4Play

May 18, 2008

Augustana - Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt - Sony
You may first have heard of five-piece modern rockers Augustana via their track “Boston,” which has topped a million in digital single sales; but it’s the album that will keep you listening further - well, provided you like the band’s sleekly-produced brand of emo-fied breakup songs. Production (by Mike Flynn) is paramount here - sometimes too much, as all the songs sound alike, not just in a band-branded way, but as in a little too alike, threatening to bury the band’s melodic pop-rock ballads. Augustana are experimenting with a slightly more rock sound on this set, though, which helps a few of the songs to pop above the rest, among them the raise-the-lighters “Hey Now,” and the teary-eyed Boston sequel, “Twenty Years.”


Neil Diamond - Home Before Dark - Sony
Diamond’s recent appearance as a mentor on “American Idol” - while somewhat of a failure with the AI contestants, who didn’t quite know what to do with Diamond’s distinctive brand of songwriting - at least reminded U.S. audiences that the man has a ridiculously large roster of hit songs. Produced by Rick Rubin, who ran Johnny Cash’s American Recordings songs through his Magic Console, this set adds to that list, as he duets with Dixie Chick Natalie Maines on “Another Day (That Time Forgot)” and holds the fort down on highlight tunes “If I Don’t See You Again,” and “Pretty Amazing Grace.” The disc veers into corny towards the end, but luckily by then, there’ve been enough redeeming tunes to save it overall.



The Roots - Rising Down - Def Jam
On The Roots’ latest set - which, incidentally, opens with what seems to be a phone montage of the bandmates, er, yelling at each other - it’s apparent that a darker mood is at hand. Politics, crime, the environment, and class/money cultures all make an appearance here. Songs like “I Will Not Apologize,” “I Can’t Help It,” and “Criminal” make their points solidly and without compromise. This is to be expected, perhaps, from an album whose title is reportedly taken (again) from a book about societal woes. Along with the direct lyrics, the music is as sharp as a tack to drive those themes even farther, from the heavy synthesizers to the forceful drumming, the anonymous-sounding vocal samples, and the gravelly guitar work.


Joseph Arthur - Vagabond Skies - Lonely Astronaut
Singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist Arthur has wrapped work on the third in a series of four EPs he’s made plans to release before his full-length album, which will hit stores in September 2008. This particular disc takes its cue from the acoustic side of Arthur, with mellower songs that have an after-club feel, perfect for the coffeehouse crowd - and, as usual, he avoids pithy lyrics and instead goes for the heartfelt, emotional tales of romance and other escapades. Included here is the first studio recording of live fan favorite “She Paints Me Gold,” alongside Arthur’s usual looping/effects pedal techniques on additional tracks “Pretty Good Company,” “Even When Yer Blue,” “Slow Me Down,” “It’s Too Late,” and “Second Sight.”