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Martha Wainwright: 'Come Home to Mama'

Martha Wainwright "Come Home to Mama"
Martha Wainwright "Come Home to Mama"

Martha Wainwright

Come Home to Mama

Cooperative/V2

A

Martha Wainwright’s fourth studio album does something so rare in the world of pop music - it doesn’t depart so far from her earlier work in tone or energy. But then, the daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and the late Kate McGarrigle and the sister of Rufus Wainwright must be accustomed to meeting unfair expectations.

This album and her sound are reminiscent of early Lenny Kravitz, who undersold his vocals and virtuosity early on, but to wonderful effect. This is an album with intricate but not soaring instrumentation, weird-wonderful harmony and backtrack flourishes and thoughtful narratives of her mother. For instance, “Can we pretend we’re talking/ I’ll answer for you if you don’t mind/The baby’s doing fine ... All your clothes/ I thought I could donate them to a theater/They’d make up the wardrobe.”

The album also features her mom’s “Proserpina,” the last song McGarrigle wrote.

Hot tracks:

“I Wanna Make an Arrest,” “Proserpina.”

  • BOBBY AMPEZZAN

Laundry for the Apocalypse

Laundry for the Apocalypse

Mostar Records

B+

Veering from introspective grooves to powerful, blitzed-out power pop, this self-titled debut from Little Rock quintet Laundry for the Apocalypse packs quite a punch. Lead singer Aaron Sarlo, who also fronts Dangerous Idiots, has an excellent ear for fat, juicy hooks wrapped around smart lyrics. Among the 10 songs here are slow burners like “Mt,” the instrumentals “Carnal” and “Ka Blinka,” and the lovely and fiercely catchy “Sad Today,” with John David Hilliard’s emphatic, beautiful trumpet showing up at the end.

There’s also the punked-up “Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2,” which is, Sarlo bellows, “... the greatest thing I ever sat through,”in reference to the horror flick (and there is no snark involved here, we are assured. Sarlo is adamant in his Zombie fandom, even speaking with the singer/director for an excellent Arkansas Times interview in October). It’s also one of our favorite songs of the year.

Hot tracks:

Besides “Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2” and “Sad Today,” the intense and cathartic “No Despair.”

  • SEAN CLANCY

Christina Aguilera

Lotus

RCA

B-

After 2010’s disappointing Bionic, Christina Aguilera is back with a better album.

In an apparent push to get Aguilera back on the radio, top producers/songwriters Max Martin, Shellback (Johan Karl Schuster) and others were enlisted. But they seem to be trying to hide her greatest asset - the voice and its emotion. Martin’s work (on the single “Your Body”) is modest. His other tune, “Let There Be Love,” is little better.

Therein lies the problem. A great voice needs great songs and Aguilera didn’t get them from her Lotus collaborators.

Thank goodness for “Sing for Me,” which allows her to sing with power and feeling. Also strong is a country tinged duet with Voice co-star Blake Shelton, the weeper “Just a Fool.” “Circles” echoes Nicki Minaj, while “Make the World Move” is a way-cool electro-fired dance tune, but Cee Lo Green seems almost mixed out of the song.

Hot tracks:

“Make the World Move,” “Sing for Me,” “Just a Fool.”

  • ELLIS WIDNER

Various artists

A Christmas Story

Masterworks Broadway

C

It’s hard to avoid the 1983 movie A Christmas Story, the tale of a 9-year-old boy who dreams of owning a Red Ryder BB gun.

Given the film’s classic status, it was only a matter of time before someone turned it into a musical. They should have waited longer.

This album, with a studio cast rather than the Broadway cast, takes the movie’s charm and bite and drenches it in sap, particularly on songs like “Just Like That” and “Before the Old Man Comes Home.”

The album manages a little spark with the rotten Santa song “Up on Santa’s Lap.” Otherwise, songs are uninspired and unmemorable. The cast sings well. The children are talented, but they’re typical stage kids. Charismatic or obnoxious? That’s for you to decide.

If you have a high sap tolerance and can’t get enough Christmas music, you might enjoy it. Otherwise, you’d be better off watching the movie again.

Hot track:

“Up on Santa’s Lap.”

  • JENNIFER NIXON

Lady Antebellum

On This Winter’s Night

Capitol

B+

Six tunes on this 12-song set were released in 2010 on the group’s A Merry Little Christmas EP.

Adding six more tunes makes this a full holiday experience that includes the cool “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” the bluesy and stirring “Blue Christmas” and a fine jazzy take on Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas.”

The best of the new material features lead vocals by Hillary Scott. Acoustic guitars and a haunting cello offer a sweet background for “The First Noel,” while “Silent Night” impresses with Scott’s delivery.

Hot tracks:

“The First Noel,” “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” a rollicking “A Holly Jolly Christmas.”

  • ELLIS WIDNER

Style, Pages 29 on 12/04/2012

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