Note: If you can read french, go to the french section for additional content.

50 Cent - Curtis

7 Weeks - B(l)ack Days

Against Me! - New Wave

The Aggrolites, Reggae Hit L.A.

Antibalas, Security

Antibalas is a group of 12 musicians formed in Brooklyn, New York almost 10 years ago. It plays an afrobeat and funk sound, a festive and danceable music while having its ambient sides. Security is their 4^th album, the first on the Anti label. It has 7 tracks including 2 around 12 minutes and 2 of 8 minutes. It’s the type of tracks without ending we integrate the beat more and more without being able to get out of it. The music of Antibalas concentrates around the trumpet, which can be sometimes repetitive and aggravating (as in "Beaten Metal"), but which is adapted generally perfectly to the sound of the group. With as many musicians, you will guess this is music rich in sonorities and various textures. It’s difficult to compare them with any other artists, but we could talk about a mixture of James Brown and TV On The Radio, 2 artists with which they gave concerts before, without forgetting that 2 musicians of the band played on the last TV On The Radio album, Return to Cookie Mountain. Security is an album we appreciate more and more, especially to create a particular atmosphere. A very good album by a band to discover, particularly if you like world beat music. (May 2007)

Anti- / Epitaph

½

The Arcade Fire, Neon Bible

This is possibly the most anticipated album of the year, the 2^nd by the indie rock/post rock band from Montreal The Arcade Fire. The group got a fulgurating rise in 2005 thanks to a first splendid album which was acclaimed by the critics all around the world. Neon Bible begins again where Funeral had left, with its dark and theatrical sides wrapped in irresistible musical crescendos. The group of 7 musicians (which is still able to add more personnel in concert) presents us once again music of an incomparable richness adding many orchestrations to the guitars, strings, percussions and keyboards already quite present in its music. The group recorded some parts of the album in churches in Bedford and Montreal and had the permission to use the organ on the spot to still add a little more to this already quite rich sound. Despite all these instruments, we never have the feeling that they put too much of it. All is well calculated and each instrument has its own importance, without restricting the impact of the compositions. I admit I was excited before the first listening of the album, but I quickly got back to reality. It’s that the singing of Win Butler on the first track, "Black Mirror", and on the title-song deeply aggravated me, because it’s a little repetitive and monochord. Fortunately, I had this feeling at no other time on the album, which is lasting 47 minutes. The first single, "Keep the Car Running", and "The Well and the Lighthouse" will be undoubtedly favorite ones in concert, whereas "Intervention" and "Ocean of Noise" bring us back to a known and appreciated territory. You will hear some French sentences on a couple of occasions and it’s much more interesting to hear them sung by the pleasant voice of Régine Chassagne, as in "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations", than by Win Butler in "Black Mirror". "(Antichrist Television Blues)" starts in a surprising way with an almost country acoustic guitar, but we become accustomed to it quickly and we finally think that it is not country. This track has 3 pages of lyrics that Butler sings without any pause for 5 minutes. Neon Bible is once again an album which requires several listenings, since it has different facets and that the musical richness is hiding many subtleties. The album is excellent, but it’s impossible for me to find it as good as the previous one, the surprise effect not being here anymore. The deluxe version of the album offers a very beautiful 3D case and cards to make animations. It is pleasant to unpack it just like a gift, but after 5 minutes, there’s nothing interesting remaining about this deluxe version on which we can find the exact same musical content as on the regular version, obviously less expensive. With this new record, full of creativity, The Arcade Fire passes admirably the test of the 2^nd album. (April 2007 Featured Review)

Tim Armstrong, A Poet's Life (CD + DVD)

After having founded the bands Operation Ivy, Rancid and Transplants, plus the record label Hellcat Records, Tim Armstrong presents now his first solo album. He is accompanied by the reggae band The Aggrolites which helped him to produce an album of a great simplicity integrating especially reggae, but also ska. On the other hand, forget the punk sound of Rancid with powerful guitars. Here, we can hear particularly discrete guitars, often acoustic, coated with sober arrangements. My favorite song of the CD is certainly the ska/pop "Into Action", a track with a good beat and an unforgettable melody featuring the singer Skye Sweetnam. Armstrong impresses throughout the record by his voice. It’s too bad that the album fades a bit in the second half because of some clichés and repeated sounds because it could have become a superb album. The fans of Armstrong will find something interesting anyway, especially thanks to a bonus DVD containing videos for each track of the CD. All the clips were created from the same black and white style and don’t really impress visually, but it’s more interesting anyway than listening to the CD without visual. (July 2007)

Hellcat / Epitaph

½

Ash - Twilight Of The Innocents

Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold

After the City Of Evil album which brought them at the stardom level, the guys of Avenged Sevenfold were very excited to go back into the studio to record a new album. They were locked up by themselves in the studio to work on a record which would serve “to blast some heavy shit out the window” for their young fans. So, we discover now this very simple eponymous album which wants to be a return to the basis of metal with many winks at the Eighties, while preserving their unique rhythm section and their solos in the Yngwie Malmsteen style. After the excellent “Critical Acclaim” and “Almost Easy” which start strongly the CD, we lose certain metal elements which made them so unique on their previous album. Some tracks, too much polished, rather bring us in a common pop rock sound. The occasional inclusion of violin, piano, brass and even of a children’s choir (on “Unbound (The Wild Ride)”) can give the impression of a richer sound, but it has the opposite effect whereas one feels a discordance with the base of their style. We can hear a weird track in the Mr. Bungle style, “A Little Piece Of Heaven”, which is undoubtedly different, but not really impressive. The voice of M. Shadows presents on this new CD a great evolution compared to the past, mainly because he had to have a surgery to his vocal cords and to work with a vocal coach. His voice reminds us per moments of Chris Cornell and on other occasions of Mike Patton. In spite of an interesting energy and an unquestionable evolution, this new album by Avenged Sevenfold unfortunately doesn’t present compositions as great as on their previous CD. (January 2008 Featured Review)

Warner

Bad Religion, New Maps Of Hell

New Maps Of Hell is the 14^th album in 25 years by the Californian punk rock group Bad Religion. We hear a few big differences compared to their previous recordings, except for a largely improved rhythm section. The new comer Brooks Wackerman on drums, a young wonder, is certainly the main reason of this improvement. But also, the production of Joe Barresi (Tool, Queens Of The Stone Age) who succeeds in emphasizing the energy of their beginnings with new sounds of bass and drums. It’s particularly obvious when we listen to the first 4 tracks of the CD and we discover Bad Religion more aggressive than ever. On the other hand, this aggressiveness is limited to the unique rhythm and it’s not applicable at all to the voice of Greg Graffin which too often misses energy, as it was the case for most of the last records of the group in the last 15 years. As much his voice characterizes the sound of the group, as much it seems too often mechanical, without passion. Fortunately, there are some important exceptions like the energetic "Murder" who comes to awake us at the 10^th track, and this in hardly more than one minute. On the 16 tracks presented here, more than a half have the energy and the creativity to be easily compared with the best recordings of the group. There are unfortunately some titles which point out a little too much the hollow period of the group in the 90’s and which again come to ruin everything. It’s unfortunate that these weaker moments catch our attention that much, because New Maps Of Hell is perhaps their best album since Against The Grain in 1990... (August 2007)

Epitaph

½

Bang Lime, Best Friends In Love

Bang Lime is a duo formed by the rhythm section of Metric, the drummer Joules Scott-Key and the bass player Joshua Winstead (guitarist and singer on this project). The two friends have known each other for 16 years and always played in the same groups during years. They benefited from a pause of Metric (whereas Emily Haines wished to work in solo) to work on this album which is well different from the sound of Metric because it’s much heavier. They explore rather here the garage punk and the 60’s blues genres with a indie rock sound with catchy melodies and effective beats we can compare most of all with The Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Their music is particularly creative and the weaknesses are rare on Best Friends In Love. In fact, the only negative point that I could find, it’s a too great uniformity whereas certain tracks seem similar to others a little too much. The voice of Winstead has something to do with it too, because we are well far from the vocal possibilities of Emily Haines, even if he has a solid voice. At the end, Bang Lime offers despite everything an energetic album and it’s extremely pleasant to listen to it from the beginning to the end. This is one of the good side projects I heard for a long time and it could extremely well live during several years independently of Metric. (September 2007 Featured New Artist)

Last Gang

½

Barenaked Ladies, Barenaked Ladies Are Men

After the album Barenaked Ladies Are Me issued in September 2006, the Toronto-based group comes back with Barenaked Ladies Are Men. 14 of the 16 songs offered here appeared on a special edition of the previous one which contained a bonus CD. They added 2 other tracks to make a great album of it, perhaps even better than Barenaked Ladies Are Me. The melodies are once again of a great effectiveness and songs like "Serendipity", "One and Only", "Angry People", "Down to Earth" and "Running out of Ink" will undoubtedly catch your attention. The CD has a direction generally more pop and energetic than the previous album and the possible hits are numerous. We can say to conclude about these 2 new albums by Barenaked Ladies that perhaps they do not represent the climax of their career in terms of creativity, but they can certainly be regarded as a good double album, with the advantage of being sold in 2 distinct pieces. Therefore, those who have a restricted budget can choose one or the other, but I advise them to buy this one. (April 2007)

Warner

Roz Bell - The First Sunbeams

Kevin Rosaire Bellemare (Roz Bell) grew up in a small village north of Toronto. As of his youth, he bathed in country music, listening to some of the greatest classics. The First Sunbeams is his very first album and it gives us a pop rock sound with folk, country, reggae and hip hop influences. We can partly compare him with James Blunt and Jack Johnson, but many other names can come to your mind throughout the record. You certainly already know his hits “Yesterday Man (I'm So Lonely)” and “Papercut” which play in loop on the radio. If you like them, you will appreciate undoubtedly this whole album which doesn’t contain anything revolutionary but is rather pleasant to the ear. The singer has a cordial voice which is ideal to deliver his light and really catchy pop melodies. His music contains deepness but stays simple and easily reachable. It’s a good first test by this artist whom it will be necessary to check out closely in the future. (January 2008)

