Category: Reviews

  • Morningwood – Morningwood

    Artist: Morningwood Title: Morningwood Label: Capitol Rating: 6.5/10 FILE UNDER: ‘70s-style rock and pop. CORPORATE LINE: Riff-shredding, ass-shaking, louder-than-life Morningwood is a glorious hodgepodge of personalities, backgrounds and influences — much like their NYC hometown — but that’s where the pigeonholing ends. “There’s an attitude, this balls-to-the-wall feeling, you don’t hear so much in New […]

  • Bon Jovi – Crush

    Artist: Bon Jovi Title: Crush Label: Mercury Rating: 6.5/10 Bon Jovi is still around. Let’s understand that and accept it as fact. I know this because here I am with their latest release, Crush. Even before listening, I noted their updated look and that the packaging for the album is really cool. And in a […]

  • Beach Boys – Pet Sounds

    Artist: Beach Boys Title: Pet Sounds Label: Capitol Rating: 10/10 So how do you expand on perfection? Well, you add a couple of new tracks that we’ve never heard before. Then you don’t re-mix the album, but you take the original mono recordings and update them into digital form. Pet Sounds is perhaps one of […]

  • Bo Bice – The Real Thing

    Artist: Bo Bice Title: The Real Thing Label: RCA Rating: 5/10 FILE UNDER: Rocker gets watered down. CORPORATE LINE: The “American Idol” story you know. Bo made it into the top 24, then the top 12, and as the weeks went by and others were voted off, Bo remained. On the final episode, Bo was […]

  • Faith Evans – A Faithful Christmas

    Artist: Faith Evans Title: A Faithful Christmas Label: Capitol Rating: 5/10 FILE UNDER: Not such a Faithful Christmas. THE GREAT: “Mistletoe & Holly” – This is the first track where Faith does something that sounds like a Christmas song. It’s a surprise how she covers this Sinatra classic so beautifully. THE AVERAGE: “Happy Holiday” – […]

  • Il Divo – The Christmas Collection

    Artist: Il Divo Title: The Christmas Collection Label: Columbia Rating: 7.5/10 FILE UNDER: A beautiful operatic Christmas album. CORPORATE LINE: The cosmopolitan quartet of pop/opera crossover singers are back and this time to make your holidays extra special! After releasing their breakthrough self-titled in 2005, the men of Il Divo return with an exquisite Christmas […]

  • Diana Krall – Christmas Songs

    Artist: Diana Krall Title: Christmas Songs Label: Verve Rating: 5/10 FILE UNDER: A Jazz Christmas. CORPORATE LINE: To say that the Canadian-born Krall is proud of her new album Christmas Songs – a dozen familiar tunes that gleefully swing the spirit of the season – is an understatement. “It was just the most joyful experience […]

  • Lori Burton – Breakout

    Artist: Lori Burton Title: Breakout Label: Rev-Ola Records Rating: 9/10 This obscure little number recently unearthed by England’s Rev-Ola label is one of the hippest reissues of the year. Lori Burton and her songwriting partner Pam Sawyer were responsible for penning a number of hits for various artists during the’60s. The duo was also briefly […]

  • Lindsay Lohan – A Little More Personal (Raw)

    Artist: Lindsay Lohan Title: A Little More Personal (Raw) Label: Casablanca Rating: 5.5/10 FILE UNDER: Actress tries her hand at pop rock. CORPORATE LINE: Get ready for some Lindsay with the bark on. Casablanca/Universal recording artist, multi-talented, triple threat Lindsay Lohan is proving to be as resilient as she is radiant these days, as cutting […]

  • Jane Monheit – The Season

    Artist: Jane Monheit Title: The Season Label: Epic Rating: 5/10 FILE UNDER: A Jazz Christmas. CORPORATE LINE: Inspired by her favorite holiday album, Ella Fitzgerald’s 1960 Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas (Verve), Monheit creates inventive renditions of an eclectic repertoire of songs. The album spans eleven tracks that range from the Carpenters’ “Merry Christmas […]