Get Behind Me Satan
CRITIC'S CHOICE
After their last disc, 2003's Elephant, went platinum, won a Grammy for best alternative music album and spawned a mainstream hit in "Seven Nation Army," the White Stripes were in danger of losing their hard earned indie-rock cred. Suddenly Jack White, the group's lead singer, guitarist, songwriter and producer, was dating a movie star (Renée Zellweger), appearing in a major film (Cold Mountain) and producing a country legend (Loretta Lynn). But on the duo's bold and bizarre fifth album, Jack and his ex-wife, drummer Meg White, prove they are pop's oddest couple, reveling in their eccentricities (they still don't use a bass player, and they still only wear red, white and black) and straight-from-the-garage sounds. Their latest sounds startlingly like the work of a great unsigned band selling homemade CDs out of the trunk. Just listen to the raw, jagged guitar and steady, deliberately rudimentary drumming of the first single "Blue Orchid," on which Jack, wailing in his falsetto, does his best Robert Plant imitation. The ghost of Zeppelin also appears on cuts like the fuzz-rocker "Instinct Blues." Elsewhere, the Stripes get their freak on by using marimba on tracks such as the Stonesy ballad "Forever for Her (Is Over for Me)," then launch into the bluegrass foot-stomper "Little Ghost." They keep it rootsy on the country-blues "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)," where Jack, who used to lie that Meg was his sister, hints at incestuous urges. Weird, yes—but fascinating.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Blue Orchid"
POP
Never Gone
Although they would like you to think that they were never gone, a lot has happened since Backstreet's last new disc, 2000's Black & Blue. Justin went solo, Nick and Jessica became TV stars, and Britney got married (twice) and pregnant. While Backstreeter Nick Carter also released a solo album, 2002's dud Now or Never, the Boys mostly just got older. And the teen-pop sound of their '90s heyday seemed so, well, last millennium. So now that Backstreet's back, it's more like "Who cares?" than "All right!" This comeback attempt, though not as bad as it could have been, finds Nick, Kevin, A.J., Howie and Brian struggling to remain relevant as they have fully grown from boys to men (indeed, oldest member Kevin Richardson is 33). Bubblegum-flavored cuts like "Poster Girl," a fetching guitar-pop ditty, and "Weird World," with its buoyant "hey hey heys," would be better suited for, say, Jesse McCartney. And rock-tinged tracks like "My Beautiful Woman" fail to bring the desired edge. Backstreet Boys are still smooth crooners on sweet if sappy ballads such as "Safest Place to Hide" and the first single "Incomplete," although the insipid "Siberia" may have you wanting to banish them from the pop scene for good.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Incomplete"
ALT-METAL
Mezmerize
System of a Down makes thinking-man's metal on Mezmerize (the first of a two-part opus that will be followed by Hypnotize later this year), which opened at No. 1 on the Billboard pop albums chart. On the tempo-shifting single "B.Y.O.B.," that last B cleverly refers to both beer and bombs; it juxtaposes images of "dancing in the desert" with a tirade against war. Not your usual head-bangers, System has a more artful approach that sometimes suggests rock opera. And on the closing ballad, "Lost in Hollywood," the L.A. quartet shows its melodic mettle.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "B.Y.O.B."
COUNTRY-ROCK
Get Right with the Man
It's no accident that this energetic, ingratiating disc reflects the best kick-up-your-heels qualities of Southern country-rock. Johnny Van Zant is lead singer for the top dogs of the genre, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and his brother Donnie is a singer-guitarist with another example of the breed, 38 Special. At their best they approach the ineffable intimacy of the Everly Brothers, albeit with a tougher, harder-rocking stance. They balance their bar-brawler swagger with an underlying sweetness, even revealing a romantic side on "Plain Jane," a tribute to women who are less than gorgeous.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Plain Jane"
Coldplay, X & Y
Boasting a bigger sound and a bigger musical scope than ever before, X&Y is the work of a band reaching for the masses—and immortality. Achieving an anthemic grandeur that rivals U2, this is Coldplay's Joshua Tree.
Raúl Midón, State of Mind
This singer-guitarist is an eclectic adventurist, drawing from pop, jazz, reggae, Latin, Afro-Cuban and '70s R&B styles on an exciting debut.
Toby Keith, Honkytonk University
Keith delivers a lesson in good-time country, smoothly segueing from preening, swaggering bar-hopper to feeling, vulnerable loser in love.
Common, Be
Fully realizing his gifts on this hip-hop insta-classic, the old-school conscious rapper kicks his knowledge with help from producer-emcee Kanye West.
Shakira Colombian singer Shakira, 28, is back with the album Fijación Oral Volumen 1, in Spanish, to be followed by one in English in November.
ON RELEASING TWO CDS THIS YEAR It wasn't planned. One day I found out I had 60 songs, so I selected 20 of them—some were in English, some were in Spanish. And that's when I realized I had two albums there. It's twins!
ON WRITING SONGS IN ENGLISH My command of the English language was much more limited [when writing for 200l's Laundry Service]. I could barely speak English. I wonder how the hell I did it. Today it's much more of a spontaneous and natural process.
ON STAYING IN SHAPE I try to watch my food habits on the days before a video shoot, but I'm so dedicated to other things that the gym is the last place I visit.
ON TABLOID RUMORS It's been said that I've been pregnant probably 10 times and married probably another 20 times. But it's the nature of the industry. I just go with the flow and take it with humor.
- Contributors:
- Chuck Arnold,
- Ralph Novak,
- Mark Dagostino.
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!