Enacy / Universal

Benny Benassi, Cooking for Pump-Kin - Special Menu

Biffy Clyro - Puzzle

Biffy Clyro is a Scottish pop punk group which was formed almost 10 years ago. On the other hand, they were not able to catch attention before this year in spite of the recording of 3 albums before Puzzle. This new CD, recorded in Vancouver and mixed in New York City, finally made it possible for them to go on tour with a major band like Bloc Party, in addition of opening for Muse, the Rolling Stones and The Who on different occasions. The group could also present its own concert, particularly in festivals. In North America, the group belonged to Vans Warped Tour and stopped in Toronto and Montreal. Puzzle is an album which definitively brings the group to another level, passably moving away from punk music for rather joining Franz Ferdinand, Weezer, Foo Fighters and brit pop of the late Nineties. The trio presents solid compositions which don’t have anything to envy to the most important artists on the current pop rock scene. We realize quickly that they are talented musicians who have a large experience. The melodies are effective and some will stay in your mind for a long time. The group already offered us 5 singles from Puzzle: “Semi-Mental”, “Saturday Superhouse”, “Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies”, “Folding Stars” and “Machines”. This is a very good album, by a group to be discovered. (January 2008)

14th Floor / Warner

½

Björk, Volta

It’s always quite difficult to make a review about an album by Björk since we hear always so much experimentation and creativity that it’s impossible to find it musically uninteresting. It’s once again the case with Volta, her 5^th album (excluding her soundtracks and compilations). She wanted to return to a funniest CD after the serious things she did in the last years. She also brings back the danceable beats which were the best parts of her 2 first albums. Volta thus represents a happy mixture between her dance electro of the 90’s and the experimentation of the 2000’s. Brasses have also a great importance at various moments of the album, whereas interludes of boat sounds create the links between each piece. Several guests collaborate on the disc like Timbaland and Konono No 1 on the first track, "Earth Intruders", which is also the first single, the more danceable song and the best of the CD. Timbaland comes back a little later with the very good "Innocence", whereas one of my favorite ones is certainly the almost punk "Declare Independence" which would have been less surprising if it had been played by Peaches. We can hear at different moments another guest, Antony from Antony And The Johnsons, mainly on the ballad "The Dull Flame Of Desire" on which both sing in duet. For the first time in many years, Björk sings really rather than to murmur. Musically, I’m divided because she offers first quality tracks, but also ballads with brasses howling in background which can tire us rather quickly. Also, I always had difficulties to follow her in her experimentation. If it’s not your case and if you were always fascinated by her voice, her experimentation and her universe, you will certainly not have any problems to jump in this new recording of great quality. (June 2007)

Atlantic / Warner

Black Sabbath, The Dio Years

Many people will say that the only listenable albums of Black Sabbath after the departure of Ozzy Osbourne were recorded with Ronnie James Dio (ex-Elf and Rainbow). I agree even if Dio recorded only 3 studio albums with the band. There were several Black Sabbath compilations throughout the years, but a few succeeded in emphasizing on the best of the albums with Dio. So, here is finally a compilation of Black Sabbath with exclusively Dio as singer. We can hear 5 tracks from Heaven And Hell, 4 from Mob Rules and 3 from Dehumanizer (recorded at the time of the return of Dio with the group in 1992). We can also hear a live version of "Children Of The Sea" which appeared on the 1982 live album Live Evil. Finally, the guys met again lately to give concerts (under the name of Heaven And Hell) and they present 3 newly recorded songs. It’s an excellent album presenting everything the band did with Dio on the microphone chronologically. The detailed booklet gives us in addition the different stages of their collaboration. (June 2007)

Rhino / Warner

Bloc Party, A Weekend in the City

A Weekend in the City is the 2^nd album by London indie rock band Bloc Party. Their first album, Silent Alarm, had been acclaimed by critics and had been a huge success in England in 2005. With this new record, the quartet wished to go into a totally other direction, with a sound that has nothing to do with Bloc Party. Their music remains completely eclectic anyway with single beats that are not easy to domesticate. We can compare them to Muse and The Cure, with elements of Sonic Youth and Aphex Twin. The guitar riffs are effective, even if they can sometimes seem repetitive, and the rhythm section (bass and drums) is heavy. The group succeeds in admirably well mixing the heavy sounds with the emotive texts of Kele Okereke. The album begins strongly with "Song for Clay (Disappear Here)" and "Hunting Witches". Thereafter, few titles arise truly from the package except for the first single "The Prayer" and the future hit "I Still Remember". This is an album which, oddly, offers a kind of uniformity in spite of its eclecticism. Several listenings are necessary before really being able to form an opinion, but that effort is largely rewarded. Whereas Silent Alarm had a beautiful freshness, A Weekend in the City shows us rather that the group reached a certain level of maturity, surely the result of their 2 years of intense touring which exhausted all of them. I couldn’t say this new album reaches the level of creativity of their first one, but it acts anyway as an extremely solid album with great moments. (March 2007)

Vice / Warner

½

Blue Rodeo - Small Miracles

James Blunt - All The Lost Souls

Thanks to his first album, Back To Bedlam, in 2005, the British singer James Blunt became one of the most popular artists in the world in a very short period of time. It is thus with a lot of pressure on his shoulders that he offers his new CD, All The Lost Souls. His fans won’t be too much lost since he continues in the same direction than with his previous one, in spite of a very beautiful evolution. It remains in the adult pop rock genre, but it flirts somewhat with folk music, which makes it possible to compare him with Neil Young, Cat Stevens and Elton John. The melodies are of first quality and he can count on splendid orchestral arrangements for wrapping his music well. You certainly already know the hit "1973" which is played in all the radios throughout the world since its release. Several other tracks have the potential to get as much success of which "One Of The Brightest Stars" and "I'll Take Everything". All The Lost Souls is at least as good as his previous one and there is no reason so that it does not obtain as much success. (November 2007 Featured Review)

Atlantic / Warner

Bon Jovi - Lost Highway

The Book Of Knots, Traineater

The Book Of Knots is a collective from New York City which was formed in 2003. It’s composed of Matthias Bossi, Joel Hamilton, Tony Maimone and Carla Kihlstedt, musicians who played (or still play) with artists like Elvis Costello, Unsane, Pere Ubu, Frank Black, They Might Be Giants, Tom Waits and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. The quartet envisaged releasing 3 conceptual albums and here is the 2^nd of the series. This one depicts the sad portrait of the American industrial towns like Cleveland, Youngstown, Toledo and Detroit. These cities, which were very prosperous in the past, are found today with practically abandoned industrial districts. The group offers us an experimental and rather difficult to approach post rock sound which can go from the heaviest metal to a soft pop alternative rock sound, while passing by free jazz and industrial. We can obviously compare them to Tom Waits, even if the pretty voice of Carla Kihlstedt is very far from Waits’ voice. Besides, he is among the guests we can hear on the CD, as well as Mike Watt, David Thomas, Jon Langford and Carla Bozulich. In spite of a little weaker second half, it’s a very creative album The Book Of Knots proposes in this second part of their trilogy. On the other hand, their music is definitely not accessible to all and it’s necessary to be either a large fan of experimental music or an open-minded person ready to make a particular effort by listening to the album a few times before truly appreciating it. (June 2007)

Anti- / Epitaph

Michael Bublé, Call Me Irresponsible (Special Edition)

Buck 65 - Situation (CD + DVD)

Richard Terfry, better known as Buck 65, is back with a new album, Situation. The rapper from Nova Scotia now offers us an album about the year 1957, including the song with that title. According to him, the events of 1957 determined everything we can see today, 50 years later. From Elvis Presley, who made rock n’ roll popular, to the first American nuclear tests, everything seems to have taken an important turning at that precise time in history. The album title was inspired by the organization Situationist International founded in Italy in 1957. Musically, it offers us the same alternative type of rap which made him known until now, without much evolution. After the very good "1957", "Dang" is almost embarrassing whereas its chorus reminds us a little too much about "Bawitdaba" by Kid Rock. Throughout the CD, one finds a groovy music which is pleasant to listen, but doesn’t reverse any barrier. His fans won’t be too much mixed up and will still appreciate, but I have big doubts that he can accommodate a new audience with Situation. The limited edition with a DVD is completely useless whereas one finds a short film of less than 10 minutes around the topic of 1957, as well as an interview and other bonus features to fill the DVD and to try to justify its presence. You can definitively satisfy yourself with the regular version without the DVD. (January 2008)

Warner

½

Busdriver, RoadKillOvercoat

Regan Farquhar, better known as Busdriver, played in the hip hop underground of Los Angeles since he was a young teen. After a 2^nd album very appreciated by the fans and the critics (Temporary Forever), Busdriver had a little more difficulties when he was ignored by many hip hop fans. This new album will maybe bring back those lost fans, even if the experiment is still well present. The album begins strongly with the excellent "Casting Agents and Cowgirls", a song we have in mind for a long time. After that, we are in fact in the indie hip hop because we need a couple of listens to really appreciate. Busdriver’s music is creative for sure, but hardly reachable, despite very good beats. There is "Secret Skin" which brings us in a pop direction that will maybe reach a larger audience, as well as "Sun Shower" which is having an interesting danceable beat in the Depeche Mode style. To conclude, this is a good album he gives us, an album that can catch our curiosity, but that won’t make history. (February 2007)

Anti- / Epitaph

Caribou - Andorra

Merge

Manu Chao - La Radiolina

Chiodos - Bone Palace Ballet

Circa Survive, On Letting Go

Danny Cohen, Shades of Dorian Gray

Holly Cole, Holly Cole

After many albums recorded in trio (Holly Cole Trio), the Canadian jazz singer Holly Cole went in solo at the beginning of the decade, even if her friends David Piltch and Aaron Davis continued to work with her. She comes back now without her long time colleagues and she works with a whole new band of musicians, including the pianist Gil Goldstein, for this eponymous album. Once again, she revisits jazz standards and makes them splendid thanks to her incomparable voice, skillfully developed by the perfect production of Greg Cohen which co-produces with her. A few of these standards are very known from a large audience, but we have to mention anyway the cover of songs of Henry Mancini ("Charade", co-written by Johnny Mercer), Cole Porter (the excellent "It's Alright With Me") and Irving Berlin ("Be Careful, It's My Heart" and "Reaching For The Moon"). Among the 11 tracks of the album, we hear only one original song which she composed herself, the very good "Larger Than Life". The warm voice of Holly Cole remains always a judicious choice for enveloping and romantic background music, with the filtered lights and a fire of hearth. Without reinventing the genre, she offers anyway a version of her own which will not only please her fans, but jazz fans in general. (August 2007)

