't have lyrics like "something tells me this may be the greatest sex in history." The disc is weakest when Kelly tries to appeal to the fellas with thug anthems like Players Only with The Game. But for all the sex talk, Kelly's best effort is the five-part serial drama Trapped in the Closet (a bonus DVD includes the music video). The song -- or more accurately, songs -- tell a dramatic story about an episode of infidelity that has a ricochet effect, touching several different people and leading to dramatic confrontations that are hilarious and riveting at the same time. Even after hearing the Trapped songs a dozen times, they're still stirring, demonstrating Kelly's amazing ability to draw in listeners with either raw sex grooves or musical cliffhangers. It's hard to imagine any other artist, in any genre, with such a gift.

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Roc-a-Fella Records Presents: Teairra Mari
Teairra Mari (Roc-A-Fella Records)

As Jay-Z's appointed Princess of the Roc, Teairra Mari proves she's worth the royalty status with her self-titled debut album. Merging sweet, laid-back vocals with off-the-block swagger and style, the 17-year-old angel-faced songbird from Detroit conveys candid accounts about the whirlwind of emotions felt by girls when dealing with the fellas. The single Make Her Feel Good serves as an open call and challenge to boys who think they have what it takes to bring girls joy. Mari's verses and overall content on the song are mature, grown and sexy, while the hook still maintains her age's innocence. The track's effortless production, which samples the catchy Eric B. and Rakim My Melody cut, simply allows Mari to showcase her laid-back sound and style. However, on the introspective No Daddy track, Mari takes a page from the queen of hip-hop soul, Mary J. Blige, when she asks young girls from broken homes to lean on her when going through strenuous times. When Mari's swagger level is low, her vulnerable side shines through. Phone Booth creatively narrates an account of a girl who calls her boyfriend from a public phone following a heated argument with her mother. Young girls whose mothers don't approve of their boyfriends should be able to relate. While Mari doesn't have the vocal heft of another new R&B artist, Keyshia Cole, she frankly doesn't need it. Her midwest edge, accompanied by Jay-Z's co-signing on her talent, grants her immediate hip-hop edge and credibility. While her female counterparts keep employing up-tempo club anthems, Mari's slower, sly sound should have staying power. This album marks the introduction of an artist we should be hearing a lot from in the future. -Reviewer: Mark Lewinla

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The Legend
Johnny Cash (Columbia/Legacy)

June Carter Cash was an actress, an author and the love of Johnny Cash's life. She also assumed a prominent place in country music's most famous family tree, and Keep On The Sunny Side nicely summarizes her pioneering role as a singer-songwriter. The two-CD, 40-song set is one of two new anthologies from the House of Cash on the 50th anniversary of Johnny Cash's first single. The Legend presents highlights from his vast catalogue in a handsome four-CD boxed set. But while Johnny Cash has been the subject of several previous retrospectives, Sunny Side is the first comprehensive compilation of his wife's best work. The breadth of performances from 1939 to 2003 is moving: a 10-year-old June Carter jauntily sings Oh! Susannah!" (she pronounces it Susiannah), and a failing Carter Cash leads a regal rendition of her family's signature tune Keep On The Sunny Side shortly before her death. Material is drawn from Carter Cash's three solo albums, and from performances with Johnny Cash and others, including her sisters and mother, country music matriarch Maybelle Carter. Carter Cash's bracing, unvarnished vocals are as earthy as the soil in her native Appalachia, and an obvious influence on such later performers as Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and countless other women who have sung mountain music. The young Carter Cash's hillbilly humour makes several songs sound dated, but others remain timeless. She's helped by hot picking from Chet Atkins on several cuts, and there's some lovely harmony singing by the Carter sisters -- including four-part yodelling on Foggy Mountain Top. While The Legend tends to duplicate other compilations, it's hard to go wrong with 104 songs by Johnny Cash. Included is an entertaining disc of performances with family and friends ranging from U2 and Elvis Costello to Ray Charles and Billy Joe Shaver (the marvellous You Can't Beat Jesus Christ, one of seven previously unreleased cuts). Also new is a Johnny-June demo duet that closes the set. They sound weary but wise and larger than life, which makes for a fitting finale. -Reviewer: Stephen Winne.

