Foo Fighters (3 stars)
In Your Honor
Double albums are a surefire sign of rock-star excess. The Foo Fighters' fifth album, In Your Honor, is a sprawling, 83-minute double-disc extravaganza, and it wouldn't be off the mark to call it excessive. For a band that has achieved success on simple, straightforward rock and a complete lack of controversy (in contrast to leader Dave Grohl's stint as Nirvana's drummer), such an indulgent move is a little surprising.
That's not to say that In Your Honor is bad. Divided into a rock disc and an acoustic disc, the album is bloated, and like most double albums, could probably be trimmed into one more satisfying disc. But Grohl's songwriting remains tight and unpretentious, and he eschews epic ballads or huge string sections, instead concentrating on the sort of simple, catchy songs for which his band is known.
The rock disc sounds like a typical Foo Fighters album, with songs like "DOA," "Resolve" and first single "Best of You" as hook-filled and enjoyable as anything the band has done. Too much of the acoustic disc is given over to maudlin, morose songs, and the best moments are the jaunty, jazzy "Virginia Moon" (with guest Norah Jones) and the Beatle-esque "Cold Day in the Sun," sung by drummer Taylor Hawkins. In Your Honor is excessive at times, but it could have been much worse: It could have been a concept album.
Shannon McNally (4 stars)
Geronimo
On her first album, 2002's Jukebox Sparrows, singer-songwriter Shannon McNally blended her roots influences with a slick adult-pop sound, making her a sort of bluesier version of Sarah McLachlan. Jukebox was full of earthy, full-bodied songs, but it suffered from a sort of timidity. On her second album, Geronimo, McNally ditches that tentativeness and fully embraces her blues and country roots. It makes for a much more satisfying listen, while retaining the pop accessibility of McNally's debut.
Blues-rockers like "Miracle Mile" and "The Hard Way" find McNally cutting loose in ways she wouldn't have considered on Jukebox. Like a rawer, more-in-touch-with-her-influences version of Sheryl Crow, McNally tackles covers of both Bobby Charles and Taj Mahal with aplomb, and jumps nimbly from country to blues to rock, all while retaining her own distinctive sound.
The sweetness of "In the Name of Us, Honey" and "Beautiful and Strange" recall Jukebox's classy restraint in a good way, and the album is tied together by McNally's rich, flinty voice. Like Tift Merritt or Allison Moorer, McNally has transcended roots-rock and alt-country to make a diverse album of great American music.
The String Cheese Incident (1 star)
One Step Closer
For a band that has proved so versatile in the past, the String Cheese Incident is breathtakingly by-the-book on its new album.
On 1997's debut album, Born on the Wrong Planet, the Incident employed neo-bluegrass, pop-rock, extended jams and a lyrical jumble of soul-searching and flat-out wacky lyrics. With One Step Closer, the band now gives us a series of songs that range from mellow, twangy pop-rock to upbeat, head- nodding pop-rock. Failing to supply any pot-worthy jams, the songs clock in at no more than about five minutes each.
Lyrically, the Incident have often been called poetic, even without musical accompaniment, but here the band's typical soul-searching material comes off as preachy. Only in the downbeat "Big Compromise" is this remotely tolerable, and the album reaches the height of its danceability as early as the fourth track, with "Until the Music's Over." Overall, the whole disc blends into one long, laborious song, and not in that neat, Frank Zappa, concept-album way.
Alison Brown (3 stars)
Stolen Moments
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Banjoist Brown's latest album of tasteful bluegrass-inflected folk is impeccably crafted and pleasant enough to listen to, although it often sounds like background music for a bookstore. Guests including the Indigo Girls and Mary Chapin Carpenter occasionally overpower Brown's banjo, which is best on the simpler instrumental tracks.
Rick Springfield (2.5 stars)
The Day After Yesterday
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Rick Springfield, vying for the title of longest, uninterrupted pop-music career—excepting his emceeing at EFX, of course—is back with a collection of songs which have inspired him over the years. Included in the 14 tracks are such gems as "I'm Not In Love," "Human" and "Imagine," as well as the original "Cry." Springfield does a fine job re-creating the songs, but with little variation from the originals, it begs the question: Why bother?