Alert / Universal

½

Collective Soul - Afterwords

With Youth, their previous album issued in 2004, the group from Georgia Collective Soul brought us in a world we didn’t know about them while presenting glam rock. The result was surprising and rather interesting. Afterwords brings us back now in a better known territory, a territory explored 10 years ago not only by them, but also by several other pop rock bands that were a result of the post grunge period. The beats and guitars are still as effective, but with a greater intimacy on most of the songs, which are, it should be said, all love songs. Among those which arise among others, let’s note the opening track, the powerful "New Vibration", which has the quality to catch our attention for the rest of the CD. After some effective songs that don’t have anything particular, "I Don't Need Anymore Friends", composed and sung by the guitarist Joel Kosche, offers us a different sound than Ed Roland’s compositions, Roland having composed everything else, as usual. A little later, we can hear the very good power pop hit "Hollywood" which is an instant classic of the group to be added to their already long list of hits in career. Kosche also took part in the music composition on this one, which makes us say that Roland should perhaps leave a little more place to his lead guitarist for the writing. I also like the following song, "Persuasion Of You", but as a whole, it’s an album which points out a little too much the past of the band without a big evolution. The fans of Collective Soul will be able once again to appreciate, but without any surprises. Afterwords is a good pop rock album, but which will not make history. (October 2007 Featured Review)

El Music / Warner

John Coltrane - The Very Best Of The Atlantic Years

Ry Cooder, My Name Is Buddy

After several years of work with Cuban legends, Ry Cooder comes back to the genre of his beginnings in the 70’s, folk music. He offers us here a brilliant album which depicts the problems of the United States in the 30’s. It’s with a humor tone that he presents those difficult years through various characters: Buddy Red Cat, Lefty Mouse and Reverend Tom Toad. This CD is offered in a splendid 50-page hard cover book presenting each of the 17 tracks of the CD with a short text and an illustration. The weaknesses are rare on this excellent record which will compete greatly with his best albums in career released in the early 70’s. This is probably also one of the best albums of creative folk music to have been released in the last couple of years. (September 2007)

Nonesuch / Warner

Corneille, The Birth of Cornelius

The Cribs - Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever

Crimson Glory, Astronomica (2 CD) (1999) (2007 re-edition)

Crimson Glory, Strange And Beautiful (1991) (2007 re-edition)

Crimson Glory is certainly one of the most important progressive metal bands of the 80’s with Queensrÿche. They reached the top with Transcendence in 1988 which had a certain success in the underground. When time had come to record its successor, Strange And Beautiful, the pressure was enormous and the band had its problems. They tried to evolve, but the result is rather weak. More accessible, their music lost that experimental progressive direction they had before that made them so interesting. They became with this album a common hard rock band among so much of others of the same period. We find here the re-edition of this album with a remastered sound, a sound of the years 2000. Thereafter, the group quickly disintegrated before reappearing in 1999 with several new members for the album Astronomica. (June 2007)

Metal Mind / MVD

½

Daft Punk - Alive 2007

Virgin / EMI

Damiera, M(us)ic

Miles Davis, The Very Best Of Miles Davis: The Warner Bros. Sessions 1985-1991

It’s almost impossible to present a complete and effective compilation with the best material of the jazz legend Miles Davis. With a career of more than 40 years and an incalculable number of albums piled up through the years, the only way of compiling on 1 or 2 discs is to choose a portion of his career. It’s what was made here whereas Warner presents the best of what he recorded on that label between 1985 and 1991, the last years of his life. We can hear 15 tunes drawn from 3 studio albums (including the excellent Amandla), 2 movie soundtracks and 2 live albums (including 1 with Quincy Jones). What is particular during that era is the use of hip hop (on his last recording, Doo-Bop). So, it adds a new genre to everything he did before because he never hesitated to integrate funk, blues and rock to a rather standard jazz sound. Another element which is particular to the famous trumpet player, it’s that no matter which period they choose to present, the result is always interesting. Davis produced certainly the best atmosphere music in history and it never becomes out of date. This compilation presents other interesting elements like the live recordings with Quincy Jones, including the George Gershwin classic "Summertime", then the cover of Cyndi Lauper’s "Time After Time". This excellent outline of his last recordings, enriched by a quite detailed booklet, makes this compilation a great record and this, even if it covers only a small fraction of the huge work of Davis. (May 2007)

Warner

Dear And The Headlights, Small Steps, Heavy Hooves

Here is a new quintet from Phoenix, Arizona, lately signed to Equal Vision Records, and which can finally present us its first album recorded in April 2006. The group offers a catchy indie rock sound we could compare with The Arcade Fire and Radiohead. Those are important names to qualify this group only known on the Phoenix local scene, but opening concerts for The Bravery, matt pond PA, Make Believe, Idlewild and The Hold Steady gave them the opportunity to be known on a larger scale. Small Steps, Heavy Hooves presents us in my opinion only a vague outline of all the possibilities of this group. The compositions are solid, the melodies, effective, and the energy they present in their play is enormously promising for the stage performance. The acoustic guitar however has an important place in the rock sound of Dear and the Headlights. It's an album the fans of The Arcade Fire will like as much as The Frames fans, but the best from them is definitively to come. A band to check out closely... (April 2007)

Equal Vision

½

Cachao Descargas - The Havana Sessions

Disconforme / MVD

½

Die Mannequin - Slaughter Daughter

The Doors, The Very Best of The Doors

Dragonette - Galore

Dragonette was formed in Toronto in 2005 by pop singer Martina Sorbara and her husband, bass player Dan Kurtz, with guitarist Simon Craig and drummer Joel Stouffer. The group got an offer for a contract in England and Craig was replaced by the British Will Stapleton. Galore is their first record and it was released after the hit singles “I Get Around”, “Competition” and “Take It Like A Man”, which are all here in this order at the beginning of the CD, and the adaptation of Calvin Harris, “The Girls”, becoming “The Boys” (unfortunately not on Galore). The group plays primarily an energetic pop music with rock and electronic influences. Their new wave style can be compared with Scissor Sisters, Fergie, Pink, Hot Hot Heat and The Killers. “I Get Around” and “Jesus Doesn't Love Me” are certainly the most dynamic of the album with their mixture of very danceable rock and electronic. But, this energy can be found throughout the record, because whatever the style that is put at the foreground, each track has good beats. Other strong moments: “Black Limousine”, “Gold Rush” and “Marvellous”. It’s certainly one of the good pop albums of the year with very few weaknesses. (December 2007 Featured New Artist)

Mercury / Universal

The Drifters, The Greatest Hits

The Drifters is a R&B group which was formed in 1953 and included 57 different members, surely a record. Therefore, the 4 current members don’t have obviously anything to do with the band which had a huge success in the 50’s and 60’s. This compilation contains the greatest hits of the group through their career, but re-recorded by the current members in February 2006. We can hear 20 classics including the mega hits "Save The Last Dance For Me", "Sweet Caroline" and "Kissin' In The Back Row Of The Movies". In bonus, we can view 3 live videos: "A World Of Love" (with Gary Brooker as special guest), "Stand By Me" (in a new gospel version) and "White Christmas". The quality of the recording is exceptional and gives full justice to these classics, but if you want to hear the original versions, this is certainly not the compilation you need. You can also get the DVD Greatest Hits Live. Check it out... (August 2007)

MVD

The Fall Of Troy, Manipulator

Fall Out Boy, Infinity On High

With From Under the Cork Tree, the Chicago pop punk group Fall Out Boy not only got out of the shade, but had an incomparable success becoming one of the most adulated groups of its kind. The challenge became thus larger as the group had to try to satisfy all this new audience which followed them from then. Infinity On High was in fact produced in a certain tension and we can feel it. Right at the first listening, we have some kind of a shock by having the feeling to hear a new pop rock band. You don’t read the word "punk", but it's because you won’t hear it either on this album by Fall Out Boy, besides some rare influences. We find anyway some energetic tracks, including the first single "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race", but more often it’s a quite common rock sound they present. Except for the young teenage girls, very few people are likely to be touched by this new album which doesn’t have anything like the effectiveness of the previous one. And even these teenagers are likely to lose patience by hearing the piano ballad "Golden". Fortunately that it’s followed by "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs" with its powerful rhythm section on the chorus. Other songs will come later to reconcile us with the group ("Bang the Doldrums", "Fame ≤ Infamy", etc). But, we will nevertheless have the feeling while arriving at the end of the CD that Fall Out Boy failed in its mission of adequately continuing in the same direction than on From Under the Cork Tree. If happily you succeed in getting hooked by this album, the pleasure should be unfortunately for a short period of time. A deluxe version is also available. (May 2007)

Island / Universal

Farewell - Isn’t This Supposed To Be Fun!?

