Live Like You Were Dying
Ya gotta disbelieve, to paraphrase Tim McGraw's late father, the spirited baseball star Tug McGraw. Tim McGraw has sold more than 25 million albums, won a slew of awards (including the 2001 Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year honor) and is married to Faith Hill. That is hardly the stuff of which the blues is made. But this dismal follow-up to 2002's Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors is so doggedly downbeat that it should come with a prescription for Prozac. Tiresome tunes such as "Everybody Hates Me" and "Drugs or Jesus," which implies that addiction or religious zealotry are life's only choices, wallow in misery. More stimulating, albeit morbidly titled, is "Kill Myself," which may be the disc's most interesting track. The cloying title song seems to allude to Tug McGraw's death from a brain tumor last February: "I asked him when it sank in/That this might really be the real end/How's it hit you when you get that kinda news/Man what'd you do." It goes on to urge listeners to skydive and climb mountains to get the most out of life while they can. If Tim himself had written that song, it might at least have conveyed some filial affection, however somberly, but Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman composed the tune.
McGraw and his coproducers Byron Gallimore and Darran Smith let the disc's musical tone descend to its dim themes. The arrangements, in fact, sound more like dirges than the blues. The rock-spiced fast-food ditty "Do You Want Fries with That" shows the only real musical energy on Live Like You Were Dying. Think, by comparison, of Ray Charles, who had some real things to complain about, yet never settled into this kind of self-pity. Or the great jazz trombonist Jack Teagarden, who sang his signature song "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues" with a touch of irony, so he never seemed to be complaining as bitterly as McGraw is here. Tim might consider counting his blessings before starting to work on his next album.
COUNTRY
My Everything
CRITIC'S CHOICE
After recording classic slow jams like "Sweet Love" and "Giving You the Best That I Got," winning eight Grammys and being hailed by her fans sim-ply as the Songstress (named after her 1983 debut), Anita Baker walked away from the music business following the release of 1994's Rhythm of Love. Ten years and countless R&B diva wannabes later. Baker returns with her sixth studio album and proves t hat some singers don't go out of style. Sounding at once fresh and familiar, this sumptuous set showcases the smoky alto and jazz-kissed soul that have influenced everyone from Toni Braxton to Mary J. Blige. The feel-good first single, "You're My Everything." is vintage Baker, with its romantic lyric and live-sounding musical accompaniment. Elsewhere, the chanteuse teams up with Babyface for the tender duet "Like We Used to Do," which, like the entire disc, matches its adult theme to a sophisticated aes-t het ic. She closes the CD with "Men in My Life," a touching ode to her husband. Walter Bridgeforth. and sons Walter, 11, and Eddie, 10, that reveals exactly where Baker's priorities have been for the last decade.
R&B
DOWNLOAD THIS: "You're My Everything"
On Your Shore
Her classical training since the age of 7 may have had her pointed toward the Met, but instead Charlotte Martin recently hooked up with Liz Phair and company to play this summer's Chicks with Attitude tour. And the 27-year-old singer-pianist's full-length debut (which follows last year's four-song EP In Parentheses) clearly shows that the opera world's loss is pop music's gain. With her accomplished musicality and an orchestral grandeur, the former Miss Teen Illinois brings a classicism to her approach on sweeping, piano-driven ballads. Martin's pure, ethereal soprano, which at times recalls Kate Bush, and her lithe keyboard work, which calls to mind Tori Amos, make for an artful (if occasionally arty) combo. Meanwhile, the lyrics on On Your Shore are awash in evocative imagery. "You slip through me like grains of sand you still don't understand," Martin sings on the lush title tune. Other highlights include the emotion-drenched single "Every Time It Rains" and the gorgeous "Beautiful Life." She also does a lovely rendition of the Rolling Stones gem "Wild Horses" (the only song Martin didn't write), backed only by her own piano. While in the end Martin's studied grace doesn't exactly qualify her as a chick with attitude, she'd be perfect if Sarah McLachlan ever brought back Lilith Fair.
COUNTRY
DOWNLOAD THIS: "BEAUTIFUL LIFE"
Transcontinental
With his high, reedy voice and all the fancy guitar picking he does on his debut album, Jedd Hughes brings to mind a young Ricky Skaggs. But Hughes, 22, is hardly a good ol' Kentucky boy. He is instead a product of Quorn, Australia, where he grew up listening to his dad's collection of Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins records. Judging from this pleasantly en-tertaining effort, Hughes has absorbed both the musical and lyrical essence of country music, even a world away from Nashville. "High Lonesome," for example,is as good as wistful, pining tunes get. Meanwhile, "The Only Girl in Town" is a happily chivalrous salute to the object of a young man's affections, and "I'll Keep Movin'" is a bluegrassy tune that gives Hughes a chance to flex his considerable guitar talents. He also does a respectable rendition of the Flying Burrito Brothers' "Luxury Liner." Australians'affinity for country music—a factor at least since Olivia Newton-John—isn't all that easy to explain. But however he came by his country calling, Hughes has it.
