brief reviews of miscellaneous titles
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featuring

Sinead O'Connor
Over the Rhine
Pavement
Sam Phillips
Postal Service
Radiohead
R.E.M.
The Rolling Stones
Nathan Ryan
Michelle Shocked
Jane Siberry
Paul Simon
Sixpence None the Richer
Sixteen Horsepower
Slowtrain
Bruce Springsteen
Sting


As I find time and opportunity, I'll be adding reviews to this list.

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Sinead O'Connor
The Lion and the Cobra
Comments:  What a debut. Sinead O'Connor has opened the door for, more than anything, the angry women of rock. With this record, she stunned listeners with a ferocity and an eerie beauty that did almost as much as U2 to make Ireland one of rock's most essential sources. These fiery rants are clearly loaded with persona, if cryptic, storytelling. You'll think some Irish spirit, or perhaps a banshee, has materialized to conquer the world with a guitar, a microphone, and a voice that can grab your heart and make it rattle.
Outstanding tracks: "Jackie," "Mandinka," "Jerusalem," "Never Gets Old".
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

Sinead O'Connor
I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got
Comments:  On the album "Cruel Inventions," Sam Phillips sings with honesty that drills a hole in Sinead O'Connor's egotistically ridiculous declarations of independence. Phillips sings, "If I said I don't want what I don't have... I'd be lying."
     Perhaps that's why, for all of the beauty of O'Connor's voice, the audacity of her claims, the fire of her anger and passion, and the gorgeous music concocted by her talented backing musicians, this album comes off as a bunch of defensive diatribes. O'Connor has always been a singer who thinks she has something to prove. And this record is a keeper because of the great sounds, great vocals, and admirable courage behind each and every song. Yeah, it's one that's great turned up loud. But what exactly is being said? The same thing O'Connor always seems to say: "I was wrong before, this time I've got the truth, and thus you're all fools for not being me."
     The title track is just that: an impossible claim of contentment and newfound satisfaction. She's a singer, yes, but not a poet. She "tells" instead of showing. And like the boy who cried wolf, Sinead who cried "I've found it! Perfect Peace!" began to lose credibility. For soon after this record came out, she began a series of complete philosophical makeovers, that would re-introduce her to us, asmong other things, a Catholic Church hater, a renegade Catholic priest, a lesbian, and hurrying down the aisle for another shot at marriage (with a man.) "Feel So Different" may be her only lasting claim... because she always "feels so different".
     It feels wrong, to be reviewing an album by mulling over the artist's personal scandals. But then again, that's what she chooses to sing about. So...
     In spite of all this: O'Connor will be remembered, deservedly so, for the stunningly stark performance of Prince's love song "Nothing Compares 2U". This was also a song that had a video to match its greatness: a steady shot of her face as something inside her breaks down, and the most spectacular tear slides down her face. It's as intimate as music video has ever been.
     The beatbox that powers "I Am Stretched On Your Grave" produces what may be the most contagiously danceable beat I've ever heard, which is joined by a vigorous Irish fiddle tune for an ecstatic finale. "The Last Day of Our Acquaintance" may be the meanest breakup-ultimatum ever recorded. After this record, who would dare ask this woman for a date? These love songs are brilliant inclusions, songs from lovers whose passion has pushed them to the point of lunacy... an appropos expression for a singer possessed of the same dangerous intensity.
Outstanding tracks: "I Am Stretched On Your Grave," "Jump in the River," "Nothing Compares 2 U," "The Last Day of Our Acquaintance"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

Sinead O'Connor
Am I Not Your Girl?
Comments:  Here, O'Connor confesses her love for big anthems from musicals and intimate jazz standards. She's got the voice for it, but apparently not the creativity to give anything revelatory to these songs. Just because she can sing with hushed restraint doesn't mean these are artful or subtle interpretations. "Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered" she truly might be. "I Want To Be Loved By You" is a confession that has been clear on previous recordings. And "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"... uh.... Hmmm.  This might serve for her as a sort of "mix tape" of her favorite songs, but it doesn't do much for the songs themselves. Perhaps she should have instead released her own sampler, choosing her own favorite recordings of these songs to share with us.
     Still, the album does show she has fairly good tste in music. And the songs are indeed classics. She doesn't come close to spoiling them.
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Flawed, but of some merit.

Sinead O'Connor
Universal Mother
Comments:  What a gorgeous surprise. O'Connor must truly "feel so different" this time out. She sounds closer to true contentment than ever, having found a quieter place for reflection and journal writing.
     "Universal Mother" is full of personal anecdotes of a kinder, gentler nature. There are gorgeous lullabies and love songs. There are sweet-spirited references to her daughter. And yes, there are a few fiery prophetic anthems, just so we know this is not an impostor. She also, in the end, has done what she can to make an icon of her own lovingness, compassion, and charity... something that always unfortunately sours her confessions with arrogance. Yet, without that arrogance, she might never have had the impetus to deliver these beauties in the first place.
     "A Perfect Indian" is, in my opinion, the most beautiful track of her career... tender, delicate, fragile, among the most beautiful love poems ever sung. She sees something of her own defiance in a child's rising to meet a playground bully's challenge in "Red Football"--"My head is not a football for you." It's like a cartoon summation of her whole career. "Fire On Babylon" stands as a warning of Biblical proportions that a nation's sins will not be forgotten. She's still ready to flaunt rather questionable opinions and understanding of historical fact in "Famine," where she asserts that the famous Irish potato famine "never happened". But for all of her usual soapbox fever, she has really turned a new page here. I hope that such lovely testimonies as "John, I Love You" signify that she truly is finding peace through love.
Outstanding tracks: "John, I Love You," "A Perfect Indian," "Fire on Babylon"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Excellent