Ibrahim Ferrer, Mi Sueno

Fields, Everything Last Winter

Fields is a quintet from Birmingham, England which plays an indie rock sound with folk influences. Everything Last Winter is their 1^st full-length album after the EP 7 From The Village issued last year. I especially recognized influences of Fleetwood Mac and My Bloody Valentine in these songs strongly textured and with clean arrangements. There is also a little something of Simon & Garfunkel in the most acoustic moments. The female and male vocal harmonies of Thorunn Antonia and Nick Peill create a particularly interesting sound. The melodies are remarkable and the compositions are solid. Several songs contained here don’t have to envy the best recordings of Travis, Coldplay and Radiohead, even if the vocal harmonies and the acoustic guitar seem to be closer to the Californian folk music of the 60's. Here is a quite beautiful finding that I made which I strongly advise. (July 2007 Featured New Artist)

Atlantic / Warner

Valdy & Gary Fjellgaard, Contenders Two : Still In The Running

Foreign Born - On The Wing Now

The Frames, The Cost

The Irish group The Frames is back after the excellent Burn the Maps released 2 years ago. It was at the time the greatest album of their career, an album you can find in the 2005 top 20. So, the expectations were very high for this band which seems to have reached its real maturity after 15 years of career. I had a good surprise by first listening to The Cost because I discovered a sublime album. The band continues in the same direction with a very British folk rock sound (Coldplay, Radiohead), but with also Montreal influences (The Dears, The Arcade Fire). Orchestrations are splendid and are always perfectly integrated. The “live in the studio” recording presents very well the good and inspired compositions of the band, while recreating the incomparable environment of its concerts. Charm operates as soon as at the first track, "Song for Someone", before continuing on "Falling Slowly" (the first single) and the epic "People Get Ready". The acoustic song "Rise" comes to tear off our hearts, before "When Your Mind's Made Up" rises literally in front of our eyes by a progression like only The Frames can do. As soon as at the first notes of "Sad Songs", we know we will like it and the title song is another one of these tracks that make the album impossible to circumvent. In fact, the weaknesses are almost non-existent on The Cost whereas each composition is imposing. It remains to see how the album will be received by the audience, but it will probably remain the album of their career. The new album by The Arcade Fire will have to be very good because the competition will be without pity in this musical genre. Who will win? Read the review of Neon Bible by The Arcade Fire to know it. (March 2007 Featured Review)

Anti- / Epitaph

Sage Francis, Human The Death Dance

I had liked very much the previous album by the alternative rapper Sage Francis, A Healthy Distrust. I was thus quite curious to hear his new record and my curiosity was largely rewarded. With Human The Death Dance, Francis brings its art a little further and proves to us that he’s not only one of the best rappers of his generation, but also an author in a special category. It’s a pity he’s still not recognized apart from the underground, the hip hop scene being one of the most closed brotherhoods in the United States. The good moments are numerous on this 4^th album by Sage Francis (in fact, those are the bad moments that are rare). In my opinion, the centerpiece of the album is the blues song "Got Up This Morning" built on a beat by his friend Buck 65 and with the voice of Jolie Holland. A little further, "Clickety Clack" is certainly one of the best songs he wrote, my favorite of this album. The second half of the 55 minutes CD also presents its strong moments with blow on blow the excellent "Keep Moving", "Waterline" and "Black Out On White Night", without forgetting a little further "Call Me François" and its very good samplings. Finally, the album ends beautifully with "Going Back To Rehab". Francis does everything on this album including arrangements and production. Some people speak about his most personal album, but I won’t go in that stereotype. What is sure, it’s that this is his best album to date. I am already ready to make a prediction and to say that it may be here the best rap album of 2007. To be continued... (June 2007)

Anti- / Epitaph

Galactic - From The Corner To The Block

Galactic is a funk group with a new genre which was formed back in 1994. It combines funk, rock, hip hop, electronica and jazz. From The Corner To The Block is their first album on the Anti label and it follows upon the release of Ruckus 4 years ago which had been critically acclaimed. We can still hear all the elements which made the reputation of the group with once again a happy mixture of styles. Gorillaz and Beastie Boys come to our mind on some occasions, just like The Coup and Blackalicious, their new colleagues for the Anti label. What is certain, it’s that we are rather far from James Brown with Galactic and that they offer us a futuristic funk. It’s difficult to say some more about a band we should simply listen to to understand all its creativity. Let’s only say that From The Corner To The Block is perhaps not as exceptional as their previous one, but is an excellent album anyway. (December 2007)

Gallows, Orchestra Of Wolves

The British press considers Gallows as the most exciting group on the British hardcore punk scene for years. The quintet has most of all influences of the hardcore groups of the 80’s like Minor Threat and Black Flag, as well as the Swedish band Refused, but we also find the British punk attitude of 1977 (Sex Pistols, The Clash). What is catching our attention at first with Orchestra Of Wolves, it’s the energy released and the good old rock n' roll raw sound. Even if the voices remain hardcore, there is always a certain melody and few parts are annoying. "Kill The Rhythm" attacks from the very start of the CD and it will be a continuous flood until the end, in spite of several changes of beat throughout the album. The title-song points out in a certain way The Stooges, whereas "Will Someone Shoot That Fucking Snake" presents a hardcore version of what The Specials would have been able to do. "In The Belly Of A Shark" is a kind of mixture between psychobilly and hardcore punk. The album was released in England in the fall of 2006, but we can finally hear it in America thanks to Epitaph Records. This American version includes 3 bonus tracks: "Sick Of Feeling Sick", "Black Heart Queen" (which has a little something of the Sex Pistols) and the cover of Black Flag, "Nervous Breakdown". I can say without any hesitation that Gallows eclipses any current hardcore group from the US, because Orchestra Of Wolves is definitely in a class of its own. (August 2007 Featured New Artist)

Epitaph

½

The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen

½

Gorguts, The Erosion Of Sanity (1993) (2007 re-edition)

Gorguts, Considered Dead (1991) (2007 re-edition)

The band from Quebec Gorguts is regarded as one of the best kept secrets in death metal. It should be said that they arrived at a period when the death metal already started to lose strength. Considered Dead is their first album, produced by Scott Burns, and it impresses by its experimentation and its creativity in a genre where many groups did nothing but cut and paste of what had already been done. We can hear on the album famous guests like the legendary James Murphy of Death who comes to play guitar on "Inoculated Life", as well as Chris Barnes of Cannibal Corpse which lends his voice to "Bodily Corrupted", "Rottenatomy" and "Hematological Allergy". This re-edition offers 2 demos in bonus for the title-song and "Rottenatomy". It’s an excellent way to go back to the good years of death metal by discovering the best Quebec band in the genre. (June 2007)

Metal Mind / MVD

The Great Kat - Worship Me Or Die! (1987) (2007 re-edition)

Metal Mind / MVD

Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - What Is Free To A Good Home?

Mick Harvey, Two Of Diamonds

Mick Harvey, Motion Picture Music '94-'05

Mick Harvey is a true multi-instrumentalist, in addition to being an arranger, producer, film soundtrack composer and co-founder of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and The Birthday Party. He was critically acclaimed for his soundtrack work, and won prestigious awards. Harvey presents us here his second compilation of film music. We can hear a selection from the Australian movie Chopper, plus a wide spectrum of international productions including documentaries, short films, and features. There are 27 tracks, all instrumental except for one, and rather atmospheric, for true film music! The only song, "The Farewell Song", concludes the album. It was co-written by Nick Cave which is also the singer. Even if it's not my type to listen to film music apart from its context, it's necessary to acknowledge that in fact quite good compositions are offered here. But, this album is primarily for his hardcore fans of the first days. (April 2007)

Mute

Kate Havnevik, Melankton

Joe Henry - Civilians

The Higher, On Fire

Directly from Las Vegas arrives the group The Higher, a quintet formed of young guys barely 20 years old. On Fire is their 2^nd album, but the first for the Epitaph Records label. We can hear a danceable pop rock sound with R&B influences, and this as soon as at the first single, "Insurance?". Their music can also be compared to the pop punk bands we know very well (Simple Plan, The Matches, Fall Out Boy, etc.). Their sound can as much reach the fans of pure punk than the fans of Justin Timberlake. If the first 11 tracks of the CD do not succeed in making the dancers stand up of their seat, the 12^th and last one will do undoubtedly the work. Indeed, "Pace Yourself" was remixed by Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy to make a purely R&B version of it. As a whole, it acts here as a light album which is addressed primarily to the teenagers, particularly those which would be ambivalent between rock and R&B. On Fire won’t change the face of music, but catchy melodies and effective beats make it pleasant to listen. (May 2007)

Epitaph

The Honorary Title - Scream & Light Up The Sky

The duo from Brooklyn, New York evolved in a quartet in the last years and it offers now its 2^nd album, their major label debut. The group thus became a little less intimate, less centered on the singer, guitarist, author and composer Jarrod Gorbel. I found a little weird the fact they issued a 4-track EP a few weeks only before the release of this new record, but I must acknowledge the idea was very good if we consider the evolution of their style since their first album. The EP, Untouched & Intact, gave us 2 new songs ("Untouched and Intact" and "Along The Way" we can find also here), and 2 B-sides going back to their beginnings ("Finally Understand" and "7 Blocks"), what enabled us to make well the bridge between the duo and the quartet and to mentally prepare the fans for their new style. It’s thus without much surprise that we find this indie pop sound of great deepness with obvious brit pop influences. We can compare them with Dashboard Confessional, Muse and Jimmy Eat World. When we hear tracks like "Thin Layer", "Untouched and Intact", "The City's Summer" and the first single "Stuck At Sea", we applaud Gorbel’s guts to have accepted to somewhat erase himself in a group centered on the guitar with a powerful rhythm section. In my opinion, it’s with Scream & Light Up The Sky that The Honorary Title truly emerges. (October 2007)

Reprise / Warner

½

The Honorary Title, Untouched & Intact

Hot Hot Heat - Happiness Ltd. (CD + DVD)

Ill Scarlett - All Day With It

Sony BMG

Norah Jones, Not Too Late

The jazz singer Norah Jones is back with her 3^rd album, an album which was a huge success at its release by reaching number 1 on the most important charts of the world. This is the first time that she composed every song, as well as the first album that was not produced by legendary Arif Mardin, who died in the summer of 2006. Not Too Late thus represents an important turning point in the career of this young singer who already sold more than 30 million albums throughout the world. The production is given to her faithful collaborator, her bass player and her boyfriend, Lee Alexander. We can still establish parallels with her two first records thanks to her basic jazz style including much piano. Except that on this one, it goes a little further with folk and country tracks leaving the piano aside to leave the entire place to the guitar. We can make comparisons with Neko Case and Tori Amos, always in a calm, enveloping, introspective and releasing style. Her trademark in fact... The album was recorded in a minimalist way and we feel a certain reserve on behalf of Jones which wanted to keep the songs simple and without any tricks. This is well, but we would like sometimes that she pushes a little more, especially when we start to be somnolent in the second half. I understand very well that it is a personal album, but anyway, she could have exploited a little more her single voice than simply sing for her lover by looking him in the eyes, probably searching for his approval. The compositions are far from being bad, but it seemed to me to hear an incomplete album, as if it had been issued whereas it was still not finished. The fans of Norah will certainly appreciate, but Not Too Late represents in my opinion a transition towards something better. She could very well offer her best album in career next time... (March 2007)