COUNTRY
DOWNLOAD THIS: "The Only Girl in Town"Genius Loves Company
"But now the days grow short/I'm in the autumn of my years." These words, from "It Was a Very Good Year," take on an added poignancy when Ray Charles sings them on this, his final recording before his death, at 73, last June. A who's who of pop royalty, from Norah Jones to Willie Nelson (on the aforementioned "It Was a Very Good Year"), sits in with the soul man known as the Genius on 12 duets that serve as a fitting farewell. Recorded from June 2003 to March 2004, the disc finds Charles still in strong, vital voice, even as his health was failing. He displays a playful sexiness with Natalie Cole on "Fever," while working up a gospel fervor with Gladys Knight on "Heaven Help Us All." While his "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with Johnny Mathis succumbs to sentimental excess, Charles's pairings with Jones on "Here We Go Again" and Bonnie Raitt on "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?" get to the country-blues heart of much of his music.
POP
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Here We Go Again"DOWNLOAD THIS: "Here We Go Again"
ELECTRONICA
Medúlla
If you're looking for a CD to play the next time you' re prancing around the house in your swan dress, then this is it. On her follow-up to 2001's Vespertine, Björk makes quacky sounds that only her most diehard fans could appreciate. The disc is a conceptual work in which the Queen of Quirk defies vocal conventions by enlisting human beatboxers from around the world, classical singer/human trombonist Gregory Purnhagen and two full choral groups (the Icelandic Choir and the London Choir), among others. The result sounds like a bad science experiment on such cuts as the Gregorian chantlike "Where Is the Line." And you have to wait until the last track, the percolating "Triumph of a Heart," before the beats really kick in.
ELECTRONICA
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Triumph of a Heart"DOWNLOAD THIS: "Triumph of a Heart"
POP-ROCK
Carencro
When singer-songwriter Marc Broussard reflects about "Home" on the rootsy opening track of his full-length debut (which follows his 2002 EP Momentary Setback), he's talking about Carencro, La. His hometown not only inspired this album's title but also the bluesy bayou sounds that spice up Broussard's music. With his distinct Cajun flavor and a hearty baritone that at times recalls Blues Traveler's John Popper, Broussard, 22, puts his own soulful stamp on pop-rock numbers such as the infectious R&B-tinged ditty "Rocksteady" and the Southern-fried ballad "Lonely Night in Georgia." Broussard, a third-generation musician who has been performing since the age of 5, gets some support from his father, Louisiana Hall of Fame guitarist Ted Broussard, on four cuts, including "The Wanderer," which takes it down home with some banjo picking and the Carencro Symphony Orchestra Gospel Choir.
POP-ROCK
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Rocksteady"DOWNLOAD THIS: "Rocksteady"
Mase
In 1999, at the height of his popularity, Mase announced that he was hanging up his mike and becoming a minister (he opened his own church in Atlanta). Five years later the rapper, 29, has returned to recording with his third album, Welcome Back.
ON LEAVING THE MUSIC BUSINESS It was simply to become a better person. I didn't like my attitude; I didn't like the person that I was becoming. [He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in 1998.] I made a change, and that change ended up working for me.
ON BEING BACK ON THE HIP-HOP SCENE I'm living the life without the madness. I'm still the flyest thing out there, I've still got the best jewelry out there. But it's very important that I keep that Bible around.
ON HIS FORMER MENTOR P. DIDDY I'm forever grateful to Puffy. He gave me the opportunity to move my family out of the ghetto. I'll always have that respect for him. We still have kind of a teacher-student [relationship].
ON HIS FAVORITE RAPPERS
Nelly is extraordinary—his flows, his melodies. I like Chingy's style and his sound. I like Kanye West's boldness. And I love 50 Cent's drive. And Jay-Z, you can only respect where he's taken rap.
ON HIS HIGHER RAP CALLING My job is not done because I sell 10 million records. If I haven't touched anybody, my job is not done.
- Contributors:
- Ralph Novak,
- Chuck Arnold,
- Jon Regardie.
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!