Sinead O'Connor
Faith and Courage
Comments:The pulpit-pounding, "I was wrong before/Now I know Absolute Truth" Sinead O'Connor is back, a little worse for wear. She's cast off the peace and poetry of "Universal Mother" for religious zeal and dated, over-produced, made-for-radio pop music. Alas.
     O'Connor works with a team of producers here, which makes for a bumpy ride, a sorely uneven record. Dave Stewart, Adrian Sherwood, Wyclef Jean can't decide if they want to conquer the Top 40 or make a reggae record. "No Man's Woman" sounds like an attempt to sum up her lifelong trials of man-trouble into a hit single, and it is indeed catchy, the most spirited moment on the record. "When I Whisper U Something" carries on the U2-level fervor she discovered in a collaboration with those Dublin boys called "You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart," providing one of the few high points on the record.
     The rest sound like Sinead trying to cast off the past and re-invent herself, torn between the idea of an Irish diva dressed as Ziggy Marley, and a desire to compete with new pop stars like Natalie Imbruglia.
Outstanding tracks: "No Man's Woman," "When I Whisper You Something"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Worth hearing

Sinead O'Connor
She Who Dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide Under the Shadow of the Almighty      (2003)
Sinead O'Connor's supposed "final album" is a surprisingly rewarding collection, the closest thing to a "fun" album in her career. It's called (okay, take a deep breath...) She Who Dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide Under the Shadow of the Almighty. Sounds pretentious. But surprisingly, it's one of her lightest, most enjoyable collections. The first disc is a collection of power-pop anthems, some of them covers, that are catchy and ethereal, sometimes rocking harder than anything she's released since "Jump in the River" from I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got. After the somewhat self-important sound of Faith and Courage, it's a relief to hear her sound like she's singing for the sheer pleasure of it again. The second disc is a real treat, a whole concert with an impressive set list that hits several highs, including "Nothing Compares 2 U," "John I Love You," "You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart," and "The Last Day of Our Acquaintance."

Over the Rhine
Patience   (1992)
Comments:  An airy but appealing sound has been Over the Rhine’s charm since their debut, but here the hooks get stronger, as do the lyrics, and "Patience" shows a band maturing and finding its feet. Not that its predecessor was bad; "Til We Have Faces" was enchanting in that it felt authentic, just like a band getting together in a basement and putting to music the personal journal-entry lyrics they’d written on long dreary coffee shop afternoons. But "Patience" has more confidence and ambition. You can imagine from the energy licking about the edges of the songs that, when performed live, they might really take off. It’s a quietly affecting, sometimes even joyful, explorative work, allowing Karen Bergquist’s graceful voice to whisper and, occasionally soar. While the focus of the song "Circle of Quiet" is the revelatory possibilities of time spent in silence and meditation, this track sounds like the band’s first solid radio-ready single. And the very next song, "I Painted my Name," builds to become an exhilarating, cheerful affirmation, hinting at the energy to be unleashed on upcoming albums. Unassuming, humble, but skilled and solid songwriting, good enough to keep several of these tracks in their regular concert rotation almost a decade later.
Outstanding tracks: "Circle of Quiet" "I Painted my Name," "Jacksie"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

Over the Rhine
Eve    (1994)
Comments: Eve is Over the Rhine’s boldest foray into rock-and-roll, after their coffee-shop acoustic-pop albums established them as one of adult-contemporary’s best-kept secrets. Guitarist Ric Hordinski’s guitars are a revelation; on tracks like "Daddy Untwisted" he seems to trip over himself with exhilarating, inventive riffs. Linford Detweiler’s playful, often ironic lyrics keep us guessing. The opener, "Happy With Myself" bursts out of the gate with such confidence, and such an irresistible hook, Karen Bergquist’s vocals so free and breathlessly soulful, that it’s clear the band will never fade into the background again. They’re no longer a wistful, melancholy background band; they’re center stage, strong, and ready for their spotlight. "Within Without" is a metaphysical stunner, with complicated wordplay, as the singer appeals, like John Donne, for God to use the violence of the world to bring about rebirth, awe, and miracle: "though I'm usually pacifistic/you are mercifully sadistic/and I didn't know that murder could be good/but the roses came crimson/springing from the prison/of the floorboards where there once were stains of blood." This is heavy stuff. But there’s plenty of fun to be had along the way as well. "My Love is a Fever" is pure guilty-pleasure blues with a twist of Dr. Seuss: "My love is a fever/ my love is a fable/ my love is jazz licks improvised….monkeys shine, fire flies/foxes trot, hobs knob/porches swing, brains storm/hearts attack and air supplies/heads light tails spin/steeples chase you along your chin…" Add to that the fact that the best song on the album is a hidden, unlisted track, a surprise encore that’ll knock you flat with its beauty, which, it turns out, was a hint of things to come. Irresistible.
Outstanding Tracks: "Bothered," "Within/Without," "My Love is a Fever"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