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CORELLI VIOLIN SONATE. OP5/ANDREW MANZE, RICHARD EGARR

For a large part of the 20th century violinists learned Baroque sonatas and concertos as glorified exercises (even as justification for having to practice all those scales and arpeggios!), as respected historical foundations that must be stood on and conquered, and ultimately as important landmarks on the path to the "really great" solo works ("Now, my boy, I think you're finally ready for the Mendelssohn!"). In other words, these pieces were not regarded as ends in themselves for the soloist, or certainly not as subjects for involved study. And no one believed such works offered extended possibilities for self-expression. Indeed, students were impressed with an unwritten rule that in this repertoire, you were to just "play the notes". Some teachers even made the point that ornamentation and improvisation, while once an integral part of Baroque performance, was no longer taught and therefore today's performers just didn't practice this lost art, thereby excusing developing young artists from another challenge (and perhaps adventure!). So we played Telemann and Bach and Vivaldi and Corelli straight and fast and in strict metronomic pulse--even the slow movements. All of this implied that there was a "correct" way--not the same as today's "period-performance" correctness--whose purpose was to preserve (as formaldehyde preserves) an ancient artifact. Along comes Andrew Manze in the waning years of the 20th century, and all of our previously ingrained expectations regarding Baroque performance are suddenly and marvelously shattered. At last, here is a violinist who reasserts this music's once-accepted and long-misunderstood inherent excitement, its improvisatory roots, its performer-oriented legitimacy. As embodied in Corelli's magnificent Op. 5 sonatas, Manze and his long-time keyboard partner Richard Egarr set off a series of musical fireworks that not only revive these pieces as substantial concert works but also establish them as assertions of virtuoso technique and shameless celebrations of period style. Of course, Corelli's creations represent a high point in violin writing, whatever the period, but Manze expands the written notes into a dazzling display of sheer technique and well-considered yet stunningly imaginative interpretation, all of which shows off his 18th-century instrument to full effect. The engineering gives full measure to Manze's intense, delightfully edgy sound and balances perfectly with Egarr's bright, sparkly harpsichord timbre. Can Manze make a less-than-ideal recording? Apparently not.-David Venier.

The Outsider
Rodney Crowell (Columbia)

With The Outsider, Rodney Crowell has delivered an album for anyone feeling disaffected with the modern world and its politics. At times funny, other times thought-provoking, frequently angry and nearly always rocking, Crowell follows in the footsteps of icons like Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan who made great music while also commenting on current events. "Give to me my Aspen winter/Sorry 'bout the World Trade Center," Crowell sings in The Obscenity Prayer, a song that perfectly embodies the philosophy of many self-centred people who may feel the complexities of the modern world are beyond their reach. "I can't help the ones in need/I've got my own mouth to feed." On Don't Get Me Started, perhaps the song most tightly connected with current events, Crowell takes the position of a person looking to unwind at a bar. "When the coalition army doesn't come to your aid/You might as well face it there's no money to be made," he sings. "I had a dream last night I was the secretary of defence/And I came to the conclusion war doesn't make any sense." When the cover of Dylan's Shelter from the Storm comes at track 10, it plays almost like a prayer. And with Emmylou Harris on backing vocals, the song takes on an even more ethereal quality. -Reviewer: Scott Bauder

Fireflies
Faith Hill (Warner Brothers Records)

It's easy to understand why Faith Hill took her time before releasing her new record, Fireflies. After all, how do you follow the successes of Breathe, her crossover mega-hit from 2001, and Cry, which won a best female vocal Grammy in 2003? Apparently, Hill's answer is to be patient and understated. Two years in the making, Fireflies tones down Hill's trademark bombast, relying instead on laid-back grooves, subdued vocals (comparatively speaking) and state-of-the-art Nashville songwriting. As with Kenny Chesney's latest, the Caribbean-tinged Be As You Are, this muted approach shouldn't be mistaken as a return to country roots. In fact, the record is Hill's most eclectic to date. Sunshine & Summertime, for example, is a beach party anthem that combines banjos with timbales and smooth, Latin-infused rhythms. When she does revert to more country-ish material, as with the ode to bad marriage Dearly Beloved, Hill's newfound restraint helps sell lines like "I'd like to welcome y'all/ To the side-effects of sex and alcohol," which would otherwise just sound corny. Despite the handwringing that probably went into Fireflies -- questions like, "Is there a hit? Does is have crossover potential?" for example -- it's evident that at this point in her career, Hill is having fun, and that appeals to radio programmers just as well as jaded music critics.- Reviewer: Paul Griffin

