Paolo Nutini [2009] Sunny Side Up

[01] 10/10
[02] Coming Up Easy
[03] Growing Up Beside You
[04] Candy
[05] Tricks Of The Trade
[06] Pencil Full Of Lead
[07] No Other Way
[08] High Hopes
[09] Chamber Music
[10] Simple Things
[11] Worried Man
[12] Keep Rolling



amg: When Scot singer/songwriter Paolo Nutini issued his debut album in 2006 — all of its songs were written before his 18th birthday — there was no doubt, despite his youthful demeanor, that he was the real thing. He stood out from the 21st century plague of the young, confessional songwriting throng because of his unusual depth, canny melodic sensibility, and homemade but taut production. His singles, "New Shoes," and "Jenny Don't Be Hasty," were wrapped in rock & roll classicism and bore the attitude of Dion's "Teenager in Love" and the romanticism of Jonathan Richman's "That Summer Feeling." With Sunny Side Up, his sophomore effort, Nutini makes a giant leap forward. Not only has he moved a few levels north in terms of his use of harmony, melody, and broadening genres, his lyrics have gotten bolder and more sophisticated. With the help of Ethan Johns, Nutini has taken huge chunks of America's (and Scotland's) pop and folk pasts and reshaped them in his own image; he's all but left his previous identity behind.

Nutini recorded and produced the original sessions himself with his band the Vipers — Donny Little, Mike McCaid, Dave Nelson, Seamus Simon, Gavin Fitzjohn, and Fraser Speirs — and Johns added some production details and did a load of mixing. In addition, there are guests that include a string quartet, the legendary Rico Rodriguez of the Skatalites and Specials, and ?uestlove of the Roots who helps out on the album opener "10/10." Though this cut is not the single, it is one of the grandest moments here. As an opener, "10/10,'" is indispensable: a ska heavy soul beat with blazing brass is laid down, as Nutini delivers a vocal that is the perfect meld of Louis Prima and Bob Marley. Its lyric captures the solid swaggering joy and braggadocio of the street with a melody that screams "party time." "Coming Up Easy," is one of the set's featured tracks and as such, with its soulful Memphis-style Hammond B-3, Duck Dunn-style bassline, and fat horns by Fitzjohn, is a killer breakup track, but with a lyric that could have been written by Nick Drake. It's tight, tough, and moving. The set's first single is "Candy," which opens with an Omnichord by Johns (who also plays mellotron and another guitar on the cut). This one feels a lot like John Martyn. It's not an ape, but since both were Scotsmen, the lineage is there, and both borrowed from American blues and folk heritages as well as their Celtic ones. This is a gorgeous, if unlikely, single with acoustic guitars weaving around the mix like water falling around Nutini's Scottish brogue. It's a love song of the first order without an ounce of sap, and containing a poetry so impure it could only be pop music. The rest of Sunny Side Up holds water, too. It's remarkably consistent as it embraces Scottish folk ("Tricks of the Trade,"and "Worried Man"), swing jazz ("Pencil Full of Lead"), early rock and doo wop ("No Other Way"), calypso soul ("High Hopes"), skiffle-style country ("Simple Things"), and even late-'30s style crooning ("Keep Rolling"). All of these stylistic indulgences could have turned up as a mess, a bad mash-up or still worse, an album full of songs that were longer on style than they were on substance. That's not the case; it's almost unbelievably sophisticated, flows easily, and feels whole, finished. This one leaves its generational competition in the dust and is wise beyond this songwriter's years, and to be frank, leaves his own previous identity as simply a bedroom balladeer to history.
(amg 8/10)