Over the Rhine
Good Dog Bad Dog    (1996, re-issued 2000)
Comments: In 1996, when the IRS record label closed its doors and left its artists homeless, Over the Rhine decided to produce a record on their own. The Cincinnati band had already earned a loyal following for its unusual blend of folk, rock, and pop, and its last album "Eve" had been something of a rock’n’roll revelation. The record they made as a follow-up was something else entirely, like a living-room-concert preview of the best songs they’d ever written. You could tell they were excited, just by the passion with which lead singer Karin Bergquist sings, by her savoring of the poetic lyrics, and by the emphasis on bold piano arrangements. The record received rave reviews from critics across the nation, but didn’t have enough backing to make much of a splash.
   In 1999, Over the Rhine signed with Virgin/Backporch Records, a relationship that started off on a very good note: the label re-released "Good Dog Bad Dog," a revised version (minus two songs, with a new track.) There is a simplicity to these arrangements that lets the glory of Bergquist’s vocals and the eloquence of Linford Detweiler’s lyrics shine through. These songs weren’t just written; they were earned by experience and contemplation as much as composition. When Karin sings, "They’ve taken their toll, these latter days," she might be singing about a disintegrating relationship, about the difficulty of working with the band in hard times, or telling the story of someone losing their grip on life. In interviews, though, Linford revealed that the lyrics were a personal statement of a time when he threw in the towel as a songwriter, overcome with frustration, only to find himself drawn right back to it. His torments are distilled into one of the most beautiful breakup songs ever written, an honest and specific cry from the heart, that ends with a note of grace, "Dance without me/ you dance so gracefully/ and I really think I’ll be okay."
    Lucky for us, though, the tears have long since past, and he has rediscovered with the band new inspiration, new songs, and the best thing that could have happened to the band… a second chance. "Good Dog Bad Dog" isn’t just Over the Rhine’s greatest album; it’s one of the finest recordings of the decade, a testament to hope and rebirth in the face of disaster. Or, as Bono once sang, "Midnight is where the day begins."
Outstanding tracks:  "Latter Days," "Faithfully Dangerous," "All I Need is Everything"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: A Masterpiece

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Pavement
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain –  (1994)
Comments: The genius of Pavement is that they tease you with how much better they could be at conventional rock than most bands, and then they step off to take a road less traveled, the path of experimentation, improvisation, and surprise. Pavement bring something like jazz to their garage-rock and their lyrics.  Just when you think you know where a song is going, it goes somewhere else. In previous efforts, they avoided polish and slick production, reveling in lo-fi.  You didn’t imagine concept videos with their music; you imagined four guys thrashing out songs in a basement.   For all of the brilliance of their breakthrough album "Slanted and Enchanted," which inspired a hundred non-musicians to try their hand at slacker-rock, those songs just don’t linger in the memory like the songs that followed on "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain".
    With this record, Pavement gave in to the temptations of melody and pop hooks.  The compromise was brilliant.  This more accessible sound seems to come against their will, and they’re being dragged up the rock charts kicking and screaming.  Make no mistake, it's still not formula rock; it just exposes a deep-set love for strong chord progressions.  At times, they veer away from pop into a country-influenced or bluesy jazz sound, as on "Range Life" and "Stop Breathin’". At other times, they sound like they want to play with the big boys, rocking the house with "Hit the Plane Down," which resembles REM arena-anthems. And when "Cut Your Hair" bursts into an irresistible pop chorus of syncopated falsetto hoots, you can’t stand still, even as the lyrics describe the inanity of becoming big-name rock stars. "Attention and fame’s a career!" Malkmus caustically cries in the song's searing finale.  This exposed the heart of the band's central struggle, making "Crooked Rain" an album with something serious to say.
   Like the music, Steve Malkmus’ lyrics refuse to make complete sense.  His cryptic, stream-of-consciousness riddles sound passionate enough, with glimpses of life in Southern California, difficult family relationships, frustration with the mainstream, and longing for a life less crowded and messy.  But they keep you guessing, as though the wordplay is part of the music rather than a message of some kind.
   The records that came after were an extension of Pavement's contradictory urges, this love for being different and yet this contrary compulsion to pump out the hits.  "Wowee Zowie" was a hit-an-miss collection of experiments.   "Brighten the Corners" and "Terror Twilight" acted as stylistic sequels to "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain," but the constantly elusive lyrics grew tiresome, and the music stopped breaking new ground.  It was a fascinating tension while it lasted, but none of their efforts shone brighter than "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain," when their desire to connect and communicate overcame their anti-establishment antics.
Outstanding tracks:  "Stop Breathin," "Cut Your Hair," "Range Life"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

Sam Phillips
Martinis and Bikinis  (1994)
Comments: Time Magazine said something to the effect that the ghost of John Lennon, if it had taken up habitation in any particular songwriter, it must have settled in Sam Phillips.  Sam's been my musical hero since The Turning marked her bold departure from the propagandistic signatures of Contemporary Christian Music and established her as a visionary rock poet.  T-Bone Burnett's work with her seems to have found its strengths in this record after the experimentation and eccentric style hopping of Cruel Inventions.  Today it sounds as lasting and true in its explorations of faith (via C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton), the embarrassment of right-wing evangelical politics ("Baby I Can't Please You"), and the tightrope between law and freedom that each spiritual pilgrim struggles to walk ("I Need Love," "Strawberry Road").
Outstanding tracks:  Every track is outstanding.   Sample her banner song "I Need Love," as well as "Signposts" and "Circle of Fire".
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: A Masterpiece

Omnipop (It's Just A Flesh Wound, Lambchop)  (1996)
Comments: If "Martinis and Bikinis" was her rock masterpiece, this is at least her bravest experiment. The songs here, while leaping erratically from style to style, riddle and tease the listener with meanings and often-disturbing implications. Throughout, the album works as a piece, joined loosely by common thematic threads — falling, faith, fear, "zeroes" — to keep us turning it this way and that for better understanding.
Outstanding tracks:  "Animals on Wheels," "Your Hands," "Power World"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

The Postal Service
Give Up
One of 2003's finest pop records is from a new outfit called The Postal Service. There's not enough variety of sound and style over the course of the record to make it great, but there are a handful of catchy, clever, and occasionally poetic songs that kept me going back to the album quite a bit this month. The lyrics reflect some serious soul-searching and a spiritual longing that raises this out of the pop-radio morass and makes it well worth your attention.

