4Play

June 20, 2007

The White Stripes - Icky Thump - Warner Bros./WEA
Opening in a no-nonsense style with the ‘70s-psychedelia-tinged title track, the peppermint-styled Detroit duo have returned in full force, combining their trademark garage blues-rock with touches of Spanish influences and plenty of that Jack White guitar work. More detail can be heard throughout this release, as well as more experimentation, with Meg n’ Jack throwing in everything from Univox tones to mariachi horns, bagpipes, and a little heavy metal.  White Stripes fans will be delighted, especially given such track highlights as the solidly pretty “You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told),” the interesting acceleration of “Bone Broke,” the humorous “Rag and Bone,” the slide-guitar anchored “Catch Hell Blues,” and the end windup of the very Stripes-esque “Effect and Cause.”

Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full - Hear Music
Produced by Strokes producer David Kahne, McCartney has passed the 64 mark with the arrival of this album, and the answer is, yes, the world still needs him and his songcraft.  Playing every instrument on the album except for the strings, McCartney pushes and pulls his dulcet, distinctive tones over an introspective, retrospective collection of new songs that are carefully written and casually played; this approach works beautifully.  The first single, “Dance Tonight,” is a slyly infectious melody with deceptively simple lyrics and country influences;  McCartney’s poetic skills show through on the likes of “You Tell Me” and “Mr. Bellamy,” and “Gratitude” highlights the balladry McCartney is so good at. Surprisingly, there are also a lot more upbeat songs here than previous efforts - and, as this set proves, a lot more great music to still be expected from Sir Paul.

The Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army -
Supported by his on-again-off-again backing band, the Cardinals, Adams is back to the roots of his form with this set of his trademark country-flavored pop. Strong and thoughtful, more carefully put together yet almost more raw in introspection than many of his recent offerings, he’s swirled up the drama of relationships and life in these compositions, which makes for some pretty great listens and more than a few takes on Ryan’s philosophies of love. Some of the tracks are too short - which is a testament to their effectiveness - but even in these not-enough ratios, they’re still well worth the album purchase. You’ll hear the evocative and lush “The Sun Also Sets,” the folk-pop gem that is “Tears of Gold,” and the strummy “I Taught Myself How to Grow Old,” among other surprises, one being the fact that Sheryl Crow steps in for a cool sing-along-with-Ryan session on the pretty little “Two.”

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (Deluxe Edition) - Geffen
Pop-punk fans of Good Charlotte will likely Often termed as Sonic Youth’s breakthrough set, the art-rock cult faves, who are partly responsible for helping indie rock bands get more label attention over the years, focused so much effort on this album you can almost hear their underground earnestness permeating the songs themselves.  Now, their label gives a new edition of the album the extra attention it deserves, with a second CD that includes live versions of all the tracks on the album, plus a few rarities, including “Within You, Without You,” one of the harder to find SY tunes. You’ll also find all the songs here that were on the original album; “Total Trash,” “’Cross the Breeze,” “Providence,” and so many more - there are plenty of reasons that the original album was included on Rolling Stone’s, Spin’s, and AP’s lists of top albums, and this re-release is likely to gain the band even more new fans.