Entertainment
Email
Print
Relish Spins
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: November 12, 2009
Updated: 11/11/2009 05:45 pm
Drake
So Far Gone
Label: Universal Motown
If you like: Lil' Wayne
Song to download: "Successful," featuring Trey Songz and Lil' Wayne
Drake, the former star of the hit Canadian teen soap Degrassi: The Next Generation, is being hyped as the next big thing in rap music, the possible heir to Will Smith, who rhymed about parents not understanding years before he became a major movie star.
Drake isn't quite as averse to profanity as Mr. Smith was in his hip-hop heyday, but he does have the same laser-eyed intuition for a pop hit. And even though Drake has yet to put out a full album (that won't happen until next year), his songs have been getting heavy radio play for at least the last year.
His newly released EP, So Far Gone, is a teaser for what is yet to come. And what a bummer of a tease it is.
Drake is a gifted rapper, but whether any rappers should be fearing him remains in question. He does shine on the radio-friendly "The Best I Ever Had," an ode to his one and only love.
He is introspective on "Successful," featuring Trey Songsz and Lil' Wayne, and his newest single "Fear." But other songs are just unnecessary, like the nonsensical crooning found on "HoustonAtlantaVegas."
His best song, "Forever," isn't even on this EP, which is a real shame. Drake's strength lies in his cockiness and his versatility with words.
The songs are overcooked and underwhelming, pop-hop songs that don't stick. And even though this is supposed to be a showcase for Drake, he gets crowded out by guests, including his pint-sized, syrup-drinking mentor Lil' Wayne.
In the end, Drake's voice is lost, except in snippets, drowning out any sense of who Drake is and what he might have to say. Hopefully, his full-length CD, Thank Me Later, is better than this tripe.
Rod Stewart
Soulbook
Label: J Records
If you like: Geezer rock 'n' soul
Song to download: "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted"
Rod Stewart reinvented himself in the new millennium by exercising his distinctly soulful pipes on classic standards with his Great American Songbook collection. Now he returns to his soul roots on Soulbook, a 13-song collection that represents the soul sounds of Philadelphia, Memphis and Motown.
Stewart kicks things off with a dramatic rendition of the Four Tops classic "It's the Same Old Song," and between that and the last song, he honors soul music's greats, including The O'Jays, the Temptations and Sam Cooke. It's a pretty good record, it does have a few bumps.
Whenever an artist covers somebody else's material, it's important that they offer something fresh in return, and for the most part Stewart delivers. But some of the arrangements are too close to the originals. No one will ever confuse Stewart with Jimmy Ruffin on "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted," or Brook Benton on "Rainy Night in Georgia," but he breaks no new ground on either song.
Various
The Twilight Saga: New Moon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Label: Chop Shop/Atlantic
If you like: Alt-rock
Song to download: "Satellite Heart"
The Twilight Saga: New Moon Soundtrack should successfully pique the interest of young moviegoers with alt-rock tracks from top-shelf hipsters.
The soundtrack offers a brooding panoply of songs, matching the sense of danger that is the sinew of the modern-day vampire tale. Forlorn, foreboding and minor-chord infused rock rules the day here.
The album starts out strong with Death Cab for Cutie's "Meet Me on the Equinox," which includes the appropriately dreary line "Your last breath is moving through you, as everything ends."
Band of Skulls provides a jangle of pleasant buzzing guitars on "Friends." Hurricane Bells does them one better on "Monsters" by distorting the guitar, the bass and the lead vocals.
Anya Marina's "Satellite Heart" is the standout track. Her raspy love-song vocals lay perfectly atop the minimalist guitar work.
Carrie Underwood
Play On
Label: 19 Recordings/Arista Nashville
If you like: Crossover country-pop
Song to download: "Someday When I Stop Loving You"
Carrie Underwood opens her third album with an audacious stomper, "Cowboy Casanova," a put-down of a playboy that slyly references a famous quarterback that Underwood briefly dated. But everything else about the bold, sassy tune looks forward, a reflection of Play On, which aims to illustrate her maturation.
On her first two albums, the American Idol winner worked to establish herself as a country-music singer. Now that she is the reigning Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year and Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year, Underwood expands her boundaries on Play On.
Primarily, she brings in several successful pop songwriters.
Throughout Play On, Underwood balances fat-chord rockers with bubbly pop songs and beautiful ballads. In the end, this tremendously gifted singer proves she can move in several directions while always sounding as if she's moving forward.
Email
Print
