Out-of-State Plates
CRITIC'S CHOICE
Two years ago this critically adored, commercially ignored quartet finally secured a toehold on the sales charts thanks to "Stacy's Mom," the hit summer single from the near-perfect power-pop opus Welcome Interstate Managers. Now they follow up with this double CD of outtakes, early demo recordings and covers. But in the hook-crazy hands of Fountains of Wayne, this 30-track collection plays like a concept album, the overarching theme being pure pop craftsmanship. Two new songs, "Maureen" and "The Girl I Can't Forget," are the kind of propulsive, harmony-laden and humor-rich tunes that make fans wish the Fountains had put out more than three previous discs in their 10-year career. Other bands would be proud to record songs like the wistful "I Know You Well," written by Fountains cofounder Chris Collingwood for his brother's wedding. One of four tracks previously released in the U.S., "I Want an Alien for Christmas," is as catchy as it is hilarious ("I wanna little green guy about three feet high/With 17 eyes who knows how to fly"). The group's cover of Britney Spears smash "...Baby One More Time" is probably the most-heard cut, thanks to widely bootlegged copies. Also included are reverent remakes of ELO's "Can't Get It Out of My Head," Dionne Warwick's "Trains and Boats and Planes" and Ricky Nelson's tender "Today's Teardrops."
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Maureen"
JAZZ-POP
Dreaming Wide Awake
Bright sounds and bluesy originals put Lizz Wright's 2003 debut Salt near the top of contemporary jazz lists while earning the amber-voiced singer favorable comparisons to Cassandra Wilson and Nina Simone. This time out, she mixes a rootsy, folk-rock directness with smooth jazz ease, bringing a nuanced verve to a few of her own songs and a fervor that recharges such musty fare as Neil Young's "Old Man" and the Youngbloods' "Get Together," remembered for its famous call for people to "try and love one another right now." With sumptuous guitar work upfront and soulful organ chords behind, Wright's voice emerges as an irresistible force of clarity and emotion. The affecting results range from the seductive opener, "A Taste of Honey" (a 1965 hit for Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass), to Joe Henry's compelling ballad "Stop." Just beware: For all her relaxed sophistication, Wright often treads a line between what's mellow and what's sleepy. So enjoy Dreaming, but not while operating heavy machinery.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "A Taste of Honey"
R&B
TP.3 Reloaded
On U Saved Me, the inspirational half of the 2004 double disc that also included Happy People, a repentant R. Kelly seemed to be seeking salvation from his player ways. This quick follow-up (the second sequel to his 1993 debut 12 Play, following 2000's TP-2.Com) finds the notoriously naughty R&B star unabashedly embracing the mack daddy within, and from the club to the bedroom, he scores more often than not. Song after song on this CD—which balances its many ballads with hip-hop-pish and reggae-flavored jams—is about lust. On the trademark bump-and-grinder "In the Kitchen," he longs to fulfill his passion "on the counter, by the buttered rolls." On the Prince-like "Remote Control," he tells a particularly exciting lover that "girl, you got me programmed, under your control." Using yet another racy metaphor on the cheeky "Sex Weed," he confesses, "I'm a bud head when it comes to you." But on the dramatic five-parter "Trapped in the Closet," which unfolds like something out of the Jerry Springer Show, Kelly pays a price for his overactive libido, when the player gets played.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Trapped in the Closet"
COUNTRY
Erika Jo
Erika Jo, an 18-year-old Tennessean who won USA Network's Nashville Star competition last April, conjures up shades of Gretchen Wilson, Jo Dee Messina and even Jessi Colter, whose "I'm Not Lisa" Jo sings most affectingly on her appealing debut. Most songs have a more contemporary, feisty feel, like the bittersweet "Good Day for Goodbye" and the willful "I Break Things" ("I'm like a wrecking ball coming"). Through it all Jo displays a strong, controlled voice and an ingratiating style that doesn't shy away from old-fashioned femininity.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Good Day for Goodbye"
POP-ROCK
Choose Love
This genial record comes with enough Beatles references for a parlor game. The opener, "Fading In Fading Out," begins with the calliope-like strains of "Don't Pass Me By" and fades out with the lyrics "all you really need is love." And both "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "The Long and Winding Road" are quoted in the title tune. As he has done throughout his surprisingly accomplished solo career, Starr gets along with a little help from friends: Chrissie Hynde vamps in a duet on "Don't Hang Up." But the album's most moving moment comes on "Oh My Lord," an homage to George Harrison on which Starr, playing what sounds like a toy organ and accompanied by a drum machine, sings with such tender feeling that you know, for him, the word is still love.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Oh My Lord"
COUNTRY-FOLK
Fair and Square
Back in 1971, when his picking and singing style was called folk, Prine penned a bit of antiwar whimsy titled "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You into Heaven Anymore." Even though it's now called country, his style hasn't changed over the years. And in a new protest song ("Some Humans Ain't Human") about a "cowboy from Texas," he proves that his mind hasn't changed much either. It's a rare flash of anger from Prine, who is in a celebratory mood as he returns from a nine-year recording break, during which he underwent treatment for throat cancer. He sings these songs about love lost and found in an oak-barrel growl to melodies that alternately lilt and ache.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "She Is My Everything"
Sugarland
It's been a sweet year for Jennifer Nettles (left), Kristen Hall and Kristian Bush, the Atlanta-based trio known as Sugarland. They've notched two Top 10 country hits—their first single, "Baby Girl," and "Something More"—from their debut CD Twice the Speed of Life.
ON WRITING "BABY GIRL" "I'm in my 40s," says Hall, who like her bandmates wrote and performed for a decade before deciding to form a group in 2002. "I looked at [this group] as the last chance for me to have a successful recording career. I knew 'Baby Girl' was a hit song, and it made me cry."
ON WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN "I am part of the first generation of my family not to be involved in the family business, Bush's Baked Beans," says Bush, 35. "In the '80s we sold it [during] a family feud thing. There was nothing for our grandparents to pass on, so they sent me to great schools, and I took all sorts of music lessons."
ON THEIR FANS "This ain't our first rodeo, so to speak," says Nettles, 30, "so we don't have people banging on the door ready to party on the bus. But we have loyal fans."
For information on where to find our Download This picks, go to www.people.com/downloadthis or AOL (Keyword: People)
- Contributors:
- Steve Dougherty,
- V.R. Peterson,
- Chuck Arnold,
- Ralph Novak,
- Lauren Comander.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
