311
Don't Tread on Me (1.5 stars)
The good news is that if you like 311, you'll like their new album, Don't Tread on Me. The bad news is that if you like 311, you are already beyond help. The favorite band of stoners and frat boys everywhere, the Omaha, Nebraska, quintet have been making the same vaguely funky, vaguely heavy, vaguely reggae-influenced music for 15 years now. Sometimes credited with pioneering rap-rock, 311 feature dual vocalists, one of whom sings more melodically, the other of whom is gruffer and does occasionally rap.
All of this makes the band's unbelievably bland music sound much more appealing than it really is. There is very little rapping on Don't Tread on Me, which is either a blessing or a curse, depending on how nostalgic you are for 1995, when the band had its biggest hit with "Down." Most of the songs are mid-tempo snooze-fests, perfect for undemanding listeners who find the band's hazy indictments of consumer culture insightful, original or "totally deep, dude."
The steel drums on songs like "Speak Easy" and "Getting Through to Her" no longer sound inventive; like the rest of the album, they just sound lazy. What a bummer, man.
Faith Hill
Fireflies (4 stars)
Faith Hill has gone back to her roots in more ways than one. Gone are the screen-siren blond locks, replaced by a luxuriant cascade of brunette. Gone too are attempts at following in Shania Twain's footsteps, as Mrs. McGraw delivers 14 tracks of country pop and ballads.
In both cases, the changes are refreshing and welcome.
Opening with "Sunshine and Summertime," a watery attempt at a summer anthem by John Rich of Big & Rich, the Mississippi girl soon finds her step with the third track, "Dearly Beloved." A hilarious hoedown number by Georgia Middleman and Fred Wilhelm, it kicks up the dirt with lyrics such as "I'd like to welcome y'all/ To see the side effects/ of sex and alcohol."
Two songs later, we hear the results of the ill-fated marriage in "Stealing Kisses," as Hill's tremulous voice describes a girl who stole kisses from a boy but is now begging kisses from a man. The emotional freight recalls a pain-riddled Springsteen waiting for Mary of "Thunder Road."
Naturally, there has to be tear-jerker duet with Tim McGraw in the album's back-and-forth pace. But it all adds up to an album that lifts Hill back up where she belongs.
Paul McCartney
Chaos and Creation In the Back Yard (3.5 stars)
Is it fair to Paul McCartney that behind his new melodies you always hear the echo of one of his classic songs?
For better or worse, McCartney can never be heard out of order. And so Sir Paul does no favors when he describes "Jenny Wren"—an above-average song, granted—as "the daughter of 'Blackbird.'" Listen to "Jenny Wren" and about halfway through you'll want to take it off and play "Blackbird."
Still, and this gets lost too often in the disappointment that has unfairly shadowed McCartney his entire post-Beatles career, when it comes to melody, he has no peers this side of Mozart; he only has himself to compete with. As with Driving Rain from 2001, Chaos and Creation In the Back Yard finds McCartney thoroughly engaged, if not totally inspired. The pleasures here are plenty: the craft of "Fine Line," the pretty ease of "Certain Softness" and McCartney's disarming charm on "Promise to You Girl."
But be warned, McCartney is still capable of being sappier than a Vegas headliner on the subject of love. The stomach-churners here include: "Follow Me" and "This Never Happened Before."