Is the new album by Bobby Brown a “masterpiece?” Check out our review to see whether a 15 year layoff has been kind to the New Edition singer.
Posts tagged "album reviews"
Spin Cycle: Usher, Looking 4 Myself
Usher’s seventh album, Looking 4 Myself, finds the singer straddling the worlds of pop and soul. Is his genre blend successful? Check our review and find out.
Spin Cycle: John Mayer’s Born And Raised
Does John Mayer’s new Born And Raised bring him back to his Grammy-winning Continuum form? Check out our review to find out.
Spin Cycle: Adam Lambert’s Trespassing
Glambert is back for round two! The pop star’s new album is called “Trespassing,” and it’s a dance-pop triumph. Check out the review!
Spin Cycle: Barenaked Ladies’ Stop Us If You’ve Heard This One Before
Barenaked Ladies gather demos, remixes and rarities for “Stop Us If You’ve Heard This One Before.” Is this for super-fans only, or will casual fans dig this too? Check out our review!
Spin Cycle: The “Avengers Assemble” Soundtrack
“The Avengers” soundtrack brings together a bunch of rock stalwarts for an unappetizing collection. Read our review to find out how odious this album actually is.
Diggin’ in the Crates: “Stoney and Meatloaf”
It’s accepted music lore that Meat Loaf ripped through popular music on the back of a silver black phantom bike like a bat out of hell with his solo debut, appropriately titled Bat Out Of Hell. It was a work of massive, lusty hubris, composed by master songwriter and closet freak Jim Steinman, and it married 1960s adolescent yearning to a Spector-esque wall of sound – complete with horns, resplendent grand pianos, wall-to-wall vocals, and charmingly pretentious spoken-word excerpts – […]
Spin Cycle: Say Anything’s “Anarchy, My Dear”
You could fill years of academic journals with research about popular music and mental illness. The chemical balances that lend themselves to musical mastery will surely never be uncovered, nor will we ever understand the tendency of artistic geniuses to commit themselves to bizarre or self-destructive behaviors (or, in some cases, both). But what happens if things get better? What if you’re able to quell your demons and triumph over adversity – does the music get better, or does the […]
Spin Cycle: Seal’s “Soul 2”
Seal is back with “Soul 2” a follow up to his successful collection of R&B covers. How do these remakes fare when compared to the originals? We investigate.
Spin Cycle: Kevin Hearn’s “Cloud Maintenance”
Although best known as the keyboardist of Barenaked Ladies, Kevin Hearn is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who has recorded several albums outside of the BNL fold. Although many of these releases were recorded along with his band Thin Buckle, the just-released Cloud Maintenance is the second full-length to be released under his name alone. It’s a whimsical affair that falls in line with the rest of his solo work. For those who have never heard Hearn’s solo work (or […]
Albums That Time Forgot: Jon Brion’s “Meaningless”
Jon Brion is certainly best known these days as a producer, having helmed classic albums for the likes of Fiona Apple, and collaborating with Kanye West on Late Registration, providing the sonic direction for just about all the rest of his releases to date. What more casual fans of Brion don’t know is that he’s an artist himself-and has had a recording career since he was a teenager. As a member of The Bats, he released the critically acclaimed How […]
Spin Cycle: Robin Thicke’s “Love After War”
Robin Thicke has to be the most unlikely R&B star of all time. His mom is a former soap star. His dad is Jason Fucking Seaver. Irregardless of his stardom, what’s proven a bit more interesting to me is how someone who seemed to be bringing a quirky, fresh attitude to pop ‘n b turned so conventional over the course of his career. I was what you might call an “early adopter” of Robin. Back in the summer of 2002, […]