Outstanding tracks: "Sleeping In," "Recycled Air"

Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

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Radiohead
OK Computer     (1997)
Comments: Excellentlienation from contemporary society is the theme here... loneliness, failure to connect with or to understand life.  There are mediations on life on earth from observing aliens that pass by the planet, and prayers to aliens in hopes that they'll take us away.  Thom Yorke and Co. have crafted the next step up from the sound of U2's "Achtung Baby," demonstrating that electronic music can be employed in modern composition without detracting from artistry, complexity, and beauty.  A sad, bleak, and beautiful work.
Outstanding tracks:  "Subterranean Homesick Alien," "Paranoid Android," "Airbag," "No Surprises"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: A Masterpiece

R.E.M.
Up   (1998)
Comments:  Bill Berry's departure was a sad day for REM fans, and for the band as well.  Many feared the band would break up.   Instead, the remaining three took the opportunity to explore new sounds, and came up with a strong recording that's just as strange, or stranger, than any of their offbeat releases thus far.  Without Berry's percussive backbone, they pursued a dreamy keyboard sound on this album, peppered with drum machines and loops.  Only the power-pop "Lotus" echoes the arena-rock R.E.M., and "Daysleeper" provides a catchy radio-ready single.  But there are subtler pleasures here, like the shimmering, gentle tones of "Suspicion" or the powerful prayer-like "You're In the Air".  Another thing that surprises me on this record is the seeming contentment.  Michael Stipe's vocals don't seem so driven to croon or to drive a point home; in "At My Most Beautiful" he might be singing in your ear while you sleep. 
   There doesn't seem to be a theme here, unless it's a meditation on making meaning of your life.  "Lotus" might be Stipe's self-effacing look back at his own career and occasional arrogance: "Who's this stranger?/Crowbar spine/dot,dot,dot...and I feel fine."  If that's not a nod to their cocky, posturing radio hit, "It's the End of the World as We Know It," I don't know what it is.  "Suspicion" follows a drunkard down a downward spiral into self-denial.  "Sad Professor" sounds like Solomon lamenting the dead-end paths of knowledge, the elusiveness of love.  "The Apologist" portrays a leader apologizing for mistakes, until that becomes his whole persona.   "Daysleeper" celebrates the honest, straightforward, blue-collar late-shifters fighting to pay bills.  Things come most clear in "Walk Unafraid," a banner song about self-confidence and the importance of pressing on in spite of mistakes.  The song is so unapologetically positive and hopeful, it is no surprise to learn that it was written with a little help from Bono. 
    Like U2, REM will have to work hard to keep from repeating themselves, if they hope to last long past Berry's retirement.  If this is any indication, they still have plenty of tricks up their sleeves.
Outstanding tracks: "Suspicion," "Lotus," "You're In the Air"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

R.E.M.
New Adventures in Hi-Fi    (1996)
Comments:  As U2 did with "Zooropa," REM recorded a collection of some of their finest work while on the road touring for a hit album.   While they break very little new ground stylistically here, they cover a wide range of energies, from the breakneck pace of the exhilarating "Departure" to the mournful beauty of "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us" to the relentless fervor of "Leave". This seems to be a confident fusion of the things they’ve learned in the guitar-heavy days of "Life's Rich Pageant," the pop-hooks of "Out of Time," and the dark moods of  "Automatic for the People".  Gone completely is the weird buzz of "Monster". 
   The clear theme here is The Journey.   Journeys into self-destruction, as a nation in "How the West was won" and as a reckless rock star in "So Fast So Numb".  Journeys into joy in "Electrolite".  Journeys from the known into risk, doubt, and faith in "Leave".  The loss of identity along the way in "Bittersweet Me," and the pain of loneliness and being an outcast in "New Test Leper".  That song stings the sharpest, a lament against Jesus' followers for their tendency to break their own ethics and to judge those around them.  Clearly, Stipe has avoided claiming a personal faith for a reason; he's sickened by the hypocrisy and pride of the "faithful" that he has encountered along the way.
Outstanding tracks:  "E-Bow the Letter," "Leave," "New Test Leper"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

R.E.M.
Monster   (1994)
Comments: "Monster" is the loudest, most subversive REM album.  It's a trip through identity crises, sexual, political, and relational.  Abusive relationships blow up in "Bang and Blame" and "I Took Your Name".  A generation withdraws in disgust from the corrupt political arena in "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"  "Crush with Eyeliner" is a declaration of lust and obsession for a reckless prima donna.   And "I Don't Sleep, I Dream" is a frightening confession of a desire for pure, carnal exchanges.  The singers seem to indeed be monsters, ravenous, self-centered, obsessive.  And Peter Buck's guitars provide the appropriate clamor, dissonant, deafening and distorted.  This is a great rock band providing ugly portraits of just who you might be if your fears or your appetites get the better of you.   Only "Let Me In," dedicated to Kurt Cobain, offers hope in the form of an outstretched hand, the power of love and friendship for the disillusioned.  In fact, the song is played by Mike Mills on Cobain's own electric guitar.
Outstanding Tracks: "I Took Your Name," "What’s the Frequency, Kenneth," "Let Me In"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Excellent

