4Play

Oct. 4, 2006

Audioslave - Revelations - Sony
Just one year after their last album (prolific, in today’s album-release terms), Chris Cornell and his Audioslave bandmates have taken a few steps towards the funky side of things, toning down the heavy-rock influences a fair amount and even chilling out on a few tracks.  “Broken City,” and “Jewel of the Summertime” may be the three best (and most groovin’) tracks on here, an interesting departure for the band and one that suits Cornell’s sinuous voice quite well.  Emotionally sung with B-I-G guitars and even some backing vocals contributed by the rest of the band, it’s a set that holds its own and will probably make rock radio happy, too, especially with well-structured and impeccably-played songs like “One and the Same,” the arena-friendly standout song “Moth,” and the album’s first single to radio, the uber-catchy, slightly heavier “Original Fire,”  Hopefully this will be enough of a success to keep the band together in spite of Cornell’s impending (rumored) second solo album.
 
Jars of Clay - Good Monsters - Essential Music
“Light alterna-rock,” “Church rock,” and “Modern-day hymnsters” are just a few of the labels that Grammy-winners Jars of Clay have been tagged with since becoming the poster children for Christian rock.  Not that any of those are a bad thing - but they’re just not labels that the band should be pigeonholed with, because there’s a lot more beneath that media-categorized surface.  You’d expect profound lyrics in a project like this, and you’ll find them here - but they’re carefully crafted and, for the most part, free of the dozens of cliches you’d also expect.  By turns, reflective, questioning, desperate, and grateful, these are songs about struggle and hope, brought to form with jangly guitars and like-minded guest stars, like Sixpence None the Richer’s Leigh Nash, who appears on “Mirrors and Smoke.”  Other highlights include the observant “Dead Man (Carry Me)”, “Light Gives Heat,” featuring the African Children’s Choir, and the pretty “There is a River.”

The Darling Buds - Pop Said... - Cherry Red
A re-release of the excellent early ‘90s album by modern beatniks, The Darling Buds, this reissue features all the original tracks plus a whopping nine bonus tracks (including the band’s popular B-sides), some of them being heard for the first time on (gasp!) CD.  Most often compared to the sounds of Blondie, The Primitives, and Velocity Girl, The Darling Buds (name taken, of course, from Shakespeare) were unceremoniously shoved aside by the grunge invasion, which is a shame, as their tunes are an exceptional example of what pop should be.  Bigger on the UK scene than in the U.S. (no surprise there), The Buds are now poised to reach a whole new generation of listeners with such songs as “Hit the Ground,” “Burst,” “She’s Not Crying,” and “You’ve Got To Choose” - perhaps the band will even convert a few Jessica Simpson/Hilary Duff fans once they get a chance to hear what girl-sung pop sounds like when it’s approached with smarts instead of banality.  
 
Bob Dylan - Modern Times - Sony
Bob Dylan may have released an album called Modern Times, but he’s still very much doing his own Bob Dylan thing, to the delight of some and the boredom of others.  The topics of most of these songs - slavery on “Nettie Moore,” sketchy bar doings on “When the Deal Goes Down,” and Tennessee happenings on “Thunder on the Mountain” - are decidedly old-school, somewhat mismatched with Dylan’s attempts at modernism, which take the form of celebrity name dropping (Alicia Keys - what?) and silly self-deprecating pokes at himself as he gets older.  It’s not bad music, not at all - as a matter of fact, the musicianship here is top-notch (and you can even understand Dylan’s singing most of the time), but there’s just something... off kilter. The very best moments are when Dylan pulls out his bluesman skills - as on “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” and “Someday Baby” - as you get the impression that this is the sound that he’s most passionate about right now - perhaps he should stick to what he enjoys best, because that’s when the real Dylan comes out.