Pet Shop Boys [2009] Yes

[01] Love Etc.
[02] All Over The World
[03] Beautiful People
[04] Did You See Me Coming
[05] Vulnerable
[06] More Than A Dream
[07] Building A Wall
[08] King Of Rome
[09] Pandemonium
[10] The Way It Used To Be
[11] Legacy



amg: Coming down from the ambitious, politically charged Fundamental, Yes is the sound of the Pet Shop Boys unwinding and returning to their usual fascinations: isolation, fashion, grand arrangements, and witty synth pop anthems. Unfortunately, they're in a slump with their songwriting, and subject-wise, every song here has a companion piece on some earlier album, but that doesn't mean the party is spoiled. The delicate electro opener "Love Etc." is PSB perfection with its memorable hook and faultless construction. Brian Higgins and his Xenomania team (Saint Etienne, Girls Aloud) share songwriting and production duties on the track, and while that later credit continues for the remainder of the album, the hip crew becomes invisible as singer Tennant and synth-man Lowe take over. Employing an Abbey Road orchestra and hiring Johnny Marr for some Hollywood guitar seems a familiar Pet Shop Boys maneuver, and when Neil Tennant tops it off with some sardonic lyrics, "Beautiful People" becomes a pleasingly comfortable gift for any fan thrown by Fundamental's action committee attitude. "Did You See Me Coming" is the exhilarated infatuation of "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Sort of Thing" all over again, while "King of Rome" is the spitting image of the duo's 1987 chestnut "King's Cross." These are good things, especially for the sworn fan, and so are the few quirky new ideas, like the duo trading lines Run-D.M.C. style on "Building a Wall." The grand closer "Legacy" is the obvious songwriting highlight, partly because of the Kurt Weill-like breakdown in the middle, but mostly because of the grim way it comforts the brokenhearted. Neil proposes that glaciers melt and stars burn out so there's a pretty good chance that given time "you'll get over it." It's much better than the "Is that a riot/or are you just glad to see me" line in "Pandemonium" and just the touch Yes needs to put this above the standard PSB album.
(amg 7/10)

Portishead [2008] Third

[01] Silence
[02] Hunter
[03] Nylon Smile
[04] The Rip
[05] Plastic
[06] We Carry On
[07] Deep Water
[08] Machine Gun
[09] Small
[10] Magic Doors
[11] Threads



amg: Mystery burns at the heart of Portishead, lurking deep within their music and their very image. From the outset they seemed like an apparition, as if their elegant debut, Dummy, simply materialized out of the ether in 1994, as their stately blend of looped rhythms, '60s soundtrack samples, and doomed chanteuse vocals had only a tenuous connection to such Bristol compatriots as Massive Attack and Tricky. Soon enough, Portishead's unique sound was exploited by others, heard in swank clubs and high-end dinner parties on both sides of the Atlantic, a development that the trio of Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons, and Adrian Utley bristled at instinctively, recoiling into the darker corners of their sound on their eponymous 1997 sophomore album before fading back into the ether leaving no indication when they were coming back, if ever. They returned 11 years later, seemingly suddenly, with Third, supporting the album with candid interviews that lifted the veil from their personality, yet the mystery remained deeper than ever within their gorgeous, unsettling music.

That strain of uneasiness is a new wrinkle within Portishead, as in the '90s they favored a warm, enveloping melancholy, a rich sound that could be co-opted and turned into simple fashion, as it was by band after band in the heyday of the swinging '90s. So many groups grabbed ahold of Portishead's coattails that it's easy to forget that in 1994 there was no other band that sounded quite like Portishead — not even Massive Attack and Tricky, who shared many surface sounds but not a sensibility — and that is just as true in 2008, years after trip-hop has turned into history. Their cold, stark uniqueness isn't due to a continuing reliance on the cinematic textures of Dummy, although there are echoes of that here on the slow-crawling album openers "Silence" and "Hunter," songs just familiar enough to act as reminders of how Portishead are special, yet just different enough to serve notice that the trio is engaged with the present, even if they've happily turned into isolated recluses, working at a pace utterly divorced from the clattering nonsense of the digital world. Third is resolutely not an album to be sampled in 30-second bites or to be heard on shuffle; a quick scan through the tracks will not give a sense of what it's all about. It demands attention, requiring effort on the part of the listener, as this defies any conventions on what constitutes art pop apart from one key tenant, one that is often attempted yet rarely achieved: it offers music that is genuinely, startlingly original.

