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Music Reviews

Carly Simon 'This Kind Of Love'
After four decades as one of the world's top singer/songwriters, with a truckload of hits that have helped shape pop music, you might think there's little new ground that Carly Simon could plow. And you'd be wrong.
On her first album of original material in eight years, Simon ventures into Brazilian music with a passion, turning out a delicious, fresh pop record that will make you feel as if you're dancing on a beach with sand between your toes and a sultry breeze in your hair.
The title track is a dusky, sensual ode to new, exotic romance, and "Island" is the kind of dreamy theme you would expect from the title, even paying homage to The Beatles' "Sun King" in its intro.
Parenting is also a recurring theme in the album, from "Hold Out Your Heart" and "They Just Want You To Be There," to "Sangre Dolce," a true story about an Argentinian nanny Simon met in New York. She told the woman her baby was beautiful, but the caretaker broke into tears, revealing the child wasn't hers; her own child was thousands of miles away while her mother worked to earn money by taking care of someone else's child.
CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: The words "rap" and "Carly Simon" don't often appear in the same sentence, but the most unusual and memorable track on this album is "People Say A Lot," in which Simon does indeed rap to a sultry beat about the promises people make when they want something, ranging from a a job to a romance. Snoop Dogg she's not, but it still works.
— The Associated Press
Neil Diamond 'Home Before Dark'
While producer Rick Rubin coaxed some fine songs out of Neil Diamond on their first collaboration, 2005's "12 Songs," you could feel the fear of a singer told to stand alone with his guitar in front of a recording microphone for the first time in many years.
With the new "Home Before Dark," Diamond sounds much more comfortable.
That's mostly good.
In fact, we'll defy any singer-songwriter this year to come up with a run of four stronger songs than the ones that open this album. Bookended by the epic "If I Don't See You Again" and the Natalie Maines duet "Another Day (That Time Forgot)," each song is assured and insightful. Years of crusted bangles and beads prevent many people from taking Diamond seriously as a songwriter. That's a mistake.
Diamond's acoustic guitar is the centerpiece of a band that includes Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench and plays with stately elegance.
Some bombast returns with the confidence. "One More Bite of the Apple" is an overused metaphor that Diamond should have known to avoid. He hasn't quite reached the level of artistry that Johnny Cash did with Rubin, but "Home Before Dark" continues to solidify Diamond's reputation.
CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: "Cherry Cherry." No, we're kidding. "Pretty Amazing Grace" soars, a love story for a second or third act in life.
— The Associated Press
Phil Stacey 'Phil Stacey'
As a season seven finalist on "American Idol," Phil Stacey stood out for his upbeat personality and openly religious style. His debut as a country music singer follows suit: His songs are filled with breezy pop hooks and positive themes that sometimes cross into spiritual messages.
His faith come natural to him: the Kentucky-born singer's father, and both grandfathers, preached in Christian churches. Married since 1998, the sunny love songs from his self-titled debut seem similarly heartfelt.
Amid all the paeans to devotion — including the album's first hit, "If You Didn't Love Me" — there are some surprises. The opening "It's Who You Know," with its familiar religious message about how material success can't buy eternal life, has a psychedelic edge that would fit on a Cheap Trick album. Stacey also handles the funky "Find You" and the dreamy "You Are Mine" with an easy, earthy touch.
The album does stumble a bit toward the end. Stacey sounds unconvincing on the lost-love moaner, "Still Going Through," and can't find the center of the clumsily written closing spiritual, "Identity." By time he gets to those, however, he's already proven that he's continuing to take advantage of every good break he gets.
CHECK THIS OUT: While most of the album thrives on energy, Stacey shows the breadth of his potential by how persuasively he handles the stripped down "Be Good to Each Other," a beautifully simple commentary written by the album's producer, Wayne Kirkpatrick.
— The Associated Press
Sierra Hull 'Secrets'
Combine the angelic voice of Alison Krauss with the fiery mandolin picking of Rhonda Vincent and you have the sound of Sierra Hull on "Secrets."
It doesn't hurt that the 16-year-old Krauss protege is backed by members of Krauss' band Union Station, or that Hull's co-producer is Station's Ron Block. But it's still her album.
She hits the ground running on the title track with a vicious mandolin lick followed by her driving vocal. It's the only cut that includes all four members of Union Station — Dan Tyminski on vocals, Block on guitar and vocals, Barry Bales on bass and Jerry Douglas on dobro.