R.E.M.
Automatic For the People   (1992)
Comments:  Life is short.  Don't blow it.   Savor it.  That's the sentiment of "Automatic for the People".   REM's melancholy follow-up to the cheery "Out of Time" is often called their masterpiece.  It starts with "Drive," appealing to youth, compelling the listener to indulge their dreams and avoid conformity, while the clock is ticking "tick...tock...".  "Try Not to Breathe" focuses on an old man who wants to die with dignity.  "Monty Got a Raw Deal" remembers the tragedy of the actor Montgomery Clift.  And "Man on the Moon" celebrates heroes who pioneered new territory even when it was an unpopular idea, like Moses, Darwin, Newton, and, of course the zany comedian Andy Kaufman, making a saint of him in the process.  It's an appropriate symbol for R.E.M., who have developed a singular, strange presence in rock history despite their critics.  "Everybody Hurts" is their most accessible song ever, a straight-to-the-heart appeal to the downhearted, encouraging them to get up.  And "Sweetness Follows" is a reverent memorial for the lost, while also an admonition not to let the reality of death cause you to stumble in life.  "It's these little things, they can pull you under/ Live your life willed with joy and wonder...."  I find their encouragements to be a bit empty.  The fact that 'everybody hurts' is not enough to give me hope.  But you can tell they're searching here, reaching for meaning, asking what life is all about when there's so much darkness and death in the world. 
Outstanding tracks:  "Sweetness Follows," "Everybody Hurts," "Drive"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Excellent

R.E.M.
Out of Time   (1991)
Comments: Excellentfter conquering alternative rock, Stipe and the gang decided to conquer the world of pop music, all the while refusing to compromise their trademark subversiveness and riddling lyrics.  "Losin' My Religion" stands with "Every Breath You Take" and "With Or Without You" as one of rock's all-time great songs about the torments of unrequited love.  For the first time the world's most politically active band (except perhaps Midnight Oil) decided to broach the subject of love, and they do so with characteristic doubt, questioning, and suspicion.  The result is a broad landscape of love's highs and lows.  There's a giddy and dreamy pop number ("Near Wild Heaven"), the detailed history of a love's collapse into bickering ("Country Feedback"), a poetic meditation on necessity ("Low"), the loneliness of a journey without love ("Half a World Away"), and a song about love so happy and high that it can't possibly be serious ("Shiny Happy People").  Above all, it's compellingly sing-able, stirring together the magic of the Beatles and the Beach Boys.  Their trademark guitar-heavy sound is cast off for strings, keyboards, and mandolins...a brighter pop style.  While perhaps not their most profound record, it's certainly the most listenable, and the most startling turn from a prolific and fascinating band.
Outstanding tracks:  "Losing My Religion," "Half a World Away," "Country Feedback"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: A Masterpiece

R.E.M.
Document   (1987)
Comments:  The songs on this REM release are tighter, more formulaic, and the musicianship more polished than on previous releases, making this the REM equivalent of U2's "War" album.  It was the album where it became clear that they were determined to make a difference, an effort that would accelerate in the follow-up, "Green".  They celebrate a hard work ethic ("Finest Worksong"), they rail against a manipulative and arrogant government ("Welcome to the Occupation" and "Disturbance at the Heron House"), and they have a laugh at the information-overload of popular culture, maniacally declaring their own numbness and ignorance in "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)".  While they refuse to play love songs or suggest any answer other than hard work and authenticity, they have a crystal-clear vision of the problems eating at America.  Nobody prophesies more powerfully in modern rock music then this band. 
Outstanding tracks: "King of Birds," "Disturbance at the Heron House," "The One I Love"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

R.E.M.
Life's Rich Pageant   (1986)
Comments:  With "Fables of the Reconstruction" REM established themselves as the next-big-deal, a rock band with an unmatchable sound of jangly southern guitar-rock and indecipherable lyrics.  Listening to them was like listening to dreams from the night before; the emotions are strong, but the specifics unclear.  "Life's Rich Pageant" was a major change of pace for the strange, mysterious rockers from Athens, Georgia.  It focussed on full-speed-ahead, drum-heavy rock and roll, with such a crazed, enthusiastic performance by Michael Stipe that none of their material since leaves him as breathless as these songs do when performed live. The muddied sounds of "Fables" clear up here, so we can understand the lyrics for the first time in REM history.  "Fall on Me" is quite a beautiful song, a passionate plea for better care of the environment, REM's first and foremost theme.  "Cuyahoga" celebrates the natural world with nostalgic photographs of an idyllic time, perhaps a summer camp.  "I Believe" and "begin the Begin" are the exhilarating cornerstones of the album, but the highlight is the lush, beautiful anthem "The Flowers of Guatemala".  There is also a burst of new humor here as well, in the nightmarish howler "Underneath the Bunker" and Mike Mills' irresistible pop number "Superman".  Previous albums had proved REM's musicianship, but this album proved they were also a songwriting force to be reckoned with.
Outstanding tracks: "I Believe," "Fall on Me," "Flowers of Guatemala"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Excellent

R.E.M.
Around the Sun

R.E.M. is currently performing on the "Vote for Change" tour.  And when you hear their new album, you'll want to vote for change too. Because Around the Sun shows R.E.M. out of enthusiasm, out of ideas, and out of step... a far cry from the band responsible for Out of Time.

The first sign that R.E.M. was dying came not when Bill Berry left, as so many other fans and reviewers have said. No, that was just the biggest challenge they had faced, a challenge that I think they needed. They needed to regroup, adapt to the loss and fashion a leaner and meaner sound, and avoid becoming redundant. New Adventures in Hi-Fi had been a sprawling, epic, impressive double album, in which they pushed their signature style as hard as they could in new directions, but it wasn't by any means a reinvention. And to keep from becoming derivative, they needed reinvention.

