No Motiv (3 stars)
Daylight Breaking
On their third album, Daylight Breaking, Southern California quartet No Motiv positions themselves for a mainstream breakthrough, with big guitars, intricate songwriting and strong melodies, turning in the kind of stadium emo that's propelled people like Dashboard Confessional into the bedrooms of teenagers everywhere. Unlike some of their colleagues, No Motiv sticks with melody, frontman Jeremy Palaszewski almost never letting his vocals devolve into screams. The riffs are mostly crisp and polished, only occasionally, as on the raw "Death in #s," approaching the intensity of a Thursday or Thrice.
But No Motiv's greatest strengths are actually the more intimate songs, like "Audition" and "Robot Eyes." It's on these tunes that they let their songwriting breathe, with more complex arrangements and instrumental subtleties. Without taking their genre in a new direction, they've turned in a mature and accomplished record, equal parts punk and straight-ahead rock, that should get emo fans to sit up and take notice.
Josh Bell
The Crystal Method (2 stars)
The Legion of Boom
No artists have done more to spread electronic music than The Crystal Method. The release of 1997's Vegas was among the first electronic dance albums to achieve mainstream success, with TCM's music everywhere: films, commercials, video games and all over MTV. It was all deserved; Vegas is a genius album, the one that forged my fascination with electro music. The release of 2001's Tweekend saw Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland create a rockier sound and more traditional song structure. A number of guest artists, including Scott Weiland and Tom Morello, joined the fray, making Tweekend an all-star effort, and a solid, albeit somewhat less exciting, follow-up to Vegas.
The Crystal Method tries to again set the world on fire with Legion of Boom. Unfortunately, it looks like someone forgot to give Jordan and Kirkland matches.
Legion of Boom never goes anywhere. TCM is stuck in the same samples and beats of yesteryear, without capturing any of the furor and originality of their past work. The album has a few highlights, like the effective rock number "Born Too Slow" and "I Know Its You," which capture some of the flavor and excitement of Vegas. But ultimately, Legion of Boom just isn't that interesting. Even appearances from Limp Bizkit's Wes Borland or the Roots' Rahzel can't seem to liven things up. Most of the tracks, like "Weapons of Mass Distortion," are like pieces of a demo reel designed to tantalize commercial producers rather than the record-buying public. Sure, I could see Batman or Blade kicking evil ass to some of the music from Legion of Boom, but that's about it. There aren't any psychopathic clowns or vampires that live in my CD player.
Finally, if you're going to call your album Legion of Boom, there should be some actual heat-pounding, ear-bleeding booming going on. But the disc is almost completely boom-free, and is better suited for tea and crumpets than a pulsating dance floor.
Antonio Llapur
Live and Swingin': The Ultimate Rat Pack Collection (4 stars)
"This is the coolest thing ever," whooped the heavy-metal critic when he spotted this package on my desk. And how! Recorded at a Chicago nightclub in 1962, it's packed with charm. You not only get the boys—Frank, Dean and Sammy, no last names necessary—in fine voice, you get the playful effervescence of a live gig.
Introducing "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," Dean teases that "my very, very good friend" Tony Bennett asked him not to sing, and that he is singing it because he's not his very good friend. "He's one of them Italians." Then he proceeds to sing a loose version of the song, ad-libbing, "I left my heart in Fran Samcisco."
"A lot of drunks have cried in their beer over this mother," Frank cracks, swinging into a bouncy version of "You're Nobody Until Somebody Loves You."
"Good evening, I'm Johnny Mathis," Sammy says before "What Kind of Fool Am I?" There's plenty of back and forth between the stars, jokey stuff like Dean telling Frank, "As the fly said walking across the mirror, 'That's one way of looking at it.'" And that's what's four-star-worthy about this disc—the music is what it's always been and they sound great singing it—the loose good humor that defined high-living manhood for so many.
Scott Dickensheets