B- Sturgill Simpson A Sailor's Guide to Earth
Atlantic
"Welcome to the Earth (Pollywog)," the bold opening of Sturgill Simpson's new album -- a thematic work inspired by the birth of his son that offers advice for the boy's growing into manhood -- swells with countrypolitan strings and cosmic orchestrations then stretches into horn-powered soul (Daptones!).
Those styles -- along with prog rock and symphonic folk/rock of the 1970s -- are key ingredients on Simpson's ambitious new offering.
Simpson's bruised, often poignant voice pulls the listener back from the brink as his ambitions to link this widescreen musical work tends to feel overproduced and overarranged. (Simpson produced this one.) If you're expecting a sequel of sorts to Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, this isn't it.
But you do get gems and insights on love, depression and the wisdom gleaned from life's lessons learned.
Among the high points are his stunning reimagination of Nirvana's "In Bloom," which is stripped down to an almost acoustic setting before it swells with countrypolitan strings and an arrangement that, near the end, almost swamps the vocal. "Call to Arms" roars with blues-rock anti-war fury in the way Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime" did. Simpson also takes aim at excessive consumerism in the potent rocker.
Low points? The syrupy "Stay Between the Lines" ("Do as I say, not as I done/It don't have to be like father, like son!" he sings) and "Brace for Impact (Live a Little)."
But if his new work is occasionally messy, it's clear Simpson is not an artist restricted by real and imagined musical boundaries or fans' expectations. His continued explorations should be fascinating.
Hot tracks: "Call to Arms," "In Bloom," "Welcome to the Earth (Pollywog)"
-- ELLIS WIDNER
A- Various Artists
Rock and Rock Hall of Fame Live -- Volume 1
Time Life
Every rock 'n' roll fan has an opinion about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- including Steve Miller and KISS' Gene Simmons recently. Why isn't Band A in the Cleveland shrine dedicated to the power of the genre? How did Band B get inducted? Why haven't The Cars been inducted yet?
The debate is ongoing, but the hall's concerts at its yearly induction ceremony get rock right by featuring a boisterous blast of music from inductees and guest performers. (The 2016 induction ceremony premieres at 7 p.m. Saturday on HBO.)
Although the songs on Volume 1 (out Friday) are available elsewhere, this 10-track collection captures on a record album for the first time many of these all-star jams to end all all-star jams. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" finds the late Clarence Clemons' clarion saxophone coalescing band members into a lockstep, heavyweight rock juggernaut. And it sounds like gallons of after-dinner booze fuels "The Train Kept a Rollin'," performed by Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ron Wood, Joe Perry, Flea and Metallica -- a recording Metallica frontman James Hetfield calls "rhythm guitar player heaven."
Sure, some tracks are out of place, like James Taylor's take on "Woodstock," but Volume 1 mostly encapsulates the spirit of rock 'n' roll: joyous, raucous and sometimes a little messy.
Hot tracks: "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," "Johnny B. Goode"
-- SHEA STEWART
B+ PJ Harvey
The Hope Six Demolition Project
Vagrant
PJ Harvey's ninth studio album is a massive undertaking -- a chronicling of her four years of journeys to Afghanistan, Kosovo and Washington, set to music and recorded in front of an audience at London's Somerset House.
Given those parameters, the album is an impressive success. Simply setting her brand of insightful journalism to music is a triumph, especially when she manages to match the music to the hard-hitting lyrics.
She builds "The Community of Hope" into a catchy, guitar-driven rocker as she describes the problems of a Washington neighborhood ("OK, now this is just drug town, just zombies") before reporting the potential solution in joyous harmonies: "They're gonna put a Wal-Mart here."
The problem is that Harvey often tries to stay dispassionate in dire circumstances, which is important for journalists, but not necessarily for artists. When she finally melts in the stunning "Dollar, Dollar," about a boy begging her for money in Afghanistan, the emotions that she unleashes in the achingly beautiful testament poignantly show what the project was missing.
Hot tracks: "Dollar, Dollar," "The Community of Hope"
-- GLENN GAMBOA,
Newsday (TNS)
B Pet Shop Boys
Super
X2
It has been some 30 years since "West End Girls" launched England's Pet Shop Boys, singer/songwriter Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe. They've endured as pop/dance music creators, thanks to a seemingly inexhaustible ability to create catchy melodies, embrace musical changes and walk the line between familiar and fresh. Tennant's lyrics can tell interesting stories, sometimes laced with humor, satire and sarcasm.
Super, like their best albums, is loaded with a sense of theatrics and drama. It was produced by Stuart Price, who also helmed the group's previous set, Electric (one of their best).
The urgent and driving "Say It to Me" sounds like a potential dance club classic in the making, while "Undertow" has more hooks than a bass fishing tournament. And when the album reaches for the serious -- as on the dark "The Dictator Decides," which focuses on our world at war -- it stays grounded in the beat.
Hot tracks: "Say It to Me," "Undertow," the chill of "Inner Sanctum"
-- ELLIS WIDNER
Style on 04/26/2016