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Sheryl Crow '100 Miles From Memphis' (a&m)
Right from the start -- the brassy strut of "Our Love Is Fading" -- Sheryl Crow's festive Southern journey veers closer to Muscle Shoals than to Beale Street. In fact, the closest she gets to Memphis is a slinky, Al Green-like cover of Terence Trent D'Arby's "Sign Your Name."
Soon afterward, Ms. Crow loses touch entirely with the relaxed, soulful mood this CD so deftly establishes. Dueting with Citizen Cope on his doleful "Sideways," she sounds like Shelby Lynne. And who knows what she's trying to accomplish on "Peaceful Feeling"? It's like Sly and the Family Stone meets H.R. Pufnstuf.
"100 Miles" is an enjoyable ride, even though Ms. Crow's musical GPS conks out halfway through the trip.
-- David Hiltbrand, McClatchy-Tribune
Bret Michaels 'Custom Built' (Poor Boy)
He got smashed in the head at the Tonys, faced diabetes and brain hemorrhages, romanced groupies on VH1's "Rock of Love," stood toe-to-toe (hair-to-hair?) with Donald Trump while winning "Celebrity Apprentice" -- and still Bret Michaels comes out smelling like the thorny rose he often sings about.
Capitalizing on Mr. Michaels' reality-TV fame, "Custom Built" cobbles together tracks from previous solo albums and redoes past hits as hillbilly ballads or whip-cracking rockers. Throughout, Mr. Michaels' handsome voice saves the day. His charm shows through on the retreads, and on the newer, sleazy, hair-metal tunes and country-tinged cuties, Mr. Michaels extends his musky vocals even further. The Nashville twang of "Wasted Time" and his duet with moaning tween Miley Cyrus on "Nothing to Lose" alone are worth the purchase.
-- A.D. Amorosi, McClatchy-Tribune
Marah "Life is a Problem' (Valley Farm Songs)
"Angels of self-destruction, is more like it," was the quip going around back in 2008 when Marah followed the release of their last album, "Angels of Destruction," by almost immediately breaking into pieces, with Serge Bielanko heading to Utah to raise a family and an umpteenth rhythm section discarded along the roadside. Serge's brother Dave Bielanko carried on, however, with keyboard player Christine Smith now playing the chief collaborative role.
And while "Life Is A Problem" may therefore seem like a mere half of a Marah record, with Serge still on sabbatical -- it in fact sounds like a whole one, albeit with a more folk and keyboard-flavored bent than previous hell-raising rock 'n' roll affairs such as 2000's much-loved "Kids In Philly," which Dave here refers to as "my old albatross." Recorded in a Lancaster County, Pa., barn and self-released -- digitally, on vinyl and cassette, but not CD -- "Life Is a Problem" still has that woozy, verbose, cockeyed street-poet swagger, with an unfinished quality on the likes of "Valley Farm Song" and "Bright Morning Stars" that masks the seriousness of the songwriting.
-- Dan DeLuca, McClatchy-Tribune
The Innocence Mission "My Room in the Trees' (Badman)
The Innocence Mission, from Lancaster, Pa., have been releasing quietly beautiful albums for more than two decades, and the new "My Room in the Trees" is no exception: It's soft, gentle, precise, and a bit sleepy (although not as sleepy as 2004's collection of lullabies, "Now the Day is Over").
Wispy but full of subtle colors and variations -- cello and violin, organ and melodica -- these songs build on Don Peris' thoughtful acoustic guitar picking and Karen Peris' churchly piano playing. The lyrics are full of rain, but it's usually a springtime rain that cleanses and rejuvenates or that dreamily "sails us in a leafy boat down the street."
"Stay calm, stay calm in the meantime," Karen sings in a fragile sigh on "North American Field Song," defining the album's credo, manner and effect.
-- Steve Klinge, McClatchy-Tribune
Jimmie Vaughan 'Plays Blues, Ballads, and Favorites' (Shout Factory)
Johnny Moeller 'Bloogaloo' (Severn)
As a guitarist, Jimmie Vaughan has always been a player's player, known more for taste and economy than for the kind of fireworks generated by his late brother, Stevie Ray. On his first solo album in nine years, the former Fabulous Thunderbird revisits the music that shaped him, stylishly reviving R&B cuts by Jimmy Reed, Johnny Ace and Roy Milton, among others.
The impeccable accompaniment includes a horn section and, on five tracks, Hammond B3 master Bill Willis, who died shortly after completing his work here, including a poignant vocal on Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away." And if Mr. Vaughan himself is not the most assertive vocalist, he's smart enough to reteam with old Texas pal Lou Ann Barton, whose tart vocals electrify five numbers.
Ms. Barton also sings two songs on the new album by Johnny Moeller, Mr. Vaughan's latest successor in the T-Birds. Like Mr. Vaughan, Mr. Moeller can do the old-school R&B. But on "BlooGaLoo's" brashly entertaining mix of originals and covers, his funkier, live-sounding approach helps him establish his own identity in the blues world.
-- Nick Cristiano, McClatchy-Tribune
Gluck 'Orphee et Euridice' with Juan Diego Florez in the title part Teatro Real, Madrid 2008 (Decca)
Gluck 'Orphee et Euridice' with Leopold Simoneau in the title role Radio-Canada Television 1961, DVD (VAI)
Gluck's seminal opera on the subject of Orpheus and Euridice was originally titled "Orfeo ed Euridice" in its original Italian and premiered in Vienna in 1762. It was the oldest opera in the standard repertory until revivals of earlier Baroque operas became popular in the second half of the 20th century. Gluck's stark simplicity and directness of expression was a reaction against his contemporaries' catering to virtuoso singers. Orpheus' Act 3 lament (best-known in Italian as "Che faro senza Euridice") is arguably the most perfect melody ever written, an unequalled outpouring of love and sadness.
The role of Orpheus was composed for an alto castrato, but Gluck transposed the part up for a tenor in 1774 for a French-language performance in Paris. Nineteenth-century composer Berlioz transposed the tenor version back down for female contralto, and his arrangement, translated into Italian, became the standard for more than a century.
The present recordings preserve Gluck's Paris version for tenor, in many the most satisfactory of all -- neglected mainly because the part lies uncomfortably high for most modern singers. Not so, in the case of Juan Diego Florez, one of the most accomplished light high tenors of our time. The 37-year-old Peruvian singer sails through this music with ease, bright focused tone and a broad expressive palette. The way he colors his various cries of "Euridice" is in itself a masterful stroke, an example of manifold nuances that make his rendition memorable and unique. The remainder of the cast is excellent, though not on Florez's high plane, and Jesus Lopez-Cobos conducts forces from Madrid's Teatro Real with strength and efficiency.
The superb French-Canadian Leopold Simoneau (1916-2006) was one of the few of the 20th century to tackle Gluck's masterpiece. Though he never sang the role on stage, his interpretation is preserved on CD, and in this very beautiful mounting from Canadian television archives. Simoneau's voice had a sweetness and lyricism that pervaded everything his sang, as well as a level of musicianship that can best be described as gourmet. The staging is lavish 18th-century style rather than classical Greek, and the very appealing Euridice is Simoneau's real-life wife, Pierette Alarie. This disc is a priceless document of some very great singing, as well as visual treat that brings the tale vividly to life.
-- Robert Croan
Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
