Billy Joel
My Lives (2 stars)
Of the 14 students on my freshman floor in college, 12 owned a copy of Billy Joel's Greatest Hits, Volume I & Volume II. One of the two holdouts didn't speak English, and the other listened exclusively to German techno. In other words, the two-disc set was about as standard-issue as it gets, right up there with Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and Journey's Greatest Hits.
Suffice to say, Joel's new five-disc boxed set, My Lives, is not destined to join that group. The four CDs, and particularly the River of Dreams Tour live DVD, are for zealots only, and even they are likely to find fault with their holiday gift this season.
Rarities are emphasized, with 23 of 66 audio tracks entirely unreleased and several others difficult to find. Yet interspersed with such choice cuts as a solo "Miami 2017" demo and an early live "Captain Jack" are readily available album versions of "An Innocent Man" and "Modern Woman," along with sonically atrocious miscellania that sound as if they were discovered at the bottom of Cold Spring Harbor.
Those curiosities—which include cuts by early outfits the Lost Souls, the Hassles and Attila—would be far more interesting if Joel supplemented them with corresponding anecdotes or personal memories. No such wisdom is provided, however, leaving the listener puzzled about what he or she is hearing. And why.
The Darkness
One Way Ticket to Hell ... And Back (2.5 stars)
The novelty has worn off. The Darkness' second album, One Way Ticket to Hell ... And Back, is full of the same deliberately over-the-top arena-rock sounds, overblown clichés and stupid jokes (starting with the album title) as their 2003 debut, Permission to Land, only turned up a little higher and a little louder. Enlisting one-time Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker, the band has effectively captured the excessive sound of self-important '70s arena rockers, but once again it's all empty gestures and smug condescension. The Darkness is far too self-important about parodying self-importance.
At the same time, they've got an obvious knack for catchy melodies, and songs such as the title track and "Is it Just Me?" are reminiscent of classic rock in a good way, as long as you don't pay too much attention to the lyrics. But singer Justin Hawkins isn't content with just a good melody if he can't butcher it with his irritating falsetto, and there's no riff the band can't muck up with a pan flute or two. They're good musicians whose gimmick has run its course. Maybe "Weird Al" Yankovic is looking for a new backing band.
Shakira
Oral Fixation Vol. 2 (4 stars)
Cyndi Lauper, Madonna and Alanis Morissette are among the chart-topping princesses who have contributed heavily to Shakira's sound. In Morissette's case, the comparison is most valid, from Shakira's phrasing to her lyrics like: "You said you would love me until you died/ And as far as I know you're still alive." But Shakira's musical ambition goes far beyond hoping for more dance-pop hits.
Oral Fixation Vol. 2 (the first volume came out earlier this year and was a more traditional Latin-pop album) is Shakira's first all-English offering, and she sounds like she is trying to conquer the pop universe with her big-themed songs about love, life and the state of the world. Updating a famous Sting line on "Timor" Shakira notes, "We got to earn every breath we take," as she confronts her romantic and career fears and the nature of what she concludes is a "cannibal world."
This is pretty heavy territory for Top 40 pop, but Sharkira somehow makes it sound like child's play throughout, delivering every song with joy and passion.