Two instrumentals highlight Hull's mandolin virtuosity — "Smashville" by Jim VanCleve, who plays fiddle on the track, and Hull's "Hullarious" — on which she's joined by another amazing teen, 17-year-old banjo player Cory Walker from her band Highway 111 and shows she's no slouch at guitar, either.
The lone ballad amid the 13 tracks is a lovely version of "The Hard Way," far softer than Keith Urban's grittier one. Hull also delivers a snappy bluegrass update of "Everybody's Somebody's Fool," which Connie Francis took to No. 1 almost a half century ago. Hull dodges the youthful temptation to oversing or overplay and instead leads what amounts to a track-by-track jam session with some of the most talented musicians in bluegrass. It's dominated by her mandolin and vocal dynamics few artists of any age ever master.
CHECK OUT THIS TRACK: In an album dominated by blazing instruments, Block's "If You Can Tame My Heart" highlights wonderful vocals featuring just Hull, Tyminski and Clay Hess in a clever, complex tune. Bluegrass melodies generally go where you expect them to. This one doesn't.
— The Associated Press
Craig David 'Trust Me'
"Trust Me" isn't just the title of British artist Craig David's fourth studio album. The two-word combination might best serve as instructions for listening to the disc.
The 26-year-old, who made a splash in the United States with his 2001 platinum debut "Born to Do It" but then fell off the radar here, exudes soul. His voice is sweet and sincere on the delicate, slow-moving track "Awkward," with its earthy mix of guitar and organ.
But creatively, David isn't so easily labeled. Perhaps it's because he escapes the usual boundaries of those in his musical genre — going full-throttle with sounds some artists only dabble in.
The tempo, the drums and the electrifying horns on "6 of 1 Thing" and "Don't Play with Our Love" boast Cuban influence. The lead single "Hot Stuff (Let's Dance)" starts with a '50s-era drumbeat and continues with a sound culled from the days of disco.
There are tracks, such as the folksy "Top of the Hill," that might seem out of character, but the guy sounds good, nevertheless. For those who choose to follow David's directions, "Trust Me" is easy to enjoy, even if the selection of tracks doesn't mesh seamlessly together.
CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: David comes off super smooth on the reggae-driven "She's on Fire," and even shows off some exciting rhyming skills.
— The Associated Press
Def Leppard 'Songs from the Sparkle Lounge'
Def Leppard had a magic touch in the 1980s, turning a smart balance of hard-nosed energy, pop accessibility and clever production into a pair of 10-million selling records. By contrast, "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge," the British five-piece's first set of new songs since the lowest selling album in its history, "X" in 2002, is heavy with paint-by-numbers hard rock that exhibits too little of the inventiveness in which the band once specialized.
Joe Elliott's gravelly bark can still prod gamely at Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell's propulsive electric guitar pyrotechnics, a confluence that brings some juice to the driving "Hallucinate."
Drab assembly line tunes abound: "C'Mon C'Mon" splatters guitars across an empty anthem, and the repetitive, crunching rock of "Go" sounds like a group barely going through the motions. Past formula polishes up nicely to color the choruses of "Come Undone," but highlights that are merely passably glossy are a big step down for a band that once built the slickest thrill rides around.
Essential download: "Nine Lives"
— The Hartford Courant
Elvis Costello and the Imposters 'Momofuku'
Ever since the brilliant sprint of Elvis Costello's first four or five albums, fans have been pining for the proverbial return to form.
Over the years, there have been plenty of contenders — 2002's "When I Was Cruel" and 2004's "Delivery Man" are the most recent — but Costello tends to lose himself in ambitious genre exercises, attempting, with mixed results, to master everything from country to classical.
"Momofuku," named either for the inventor of instant noodles or a hip New York eatery, was cut in a week by Costello, the Imposters (his classic Attractions lineup, less bassist Bruce Thomas) and a cast of young ringers, including Jenny Lewis and Jonathan Rice.
The album is available only as a digital download or two-LP set (a CD version is due later this month), and the vinyl format befits its loose, organic feel. Costello is as tuneful as ever, and whether he's revisiting his rock past ("No Hiding Place") or playing the leader of a dark lounge band ("Harry Worth"), he's relaxed and in his element.
The new songs aren't exactly rock, pop, alt-country or neo-new wave, although they contain elements of those and other styles. Even if it's not as essential as his late-'70s masterpieces, "Momofuku" is unmistakably an Elvis Costello record.
— The Hartford Courant