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Grown & Sexy
Babyface (Arista)

Compared to today's generation of R&B studs, Babyface seems a little old-fashioned on his latest offering, Grown & Sexy. The romantic troubadour sounds as genteel as ever: there are no songs dedicated to baby mama drama, getting trapped in a closet of a married lover, or all-night grinding. In fact, while the title of the opening cut, Tonight It's Goin' Down, hints at a night of reckless passion, the lyrics talk about the culmination of a long wait for love -- a couple in the "making babies" stage of a relationship instead of the one-night hookup. But while Babyface might be a bit old school, Grown & Sexy hardly sounds outdated -- just classic. Good 2 Be In Luv is a soulful, uptempo celebration of commitment, while Sorry for the Stupid Things, is prime Babyface, as he gallantly offers an apology for all the dumb stuff men are apt to do. Yet the man who so famously crooned about paying his girl's bills and cooking the dinner on the '80s hit Soon As I Get Home isn't without a backbone: Goin' Outta Business is a brush-off to a gold-digger. Babyface's always alluring tenor is in fine form here, with emotion that never boils over, but simmers with steady heat. And musically, the album offers some of the prolific singer-songwriter-producer's best work.-Reviewer: Nekessa Mody

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The Day After Yesterday
Rick Springfield (Gomer/DKE Records)

Admittedly, it was nostalgia that prompted me to check out Rick Springfield's latest release. And at least his photographs didn't disappoint. The hunky Aussie '80s singer and one-time soap star has aged astonishingly well. With his shaggy brown hair and lanky frame, Springfield's sexy looks belie his -- gasp -- 55 years. What's disappointing, however, is the music. The Day After Yesterday is a collection of covers that are favourites of Springfield. Tracks include 10cc's I'm Not In Love, Foreigner's Waiting For a Girl Like You, and Dream Academy's Life in a Northern Town. Most sound fine. (Although he shouldn't have touched John Lennon's Imagine, a reach for anyone.) And the idea of doing covers is great -- as long as they're improved upon rather than simply rehashed. While Springfield's raspy voice is tailor-made for solid pop songs like the ones he chooses for this collection, he does nothing special to make them his own. -Reviewer: Kim Curtes

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BLACK MAGIC

If Bob Marley is reggae's king, Jimmy Cliff is its prince. The veteran Jamaican singer has the royal lineage. He started his career in the early '60s ska scene in Kingston while still a teenager and has grown along with the music through its many permutations. On Black Magic, Cliff shows he's as relevant as ever to reggae. His supple voice sounds right at home with contemporary backing tracks that owe much to modern dancehall and hip-hop. Cliff's voice is light and sweet, similar to the rocksteady crooners of his roots like Desmond Dekker and Dennis Brown. He flavours this with teasing falsetto touches, like a Jamaican Al Green. Cliff brandishes his vocal weapons on Love Comes, the album's best cut. He growls, coos, hollers, whispers his way over a thumping beat. Black Magic has almost total electronic instrumentation. Synths beep and swish while drum machines pulse in the kinetic tempo of dancehall, Jamaica's answer to Top 40 hip-hop. But it never crowds out Cliff, whose voice remains strong in the mix. Some famous guests chime in, including Sting, Annie Lennox, Wyclef Jean and the late Joe Strummer, who died in 2002 (Cliff has been working on the album since 1999). They are relegated mostly to the background, save Jean's prominent rap on Dance. Jimmy Cliff is the show on Black Magic, and he remains as energetic as the reggae rebel of his youth -- never out of tune or out of style.-Marc Donahue.

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DONATELLA BY DONNA RAWLINS.