Blue Note / EMI

Justice, †

Justice is a French duo formed of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay. The 2 guys give us their electro music at the limits of house music and pop music. Even if the album is mainly instrumental, we can hear voices on a few occasions, as on the hit "D.A.N.C.E." on which we can hear a children choir to accompany a young 8-year-old boy named Felix. The music of Justice can be compared with Daft Punk and the Chemical Brothers with some elements that Michael Jackson would not hate at all. He seems in fact to have had a great influence on the duo which was inspired by him for the writing of "D.A.N.C.E.". Even if this track was a huge hit on the Internet, it’s well far from being the best of the CD. "Phantom", "Phantom Pt II" and "Stress" are much more interesting with their foundations in Daft Punk. With †, Justice admirably succeeds in mixing the styles that influenced them to create a sound which can reach a large audience. (September 2007)

Warner

Kaiser Chiefs, Yours Truly, Angry Mob

Kaiser Chiefs is a band I just discovered and this is their 2^nd album. After having read many praises about them, I acknowledge that I believed it was the new impossible to circumvent British group. I don’t consider that it’s the case at all! The album starts strongly with "Ruby" and its unforgettable chorus. Without being brilliant, this song is definitely effective. Thereafter, several tracks seemed common to me and without much creativity, in spite of always good melodies "The Angry Mob" is not impressive, but it’s followed by the very good "Heat Dies Down". Thereafter, "Highroyds" is particularly full of energy, but it could have been written and interpreted by Collective Soul. Later, I liked "My Kind Of Guy", one of those I reminded the most.  At various moments of the CD, we discover similarities with Franz Ferdinand, Blur, The Futureheads and The Killers, whereas we hear undoubtedly the strong influence of The Jam throughout the 45 minutes of the album. It’s the test of the 2^nd album for Kaiser Chiefs with Yours Truly, Angry Mob and I must say that the group hardly gets the passing note. The pressure will be huge for their 3^rd one if they want to avoid becoming forgotten quickly as several other British groups did before them. (June 2007)

Universal

Klaxons, Myths Of The Near Future

Bettye LaVette - The Scene Of The Crime

The legend of soul music Bettye LaVette is now 61 years old but did not lose anything of her energy and attitude. 35 years after having recorded an album at the Muscle Shoals Fame Studios, Alabama, which was put in a vault at Atlantic Records until the years 2000, Bettye is back on "the scene of the crime" to record this new album. It follows upon the success of I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise, her first album for the Anti label issued in 2005. On the 10 tracks offered here, 9 are covers, since Bettye is before everything else an interpreter, in the purest tradition of soul. She’s magnificently accompanied by the musicians of Drive-By Truckers. The album begins strongly with the excellent R&B song "I Still Want To Be Your Baby (Take Me Like I Am)". Thereafter, it offers us an effective mixture of slow songs and some with good beats for our greater pleasure. It’s necessary to note the impressive interpretation of Bettye on "Somebody Pick Up My Pieces" of Willie Nelson, an interpretation which literally transforms this song with country roots into a passionate soul piece. Another which impresses is her cover of an old sad Elton John ballad, "Talking Old Soldiers", which she transforms completely. I’m not an expert of the career of Bettye LaVette, but several critics talk about her best album of all time and I would believe them since The Scene Of The Crime is an excellent CD with very few weaknesses. (December 2007)

Anti- / Epitaph

Avril Lavigne, The Best Damn Thing

Avril Lavigne will have needed 3 albums to finally offer an album representing her well and showing all her talent. On her 1^st, more of a half of the disc was too much adult for her 17 years old and on the 2^nd, we could hear a darker sound without much creativity. With The Best Damn Thing, it rather offers energetic punk-pop tracks like the greatest hits she had before. The album still contains some ballads, but they are particularly effective and have nothing to do with those of the previous albums. She leaves aside her false personality of a good little girl and she rather spits her venom right to our face while not hesitating to use all the possible four letter words. With the hit "Girlfriend", the start is given for a 40 minute album without bad moments and with very few weaknesses, in a genre which is most of the time light after all. The CD is concluding with the other hit, "Keep Holding On", and we have immediately the desire to start it again at the beginning. All the comparisons which we could have made before are not good anymore and we must now speak about the female version of Simple Plan. It’s a very good album in the candy punk-pop genre, an album she will be able to finally assume entirely. It acts here as the perfect soundtrack for the life of any teenager who still prefers rock to R&B (yes, there are still some!). The regular version of the CD unfortunately got censured, but if you buy the deluxe version with a DVD, the CD will be a little less clean. It’s up to you to make the good choice... (June 2007 Featured Review)

LCD Soundsystem, Sound Of Silver

Led Zeppelin - Mothership

More than one greatest hits collection was released for Led Zeppelin over the years, but a few succeeded in filling the requirements of the fans. The most relevant ones remained to date Early Days and Latter Days covering each one half of their career. The 2 discs were then re-edited together for a double compilation covering the whole career of the group. Mothership comes here to fill the same mandate except for some differences. One presents as main advantage of this new collection of hits that they were chosen by the band members themselves (it was produced by Jimmy Page), but at the end we can hear about the same usual hits. There are 24 tracks, presented chronologically: 13 on first CD covering the first 4 albums of the group and 11 on second CD making a summary of the last 4 albums. Excellent parts adored by the fans (as "Moby Dick" for example) were left aside, just like all the Coda album, an album of rarities issued after the band’s break-up. They could certainly have added some of those whereas nearly 25 minutes remain available, but we can hear anyway the best of the best by this group which is regarded as one of most influential bands in the history of rock. The 2 discs are firmly supported by a very complete booklet containing a detailed biography and information on each song presented. With Mothership, as much the fans than the neophytes will have in their hands the so much awaited ultimate compilation making a complete summary of the career of Led zeppelin. (January 2008)

Atlantic / Warner

½

Linkin Park, Minutes To Midnight

I had liked the first album of the band, Hybrid Theory, and with great surprise, I had appreciated even more their following, Meteora, a particularly energetic album. Except that we could hardly expect a continuation still such as good for a commercial band like Linkin Park, especially because the 4 years of waiting since the previous one let predict a lack of inspiration. The first single from Minutes To Midnight, "What I've Done", didn’t impress me much at its release, but it didn’t prevent the group from reaching the top of the charts when the album was issued. The listening of the album brings us only one word in mind: maturity. The teenager rap metal of their first recordings is left aside here and it’s Mike Shinoda which has to pay the price since he doesn’t rap anymore but on 2 tracks, including the not so good "Hands Held High". In spite of this change of course, we can find some interesting songs like "Given Up", "Bleed It Out" and "No More Sorrow". These tracks are unfortunately surrounded by annoying ballads like "Leave Out All The Rest", "In Between" and "The Little Things Give You Away". "Shadow Of The Day" is even worse and when "What I've Done" follows, it seems to be quite brilliant and we finally see this first single as the central part of the CD. The guitarists also seem to be put aside in several occasions, whereas rock music becomes rather atmospheric. The problem is that Linkin Park is at its best when Chester Bennington howls to bury the loud sound of the guitars. Here, we rather find them in the same territory than Bon Jovi, Incubus and Staind when they also were in the mood of being absolutely "mature". Minutes To Midnight definitively represents a major change for the group, but unfortunately not for the best... (July 2007 Featured Review)

Warner

The Locust, New Erections

Metric, Grow Up And Blow Away

Pay attention that this is not a new album by the Toronto group Metric, but rather an album recorded between 1999 and 2001 (by Emily Haines and James Shaw) which was never released before, except on the Internet where we could find most of these songs. Oddly, Grow Up And Blow Away fits perfectly at this point of their career, offering a logical continuation to the excellent Live It Out released 2 years ago. We hear once again an alternative pop rock sound with new wave influences. However, we can hear a little less rock songs like "Monster Hospital", whereas the group remains in a melodic and light electro/pop. Haines once again proves all her talent as soon as at the title-song, whereas "Hardwire" brings us in the universe of the Cardigans. The electro "Rock Me Now" is less interesting with its poem in music, but the whole returns quickly on a certain level of excellence with the almost R&B "The Twist". "Soft Rock Star" is one of my favorites and we can hear a remix of it in conclusion of the album. By excluding this remix, it’s only 9 tracks that are offered on Grow Up And Blow Away, which makes once again a too short album. While waiting for a true new album by Metric, we can be comforted by listening to the other projects by the members of the group, Bang Lime and Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton about which I will write next month. (August 2007)

Last Gang

½

Raul Midon - A World Within A World

Manhattan / EMI

Mika - Life In Cartoon Motion

½

Parlophone / EMI

Modern Life Is War - Midnight In America

Mother Mother - Touch Up

Motion City Soundtrack - Even If It Kills Me

With their previous album, Commit This To Memory, it was necessary that they re-edit the album with a bonus DVD so that I could finally appreciate their work. It’s that I had the impression that the group was really good only in its punkiest moments whereas most of the CD was rather pop. In fact, even if they talk about Motion City Soundtrack as a pop punk group influenced by Blink 182, I believe that they should rather be regarded simply as a pop rock group. After having cleared up this point, I can finally talk about their newest release, Even If It Kills Me. The quintet worked with Ric Ocasek and you can hear it on various occasions whereas one can establish an obvious parallel with his former band, The Cars, especially on the excellent “This Is For Real”, my favorite one. The opening track, “Fell In Love Without You”, is also very effective and we can hear other very good melodies like that throughout the CD. The piano ballad “The Conversation” comes to break the beat right in the middle of the CD and it’s rather depressing. On the other hand, it’s the only slow song through energetic beats. Unfortunately, in spite of the quality of its melodies, few titles remain us in mind once again on Even If It Kills Me which doesn’t go beyond the quality of their previous LP. The fans will appreciate once again and the group will probably succeed in conquering new ones, but there’s still the feeling that the group can do better. We will have to be patient… (December 2007)

Epitaph

Motor, Unhuman

Motor is a duet formed of the French DJ Mr. No and the American DJ Bryan Black. They also performed as a trio with the addition of Hugo Menendez. Unhuman is their 2^nd album in less than one year. Once again, they propose danceable and dark electro music. Generally techno, it’s different from it very often by the addition of the voice, a voice which makes it possible to get closer to an industrial sound. We can compare them on several occasions to Skinny Puppy, Front 242, Kraftwerk and Daft Punk. As for "Night Drive", it’s reminding us of the good years of Depeche Mode. The first single, "Bleep #1" will be undoubtedly a favorite on the dance floors, while others are a little more experimental and less accessible. The American version of the CD contains a bonus track, "Don't Stop". Unhuman is a very good album for the amateurs of energetic electro music. (June 2007)

Mute

½

Navaz! - East Of West

Nekromantix, Life Is A Grave & I Dig It!