Surprises are inextricably intertwined throughout Portishead. There are jarring juxtapositions and transitions, as how the barbershop doo wop of "Deep Water" sits between those twin towers of tension of "We Carry On" and "Machine Gun," the former riding an unbearably relentless two-chord drone while the latter collapses on the backs of warring drum machines. Echoes of Krautrock and electronica can be heard on these two tracks, but that very description suggests that Third is conventionally experimental, spitting out the same hipster references that have been recycled since 1994, if not longer. These influences are surely present, but they're deployed unexpectedly, as are such Portishead signatures as tremulous string samples and Utley's trembling guitar. Out of these familiar fragments from the past, Portishead have created authentically new music that defies almost every convention in its writing and arrangement. As thrilling as it is to hear the past and present collide when "Plastic" is torn asunder by cascading waves of noise, Third doesn't linger in these clattering corners, as such cacophony is countered by the crawling jazz of "Hunter" and the sad, delicate folk of "The Rip," but a marvelous thing about the album is that there's no balance. There is a flow, but Portishead purposely keep things unsettled, to the extent that the tonal shifts still surprise after several listens.

Such messiness is crucial to Portishead, as there's nothing tidy about the group or its music. Experimental rock is often derided as being cerebral — and this is surely enjoyable on that level, for as many times as Third can be heard it offers no answers, only questions, questions that grow more fascinating each time they're asked — but what sets Portishead apart is that they make thrillingly human music. That's not solely due to Gibbons' haunting voice, which may offer an entryway into this gloom but not its only glimpse of soul, as the perfectionism of Barrow and Utley have resulted in an album where nothing sounds canned or processed, the opposite of any modern record where every sound is tweaked so it sounds unnatural. Third feels more modern than any of those computer-corrected tracks as the group's very sensibility mirrors the 21st century, where the past is always present. Then, of course, there's that rich, fathomless darkness that Third offers, something that mirrors the troubled days of the new century but is also true to that shimmering, seductive melancholy of Dummy. Here, the sad sounds aren't quite so soothing, but that human element of Portishead gives them a sense of comfort, just as it intensifies their sense of mystery, for it is the flaws — often quite intentional — that give this an unknowable soul and make Third utterly riveting and endlessly absorbing.
(amg 9/10)

Paul Anka [2005] Rock Swings

[01] It's My Life
[02] True
[03] Eye Of The Tiger
[04] Everybody Hurts
[05] Wonderwall
[06] Black Hole Sun
[07] It's A Sin
[08] Jump
[09] Smells Like Teen Spirit
[10] Hello
[11] Eyes Without A Face
[12] The Lovecats
[13] The Way You Make Me Feel
[14] Tears In Heaven



amg: Having written a fair number of them, Paul Anka recognizes a contemporary standard when he hears one, even if it doesn't conform to the historical model as it's existed from the days of Tin Pan Alley to Broadway. And so his songbook of chestnuts plucked from the '80s and '90s rock canon, Rock Swings, fares much better than its closest contemporary, Pat Boone's novelty In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy. First of all, there's the material — a compelling selection of standards that reveals a close inspection and an inspired reimagining of the pop and alternative artists of the period (perhaps not by Anka himself). The disc does commit a few errors by resorting to novelty selections (Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"), but the big surprise here is that most of the songs slip into the standards bag with an uncanny ease (Pet Shop Boys' "It's a Sin," Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face," Lionel Richie's "Hello"). No matter how far the stretch, Anka and his inspired primary arranger, Randy Kerber, make these songs work in a swing context; in fact, it takes only a single listen to confirm that the narrator of even Van Halen's "Jump" is at heart quite the ring-a-ding swinger — casual, cynical, knowing. There are other inspired choices here, tender ballads like R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" or Spandau Ballet's "True," and, astonishingly, the nihilist anthem "Blackhole Sun" by Soundgarden. Most of Chris Cornell's lyrics — "Hang my head, drown my fear/ Till you all just disappear" — could easily have found a home on Sinatra's Only the Lonely (although at least one line — "Call my name through the cream/ And I'll hear you scream again" — wouldn't have had a prayer). Anka only missteps when he tries to wring meaning from lyrics that require some emotion to carry them; on "Smells Like Teen Spirit," the prime offender, Anka slips into novelty territory when he injects a forceful "Yeah!" immediately after delivering Nirvana's classic lines "A mulatto, an albino/ A mosquito, my libido," as though he can confirm Kurt Cobain's words as a home truth.
(amg 7/10)