A blend of romance, relaxing moments and musical nostalgia on the edge of vocal virtuosity and sensuality. Donna Rawlins delivered a refreshing bouquet of tunes immersed into an ocean of feelings, remembrance and harmonious beauty, delivered through originality, splendid musical arrangements and sensuality. The CD has 10 tracks. The highlight of the album is "Maybe Someday". Upon listening to that song, you wonder whether you are listening to Lulu (To Sir With Love), a softly bursting Julie London, or a polite Janice Joplin who came back to her senses. Rawlins' voice is rich, warm and inviting. Her phrasing is perfect. You could even sense the intimate whispers in her captivating voice. For a moment, I wished if Rawlins would explode louder and scream out her passion and tumultuous silence. But on a second thought, I realize that the sweetness and limpidity of her vocal virtuosity would be betrayed by unnecessary implosion. There is enough emotion, feelings and sweet-bitter tranquility and joy in her lyrics. "DONATELLA" is a lovely album. First class. Get a copy.- Maximillien de Lafayette

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Bonnie Raitt
Souls Alike (Capitol)

Some things improve with age -- Bonnie Raitt, for example. Raitt, whose first LP was released in 1971, sounds better than ever in her latest album, Souls Alike. She can still wrap her voice around a lyric and effortlessly conjure the appropriate mood -- edgy or sweet, submissive or aggressive, melancholy or joyful. But now she does it with a maturity and self-assurance that set this latest performance apart from her earliest work. The new album is her 18th and the first on which Raitt gets credit as producer. And not one lemon turns up in its mix of 11 songs of various styles. It starts with one of the better cuts, I Will Not Be Broken. Raitt, who recently experienced a series of personal tragedies, sings the song's lyrics confidently ("Push me to the limit/ Maybe I may bend/ But I know where I'm goin'/ I will not be broken") and a jaunty, buoyant sound conspires to create a song that promises to become one of her classics. Another outstanding performance is found on the spiritual-sounding God Was in the Water. Its simple but haunting sound can easily take root in the listener's mental jukebox and play itself back at will. So Close is slow and sweet. And in the sneakily contagious Crooked Crown, the singer is trying ever so hard to maintain the delicate balance to survive. I Don't Want Anything To Change is a melancholy ballad tinged with self-pity as the singer is unable to accept that her lover has left. Ending the set is The Bed I Made, with its poignant performance reminiscent of Raitt's classic I Can't Make You Love Me. The songs offers a variety of styles and influences: rock, ballads, spiritual, blues, and even a bit of patter. Raitt handles all with equal aplomb. Chances are, each listener will create his own particular set of favourites. -Reviewer Ron Bethel

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Tracy Chapman
Where You Live (Elektra)

Even more bare-bones than usual, Tracy Chapman recorded her seventh solo album not in a studio, but in a San Francisco-area rehearsal space filled with trucked-in gear. The result: beautifully written songs in Chapman's signature simple and acoustic style. The memorable tracks are America and the album's first single, Change, which has Chapman posing a string of rhetorical questions. It's great in the way of her breakout hit 1988's Fast Car, but doesn't pull at the heart strings as much as it challenges the listener. America is a spirited and revolutionary track that brings out Chapman's mind for social justice. The song asks Americans to face their history with lyrics like, "The ghost of Columbus haunts this world. You're still conquering America." Chapman includes beautiful ballads like 3,000 Miles, which opens with haunting percussive beats that make you feel mile after mile after mile. The painful and seeking lyrics of Never Yours will almost bring tears and memories of personal lost loves. Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers guests on three tracks and Chapman is at her Grammy-winning best. She makes no tangent here. It's just Chapman's updated, intimate take on the world through her folk sound and intelligent, touching lyrics. -Reviewer: Caryn Rousseau

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Made in China
Juliana Hatfield (Ye Olde Records)

Forget Juliana Hatfield the waif. Ditch that memory of her song Spin the Bottle, the one that seemed to emanate from the film Reality Bites. Forget the Massachusetts girl who made up a third of the Blake Babies. She's gone. And that's a good thing. Hatfield has eviscerated her past, exorcised her previous pure-pop lyrics and dumped the foundation of her previous recordings in the dustbin. On Made In China, her eighth LP, Hatfield emerges scarred and smarter, playing a collection of biting, angry but oh-so-melodic songs that herald the indifference of not fitting in and, frankly, not giving enough of a damn to even try. The 37-minute, 12-song disc is a collection of defiant yet personal songs and music that is more Husker Du than Blake Babies or Lemonheads. Lust, addiction, the hurt of betrayal and the sting of loneliness emanate from the songs, including standout singles Digital Penetration and Stay Awake, which could rip out the floor if the volume is high enough. Maybe it's being victimized by rants from critics jaded by her failure to be pop queen she was supposed to be. Or it could be the state of music today, where women are resorting to near striptease and selling sex rather than singles. It doesn't matter. Her rage, indifference and edginess are in full effect on Made in China, and her damnation has brought salvation. This is her best album ever. -Reviewer: Matt More

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SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE Release William Bolcom. Conductor Leonard Slatkin.