This is a new group which is coming back with a new album whereas Kim Nekroman decided to change his back-up musicians. He moved to California and recruited the guitarist Tröy Deströy (The Rezurex) and the drummer Andy DeMize (The Rockets). The sound is some kind of refreshed, while remaining obviously pure psychobilly. I admit I had doubts when I first listened to the first track, "NekroHigh", a different song, but which didn’t catch me very much. Thereafter, with "Horny in A Hearse", Nekroman comes back to his rockabilly roots with a beat much more closer to the Stray Cats than to the psychobilly he created. The title-song is excellent, and then the group extends its musical spectrum on "My Girl", one of my favorites of the CD which shows all the talent of the 3 musicians. We find then instantaneous psychobilly classics with "Rot in Hell!" and "Voodoo Shop Hop", on which the speed of execution blows us simply by listening to them. I had adored Dead Girls Don’t Cry released in 2004, but I admit that the exceptional and surprising musical depth that we find on Life is a Grave & I Dig It! makes it in fact perhaps the best album of the band’s career, in spite of a few moments a little less interesting. (May 2007)

Hellcat / Epitaph

½

The New Pornographers - Challengers

Here is the 4^th album by this indie pop super group from Vancouver. Once again, it’s A.C. Newman which composed most of the songs on the album. In fact, he wrote 9 out of 12, the 3 others having been written by Danny Bejar. Newman proves again his huge talent in writing superb melodies which quickly make us sing several of the songs offered on Challengers. This is the case as soon as at the opening track with the excellent "My Rights Versus Yours" which is followed by my favorite one, "All The Old Showstoppers". The group explores various styles, offering a wide range throughout the album. They can pass from almost folk ballads (the title-song) to fast rock ‘n' roll (the excellent "All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth"). These variations represent perhaps the most negative point whereas we lose ourselves in it. The guitars are always quite present, even if it’s the voices of Neko Case, Kathryn Calder, Bejar and Newman which remain in obviousness. We can compare the New Pornographers at some moments with The Arcade Fire and their music enters easily the same bosom as many brit pop bands. In spite of very good melodies and a very pop simplicity, New Pornographers have the characteristic of always offering us creative compositions with a great depth. We thus need some good attentive listenings for really appreciating all the facets of their music, even if the first listening is likely to be largely sufficient to seduce you completely. The production of the album is again of first quality thanks to the work of Phil Palazzolo, John Collins and Newman, and the arrangements are quite simply splendid. Challengers is a very good album which will please the fans of the group. (October 2007)

Last Gang

Stevie Nicks, Crystal Visions... The Very Best Of Stevie Nicks

Stevie Nicks was initially known as a member of Fleetwood Mac whereas she composed or took part in the composition of several of the group’s classics, in addition of giving her single voice to the band. Then, she started a solo career with highs and lows, but including anyway some important hits for the Eighties, like the classic "Edge of Seventeen", covered many times. Her hits also include "I Can't Wait", « If Anyone Falls in Love », « Talk to Me » and « Stand Back ». All those tracks are obviously included here, in addition to never released and live tracks. We find among them "Silver Springs", a song recorded with Fleetwood Mac for the classic album Rumours, but which had been rejected because of a lack of space on the disc, a rejection that Nicks spent much time to accept. We also find a version of "Dreams" with Deep Dish. Among the live tracks, we can hear the Fleetwood Mac classic "Rhiannon", the cover of Led Zeppelin’s "Rock and Roll" (a challenge she got), and 2 songs with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, "Landslide" and "Edge of Seventeen". A version with DVD is also available containing 13 videos. This compilation of Stevie Nicks is certainly her best at this time, in spite of inequalities and no specific order for the tracks. (May 2007)

Olympia, Emergencies

Orange - Escape From L.A.

Dolores O’Riordan - Are You Listening?

½

Otep - The Ascension

Otep is a metal band with gothic and industrial influences which was formed in Los Angeles in 2000. The Ascension is their 3rd album and it sounds somewhere between Slipknot and Evanescence. The record was in fact produced by Dave Fortman who also worked with Evanescence and Mudvayne. The group, leaded by female singer Otep Shamaya, presents here a change of personnel with the addition of guitarist Karma Cheema and drummer Brian Wolff which are joining with Shamaya and band founder, bass player eViL J (Jason McGuire). Mudvayne guitarist, Greg Tribbett, collaborates to the album in co-writing 3 songs, “Invisible”, “Crooked Spoons” and “Confrontation”. The first single from the album is their very good cover of “Breed” by Nirvana, whose video was produced by Paul R. Brown who worked in the past with Smashing Pumpkins and James Blunt. The remainder of the album comprises good moments whereas the group is passably different from what it did in the past. On the other hand, their sound can somewhat be hard on the ears on certain occasions. The rhythm section takes even per moments death metal tendencies (“Eet The Children”, “March Of The Martyrs”). At other times, they fall into ballads in the Evanescence style (“Perfectly Flawed”, “Invisible”). It’s thus rather difficult to find a guideline to this CD which seems to go into any direction. It integrates various elements to please almost everyone at one moment or another, but few people are likely to like the entire unit, except perhaps for their fans from the beginning who will find here an interesting evolution. (January 2008)

Koch

Paramore - Riot!

Riot! is the 2^nd album by the pop punk quartet from Tennessee Paramore, but the 1^st on a major label. We can compare them with Simple Plan, Amber Pacific and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, but because of the female presence of the young Hayley Williams on the microphone, we can especially compare them with Avril Lavigne and the band from Quebec Meesh. They offer us an energetic pop rock sound with punk influences, like it’s the case for the first single, the excellent "Misery Business". Arrangements are polished, perhaps a little too much, the melodies are always effective and catchy, and the powerful voice of Williams catches quickly our attention. Without being an overflow of creativity, the album presents few truly weak tracks, which makes it a not too deep album easy to hear for 39 minutes. Most of the fans of the genre were already charmed by them. For the others, several are likely to pay attention towards this young band with a contagious energy. (October 2007 Featured New Artist)

Atlantic / Warner

Parkway Drive - Horizons

Pascale Picard - Me, Myself & Us

Pascale Picard is a lady from Quebec City who decided to sing in English and one can say that the decision was rather advantageous to her until now considering the success she had in 2007. This young songwriter gives us folk, contemporary pop and urban music with certain well marked dashes of rock. Her music is built around acoustic guitar, sometimes supported by a passably heavy electric guitar, even metal on "Annoying". But, which draws the attention immediately is Pascale’s voice. At the same time soft and powerful, while being filled with emotion, she reminds us of Lisa Loeb. The solidity of the young woman supported by the huge talent of her musicians gives to this record a balance seldom seen for a first album. From the mega hits "Gate 22" to the excellent "Thinking Of It" and "Smilin'!!", Me Myself & Us comprises very few weaknesses and quickly succeeds in captivating us. It’s an excellent CD which not only allowed us to discover a young promising singer, but also to have under the hand one of the good albums of the year from Quebec. (January 2008 Featured New Artist)

Pierce The Veil, A Flair For The Dramatic

Pierce The Veil is a new group from San Diego, California. Leaded by the brothers Victor and Michael Fuentes, the band plays rock alternative music rather complex and difficult to compare. We find a little post punk, emo, progressive and metal, always with excellent pop melodies, but on musical structures changing continuously. It’s thus a sound we have to discover slowly, but which catches quickly our attention anyway. Well done with very good arrangements, the music of Pierce The Veil has all that is necessary to get out of the American underground and to become known by a larger audience. A simple promotional help would do the job. (August 2007)

Equal Vision

½

MVD

Omara Portuondo - Duets

Preach - Translantic

Queensrÿche - Take Cover

Recoil, SubHuman

Rehtorit, Klassista Musiikkia

Rehtorit is a punk / power pop band from Finland. Their name means Headmasters in English. Klassista Musiikkia (meaning Classical Music) is containing 14 energetic rock songs, obviously in Finnish. The good effective guitars and the powerful voice of the female singer make a great mixture for a very entertaining music. The album is less than 35 minutes and you would appreciate a little more. (July 2007)

Arturo Sandoval - Arturo Sandoval & His Group

Disconforme / MVD

½

Siggi Schwarz & Michael Schenker – Live Together 2004

MVD

Smashing Pumpkins, Zeitgeist

The Snake The Cross The Crown, Cotton Teeth

After Mander Salis, an album I loved in 2004, The Snake The Cross The Crown decided to take a step back. The guys come back now with a sound closer to their roots with many country and folk influences, a little bit like Wilco. But, if you believe they completely gave up indie rock with British influences, you’re not right. In fact, they succeed in perfectly marrying the styles to make extremely rich music. Sometimes comparable to The Band and Creedence Clearwater Revival ("The Great American Smokeout", "Gypsy Melodies"), the group changes literally getting closer to Coldplay and Travis ("Cakewalk", the song-title). Whereas it was an album of great quality they had offered with the previous one, the group passes straightforwardly to another level with Cotton Teeth, an album of a great creative sensitivity. Among the 10 tracks totalizing 49 minutes, very few are not as interesting as the others whereas most of them catch our attention completely. There is "Floating In & Out" that somewhat irritates us with its electronic which seems to come from nowhere, but we think that after all, perfection is not from this world. In spite of this flaw, Cotton Teeth will be undoubtedly one of the best albums of 2007. (May 2007)