The album called Up was clearly a band fumbling for identity. Some songs were strong, others experimental, and others thin and shallow, sounding like first-take musical whims. They were allowed a misfire; after all, it took courage to continue without the man that had been the band's backbone.

Then came Reveal, an album that divided R.E.M. fans because it was exactly what the band needed: reinvention. R.E.M. had reemerged as a band more focused on lush orchestration and showtune-style melody than edgy rock and roll. Some of the most beautiful, soaring, ambitious work from Reveal stands among the best tracks they've ever recorded. "All the Way to Reno" is one of the smoothest pop singles of the last decade, and "Saturn Return" shows Stipe capable of vocals and lyrics as poetic and artful as any he's ever written.

So the first sign of real trouble came when the best-of was released, and the two "bonus tracks" turned out to be the closest thing to cookie-cutter R.E.M. they'd ever offered. "Bad Day" is the most blatantly political diatribe they'd yet released, and it sounded too much like "It's the End of the World as We Know It." (Yes I know it's an old, old song from the archives, but that doesn't justify releasing something that sounds so much like a variation on one of their favorite songs.) "Animal" just sounded obnoxious and formulaic. Still, these were "bonus tracks." We were really waiting for the follow up to Reveal, now that they'd found their footing again.

And this is it?

Around the Sun is astonishing. Every R.E.M. album has boasted more
A-grade songs than B-grade songs. Some have had one, maybe two,
C-grade songs, but those have been rare exceptions. Around the Sun is made up almost entirely of C-grade... or D-grade... R.E.M. songs.

Lyrically, they're lazily written, chock-full-o' the kind of pop music clichés that Michael Stipe has always impressively avoided. It's full of awkward and obvious sentiments that he's offered so artfully before--including more cheap shots at Jesus and President Bush. Musically, they're dull, blunted versions of things the band has done many times before. Vocally, Stipe sounds like he's off in a room by himself, unaware that there's an audience there listening to him. To be blunt--he sounds like he's warming up in the morning after a long and wearying night. Peter Buck's presence is actually difficult to discern, except when he steps in to play a riff he's played before (minus the energy and passion.) The production on this album is easily the worst in their career. This sounds like R.E.M. formatted for elevators, not arenas or clubs. "Leaving New York," the first single and the strongest track, sounds like a song written under the instructions that it must be constructed from parts recorded for  previously released songs like "Losin' My Religion," "Everybody Hurts," "Electrolite," and "Man on the Moon."

It's hard to believe this is the same group that delivered Reveal.

It's hard to believe there's an R.E.M. album that a) I don't want to hear again, b) I won't gladly spend my hard-earned cash on, c) that I can find nothing about it worth discussing in detail.

Maybe Michael Stipe wanted to get this album out to the people in a hurry because of its political themes. Maybe he wanted it to influence the election. But the only votes this material is going to affect is the one you make when you go to the counter at your local record store. If the next album isn't some kind of spectacular turnaround or reinvigoration of energy and inspiration, then it would be better if R.E.M. just called it quits.

Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Flawed, has some merit.

The Rolling Stones
A Bigger Bang

I am almost embarrassed to say how much I'm enjoying the new Rolling Stones album, A Bigger Bang.

And this is coming from a non-Stones fan. I've never liked the Stones. Oh, a few songs here and there have impressed me, but I've never cared enough about one of their albums to actually own one.

But count this up as my somewhat-guilty-pleasure record of the year. The lyrics aren't terribly profound, but Jagger's performance is astonishingly good compared to other recent Stones albums and even his solo work. The guitars are fantastic. They sound revitalized and like they're only now reaching the peak of their enjoyment as rock stars. Listening to the record, I keep waiting for a bad song to pop up. And when it comes ("Sweet Neocon," a cheap, stupid jab at Dubya), we're finally nearing the end of an epic-length album (sixteen songs).

This album almost convinces me to pay the whopping price to see them live. Not quite, but almost.

If you want to check it out, visit your local record store listening station and sample any of these songs: "Rough Justice," "Look What the Cat Dragged In," "Laugh, I Nearly Died."

Anyone else out there impressed? For all of the buzz over U2's Atomic Bomb, with the "It's hard to believe they can still rock at this level" reviews, well... they've still got a long way to go to match this kind of resilience.

One song in particular really stands out to me: "Laugh, I Nearly Died." Jagger sings this one as if his life depends on it... it's as if the song takes hold of him and wrings the pain from him to the last drop. Setting this song up alongside the hope and confidence on the U2 album, and there's an interesting contrast there...

I've been traveling but I don't know where
I've been missing you but you just don't care
And I've been wandering, I've seen Greece and Rome
Lost in the wilderness, so far from home
Yeah, yeah

I've been to Africa, looking for my soul
And I feel like an actor looking for a role
I've been in Arabia, I've seen a million stars
Been sipping champagne on the boulevards - yes

I'm so sick and tired
Trying to turn the tide, yeah
So I'll say my goodbye
Laugh, laugh
I nearly died

I've been down to India, but it froze my bones
I'm living for the city, but I'm all alone
I've been traveling, but I don't know where
I've been wandering, but I just don't care

I hate to be denied
How you hurt my pride
I feel pushed aside
But laugh, laugh, laugh
I nearly died

Been travelling far and wide
Wondering who's going to be my guide

Living in a fantasy but it's way too far
But this kind of loneliness is way too hard
I've been wandering, feeling all alone
I lost my direction and I lost my home...Well

I'm so sick and tired
Now I'm on the side
Feeling so despised
When you laugh, laugh
I almost died

(Been travelling far and wide
Wondering who's going to be my guide)

