Music Reviews

Rockford: Cheap Trick (Big3)

After more than a decade of wandering in the sonic wilderness, the power-pop quartet from Rockford, Ill. is back to doing what it does best - crafting unforgettable melodies and slathering them in angry guitars and Beatles-esque harmonies atop a pounding rhythm section.

Unlike their last two studio releases, 1997's Cheap Trick and 2003's Special One, guitarist Rick Nielsen and company offer up hard-fast rockers that hark back to an earlier era when seemingly every teenager in America owned a copy of Cheap Trick at Budokan.

The first single, Perfect Stranger, instantly bores its way into your brain and won't let go, with Robin Zander's plaintive vocals supported by bassist Tom Petersson and drummer Bun E. Carlos' urgent underpinnings. More tasty hooks and memorable melodies abound on Give it Away, which, like many tracks here, is actually a leftover from past tours that is only now seeing the light of day.

One More begins with New Orleans blues jive, and ends in a noisy crescendo combining elements of the Beatles' A Day in the Life with Cheap Trick's own Four Letter Word from 1982.

And don't be fooled by the duplicate song titles of two tracks here: Come On Come On and O Claire are totally different songs than 1970s Cheap Trick tunes that bear the same names.

So it's 2006 and Cheap Trick still wants you to want them. After a trip back to Rockford, you will.

(Reviewed by Wayne Parry, AP)

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The River in Reverse

Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint (Verve Forecast)

Nine months after Katrina comes this welcome offspring, an unlikely pairing of musical masters united in anger and determination over what happened to New Orleans.

It's an inspired work. Much like Costello took to the formal melodicism of Burt Bacharach when they collaborated, he embraces the loose soulfulness of Toussaint, one of New Orleans' musical kings. The pianist Toussaint, the Crescent City Horns and guitarist Anthony (AB) Brown blend with Costello's backing band as if they've been working together for decades.

The disc seethes with anger at the Bush administration, particularly the title cut: "count your blessings when they ask permission, to govern with money and superstition." Just as impressive is the bubbling blues of On Your Way Down and International Echo, seemingly a story of English boys trying to replicate music from the states, displaying an unusually open and playful Costello.

Costello's most recent musical trip down south, on The Delivery Man, proved an important tutorial. While he sounds at home with the vocals, it would have been nice to hear Toussaint take the lead on more than one of the disc's 13 songs.

Otherwise, it's a true partnership. Seven songs are raided from Toussaint's back catalogue, five are co-written and one, The River in Reverse, is solely a Costello composition.

Toussaint, who has relocated to New York after his New Orleans home was badly damaged in the hurricane, renewed acquaintances with Costello on the benefit circuit last fall, leading to this project.

Its release proves at least one good thing came from that disaster.

(Reviewed by David Bauder, AP)

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Free To Stay

Smoosh (Barsuk)

The young Seattle-based sister duo Smoosh continues to impress with their latest release, Free To Stay.

It's no longer just two pleasantly amusing kid sisters pulling together a few songs with thoughtful lyrics and nice hooks. Now they're consistently good.

Check out lead singer and keyboardist Asya getting all cold and emo on Slower Than Gold. Her voice glistens over the slow, solo keyboard strolls as she sings, "I look out my window, a see-through waterfall/ It seems as if I could walk off the edge."

Most of the songs meld her deft touch nicely with Chloe's rapidly improving drumming. Liking Smoosh's music is one part pure enjoyment, another part care and feeding as their newness to recorded music still plays a role in their overall sound.

Yes, you'll recognize right away that neither is a seasoned session musician. But you'll be thankful for same with their honest melodies that come without the baggage of the oft-cruel music business. At last check, Asya and Chloe were 14 and 12 respectively, so a childlike quality to their sound is to be expected.

But a certain maturity peeks through on tracks such as Find A Way, with its great off-kilter pacing and lyrics about keeping your head in check to overcome adversity that almost certainly have to do with coming of age.

Smoosh, and the band's music, is coming of age quite well.

(Reviewed by Ron Harris, AP)

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New Joc City

Yung Joc (Bad Boy South/Atlantic)

Atlanta rap newcomer Yung Joc had some of the unlikeliest fans long before the release of his anticipated debut album. Tom Cruise and US soccer star Clint Dempsey have been seen doing the MC's signature Joc'n dance, which mimics the revving of a motorcycle. (Cruise got down while promoting Mission Impossible 3 on BET, and Dempsey's display was a post-goal celebration during a World Cup warm-up match.)

