Bruce Springsteen
Born to Run 30th Anniversary Edition (5 stars)
Remastering aside, tinkering with Springsteen's seminal, eight-song Born to Run would have been tantamount to blasphemy for legions of rock 'n' rollers worldwide. So how to commemorate the album's 30th birthday without tacking on a few additional audio tracks?
For starters, Columbia Records does it by unveiling the Holy Grail of the Boss' considerable concert vault, a DVD showcasing Bruce and the E Street Band's first overseas foray, a November 18, 1975, show at London's Hammersmith Odeon. Highlighted by powerhouse renditions of "Lost in the Flood," "Jungleland" and "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)," the disc dispells the myth that Springsteen's British debut failed to live up to the hype generated by his same-week Time and Newsweek cover appearances one month earlier.
The new set also includes Wings for Wheels, a worthwhile if slightly disjointed DVD chronicling the making of Born to Run. Toss in that disc's three bonus live cuts from 1973, and there's plenty to justify a sticker price of around $30.
And let's not forget the object of all this adoration, Born to Run itself. "Thunder Road," "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," "Backstreets" and the album's other "mini epics"—as Springsteen refers to them on Wings for Wheels—sound noticeably more vibrant after their long-overdue remastering. In short, the 30th anniversary edition is the rare reissue that provides a measurable upgrade while staying true to the original.
Scott Stapp
The Great Divide (1.5 stars)
Say what you will about Creed, but they did have a few things going for them. Guitarist Mark Tremonti was a proficient, old-style shredder and singer Scott Stapp had a booming, distinctive voice. Together they wrote some fairly catchy arena-rock anthems, even if they all pretty much sounded the same. On his debut solo album, Stapp tries hard to recapture what made his old band so successful but fails on every count.
Without Tremonti to back him up, Stapp assembles a generic backing band and relies on his voice to carry the album, which doesn't quite work. He too often sounds strained and tired, his boom reduced to a wail. The songwriting, which copies the bombastic Creed arena-rock formula (complete with a couple of power ballads and a guest appearance by a gospel choir), doesn't even match up to what Stapp's former band mates produced on the debut from their new outfit, Alter Bridge.
The saddest thing is that Stapp ends up sounding like one of his own imitators, producing material that pales in comparison even to Creed copycats littering the rock-radio airwaves. He would have been better off reinventing his sound rather than recycling it.
DJ Irene
DJ Irene Live (3.5 stars)
The hard-house diva's first live CD is a sonic tsunami that crashes down with a resounding force. The two discs were recorded in one pass during a two-and-a-half-plus-hour-long Spundae concert at Club Circus in Los Angeles on September 10. In other words, those crowd sounds you hear are authentic, not added in after the fact. DJ Irene has even said that the tracks include mistakes—though you'd be hard-pressed to find them.
With MC Christopher Wight making the introductions, Irene hits a perfect mix of favorites from other DJs and her own material. Armin Van Buuren has both his anthems, "Shivers" and "Serenity," remixed; John Fleming's and Christopher Lawrence's "Attention" is given a spin; there's even a remix of Paul van Dyk's remix of Dino Sofos' "Breath Sunshine."
But Irene really gets and keeps the party going with her own material. The first track, "Rock Out with Your C--k Out", makes it clear that while her stylings might have matured over the years, her attitude is still the same: hard-edged fun. From there through the next 23 tracks, Irene keeps the pressure on, ending with "Day N The Life 2005," a remake of Todd Terry's "Day in the Life", and a segue into the mammoth "Goodbye," which includes, among other things, some choice Nirvana.