POP
Since his 1985 solo debut, The Dream of the Blue Turtles. Sting has emerged as the king of cocktail music with a smooth blend of jazz, world beat and art-pop that goes down like the perfect martini. The ex-Policeman, though, successfully shakes things up on his latest, which finds him at 52 hitting the dance floor on tracks like the club-ready first single, "Send Your Love." Beginning with just flamenco guitar (courtesy of Spain's Vicente Amigo) and castanets, the song builds into a swirling mix of atmospheric electronica beats, Middle Eastern textures and a funky bass part that shows off Sting's prowess on the instrument. One of the best singles of the year, it sounds unlike anything Sting has ever done before. Almost as good is "Never Coming Home," which sets its lyric about a woman breaking away from a relationship against a backdrop of throbbing techno, soft guitar accents and jazz piano.
One can't help but wish that Sting had done more of this kind of dance fusion; it could have made Sacred Love truly great. The rest of the disc, however, offers few surprises, which won't be such a bad thing to fans of 1999's Brand New Day and much of his previous solo work. Cuts like the "Fields of Gold"-reminiscent "Dead Man's Rope," one of several songs with spiritual lyrics ("I've been walking away from Jesus's love"), are still rich in pop craftsmanship. The only real clunker is "Whenever I Say Your Name," Sting's duet with Mary J. Blige. The R&B-ish ballad is a case of two great voices that just don't match.
OutKast
HIP-HOP
CRITIC'S CHOICE
With 39 tracks totaling more than 135 minutes, OutKast's new double disc is hands down the year's most ambitious release. Remarkably, though the sprawling set has some skip-worthy moments, much of it is nothing short of outstanding. For the first time the hip-hop duo worked separately on the two CDs, with Big Boi helming Speakerboxxx and Andre 3000 handling The Love Below. Big Boi's disc consists of the Southern-fried rap soaked in psychedelic soul that fans have come to expect from OutKast. He brings a decidedly offbeat sense of humor to his rhymes ("You a Chuck E. Cheese bouncer chumpin' off the boss," on "Bust") while also displaying a social consciousness on songs such as "War." But it is Andre 3000's CD that is the real revelation. Largely foregoing" rapping for singing, Dre makes a daring disc that harks back to the early days of Prince both with its eclectic funk and its dirty mind. From the "Delirious"-like bounce of "Hey Ya" to the quirky beauty of "Take Off Your Cool," his acoustic, blues-hued duet with Norah Jones, this is the best Prince album that Prince never made.
Gloria Estefan
POP
Long before Jennifer Lopez, Shakira and Thalia, Gloria Estefan was getting listeners on their feet to Latin pop. On her first English-language album since 1998's Gloria!, the 46-year-old singer proves that she could still show those chicas a few things. Rather than embarrassingly trying to update her sound with, say, hip-hop or electronica, Estefan makes a disc that has a rich, authentic Latin flavor. Recorded live in the studio with real musicians, Unwrapped has an organic, unplugged feel with traditional instrumentation like mandolin and cajones (a hand drum) on songs such as the grandly sweeping "Time Waits." Stevie Wonder's harmonica and background vocals add a soulful splash to "Into You," while Chrissie Hynde brings a rockish edge to the duet "One Name." Estefan is in strong, sure voice throughout, making even the more banal pop ballads bearable.
Elvis Costello
JAZZ
Elvis-ologists will creditor blame—his recent engagement to jazz singer Diana Krall (a Canadian, as in from the north) for this slow-burning album of stripped-down ballads, stretches of which contain only voice and piano. Costello has been down this road before (for instance, on the string-quartet album The Juliet Letters), but this new disc doesn't feel like an experiment. He clearly chose these raw, intimate orchestrations (melancholy strings and horns come and go) to match the naked emotion of the new lyrics, perhaps the most direct ever heard from this bad-boy emeritus: "I long to hear you whisper my name/'Till you tell me, 'My Darling, you maybe my man.'" Cycling from breakup (Costello split with wife Cait O'Riordan, formerly of the Pogues, in 2002) to goo-goo-eyed new love, the songs are fine individually, but the exceedingly spare sound grows monotonous after a while. Costello would have been better off if he had been as swayed by Krall musically—using her voice in a duet, or her fuller arrangements-as he is emotionally.