I hurt my pride, hurt my pride, hurt my pride (Been travelling far and wide)
Been travelling, yeah

(Been travelling far and wide
Wondering who's going to be my guide)

(Been travelling far and wide)
 

Nathan Ryan
Vincible   (2003)
Comments:  Nathan Ryan's solo debut Vincible is a work of heartfelt songwriting, a softer sort of Pedro the Lion. He hails from Seattle, and while I prefer the intensity of his sincere solo performances, with his characteristic easygoing sense of humor making the audience feel welcome, this album is strikingly personal and honest. It is full of simple expressions of faith in the midst of relationship turmoil. I am curious to see how Ryan grows from this confident foundational recording.
Outstanding tracks: "Preacher, Priest, Liar, Thief"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive
Significant Link: Nathan Ryan at CDBaby

Michelle Shocked
Kind Hearted Woman    (1996)
Comments: Michelle Shocked's musical explorations have made her career a mission of archaeology...digging up the roots sounds of various traditions and passing them along to a new generation.  "Short Sharp Shocked" was her impressive introduction to the rock scene, after her discovery as a genuine balladeer of campfire concerts.  "Arkansas Traveler" took her into American front-porch-style, folk music jam sessions.  A gospel album was shot down by her record label and never saw the light of day.  Shocked resurfaces here with a dark collection of blues, stories of tragedies, of a grieving mother whose child is stillborn, of drought and hardship on farm country, on sickness, on a man condemned to death.  There's something missing here that was prevalent in her other efforts; the songs are lacking in memorable melodies and hooks, making it primarily a showcase for her voice.   It's as though these stories of hard times are too somber, too private, to share themselves easily.  But

throughout, Shocked's passionate delivery lends beauty to the proceedings, and sometimes, as in "A Child Like Grace," glimmers of hope lift our spirits.   There is, she implies, an end to all sufferings; in each case the fever breaks.
Outstanding tracks:  "Cold Comfort," "A Child Like Grace," "Fever Breaks"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

Jane Siberry
Jane Siberry’s vocals are enough reason to listen to anything she does. As if her solo, ethereal tone isn’t enough, she layers tracks until she has a complete choir of complex, rich, loose harmonies. On Hush, she showcases her vocals more than usual by singing popular American folk songs and nursery rhymes, words that we know or feel like we’ve always known. She gives a dreamy, lullaby quality to gospel ("Jacob’s Ladder," "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"), folk tale ("Streets Of Laredo"), and nursery rhyme ("False False Fly"). Instrumentation is minimal, sometimes playful, as in the hip-hop drum of "False False Fly," the lightest and most fun of this otherwise soft and somber collection. It takes a true artist to take such familiar standards and make them sound new. Siberry does.
Outstanding Tracks: "Jacob's Ladder," "False False Fly"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

Paul Simon
The Rhythm of the Saints   (1991)
Comments: Not as accessible or radio-ready as his most famous work 'Graceland," "Rhythm of the Saints" is a more serious work, one cohesive mediation on the quest for faith and for meaning in modern life.  Grounding his sound in African rhythms while singing of 'the boy in the bubble" and "lasers in the jungle somewhere," Simon merges past and present in poetry that assures us no technological advancement will free us from 'reaching in the dark" for God.
Outstanding tracks:  "The Cool Cool River," "Further to Fly," "The Obvious Child"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Excellent

Sixpence None the Richer
Sixpence None the Richer  (1997)
Comments: At first glance, they might be mistaken for just another young pop band with a sweet-voiced girl singing lead.  They're not.  Such "heavy lyrics" and oceans of sound from such a young band... they're going to be with us a long time if they can maintain their relationships.  Their material will be, like Sam Phillips' work, the good stuff that most people never have the patience to discover, stuff that opens up for the persistent listener.  Steve Taylor has produced an important album, renewing the life of a band whose promise was almost cut short by mismanagement and contractual problems.
Outstanding tracks:  "Love," "Moving On," "Anything"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Excellent.

Sixteen Horsepower
Secret South   (2000)
Comments:  Live in concert, Sixteen Horsepower come on like a team of hellfire-and-brimstone preachers, like something that walked out of a Flannery O'Connor short story.  Lead singer David Eugene Edwards unleashes a voice that seems unmatched with his wiry frame, a tremulous and terrifying baritone that sounds like its carrying a thousand years of experience and , thus, authority.  When he sings about the infallible word of the Father, even the most willful agnostic will tremble.  Listening to the band is like approaching a hot stove until the heat singes your eyebrows.  A roiling tempest of guitars, Edwards' own array of squeeze boxes, mandolins, and guitars, the reverberating bass...they create a sound as brilliant and focused as a hot poker. 
   On "Secret South," their strongest album to date, they have finally transferred the shocking sound of their live show to a studio recording.  Previous efforts ("Low Estate," "Sackcloth'n'Ashes") never quite captured that intensity, although they are perfectly worthy recordings that feature some of their best songwriting.  On "Secret South," the Horsepower boys expand their musical horizons without straying far from that distinct, Southern, gothic-rock sound.  A haunting, bluesy rendition of "Wayfaring Stranger" retells Pilgrim's Progress with the voice of someone still on a dangerous road.  They find a  bright, uncharacteristically joyous sound on "Nobody 'Cept You," reminiscent of Red Rocks-era U2. 
    But "Clogger" and "Cinder Alley" return to their signature rock-and-roll earthquakes, declaring visitations of the divine.  The singer exhorts God to "give my conscience a pounding," and as we wait for God, we are assured that "the dark can only hinder/it will not hold you back."   Even as they cast their scathing gaze about at evildoers in the world, they include themselves among the guilty.  And, here more than on previous recordings, the grace of God is everpresent and possible:  "He waits patient, in our prayers unprayed," Edwards promises at the end of "Just Like Birds".  But their strength is still to somehow communicate a powerful argument that God exists, God is displeased with what is happening in the world, and that he will, in the end, bring everything in line with his will.  "He is beyond the shadow of your doubt and mine," Edwards affirms.  "He is no man's opinion/He is truth divine."  The truth told boldly is a frightening thing, but it is also the best hope for the humble, for the meek, for the penitent. 
    Sixteen Horsepower is a musical sledgehammer, unapologetically devout in their faith, yet crafting their convictions into poetry, a persuasive sound, and artful honesty.
Outstanding tracks:  "Wayfaring Stranger," "Splinters," "Cinder Alley"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Excellent

