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Wednesday March 10, 2010

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Michelle Malone:
Debris

Debris
Allmusic.com Review by j. poet... Michelle Malone has been making hard-edged albums that combine blues, folk, rock, and country music for more than 20 years, but still remains criminally underrated as an artist. With a few exceptions, Debris is a blues-rock outing delivered with her trademark gritty vocals, solid guitar work, and a handpicked band that includes guitarist Peter Stroud (Sheryl Crow), keyboard player Tony Reyes (Gwen Stefani), longtime collaborator Phil Skipper on bass, and Dave Anthony (Butch Walker, Ike) on drums. Nick DiDia (Bruce Springsteen, the Black Crowes, Train) produces with a light hand to keep the sound raw and dirty. "Marked" sounds like a Rolling Stones outtake and likens breaking up to a car crash or drive-by shooting; Malone's vulnerable vocal underscores the song's desolate feel. "Feather in a Hurricane" is tougher, with noisy slide guitar complementing Malone's snarky delivery. "Restraining Order Blues" bounces in on a Bo Diddley beat; Malone recites all the damage she's done to her ex's property and possessions with a cynical smirk in her voice and celebrates her acting out, even as she's cuffed and put into a police car. "Weed and Wine" recalls the happier days of a relationship behind a sadder but wiser beat and a wistful organ that sounds like the whistling of a far off freight train promising rescue and redemption. "Chattahoochee Boogaloo" is a tough bluesy country song about wild girls sneaking out of the bedroom windows on summer nights to explore the mysteries of womanhood, marked by stinging slide guitar and Malone's crooning vocal. Malone breaks the frame with "14th Street and Mars" an R&B ballad with a '60s flavor and an outstanding vocal, and "Candle for the Lonely," a lament delivered with acoustic guitar and subtle melancholy country piano from Reyes. More...

The Derek Trucks Band:
Already Free

Already Free
Allmusic.com Review by Thom Jurek... For 12 years, the Derek Trucks Band have been issuing records (live and studio) that are long on fire, improvisation, and inspiration. Trucks' own skillful leadership has seamlessly melded rock, blues, jazz, and Eastern Indian modal music in a brew that is uniquely his own. Perhaps this is what makes Already Free both an anomaly and a natural extension of the DTB; if anything, it resembles Delaney & Bonnie's records of the late '60s and early '70s — Home, To Bonnie from Delaney — or the self-titled debuts of Bobby Whitlock and Eric Clapton. There is a homegrown organic looseness to these proceedings that sets the album apart from all of Trucks' previous offerings. Perhaps that's because it was recorded at home — literally in a home studio with the DTB and/or their guests playing live from the floor much of the time. Trucks is still accompanied by his longtime mates: Kofi Burbridge, Todd Smallie, Yonrico Scott, Count Mbutu, and vocalist Mike Mattison. But there are some close friends and family as guests, including — but not limited to — Trucks' wife Susan Tedeschi, Doyle Bramhall II, and a horn section and various rhythm players. The material is stellar. The covers include an opening reading of Bob Dylan's "Down in the Flood," with the horn section getting down deep into the grittier and bluesier aspects of the tune. It features some brilliant work by Burbridge on the clavinet, Wurlitzer piano, and B-3; Trucks handles monster acoustic and electric slide work and Mattison's vocal is stellar. It all comes off soulfully, authentically, and utterly real. Next is a deeply funky cover of the late Paul Pena's "Something to Make You Happy." Another standout is a gospel-blues reading of the Spooner Oldham-Dan Penn classic "Sweet Inspiration," with an intro that sounds like it came straight from Memphis. Mattison and Tedeschi's vocals don't sound like Delaney & Bonnie's, but they feel like them. The hand percussion laid on top of the rhythm section with Trucks' melodic slide break becomes a third voice as it digs directly into the B-3. That all said, the originals are solid to boot. Check out the funky Allen Toussaint-esque rhythm backdrop on "Maybe This Time," with a brilliant vocal performance by Bramhall; the savage, gritty, and greasy slide blues of "Don't Miss Me," with its twin guitar interplay; and the raucous house-rocking groove of "Get What You Deserve." Tedeschi takes a lead vocal turn on the deeply moving ballad "Back Where I Started," near the album's end. It was co-written by Trucks with Warren Haynes; only her husband backs her on acoustic guitar and dobro, with a rhythm section. The droning Indian instrument ushers in "I Know," an old R&B shouter associated with Big Maybelle. But Trucks' electric slide, the B-3, the horns, and Mattison's gravelly soul vocal add to its dimension quickly and convincingly. In sum, this is another side of the DTB, but one that feels like a natural extension of the group's live persona. Its careful attention to feel creates a vibe that is altogether missing from the vast majority of recordings made in the last 30 years, yet it sounds timeless — not retro — because of the expert, tasteful nature of the playing and recording. Already Free is not only an excellent entry in the Trucks catalog; it's a stone killer that should be filed with the aforementioned titles, the first two Black Crowes records, the Faces' A Nod Is as Good as a Wink...to a Blind Horse, and Rod Stewart's Mercury material. More...