Equal Vision

Societys Parasites, Societys Parasites

Societys Parasites is a new kind of hardcore punk band coming directly from the streets of Los Angeles. The main difference between these Californian punks and their colleagues is the rage we can find in each of their songs. All this rage is pitched right to our face on a very fast beat, and the album of 15 tracks lasts only 24 minutes. After a rather conventional introduction, the CD really begins with "In The City" and you will never have again the possibility to breathe, partly thanks to the production of Elvis Cortez from Left Alone. Noisy bass and guitar solos worthy of the good years of speed metal will fill the ears of fans of fast, aggressive and without any compromise punk rock. It acts as an extremely liberator album and you will feel particularly calm when the wall of noise will stop. Without being really creative from a musical point of view, it’s a good album of real punk rock, like there are very few nowadays... (June 2007 Featured New Artist)

Hellcat / Epitaph

½

Soulkid #1, Americanized

Soulkid #1 is a new band from Los Angeles, California offering us its very first album. This one includes a good mix of alternative rock, soul, R&B and hip hop. The influences go from Beck to David Bowie, including the sound of Motown and boogie of the 70’s. The writing for the songs of Americanized started in 2000-2001 when Marc Godfrey left behind his native town of Vancouver to move to California. Each track of the CD was inspired by a different area of the city of Los Angeles. Americanized was supposed to get released in 2003, but the band lost its contract after the decision of Dreamworks to leave them apart when they made a new association with Interscope. Finally, 4 years later, we can hear this very interesting album. We already heard the song "(More Bounce In) California" which had success on the Internet and in America underground, in addition to be heard on motion picture soundtracks of the movies Win a Date with Tad Hamilton and Legally Blonde 2, as well as the TV shows The O.C. and Laguna Beach. Since that time, the sports teams made the song an anthem playing it to their fans during the breaks. In addition to that excellent track, the album includes many other possible hits ("Until It's Gone...", "It's Your Lifestyle, Baby", "Some Kind of Wonderful Drug") and the weaknesses are rare. This is a creative album making us hope for a great future for this band of the 2000’s… (February 2007)

Secret Agent

Virgin / EMI

½

Static Thought, In The Trenches

Static Thought was formed in the early 2000’s and they were first a trio. After an EP in 2003, the band presents now its very first full length album with the young 17-year old singer and guitarist Eric Urbach. The quartet offers us a fast and energetic punk rock with hardcore influences, but always melodic. The influences of the group go from G.B.H. to Rancid, including U.K. Subs, Black Flag, Dead Boys, Motörhead and NOFX. Among the contemporaries, we can compare them with The Unseen, Left Alone and Time Again. Their music is completely refreshing among all the other bands of the same genre that all seem to be very tortured to make interesting and creative music that won’t sound like pop punk. We have the feeling the 4 guys of Static Thought produced the album they really wanted to do, without any concern of public target and album sales. The result is particularly effective and is like a punch to the chin. One of my favorite elements of the CD is the presence of guitar riffs that are completely incredible in speed and effectiveness. This is particularly the case in "Social Unrest", a track in which the bass of Mike Have-Not is also rather impressive. The album finishes with a very good cover of "Next To You" by The Police, a version reminding us of Motörhead, especially thanks to Urbach voice. In The Trenches is a perfect album for true fans of punk, you know the genre we hear less and less nowadays because it’s always transformed in another musical style to make it something that has nothing more to do with punk rock except the name. This is an entertaining first album with great qualities that this new group of the San Francisco bay offers us, a band that has a great future. Excellent start! (March 2007 Featured New Artist)

Hellcat / Epitaph

The Stooges, The Weirdness

The Stooges is that legendary group in which was Iggy Pop and which provided the foundations of what was going to become punk rock. In spite of some sporadic appearances and recordings through the years, the group had not recorded albums since 1973, the year of the classic Raw Power. Nobody really awaited this first disc in 34 years, since the history often proved that it was preferable not to come back after as many years during which we became true legends. It is thus with a certain indifference that I gave myself the task to listen to this new album and, as expected, nothing did make me fall from my chair. As soon as at the first track, "Trollin'", I had the feeling to listen to a new version of what Iggy Pop did during the last 25 years, a rather common rock sound which can be great in concert knowing the stage madness of Iggy, but which leaves us cold on CD. The Asheton brothers still work well together and the rhythm section is effective with Mike Watt on bass, but Iggy is straightforwardly not at the top of his game. His voice was however well on his last solo recordings, but here, he’s often flat which breaks all the energy, without forgetting that his lyrics are generally ridiculous (but that point is not so new!). There are anyway some interesting songs like "My Idea of Fun" and "She Took My Money" (in the Rolling Stones genre), but they are unfortunately quickly forgotten when we hear tracks like the annoying title-song and the redundant "The End of Christianity". The Weirdness is thus a quite pale copy of the 3 brilliant albums released by the group between 1969 and 1973. It’s a common rock n’ roll lacking energy we have to listen to by curiosity first for the legend that the group represents, but this new record will definitely not make history. (May 2007 Featured Review)

Virgin / EMI

John Tesh, A Passionate Life (CD + DVD)

John Tesh is a neo-classical / new age pianist giving us for almost the last 20 years primarily instrumental background music. On A Passionate Life, we can hear some of his revisited hits, accompanied by interesting covers. The CD contains 12 titles and the DVD, 9 titles. Only 2 tracks are found as much on the CD as on the DVD, the excellent "Cante Domine" (with Gregorian chants) and "Valley Of Dreams". The images of the DVD were captured in very beautiful venues or in the nature, which gives quite simply splendid images. For the sound recording, it was made live at the capture of these images. Among the covers we can hear, there is on the CD "Desert Rose" and "Shape Of My Heart" of Sting, "In Your Eyes" of Peter Gabriel and "Bring Me To Life", the Evanescence mega hit. The DVD contains another Sting hit, "Fields Of Gold", and the excellent "Against All Odds" of Phil Collins. As a whole, I have to admit I was surprised by an album of great quality which is sounding well in various circumstances in spite of the fact that it acts primarily as an atmospheric album. The orchestrations, always present, create a rich and deep sound and we find ourselves putting the volume to a highest level. This is a very good album which can be used to discover the genre if you’re not very familiar with it. (August 2007)

Garden City / Warner

Tiësto - In Search Of Sunrise 6: Ibiza

Tiger Army, Music From Regions Beyond

Timbaland, Shock Value

Timbaland is especially known as producer for many famous artists including Missy Elliott, Aaliyah, Jay-Z, Ludacris, Snoop Dog, Ginuwine, Nas, Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado. Several of those artists collaborate to this 5^th album by Timbaland. Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake contribute to the excellent hit "Give It To Me", whereas Timberlake comes back for the following track, "Release", as well as "Bounce" on which we can also here Dr. Dre and Missy Elliott. Some names come back often (Keri Hilson, Sebastian), whereas other names can surprise you (The Hives, Fall Out Boy, Elton John). With also 50 Cent, She Wants Revenge, One Republic and several others, Timbaland is particularly well accompanied for this 2^nd album without his good colleague Magoo (who takes part here only to one song). His hits of the last years, especially those with Timberlake and Furtado, twinned with an exceptional promotional machine, made it possible to install all the tools to make of Shock Value a worldwide success. The album starts indeed greatly and creates high expectations for the songs to come. Unfortunately, it loses strength with the 5^th, "Bounce", and it will be very hard to regain interest thereafter. It’s because that in spite of the exceptional quality of the production, the compositions are really defective and there are several pieces with easy and uninteresting beats (and we don’t even speak about the lyrics!). Some tracks will please strippers and they will certainly choose one of them for their number. It’s particularly the case with "Fantasy" which brings us almost automatically images of strippers on a stripper pole, like if it had been written to this end. Whereas I expected an album in the category of Justin Timberlake or Usher, I rather discovered a product which we could put side by side with a P. Diddy CD in the futile and unimportant category. Certain tracks will undoubtedly be among the most downloaded like "Oh Timbaland", "The Way I Are" and the hit "Give It To Me", but the problem is that they carry the album by themselves, an album which lasts a very long 62 minutes. The almost emo "One And Only" with Fall Out Boy has the advantage of changing the atmosphere at the 15^th track. The remix of "Apologize" from One Republic and "2 Man Show", with Elton John on piano, will come to complete not so badly this album, which will have the advantage of leaving us a correct impression about the album. But it’s only an impression... (June 2007)

Interscope / Universal

½

Mel Tormé - The Very Best Of Mel Tormé

Juan Pablo Torres, Algo Nuevo

Juan Pablo Torres, Romantic Cuba

The Traveling Wilburys, Collection (2 CD + DVD)

The Unseen, Internal Salvation

The Used, Lies For The Liars

Here is the 3^rd real album by the emo group of Utah The Used. We can still partly compare them with My Chemical Romance and do comparisons with The Black Parade, but The Used doesn’t succeed in going far ahead in their art. Orchestrations of the first single "The Bird And The Worm" are not able to make the track brilliant. Moreover, in spite of several good pop melodies, a few among them remain in our mind. In spite of a sound approaching a little more metal, the aggressiveness which we found on their previous recordings is disappearing here, which will push back a whole audience of teenagers which was precisely attracted by this so useful liberating attitude, especially in concert. Lies For The Liars represents a kind of turning point in the career of The Used, but the result is not really better than the previous albums and it’s once again an average album which we have in our hands. At the beginning, they spoke about a group with an interesting potential, but we must start making up our mind that this is a group which is not likely to go much further to what it accustomed us until now. If you like their music, good for you, but don’t expect anything more... (August 2007)

