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MUSIC ZONE
Saurabh & Gaurav
Weezer —
Hurley (Epitaph)
 IT seems Rivers
Cuomo is a strong believer of the phrase "don’t judge a
book by its cover." By choosing to ornament Weezer’s
eighth studio album with a large picture of actor Jorge Lopez’s
face, Rivers evidently shows the world an example of his quirky
sense of humour. Memories opens the album with a
tuning-up string orchestra, but they’re quickly replaced by
sludgy post-grunge fuzz that guitarists Cuomo and Brian Bell
have championed all these years. I’m Your Daddy days
are pass`E9 and the band has returned to a more innocent,
geek-fueled approach to their lyrical content. Whether it’s
the inspirational Brave New World or the rhythmic Run
Away, or an ode to all females of the world in Smart
Girls, Weezer doesn’t waste opportunities to be insightful
or clever. Ruling Me is a straight-forward Weezer love
song, complete with trademark tongue-in-cheek lyrics like "When
we first met in the lunch room/my ocular nerve went pop zoom/I’ve
never observed such a beautiful face/sweet lady, don’t play me".
Unspoken is acoustic balladry, finished off by huge
distortion and driving drums. Cuomo even tracks down Desmond
Child to help write and play on Trainwrecks, an emotional
ballad that takes a unique perspective on failure ("I
can’t keep a job/We don’t update our blogs"). By
album’s end, on Time Flies, Cuomo’s looking ahead to
his mortality: "Even when I’m gone, this stupid damn
song will be in your head." This is Weezer’s best,
most consistent work in a long time, and some of the tracks are
among the finest they’ve ever produced.
Best track:
Run Away
Worst track:
Hang On
Rating: ***
Mavis Staples —
You Are Not Alone (Epitaph)
 A family gospel
and soul band with major hits in the 1970s, The Staple Singers
touched the hearts of a lot of musicians. Interestingly, in
2008, her comeback got another boost. On the campaign trail,
Barack Obama often concluded his rallies with the Staple Singers’
1972 No. 1 hit I’ll Take You There, with Ms Staples’s
growling lead vocals booming over loudspeakers. Produced by
Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy, Staples’ latest is a joyous
celebration of life and faith on traditional gospel songs and
tunes by Tweedy, Allen Toussaint, John Fogerty, Randy Newman and
Staples’ father, Roebuck ‘Pops’ Staples, who founded the
Staple Singers when Mavis was just 11 years old. On You Are
Not Alone, Mr Tweedy opted for a different approach. Though
the 13 tracks on the album include a poignant take on Creedence
Clearwater Revival’s Wrote a Song for Everyone as well
as songs by Randy Newman and Allen Toussaint, much of the
material is related either with the Staple Singers or even
earlier gospel groups. The traditional In Christ There Is No
East or West and Reverend Gary Davis’s I Belong to the
Band find Staples raising the roof. Throughout the album,
shimmering, bluesy electric guitar echoes the brilliant playing
of the late ‘Pops’ Staples and Kelly Hogan, and Nora O’Connor’s
fervent backing vocals. These songs vary significantly in style
and instrumentation. The joy heard on tracks like I Belong to
the Band and Only the Lord Knows is absolutely
infectious.
Best track: I
Belong to the Band
Worst track:
Last Rain
Rating: ***
Jamey Johnson —
The Guitar Song
(Mercury)
 The Guitar Song
comes grouped in two parts, a Black Album and a White Album,
structured, according to Johnson, as a progressive movement from
a dark and sordid beginning to a reassuring and redemptive end.
The ambitious project’s textures are many and varied. Baby
Don’t Cry is a lullaby. I Remember You is a gospel
song. That’s How I Don’t Love You is a deeply gloomy
power ballad. By the Seat of Your Pants tells of life’s
lessons. The title track, The Guitar Song, is told from
the point of view of two forgotten guitars hanging on a pawnshop
wall. Playing the Part and California Riots come
from feeling out of place as a country boy in Hollywood. Both
Good Times Ain’t What They Used to Be and Front Porch
Swing Afternoon find the singer taking comfort in the
simpler pleasures of life, in his environs and all of the
memories they conjure up. To say that Johnson blends traditional
country and rock together successfully would be a severe
understatement. In Lonely at the Top, he lampoons his
country-star troubles with razor-sharp wit, while Can’t
Cash My Checks describes one down-and-out farmer’s embrace
of an especially lucrative weed. Among its 25 songs, the album
includes some notable covers: Vern Gosdin’s Set ‘Em Up
Joe, Kris Kristofferson’s For the Good Times, and
Mel Tillis’ Mental Revenge (with Johnson taking cues
from Waylon Jennings’ version). That art of expressing
sentiments that people can grasp, not reaching either too high
or too low, is what makes Johnson, so special.
Best track:
The Guitar Song
Worst track:
California Riots
Rating: **
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Album
of the month
Linkin
Park — A Thousand Suns (Warner)
 WITH
title track text inspired from the Bhagvadagita
that states, "If the radiance of a thousand suns were
to burst at once into the sky that would be like the
splendor of the Mighty one", rap-metal rockers Linkin
Park fire-up A Thousand Suns with a bang. Shinoda, who
co-produced the record with Rick Rubin, has never been
more confident with this approach and, at times, channels
Chuck D (Wretches and Kings) with a bit of an
industrial metal twist. The unique vocal chemistry between
Shinoda’s rapping and Bennington’s melodies set the
band apart from the competition. Waiting for the End
features Chester Bennington’s softest vocal to date,
while songs like Iridescent focus on a tortured
piano riff. When They Come For Me sees the band
slot-in eastern influences, with a bassy acoustic drumbeat
and a fluid, Indian-sounding vocal line supporting the
rapped chorus. Shinoda asserts, "I am not a
criminal, not a role model, not a born leader; I’m a
tough act to follow." There are other notable
moments on the album. The Catalyst is the closest A
Thousand Suns comes to the old Linkin Park sound, and is
among this collection’s most immediate offerings.
Robot Boy
drops a melancholy piano sound and atmospheric chanting
around some suitably downbeat lyrics about pessimism and
lost faith. Indeed, with 15 tracks and several musical
interludes linking them, this is clearly designed to form
a complete listening experience rather than one-off
snapshots.
Best
track: Robot
Boy
Worst track:
The Messenger |
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