Pepperboy and 607 Mixed Messages Greenovasouth B+
Little Rock hip-hop heroes Pepperboy and 607 come together for this crucial and rewarding five song EP.
Pepperboy’s smooth approach works well with 607’s fast, aggressive vocals, especially on the opening track, “Mr. Fist.”
“Colorblind Chameleon” is a cautionary tale told over a slinky beat, while “You Never Know,” featuring JLR, is a hopeful and uplifting jam. “Community Service” works the opposite end of spectrum with its
tale of prison, gangs and hustlin’ told over a minimalist beat.
The Mixed Messages EP is available for download at greenovasouth.com/music, and this brief set makes you hope this won’t be the last time these Arkansas hiphop giants collaborate.
Hot tracks: “You Never Know,” “Community Service.” - SEAN CLANCY
Various artists Samson & Delilah Broadway Records D
It’s a story of passion, lust, betrayal, warring tribes, a dangerously seductive woman and a strong man brought down by his desire and hubris.
And yet, in this new concept album for a potential musical, the story of Samson and Delilah is transformed into a limp, Middle Eastern retelling of West Side Story.
Creator Ron Yatter puts his own spin on the familiar Biblical tale, but in doing so turns it into a story that’s cliche-ridden for anyone who’s at all familiar with operas, soap operas or Shakespeare. Ultimately, it’s an apologia for Delilah.
She wasn’t a mercenary seductress. She was a peace-loving, sensitive soul who only betrayed Samson because of a misunderstanding.
The modern pop/rock score works fine for the stars, former American Idol contestants Ace Young and Diana DeGarmo, although DeGarmo has a tendency to scream the high notes in apainful way.
As for the lyrics, they’re a mess. Simplistic and forgettable at best, laughably bad at worst.
Hot tracks: None.
- JENNIFER NIXON
Lydia Loveless Somewhere Else Bloodshot C+
Well, this was unexpected. After 2011’s blisteringly good Indestructible Machine and December’s fun and promising Boy Crazy EP, we had high hopes for the new full-length from Columbus, Ohio’s, alt-country queen Lydia Loveless.
Somewhere Else, though, feels restrained and unfocused. Where Loveless before was at once defiant and vulnerable, here she seems mired in indecision and colorless arrangements.
“Really Wanna See You,” the opening track, touches upon the theme of romantic regret that runs through the record. Seems she’s always missing someone, or loving the wrong man, which is certainly familiar turf for Loveless, but her heartaches have never sounded so plain. Sure, much of the country-punk edge has been smoothed from her sound in favor of a jangley sort of pop, but she has often been stronger when breaking the honky-tonk angel mold, like on “Learn to Say No” and “More Like Them” from Indestructible Machine.
There are a few highlights. Track six, whose title and subject matter we can’t really expand upon without getting into trouble from the editor, sounds like it could have been on a late-period Whiskeytown album and shows Loveless’ playfully sexy lyrical talents, and “Wine Lips” is a bouncy treat.
But the second half of Somewhere Else begins to really drag, and not even a cover of Kirsty MacColl’s “They Don’t Know” can save it.
Hot tracks: “Wine Lips.” - SEAN CLANCY
Soundtrack Endless Love Warner Bros. C
Don’t expect a rehash of Lionel Richie and Diana Ross crooning “Endless Love” here. This remake of the 1981 Franco Zeffirelli film takes a different musical path. That’s why we have Teegan and Sara cooing “Don’t Find Another Love,” an engaging ballad written for the film.
The rest is a mix of slightly danceable tunes (Franz Ferdinand’s “Right Action,” Tanlines’ “All of Me”), some quasi-edgy indie pop/rock (Nonono) and some folkish touches here and there. There’s The Bird and The Bee offering some drama with a boost from Matt Berninger on “All Our Endless Love,” The Guards’ forgettable “I Know It’s You” and The Tallest Man on Earth’s sweetly folky “Leading Me Now.”
For a film about obsessive love, these tunes are mostly pretty lightweight. A tortured take on the Richie/Ross duet might have helped.
Hot tracks: “Leading Me Now,” “Don’t Find Another Love,” the atmospheric “Ends of the Earth” by Lord Huron. - ELLIS WIDNER
Toni Braxton and Babyface Love, Marriage & Divorce Motown A-
Teary, weary, and smooth, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds pretty much invented the newschool/old-school sleek (but not slick) romantic adult R&B genre when he penned “Grown & Sexy.” Toni Braxton’s powerfully tender, pleading voice could summon rain on the sunshiniest day. Each has gone through the pain of public divorce. That’s why, 22 years after their “Give U My Heart” duet, Braxton and Babyface return with a bold, soul-soaked take on the state of separation.
Hearkening back to Motown’s Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell glory days, the duo simmer through love’s troubles (“Where Did We Go Wrong”) and steam up the guilt-ridden “Hurt You” as if having a conversation over snifters of Drambuie. The wrung-out emotionalism of “Roller Coaster” is matched by the seductive swerve of “Sweat.” These two are masters at such romantic rope-a-dope. Each singer goes it alone (Babyface’s “I Hope That You’re Okay” and Braxton’s “I’d Rather Be Broke” are best), but dramatic duets such as the pleading “Take It Back” cut deepest.
Hot tracks: “Take It Back,” “Where Did We Go Wrong,” “Hurt You.” -A.D. AMORISI The Philadelphia Inquirer
Style, Pages 23 on 02/18/2014