Music

Soundcheck

[Country]

Dolly Parton

Backwoods Barbie

*** 1/2

The grand ol’ gal of country music admits to feeling a bit disenchanted with the Nashville scene, where the classic voices that put Music Row on the map have found little traction recently among the neo-country crowd. But after dabbling in bluegrass and folk for much of the last decade, the 62-year-old Parton returns with a full-on mainstream country album that should get boots a-scootin’ throughout Music City and beyond.

Parton knocks it out of the park with the title cut, an autobiographical piece that’s all fiddles and pedal steel, in which she explains there’s more to this buxom belle than just big hair and false eyelashes: “Don’t judge me by the cover ’cause I’m a real good book/So read into it what you will, but see me as I am/The way I look is just a country girl’s idea of glam.”

She also kicks up her heels on “Shinola,” which could be the B-side to the Dixie Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl,” a verbal beatdown of her “arrogant, cocky and rude” beau, but some of her best moments bubble to the surface on the slower songs. “Made of Stone,” “I Will Forever Hate Roses” and “Cologne” all play the good-girl-done-wrong theme to its weepiest, while Irish pipes and lush strings tease out the ethereal “Only Dreamin’.”

Curiously, the album’s first single—“Better Get to Livin’”—is one of her weaker efforts, a formulaic anthem filled with the kind of chicken-soup-for-the-hillbilly-soul platitudes that made commercial country the cloying crapfest it is today. Also steer clear of the regrettable cover of Fine Young Cannibals’ “Drives Me Crazy,” truly a head-scratcher given Parton’s usually deft touch with other artists’ songs. She rallies with her other cover, more than doing justice to Smokey Robinson’s “The Tracks of My Tears,” and her blues-infused “The Lonesomes” shows that even with one foot planted firmly in Nashville, Parton’s backwoods will continue to echo with the strains of American roots music in all its forms.

–Patrick Donnelly

[Electro]

Goldfrapp

Seventh Tree

*** 1/2

First time I heard “A&E,” the new single from British electro duo Goldfrapp, I figured my iPod was playing tricks on me and what I was really hearing was some pretty little Shania Twain ballad. Which, trust me, isn’t a complaint. All the previous Goldfrapp tunes I’ve listened to, with their brittle glam beats and coy-sexy vocals, are reasonably well-crafted dance fodder. But there’s always been a layer of detachment in their music that precluded my delving into them any further.

Or so I thought. Probably to the chagrin of some longtime Goldfrapp fans, “A&E” isn’t an anomaly, and it should be noted (caveat emptor and all that) that eight of the 10 tracks here are ballads. Singer Alison Goldfrapp’s transformation from chilly sex-bot into ersatz maiden of sensuality recalls the transformation Beck took several years ago with his forlorn, string-laden epic Sea Change. Because Alison’s a more capable singer than Beck, I find her transformation a little more convincing—or maybe it’s simply a more welcome change of pace.

It’s admittedly a little boring over the long haul, but there’s just enough pleasant winter moodiness on Seventh Tree to put it over. It’s of no great concern that what I mostly hear in the best of these tunes are dim echoes of others, because their sources are well-chosen: from Blue-era Joni Mitchell (“Clowns”) to trip-hoppy Air (“Road to Somewhere”) to trendy French chanteuse Charlotte Gainsbourg (“Cologne Cerrone Houdini”) to, yeah, I shit you not, Shania Twain.

–Scott Woods

[Celtic Punk]

Flogging Molly

Float

** 1/2

That these road warriors are playing two shows at the Pearl next weekend attests to their formidable staying power, but the seven-piece has always been a band best discovered in person (see their live debut Alive Behind the Green Door, or even last year’s Whiskey on a Sunday DVD for further evidence). Album-wise the band has long delivered mixed results, and Float does little to reverse the trend.

Lamentin’, drinkin’, thinkin’, shoutin’, lovin’ and more lamentin’ are major themes, and big, shout-along, fist-pumping, consistently catchy choruses abound. The same can be said, however, for their entire repertoire. Similarly, Flogging Molly’s fourth disc remains high-energy throughout, and there’s really not a dull moment to be found. Though “You Won’t Make a Fool Out of Me,” “Punch Drunk Grinning Soul” and the mellow-by-comparison title track are certainly standouts, they’re essentially shinier ribbons on what’s dangerously close to becoming a one-trick pony.

Float is slightly more rock-oriented than previous efforts, yet still pluckily punk enough to compete with Celtic brethren Dropkick Murphys’ more hardcore take. But overall, the band has stayed in the comfort zone: mandolin, fiddle, tin whistle and accordion juxtaposing a vague, uneasy darkness at the core. For all of vocalist/lyricist Dave King’s talk of freedom and defiance, there remains a shocking lack of evolution.            –Julie Seabaugh

[Rootsy]

Kathleen Edwards

Asking for Flowers

*** 1/2

Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards’ third album doesn’t stray much from the mix of country, folk and roots rock that she established on her first two releases, but it does present a greater sense of urgency, with forceful, socially conscious lyrics and a driving sound that competes with the quieter moments. Edwards proves herself an especially strong storyteller on songs like “Alicia Ross” (about a girl dealing with sexual assault) and “Oil Man’s War,” which follows a scared young man fleeing to Canada to avoid military service.

She doesn’t spare her homeland, though: The ironically titled “Oh Canada” tackles racial double standards that are as familiar up north as they are down here. Couching her political commentary in rich character studies, she never comes off as preachy, and indeed her most biting words are saved for the more personal numbers. “The Cheapest Key” and the title track are both clear-eyed break-up songs, and “Key” along with album highlight “I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory” represent Edwards’ rockin’-est work to date. “Dough” also boasts top-notch work from pedal-steel wiz Greg Leisz, putting it right at that intersection between country and rock that this album proves is Edwards’ sweet spot. –Josh Bell

[Rap]

Joe Budden

Mood Muzik 3: The Album

****

New York rapper Joe Budden is a relentlessly positive dude. After he went gold on Def Jam with his 2003 self-titled album, his follow-up release was inexplicably shelved until, finally, Budden was released from the label. A subsequent series of high-quality mixtapes served as the equivalent of passing around his resume, and the independent release of Mood Muzik 3: The Album sees him still shopping for a label.

It’s unfortunate that a rapper with Budden’s skills and sales history finds himself in this position, but he somehow manages to avoid feeling sorry for himself. Instead, on songs like the album’s strongest track, “All of Me,” he raps thoughtfully and soberly about the Def Jam fallout (“Wanted a deal, I got it and couldn’t deal with it”), family relationships (“Wish me and my brother was closer”), life changes (“Yesterday, was better off, didn’t even know it”) and just about everything else under the sun. The track is a mind-blowing eight minutes long, and he’s still rhyming when it fades out. “Un4Given” features a Metallica sample, “Star Inside of Me” is a Top 40-worthy, feel-good anthem, and throughout the disc he name-drops practically every Met and Yankee player.

Budden is a passionate, optimistic and intelligent emcee, and with any justice this disc will get the right folks’ attention. –Ben Westhoff

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