Bruce Springsteen
Diesel and Dust

While the album's is melodically challenged, the lyrics are as rough, raw, and shadowy as anything Springsteen's recorded. It's a folky, Dylan-esque collection... and the vocals may be too Dylan-esque for some. But the album's lyrics are haunted by the presence, or the absence, of God. It's soulful stuff, well worth a few listens, and likely to be celebrated as one of the year's best albums.
Jeffrey's sum-up: Impressive.
 

Martin Stillion
Notorious
Martin Stillion's album Notorious is an instrumental work recorded as the soundtrack for a play called A Most Notorious Woman. But it stands strong on its own as a delightful, wide-ranging recording of Celtic-flavored music with hints of classical, blues, and some experimental ventures as well. Stillion exhibits a staggering range of skills, performing on the fiddle, mandolin, viola, octave mandolin, mandocello, and resophonic tenor guitar. Other musicians contribute whistle, recorder, Irish flute, uilleann pipes, bodhran, and vocals. Fans of energetic, passionate Celtic sounds will find this a good investment. Personally, I find it recalls one of my favorite soundtracks, the music to John Sayles' The Secret of Roan Innish... and that's a very good thing.

Sting
The Soul Cages (1991)
Comments: Sting's best solo work is also his most serious, raging at God because of the suffering he sees, grappling with lust that draws him toward downfall, sadly surrendering and admitting his need for God even though he does not understand it... Sting opens up more than ever in an album dedicated to his father.   He casts these songs in imagery of great sea-faring vessels that try and find their way home after a long time lost at sea.  There are allusions to David and Bathsheba, and stories of tortured men who found that hard work will not keep them from the devil's clutches.  Dark, gothic, and poetic, this remains a marvelous work of musicianship, lyricism, and metaphor.  Everything he's done since has been more and more commercial and less and less interesting.  Too bad.
Outstanding tracks:  "The Wild, Wild Sea," "Mad About You," "The Soul Cages"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: A Masterpiece

Sting
Ten Summoner’s Tales   (1993)
Comments:  For the first time, Sting followed a previously-proven formula, making this album a stylistic child of "Nothing Like the Sun". It’s a lesser accomplishment, though; focusing more on solid pop/rock than the courageous fusions he explored on previous solo work. The songs are more simplistic in their structure, and the lyrics aren’t quite as strong. Songs explore themes of love, both romantic and sacred, and portray a brighter, more optimistic Sting, reaching for affirmation and celebration of good things rather than meditation on and dabbling in the darkness. The opening track is the strongest, a built-to-last pop hit affirming faith in "someone" who exists beyond religious definitions, political systems, and the controlling devices of human effort. God? From his persistence on that theme in following albums, I’d venture a guess at, yeah, probably God. But even if that’s a wrong or rash conclusion, the point of the song is the sort of love being declared. It’s not the manipulative, dark-edged obsession of "Every Breath You Take". It’s gracious, unconditional, lasting love. That, for Sting, is a new perspective, a new goal worth reaching for. It resonates with personal conviction, as though it’s a hard-won realization at the end of a long and painful journey.
Outstanding Tracks: "Fields of Gold," "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You," "Heavy Cloud, No Rain"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive

Sting
Mercury Falling   (1998)
Comments:  Sting sounds good on his fifth solo effort, but he’s lacking something for the first time: good, memorable songs. "You Still Touch Me" lingers in the memory as a swinging number, but its sentiments are puddle-thin, lacking in the lyrical finesse of his previous pop hits. "The Hounds of Heaven" as the spiritual solemnity of previous soul-searchers, but they set a tone that the album fails to sustain. It gets gloomy and melancholy fast, and the only ambitious number that succeeds is ….. It’s not a disastrous release; it’s just not the stellar, timeless pop that we’ve come to expect. Better luck next time.
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Worth Hearing

Sting
Brand New Day  (2000)
Comments:  Sounding rejuvenated, excited about the future, and surprisingly content. "Brand New Day" is full of references to fresh starts, hope, and God’s grace.  In the whimsical (if somewhat corny) country/gospel number "Fill Me Up," he’s even shouting about turning away from wickedness and "filling up with Jesus, filling up with love". The album still sticks to the familiar Sting formula: spooky mood piece, pop hit, love ballad, playful jazz, arena rock, and tongue-in-cheek storytelling.  A venture into French-rap is merely audacious, and "Tomorrow We'll See" is a little too preachy.  But it’s good to hear the mysterious hush of "Nothing Like the Sun" still alive and well in the spacious "Thousand Years".   When he indulges his weakness for power pop again on "Desert Rose," he turns in not only his most exhilarating song in ten years, but one of the best songs of the year…period.  This is a song for playing loud.
Outstanding Tracks: "Desert Rose," "After the Rain," "Thousand Years"
Jeffrey's Sum-Up: Impressive