Joc demonstrated the dance in the video for his chart-topping song It's Goin' Down, and it's little surprise the tune has made such mainstream inroads. Acts from Atlanta have dominated the rap scene this year, with major party anthems from Dem Franchize Boyz, Young Jeezy and D4L. Joc's woozy flow and the synth-driven track are along similar undeniably catchy lines. But on Hear Me Coming, Joc's quick to assert: "A one-hit wonder? How the hell you figure that?/ My rhymes like crack, fiends screaming, 'Gimme that.' "

Um, not exactly. Joc's monotonous delivery is largely limited to tales of crack dealing, gun bucking and woman chasing, and it grows tiresome by mid-disc. The subtle acoustic guitar riffs that flit between the crass come-ons of 1st Time (featuring R&B whiner Marques Houston) are welcome relief. But on Patron, he forces: "Gotta get the riches/ From the looks of thangs/ Y'all getting JC Penney's." Such lyrical duds threaten to keep Joc from realizing his next-big thing potential.

(Reviewed by Brett Johnson, AP)

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Laugh Now, Cry Later

Ice Cube (Lench Mob)

The recent knock against Ice Cube is that he spends too much time playing Hollywood mogul and not enough in the recording booth. Consequently, his seventh solo disc, Laugh Now, Cry Later, is an attempt to allay fears that the elder statesman has lost his gangsta rap mojo.

Cube has his moments, remotely sounding as angry and controversial as he did on 1993's Lethal Injection. The first single, Why We Thugs is a Scott Storch-produced track critiquing the prison system: "But who's the animal who built this prison/ Who's the animal who invented lower living?" And on another track, he takes aim at a diverse set of so-called victimizers and sellouts, from U.S.

President George W. Bush and California Gov.

Arnold Schwarzenegger to the black church and Flavor Flav for loving white women.

Still, the incendiary sentiments can't mask the tepid production and uninspired rhymes about familiar hood pastimes. Lil Jon regurgitates his unmistakable crunk sonics on several tracks. Meanwhile, on Stop Snitchin', Cube invokes that popular rap catch phrase while Swizz Beats' dissonant synths plod along underneath. There's also a ganja anthem for the brain-cell-killing set (Smoke Some Weed) and a predictable nod to west coast car culture (Chrome & Paint). Only near the disc's end, on the G-funk workout Spittin' Pollaseeds, does Ice Cube hint at the organic Cali rap sound he helped create in the late '80s and mid-'90s."

For now, it seems Cube has applied what he's learned in Tinsletown all too literally. Laugh Now sounds too scripted and market-researched for its own good.

(Reviewed by Brett Johnson, AP)

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A Lively Mind

Paul Oakenfold (Maverick)

Oh, to be Paul Oakenfold, a globe-trotting superstar DJ who breaks the hot tracks and produces his own music with the aid of - let's be honest here - any other artist looking to increase their cool quotient. With that mix of success and connections, you might think Oakenfold's latest album, A Lively Mind, couldn't miss.

Well, it's not a full swing and a miss, but the album suffers from a too-safe blend of electronic sounds that are slowly paced, overpolished and not very progressive.

There's lots of 'feat.' action here - tracks featuring Brittany Murphy, Grandmaster Flash and Pharrell Williams - yet only one golden track in the bunch.

Murphy helps Oakenfold's cause a bit on Faster Kill Pussycat, as the Hollywood actress growls and coos through the standout dance track, proving she's no rookie on the microphone. But then comes the iffy stuff, such as Pharrell's assist on Sex N' Money. Relentless, redundant, repetitive and uninspiring from two guys who ought to know better. Other tracks suffer from a similar pulse paralysis.

A Lively Mind is high on production value, but low on memorable beats. The Brittany Murphy track is the only one worth hearing twice.

Somewhere there's a 40-something guy driving around in his mid-life crisis Porsche with the top down playing this CD and trying to impress the cool club kids.

Mr. Porsche is failing, and this time it's Paul's fault.

(Reviewed by Ron Harris, AP)