Reprise / Warner

Bebo Valdés - Featuring The Legendary Vocalists

Vanna - Curses

Vanna is a post hardcore band from Boston presenting its very first album, in spite of an already long experience in concert throughout all America. The group had also offered us an EP of 6 tracks in 2006, The Search Party Never Came, which made a good impression within the US hardcore punk scene. Their sound, a fusion of punk and metal, takes its inspiration from bands like Norma Jean and Underoath. Their colleagues at Epitaph, Escape The Fate and From First To Last, also come to our mind in many occasions. The major part of the album is based on the screaming voice of Chris Preece, but we find anyway moments with melodies in some choruses. Few tracks arise truly among the others, except maybe for the first single, "The Things He Carried". Finally, Curses remains an hardcore album offering very few moments to sing along. Therefore, sensitive ears should listen to something else. (October 2007)

Video: "The Things He Carried"

Epitaph

Velvet Revolver, Libertad

The former Guns N’ Roses members (Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum) accompanied by the singer of the late Stone Temple Pilots (Scott Weiland) are back with a 2^nd album after the success of Contraband issued in 2004. The most important problem about that 1^st album in my opinion was the distance which existed between the sound of Guns N’ Roses and the style of Weiland. This problem is practically solved here whereas we have the feeling that Weiland was able to integrate much more in the sound of the group for a more cohesive unit. Perhaps that the producing of Brendan O' Brien has something to do with it since he worked with Stone Temple Pilots in the past. What doesn’t change on Libertad, it’s that it’s still possible to feel that Velvet Revolver is a group of stars and that their ego threatens constantly to make the band explode. But for the moment, they succeed in bringing all their energy on stage, because it’s not a secret that the group makes albums with the only goal of going on tour after its release. Once again, Libertad doesn’t push back any limits and the creativity is definitely not at the center of the album. It simply acts as a good rock n’ roll album which will make you move, and all its tracks are pleasant to play on stage and to listen to it for a good release of energy. This is the perfect album for the nostalgic people of the best 80’s hard rock and for those which despair to hear again Guns N’ Roses on CD one day... A version with DVD is also available. (September 2007 Featured Review)

Porter Wagoner, Wagonmaster

At a few days of reaching 80 years old, the traditional American country singer Porter Wagoner is still active and he offers us another new album recorded in just 3 days. We have to note his collaboration with Dolly Parton for the writing of "My Many Hurried Southern Trips", but it’s the following track which constitutes undoubtedly the central piece of the CD. Indeed, "Committed To Parkview" was written by Johnny Cash and was given in 1983 to the producer of Wagonmaster Marty Stuart who was a part of Cash musicians at the time. We can find it here recorded by Wagoner for the first time. What surprises when we’re listening to Wagonmaster, it’s mainly to hear how well he sings in spite of his age and it’s like he was 30 years younger. Wagoner, which was always faithful to the roots of country music, continues once again in the same direction, 55 years after his first recordings. It was never an alternative for him to explore pop music and he always was at the top of the list of the greatest singers of the Nashville music scene. This is thus once again a very good album which he offers us, an album which has a beautiful balance between happy and energetic songs and more melancholic ones. (August 2007)

Anti- / Epitaph

The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour

Already 4 years passed since Reconstruction Site, their 3^rd album which enabled them to reach a larger audience. Even if they didn’t split up, the group comes back with Reunion Tour. We can feel a greater maturity and a greater self-confidence on this album. Indeed, John K. Samson and his band seem now perfectly to know in which direction they wish to go musically and what they want to say. Music of great quality accompanies their often sarcastic lyrics about their entourage in which we recognize types of people we meet regularly. The album begins strongly with the excellent "Civil Twilight" which gives the tone to this album resolutely rock, somewhat leaving the folk and the country aside (in spite of some occasions, including the closing track, "Utilities"). "Hymn of the Medical Oddity" introduces a young boy who was raised as a girl after a tragic medical experiment. "Relative Surplus Value" is also very good, just like "Tournament of Hearts" a song about curling, a very popular "sport" in their hometown of Winnipeg. We find again the character of Virtute the Cat, the narrator we were hearing on their previous album. The poem in music of "Elegy for Gump Worsley" largely modified my opinion about the album by dramatically breaking the beat which I loved until there. Even if some ballads are present on the disc, they do a good job to counterbalance the tracks with a little more rhythm. But, that track about the famous goaltender shouldn’t have had a place on the disc in my opinion. In spite of this unhappy moment, it’s once again an excellent album that give us The Weakerthans, an album which shows a little more the direction the band is taking musically. We can feel that the masterpiece is easily reachable. Check it out in a near future... (October 2007)

Anti- / Epitaph

Kanye West - Graduation

The White Stripes, Icky Thump

Here is the 6^th album by the minimalist blues/garage duet The White Stripes, which celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year. Whereas Get Behind Me Satan had been well far from making unanimity in 2005, Jack and Meg White come back with a record which draws more than ever in the deep roots of American music. They revisit all the styles of blues of the last century, while integrating folk, hillbilly and country (perhaps influenced by the fact that the album was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee). The piano is put aside to leave all the space for good old guitars, electric or acoustic. A new instrument makes its appearance on some occasions, the bagpipe. The instrument allows "Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn" and "St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)" to explore the Scottish folk sound. Globally, Icky Thump is a more rock album than the previous one, with particularly heavy moments ("Little Cream Soda"), but we can hardly compare it with the other albums of the duet. The title-song is an ensured hit, but in my opinion, the following one, the country rock "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)", is more likely to please the radios with its excellent melody. We can hear a cover of Patti Page, "Conquest", which is charged with brass and flamenco beats making it completely unique. The energetic "Rag And Bone" will be undoubtedly a great hit in concert, just like the excellent "I'm Slowly Turning Into You", whereas the ballad "A Martyr For My Love For You" is perhaps the weakest track of the CD, in spite of a good melody. The duet again succeeds in surprising us with several musical explorations which make of Icky Thump another creative album in the discography of The White Stripes. If Get Behind Me Satan had somewhat held you remotely, you can without any problem return to the group with Icky Thump which brings back certain elements which made its reputation, while going even further. On the other hand, if you seek a "hit" like "Seven Nation Army", forget it... (August 2007 Featured Review)

Warner

Wilco, Sky Blue Sky

David Wilcox - Boy In The Boat

Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II

By seeing the title of this new album by Neil Young, one seeks quickly in his discography to see when the first disc of this series was issued to finally realize it doesn’t exist. In fact, Chrome Dreams had been recorded circa 1977, but had been rejected by Young who had simply included the tracks on subsequent albums. Some of these songs proved to be among the bests of his career: "Like A Hurricane", "Powderfinger", "Pocahontas", and so on. By entitling his new album Chrome Dreams II, Young gives himself a certain pressure since it must equal the quality of an album he had judged not sufficiently good to release it, but which contained first quality tracks. This new album contains only 10 titles but adds up 66 minutes anyway. One finds good songs on this including the opening part somewhat country "Beautiful Bluebird". "Ordinary People", recorded in 1988, has an unforgettable melody and is the central piece of the album, even if it becomes straightforwardly interminable with its 18 minutes. One finds another part of more than 14 minutes, "No Hidden Path". The album, which is primarily a joining of songs around "Ordinary People", approaches especially the sound and the environment of Freedom issued in 1989. We cannot obviously compare it with his great classics, but Chrome Dreams II constitutes a very good record anyway. (January 2008)

Reprise / Warner

½

Neil Young, Live At Massey Hall 1971 (CD + DVD)

In the continuation of the release of archive series by Neil Young, here is an album recorded live at the Massey Hall venue in Toronto in 1971. This is an acoustic solo concert which was recorded after the album After the Gold Rush, and which should have come out on record before the classic Harvest. Except that Young was so excited about his new songs, he wanted to present them as soon as possible. So, we hear now for the first time this live recording, even if illegal copies have largely circulated for the last 36 years, making this record a legendary bootleg. When we listen to it, we realize it could very well have been offered to the public between his 2 classic albums without breaking anything in his career. The recording is close to perfection and emphasizes perfectly Young’s voice which is clearer and more precise than ever. We can hear 17 of his best songs, including 2 tracks of his album to come, "Old Man" and "The Needle and the Damage Done", now Young classics. Other tracks played here were going to only appear on record later during the decade ("Journey Through the Past", "Love in Mind" and "See the Sky About to Rain"), whereas 2 songs would never appear on a Neil Young record before today ("Dance Dance Dance", given to his group Crazy Horse, and "Bad Fog of Loneliness"). This special edition includes a bonus DVD with the images of the concert and a high fidelity sound. Although the images are dark and not very dynamic (Young is alone, sitting with his guitar), this is definitely a piece of anthology for any fan of the Canadian folk rocker. (May 2007)

Reprise / Warner

Youth Group, Casino Twilight Dogs

After a first album very appreciated in America (Skeleton Jar, their 2^nd), the Australians of Youth Group heard their song "Shadowland" on the TV show The O.C., as well as the cover of Rod Stewart "Forever Young" which became #1 in Australia. So, here is the eagerly awaited new album Casino Twilight Dogs which includes that famous hit. The indie rock band continues in the same direction than on its previous one with a sound somewhere between Coldplay, The Frames and Elliott Smith. On this new CD, we can also hear a strong influence of the Beach Boys, especially from the legendary album Pet Sounds. They offer an extremely rich music perfectly arranged and produced. The use of orchestration in a couple of occasions (most specifically in "Start Today Tomorrow") comes to add to this music richness, giving some class to the album. You’ll probably appreciate the first single, "Catching & Killing", but also "On a String" and "Sorry", two other future hits. Weaknesses are pretty rare on Casino Twilight Dogs and, as I was expecting when I liked the previous album, they reach now a new level of quality. Youth Group is definitely a band we will hear about for a long time… (February 2007)

Anti- / Epitaph

The Zombies, Live at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London (2 CD)

Compilations:

Healing The Divide: A Concert For Peace And Reconciliation