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Lady GaGa:
The Fame Monster

The Fame Monster
Allmusic.com Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Initially planned solely as a standard double-disc reissue in the wake of the blockbuster success of The Fame, Lady Gaga decided to release the new material as a separate EP called The Fame Monster in addition to the standard two-CD set, where it’s tacked onto a now standardized version of her debut. It’s a nice move for fans, plus it helps emphasize the new material, which does act as a bridge from the debut to a forthcoming full-length. Everything on The Fame Monster bears a galvanized Eurotrash finish, as evident on the heavy steel synths of “Bad Romance” and the updated ABBA revision “Alejandro,” as it is on the rock & roll ballad “Speechless” — its big guitars lifted from Noel Gallagher — and the wonderful, perverse march “Teeth.” Even the stuttering splices on “Telephone,” a duet with Beyoncé, leans to the other side of the Atlantic, which just emphasizes the otherness that’s become Gaga’s calling card. And even as she’s becoming omnipresent, with her songs mingling with those who co-opt her on the radio, she is still slightly skewed, willing to go so far over the top she goes beyond camp, yet still channeling it through songs that are written, not just hooks. The Fame Monster builds upon those strengths exhibited on The Fame, offering a credible expansion of the debut and suggesting she’s not just a fleeting pop phenomenon ... More

Article:
What is Second Life?

Second Life® is a 3-D virtual world created by its Residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by millions of Residents from around the globe.

The most important thing about the Second Life world is that it is constantly changing and growing. Here's why: Thousands of new residents join each day and Create an Avatar. Those avatars Explore the World and Meet People. These people discover the thousands of ways to Have Fun. Some people decide to purchase Virtual Land, which allows them to open a business, build their own virtual paradise, and more! Linden Lab creates new land to keep up with demand. What began as 64 acres in 2003 is now over 65,000 acres and growing rapidly.

