Tony Bennett (4 stars)
Fifty Years: The Artistry of Tony Bennett
The poet John Berryman once claimed that one of the ways he achieved his potential was to simply outlive his more flashy competition until he was the last poet standing.
After a five-decade recording career, Tony Bennett has few peers. So even at five discs, this set still can judiciously cherry pick and navigate the highlights of his tremendous (and occasionaly uneven) output.
From his earliest recordings, like a nearly operatic take on "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams," Bennett already shows the power of his voice and the drama he can bring to a song's delivery. But it isn't until his '60s recordings that his style becomes as confident as his voice is potent.
Included here are all of Bennett's hits from this period, like "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," as well as some of the irritating Mitch Miller-produced pop tracks like "Put on a Happy Face." But there are also a surprising number of solid takes on standards like "The Best Is Yet to Come" and "Stella by Starlight."
Jazz fans will be happy to find a few interesting collaborations here, including some examples of Bennett's recordings with Bill Evans from the '70s. The final disc covers Bennett's surprising comeback as Grandpa Cool for the MTV audience. For more casual fans, the two-disc set, Essential Tony Bennett (2002) remains the best place to start. However, for those who have always admired Bennett, this collection is the perfect document of his 50-year journey to become the last great survivor of the vocal era.
Kasey Chambers (3 stars)
Wayward Angel
Alt-country singer Kasey Chambers is a superstar in her native Australia, but here she's just one of many singer-songwriters practicing a roots-oriented, stripped-down version of country music to much critical acclaim but little commercial success. Her third album, Wayward Angel, shows some signs of coasting, with songs that spend more time following the formulas established on her first two albums than they do establishing their own. It's easy to hear this as an album by an immensely popular artist who knows exactly what her fans want; it's strange, though, to listen to it in a context where she's not that kind of artist.
Even if the music is a bit predictable, Chambers is, after all, working in a traditionalist genre, and she's a fabulous songwriter within her idiom. Songs like the bluesy album opener, "Pony," the plaintive "Bluebird," and the honky tonkin' "Guilty As Sin" are as good as anything she's written, and over 14 tracks there is plenty of excellent material. There is also plenty of what sounds suspiciously like filler, and some unfortunately hokey, Jewel-esque lyrics. This is an album that will please Chambers devotees and Americana fans, but it's not the one to bring Chambers the success in the U.S. that she's had back home.
Sum 41 (3 stars)
Chuck
After playing young snots for a bit longer than is healthy, Sum 41 offer Chuck as their great leap from life in the 'rents garage to strolling the global stage.
This new serious outlook is partially the result of the band members being caught amidst an outbreak of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Chuck is dedicated to Chuck Pelletier, the UN volunteer the band credits with saving their spoiled asses.
In addition to naming the disc after Pelletier, the band has gone from brats fighting for the right to party to socially concerned citizens. Song titles like "Open Your Eyes," "We're All to Blame" and "No Reason" capture the urgency of a deteriorating world and prove a perfect mix for the group's metal riffs and punk tempos.
Still, not everything has changed. Sum 41 are sticking to the all-killer, no-filler philosophy and Chuck is mostly adrenaline that clocks in a dozen tracks at under 40 minutes. The only weaker moments here are the few attempts to slow the pace on songs like "Some Say," with its slick commercial chorus. But in all, Chuck finds that Sum 41 have successfully replaced beer bongs and boobies with rage and activism while making sure the song remains the same.
DJ Harry (3 stars)
Collision
You know you're in for something different when a house album's opening track starts with wind sounds.
DJ Harry, spinning out of Telluride and Boulder, Colorado, counts the Grateful Dead and the String Cheese Incident as inspiration; with the latter, he also counts them as friends (which goes to explain things like the wind sounds). So much so that he recorded the String Cheese Remix Project with them in 2001, a long, continuous-mix album constructed mostly from samples of the SCI's live gigs. It must have been well-received by them, since he is still on their label, SCI Fidelity.
With his sophomore disc, Collision, he gives us his own creations and the result is an great mix of house electronica, again blended with live music sounds thanks to his SCI pals Kyle Hollingsworth on clavinet, Bill Nershi on guitar and Michael Kang on electric mandolin.
It's a strange combo; not quite jam and not quite house. DJ Harry might have abandoned the turntable for Collision, but having produced and arranged every track (and also writing six out of 10), there is no doubt this is a product of his making. And it works.
Also in the mix are Matt Spencer on bass and Andrew Diamond on keyboard, and for vocals, Lissie, Olga Wilhelmine Munding and jam-band musician Keller Williams. Of the three vocalists, Lissie is the most astonishing, stepping in on "All My Life," a downbeat number that is closer to being a plain ol'—albeit terrific—song to anything 'tronic.
It's a strong showing, and best of all, it makes me wonder what Harry has got up his sleeve for this third release.