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Posts Tagged ‘review’

Review: Kings of Leon, “Only By the Night”

Posted in Billboard, Music, Reviews, mp3, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 21, 2008 | No Comments »

Billboard — Record No. 4 finds Tennessee’s most famous rock’n’roll Pentecostals tamping down the hillbilly stomp in favor of more measured, midtempo numbers that simmer more than scorch. “Only by the Night” requires some patience; it sounds a little like one 43-minute medium-simmer track on first listen but begins to reveal its charms on subsequent [...]

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Review: My Morning Jacket, “Evil Urges”

Posted in Billboard, Music, Reviews, mp3, tagged , , , on June 9, 2008 | No Comments »

Billboard - Evil has a new name, and it’s Jim James. The My Morning Jacket frontman cackles, croons, wails, wallops and stomps through the band’s fifth and latest great album. On this occasionally oddball stroll through the band’s twisted psycho-Southern backcountry, “Highly Suspicious,” an eyelinered, WTF ’80s rocker that would greatly please Adam Ant, backs [...]

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Review: The Roots, “Rising Down”

Posted in Billboard, Music, Reviews, mp3, tagged , , on April 29, 2008 | No Comments »

Billboard - It’s a dark and stormy night on “Rising Down,” the Roots’ 10th disc. There’s a sense of sonic dirt, political sharpness and clenched-teeth purpose that may be the result of label woes (the disc opens with a ‘94 phone screaming match between band members), or it may be just thanks to an ongoing, [...]

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Springsteen concert review: Magic in the night

Posted in Music, PopMatters, Reviews, Springsteen, tagged , , on November 30, 2007 | No Comments »

 

PopMatters - Bruce Springsteen is 58 years old right now, the first of many reasons that the Magic tour shouldn’t be anywhere near as vibrant and relevant as it is. Other obstacles include, but are not limited to, perceptions that: he’s overly preachy and political, his band is too old (Clarence is 65!), and he’s [...]

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Review: Bruce Springsteen, “Magic”

Posted in Billboard, Music, Reviews, mp3, tagged , , , , , on September 28, 2007 | No Comments »

Billboard - Somewhere between “The River” and “The Rising” falls “Magic,” Bruce Springsteen’s first rock record since 2002 and a sleek machine that’s practically pleading to be taken out on the highway. Fully resettled on E Street after two solo projects, Springsteen has injected the taut “Magic” with a fierce purpose you can almost taste. [...]

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Mark Ronson makes ‘Version’ history

Posted in Billboard, Music, Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 9, 2007 | No Comments »

Billboard - British indie rock has been called a lot of things, but “nutty fun” isn’t frequently one of them, which is what makes “Version” such an exhilarating summertime throwdown. Best-known around these parts for producing Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse, Ronson takes the occasion to decorate songs by Coldplay (”God Put a Smile Upon [...]

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Review, Ted Leo + the Pharmacists, “Living with the Living”

Posted in Billboard, Music, Reviews, tagged , , , on March 16, 2007 | No Comments »

Billboard - The first half of “Living With the Living” offers well more of everything that’s made Leo and his Pharmacists such post-punk studs: melody-kissed stomp (the hand-clappy, torrential “The Sons of Cain”), unabashed melody (”La Costa Brava”), more Clash (”Who Do You Love?”) and especially more cynical rage (the satisfyingly unsubtle “Bomb. Repeat. [...]

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Review: Norah Jones, “Not Too Late”

Posted in Billboard, Music, Reviews, mp3, tagged , , , , , , on February 7, 2007 | No Comments »

Billboard - Norah Jones has less need to go changing her game than just about any other musician working today, and why not - if you’re the Yankees, it’s not like you need to clean out your farm system very often. Still, though it sustains the poised, unhurried soulfulness of its predecessors, “Not Too Late” [...]

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Review: Jimmy Buffett, “Take The Weather With You”

Posted in Billboard, Music, Reviews, mp3, tagged , , , , , , , on October 6, 2006 | No Comments »

Billboard - 2004’s “License to Chill” was the first No. 1 album of Jimmy Buffett’s three-decade career, so it’s no surprise that he goes country again for a set that’s breezy even by his flip-floppy standards. “Weather” is heavy on covers but boasts a wider palette of them, as Buffett works in Crowded House (”Weather [...]

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