William Bolcom's ambitious setting of William Blake's complete Songs of Innocence and Experience for soloists, multiple choral forces, and orchestra occupied the composer on and off, beginning as far back as the late 1950s, with most of the work completed between 1973-74 and 1979-82. The composer's renowned eclectic bent makes itself felt in the work's nearly two-and-one-half-hour length. Musical eras, styles, and performance practices leapfrog back and forth in unpredictable progressions, keeping the listener in a constant state of suspense as to what might occur next. For example, in the opening Songs of Innocence, Bolcom's neo-Schoenbergian setting of "The Lamb", replete with difficult, leaping intervals for the soprano soloist (brilliantly dispatched by Measha Brueggergosman), erupts into a thick, dissonant orchestral tutti that gives way to a lazy country-fiddle lament treatment of "The Shepherd". No sooner do Peter "Madcat" Ruth's hoary pipes twang out the tune than a bomb of orchestral cacophony crushes the Grand Ole Opry to smithereens. A brilliant children's chorus ("Infant Joy") emerges from the ruins, insidiously slipping into a funk-watered-down-for-Broadway-consumption groove for "The Little Black Boy". Along the way we also encounter Handel oratorio, peppy English madrigals, Stephen Foster naiveté, Ivesian mysticism, Berio's fractured folk songs, industrial-strength Varèse percussion ensembles, and effective speech-sung passages. Bolcom's thoroughly internalized command of such disparate idioms is matched and arguably surpassed by his gift for transitions, plus his ability for keeping orchestral and choral textures fresh, varied, and always interesting to the ear (his use of the harmonica within delicate string passages, for example). And even when some of his juxtapositions seem a bit far-fetched, such as the finale's bloated Reggae pretensions ("I Shot the Sheriff" versus "Also Sprach Zarathustra"), at least Bolcom knows when long enough is long enough. In general, the longer Songs of Experience section contains darker, more serious selections, although the constant stylistic shifts make it difficult to immediately perceive the dramatic arc implied by Blake's ordering of texts. You couldn't imagine a more varied group of vocal soloists. They run the gamut from Joan Morris' unique cabaret approach and Thomas Young's stentorian yet supple tenor, to Nathan Lee Graham's ringing, focused baritone and Ilona Davidson's attractive, silvery timbre in "The Angel". The numerous choirs and the University of Michigan Orchestra obviously put in serious rehearsal hours (going into overtime, I'll bet), and the sense of occasion hovering over these live performances certainly colors their first-rate contributions. And when you can't help focusing your attention on the music rather than the musicians, as I did, it's clear that Leonard Slatkin's leadership does ample justice to Bolcom's artistic vision and inner ear. Naxos provides full texts plus booklet notes by the composer. -John Disler.

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ANDREW MANZE: PORTRAIT

If you're already an Andrew Manze fan, you probably have most if not all of the recordings represented on this compilation (22 tracks from 11 albums, ranging from composers as well-loved as Bach and Vivaldi to the more obscure Pandolfi and Rebel). Even so, hearing these selections back-to-back is a reminder of just how dazzling he is, a virtuoso technician with a limitless imagination. With Manze, there's no need to qualify his talents (something along the lines of "well, he's quite good for one of those early music/period performance fiends"). He's not just a great Baroque violinist; he is among today's pre-eminent musicians, period. And if you haven't delved into his recordings yet, here's a golden opportunity. Even if you do already own his catalog, Portrait is almost worth the budget purchase price for Manze's thoughtful and well-written liner notes. Far from giving a self-serving recitation of his accomplishments, he has provided an absorbing essay that addresses some of the issues surrounding historically informed performance practices as well as his own attraction to the Baroque repertoire. (The highly articulate Manze, who read Classics at Cambridge, is a stark contrast to many other musicians whose educations have been, shall we say, largely limited to the practice room.) Whether Manze is performing solo or with the Academy of Ancient Music, the sound is uniformly crisp and excitingly present.-Anastasa Tsioulcas

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