John Mayer
POP
When John Mayer sings, "I will wait to find if this will last forever," on "Clarity," the opening track on his sophomore studio album, he could well be talking about his pop stardom. The 25-year-old singer-songwriter's 2001 debut, Room for Squares, went triple platinum and won him a Grammy earlier this year. But will he be the next James Taylor or the next Christopher Cross? Judging from Heavier Things, the jury is still out. While the disc confirms that Mayer is a lot more than just Jennifer Love Hewitt's ex-boyfriend, it lacks another killer single like "No Such Thing" or "Your Body Is a Wonderland" that would have cemented his standing as a major new artist built to last. Mayer still displays an easy way with a melody and a clever lyrical sensibility on these mostly midtempo numbers. He surrounds his guitar with a more full-bodied sound on songs such as the Dave Matthews Band-like "Bigger Than My Body." Mayer also experiments with horns on "Clarity" and the standout "Come Back to Bed," a retro-'60s soul ballad that nicely showcases his smoky vocals.
Patty Loveless
COUNTRY
This is the way it's supposed to work: An artist tries applying her talent to various styles, chooses among them and creates a synthesis that is more than the sum of its parts. In Loveless's case she has blended her basic honky-tonk-angel style with her recent affection for blue-grass to produce a vivacious, splendid album. On this follow-up to 2001's Mountain Soul, the singer's bright, beautifully pitched voice floats airily over 11 artfully orchestrated songs, from the bluesy "Nothin' Like the Lonely" to the easy-tempoed title track to the bouncy "Lovin' All Night." The latter, one of this disc's highlights, is a Rodney Crowell tune that offers memorably sweet romantic lyrics: "Well, you tell me I'm as pretty as a fresh-cut flower/When you show me how you love me in the wee small hours/While everybody's sleepin' on around this town/Lovin' all night makes the world go 'round." With such apt choice of material, Loveless seems so comfortable that the album does suggest a sense of coming home.
Aaron Neville
POP/JAZZ
This album of 12 pop-jazz standards is a total triumph, from a gorgeous, romantic exploration of "The Very Thought of You" (with Neville's old duet partner Linda Ronstadt) to a heartbreaking version of "Danny Boy." Neville's blues-funk background and his ethereally beautiful voice serve him ideally. Easing the singer's transition into jazz is a group of tasteful, subtle musicians, including Roy Hargrove on trumpet and flugelhorn and Michael Brecker on tenor sax. Neville's brother Charles also shows up to play sax on a lush performance of the great Buddy Johnson ballad "Since I Fell for You."
Dido
After selling more than 4 million copies of her 1999 debut, No Angel, Dido is back Sept. 30 with her second disc, Life for Rent. Whose music is the British singer living for these days?
DAMIEN RICE, O "He's an Irish singer-songwriter with a beautiful voice and gorgeous, melancholy music. I saw him live, and he just moved me."
50 CENT, GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN' "I just love the way he raps. He's so distinctive. For a club record, it's brilliant. I'm still not bored of it."
CERYS MATTHEWS, COCKAHOOP "She used to sing in a Welsh band called Catatonia, but she's done a beautiful, daring country album."
SEAN PAUL DUTTY ROCK/BLU CANTRELL, BITTERSWEET "I'm loving the single "Get Busy" and that song [Paul] did with Blu Cantrell, "Breathe."
P*NUT, SWEET AS "He's a brilliant rapper who did the beats for me on [new single] 'White Flag.' I love it because it's all about old-school hip-hop."
- Contributors:
- Chuck Arnold,
- Kyle Smith,
- Ralph Novak.
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!