Procol Harum [2003] The Well's On Fire

[01] An Old English Dream
[02] Shadow Boxed
[03] A Robe Of Silk
[04] The Blink Of An Eye
[05] The VIP Room
[06] The Question
[07] This World Is Rich (For Stephen Maboe)
[08] Fellow Travellers
[09] Wall Street Blues
[10] The Emperor's New Clothes
[11] So Far Behind
[12] Every Dog Will Have His Day
[13] Weisselklenzenacht (The Signature)



amg: On their first album of new material since 1991, The Well's on Fire is a return to form for Procol Harum. The band has shed most of the production gloss that dated The Prodigal Stranger and gets back to a beefier rock-based sound, resulting in their finest album in nearly 30 years. By the time you get to the chorus of "An Old English Dream" (the album's first track), you know you've locked onto the classic Procol arsenal — capable of packing plenty of keyboard, drums, and guitar punch. The band is comfortable and unashamed to be working within the classic rock idiom, and their unique blend of progressive and R&B influences is still evident. The playing is tight and lively. "Every Dog Will Have His Day" shows they haven't lost their sense of playful humor, while truly revelling in bouncy R&B rock. Some songs — like the regal "A Robe of Silk" and "The Emperor's New Clothes" — are more than respectable throwbacks to Shine on Brightly and Home-era material. Matthew Fisher's unmistakable rock organ will undoubtedly have listeners experiencing nostalgic flashbacks. The album isn't merely a nostalgia trip, however. "The Blink of an Eye," a message song about September 11, adopts a more modern R&B-laced adult contemporary groove, as does the "The Question." "Shadow Boxed" breaks the mold a bit with a strong up-tempo staccato pulse (it's almost danceable), and "The Wall Street Blues" rocks out over a clever blues piano riff. "So Far Behind" makes a grab for modern rock pop grooviness, but is still at heart a typical Procol rocker. On tunes like "This World Is Rich," a stately, emotionally powerful Brooker piano ballad, instead of trying to sound too commercial or go for a carbon copy of their classic sound, the band is adept at blending the new with the old. Knowing nods to the past do abound, from Fisher's organ to the "Repent Walpurgis"-style prog rock instrumental that closes the album, "Weisselklenzenacht." It seems as if Procol is finally acknowledging its "elder statesmen" status among the pantheon of classic prog rockers, and is comfortable with the role. Keith Reid's lyrics may not be as obscure as the old days, but they remain heady and full of social conscience, and on "The Emperor's New Clothes" he recaptures his sense of drama and poetic acuity. Gary Brooker's voice is aging like fine wine and shows no signs of wearing out. "The Vip Room" is a fine blue-tinged rocker featuring guitarist Geoff Whitehorn, who fills the shoes of ex-guitarists Robin Trower and Mick Grabham competently. In short, the band plays with a renewed sense of purpose. With the core of Brooker, Reid, and Fisher intact (sadly, B.J. Wilson's dramatic drumming can never be replaced), this sounds like the Procol Harum you're used to, and is arguably their best album since Exotic Birds and Fruit. Rarely do you get the sense that a band with this much road behind them still has legs. While Procol Harum may not claim a whole lot of new fans with this outing, they should be able to corral many older fans back to the fold, and they have demonstrated that they're capable of making relevant music again.
(amg 8/10)