Jamey Johnson:
That Lonesome Song

That Lonesome Song
Allmusic.com Review by j. poet Jamey Johnson takes a traditional approach to country songwriting, a stance not always commercially viable in the early 21st century. Johnson came to Nashville in 2000 and, after years of struggling, cut The Dollar in 2005, but when the label couldn't get a hit single off the album, they dropped him. Johnson concentrated on his songwriting and had hits with George Strait, who took "Give It Away" to number one; Trace Adkins, and another number one with "Ladies Love Country Boys"; and Joe Nichols. Despite his chart success, Johnson's marriage broke up and he spent a long time in seclusion writing the desperate songs that make up That Lonesome Song. Johnson first released the album on his website, then his own Humphead label, but Mercury Records picked it up for nationwide release in August of 2008. The critical cliché would be "They don't write albums like That Lonesome Song any more," which is at least partially true. The raw emotion and barely controlled heartache that Johnson brings to his singing and songwriting on the album aren't exactly in style in 2008's country market, but lovers of old-fashioned hardcore country and honky tonk music will be stunned by its emotional depth and strong melodies. Most modern country singers flounder when they try to put across a ballad, often loading down the lyric with sentimentality rather than real feeling. On an album that's almost exclusively ballads, Johnson never falls into that trap. The songs are full of keen insights, clever turns of phrase, and real emotion. "High Cost of Living" is a moody evaluation of life on the skids that references pot, booze, drugs, infidelity, and hopelessness, without dipping into self-pity. The Hammond B-3 that plays in the background makes it sound like an anti-gospel song and the hook uses the kind of wordplay that used to be the hallmark of country songwriting — "The high cost of living ain't nothing like the cost of living high." On "Mowin' Down the Roses" the B-3 gives the tune a spooky feel, as Johnson delivers a somber exorcism of his former life, purging the house of every trace of his wife: smashing her pictures, flushing her perfume down the toilet, and mowin' down the roses in the garden. The song doesn't sound like a celebration of newfound freedom; it's a hopeless dirge delivered in a flat, emotionless tone that makes the song even more effective. It's followed by a Bob McDill tune, "The Door Is Always Open," one of the few hopeful numbers on the album, although its lyric and Johnson's delivery give the song a less hopeful spin that you'd expect. The title tune paints the picture of a bleak, hung-over morning. It starts as a acoustic lament, then slowly adds a loping Waylon Jennings beat to deliver a cautionary tale of a singer who throws his life away for the love of a lonesome song. "Women" is a celebration of the fairer sex, and one man's inability to understand them. It's a tongue-in-cheek tune with a great pedal steel break, and rides that jaunty Waylon two-step stomp rhythm. The album closes with the self-congratulatory tale of Johnson's quest for fame, a guy who comes to Nashville with his own sound, somewhere "Between Jennings and Jones." It's another tune that almost dips into self-parody, but Johnson's style is, in fact, between Jennings and Jones. His ironic delivery of the tune is perfect and as he points out in the lyric, if they still had record stores, his albums would be filed between Jennings and Jones. More...

Kelly Clarkson:
All I Ever Wanted

All I Ever Wanted (Deluxe ed.)
Allmusic.com Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine... Thankfully, All I Ever Wanted is not Kelly Clarkson's atonement for insisting on releasing the dark, gothic rock record My December against the wishes of label boss Clive Davis in 2007 — well, at least not entirely. All I Ever Wanted doesn't completely abandon the tougher rock edges of My December, but it does ditch the brooding in favor of angry spunk, all the better to prove that the girl who sang "Since U Been Gone" is back. And she is — quite self-consciously on "My Life Would Suck Without You," the first track and first single on All I Ever Wanted, a song designed by Max Martin to be an explicit sequel to his "Since U Been Gone." It's effective, if a bit clinical, running contrary to Clarkson's greatest gift: her genuineness. My December might not have quite worked, but its messiness seemed an authentic reflection of a girl next door sorting through the aftermath of turning into an unexpected star and much of All I Ever Wanted is the opposite, attempting to run the most likeable pop star of the new millennium through the mill. Fortunately, it's possible to dampen Clarkson's spirit — nobody could survive four Ryan Tedder collaborations without being brought down into his simpering murk — but not to break it. She can break through Martin's machinations on "My Life" and comes pretty close to breathing some life into Tedder's cold R&B approximations, but those chilly sheets of synths don't suit her. Kelly is at her best when she's belting out a big chorus backed by loud guitars, or even singing a piece of pure pop like "I Want You," as effervescent a tune as she's ever sung. About half of All I Ever Wanted is as good as this and some of it even touches on Clarkson's hard rock infatuation and improves it, particularly on the bubblegum punk "Whyyawannabringmedown" — complete with Kelly affecting a hysterical Johnny Rotten snarl — the arena rocker "Don't Let Me Stop You," and "All I Ever Wanted," which turns the disco bass of Spoon's "I Turn My Camera On" upside down. Tellingly, Kelly takes two Katy Perry-written numbers — "I Do Not Hook Up," co-written by new American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi, and "Long Shot," co-written by Glen Ballard — and goes a long way in illustrating why she's a better pop star. Kelly sounds impassioned and invested in these numbers, selling every one of the skyscraper hooks, but better still she sounds relatable, pulling listeners into a song instead of keeping them at a distance. This is a rare talent and while it's not perfect, largely due to those dreary Tedder tunes, much of All I Ever Wanted does justice to Clarkson's considerable skills. More...

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