Paul Young [1991] From Time To Time - The Singles Collection

[01] Every Time You Go Away
[02] Come Back And Stay
[03] I'm Only Foolin' Myself
[04] Senza Una Donna
[05] I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down
[06] Broken Man
[07] Everything Must Change
[08] Wonderland
[09] Don't Dream It's Over
[10] Love Of The Common People
[11] Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)
[12] Both Sides Now
[13] Some People
[14] Oh Girl
[15] Softly Whispering I Love You



amg: Paul Young's retrospective From Time to Time: The Singles Collection brings together all his major U.S. and European hits from the 1980s and early 1990s. Some of these, including his only U.S. number one "Every Time You Go Away," were remixed when released as singles and to radio — this collection intelligently includes those versions. Young's music, which bridged new wave, British soul, and adult contemporary, always sported state-of-the-art production, and, coupled with his soulful, yearning voice, has gone on to become some of the finest and most timeless the 1980s had to offer. The songs sound just as lush and energetic as when first released. Highlights include his bewitching breakthrough U.S. single "Come Back and Stay," its reggae-flavored follow-up "Love of the Common People," his massive "Every Time You Go Away," the electrifying "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down," the timeless and sadly underrated "Everything Must Change," his breakthrough U.K. cover of Marvin Gaye's "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)," his last U.S. Top Ten hit "Oh Girl," and the international smash "Senza Una Donna" (with Italian star Zucchero). Paul Young was a superb interpreter of other people's hits, evident here by two new tracks — his stirring renditions of Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over" and Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now." The only hit missing is his smash from Fried Green Tomatoes "What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted," but, then again, that song was released the year after this collection.
(amg 8/10)

Pendragon [1985] The Jewel

[01] Higher Circles
[02] The Pleasure Of Hope
[03] Leviathan
[04] Alaska (At Home With The Earth - Snowfall)
[05] Circus
[06] Oh Divineo
[07] The Black Knight
[08] Fly High Fall Far
[09] Victims Of Life



amg: This is the debut effort from Pendragon, and it is essentially a combination of Fish-era Marillion with doses of Genesis and Pink Floyd. The keyboard-laden arrangements are unequivocally '80s, and the production is one step up from a demo recording. The selections are a mixed bag of neo-progressive excursions and insipid pop ("Higher Circles" is particularly embarrassing). There was, however, enough talent and individuality here to develop a loyal following that lead Pendragon to be one the few successful progressive bands during the '80s. Recommended for fans interested in the band's humble beginnings, or those interested in the defining years of the neo-progressive subgenre of progressive rock.
(amg 5/10)

Pat Benatar [1985] Seven The Hard Way

[01] Sex As A Weapon
[02] Le Bel Age
[03] Walking In The Underground
[04] Big Life
[05] Red Vision
[06] 7 Rooms Of Gloom
[07] Run Between The Raindrops
[08] Invincible (Theme From The Legend Of Billie Jean)
[09] The Art Of Letting Go



amg: Seven the Hard Way continues the slick pop approach of Tropico and is benefitted by a wealth of songs written by professional songwriters. At this point, Pat Benatar and her band weren't coming up with material as catchy or memorable as "Invincible" and "Sex as a Weapon," so the presence of the pro songwriters was a blessing, not a curse.
(amg 6/10)

Pat Benatar [1984] Tropico

[01] Diamond Field
[02] We Belong
[03] Painted Desert
[04] Temporary Heroes
[05] Love In The Ice Age
[06] Ooh Ooh Song
[07] The Outlaw Blues
[08] Suburban King
[09] A Crazy World Like This
[10] Takin' It Back



amg: On Tropico, Pat Benatar began refashioning her sound, moving toward a more middle-of-the-road sound as evidenced by the hit single "We Belong." The change in direction revitalized the singer, resulting in her best album since Precious Time.
(amg 6/10)