Out of the ashes of Guns N' Roses and Stone Temple Pilots rises the new supergroup Velvet Revolver. Comprised of ex-Gunners Slash (guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and Matt Sorum (drums), former head Pilot Scott Weiland (lead vocals) and Slash's high school buddy Dave Kushner (guitar), the quintet launched its hard-rock assault with the anthemic "Set Me Free" on last year's The Hulk soundtrack. On Velvet Revolver's full-length debut, though, the band fails to recapture the glory of GNR and STP. While tracks like the first single "Slither" and the grinding "Do It for the Kids" pack a bang, Velvet Revolver's metallic sound feels somewhat dated compared with young guns like Jet. Still, with this all-star lineup, Contraband is a rock-solid effort. Weiland, attempting to fill Axl Rose's leather pants, veers from a low growl to a primal scream. The singer's personal lyrics offer a glimpse into his well-publicized drug problems (also alluded to in the disc's title). "All that first-class drug s—- brings me down," he sneers on the rumbling "Big Machine." On the cautionary "Headspace," he sings that "Dying with your face on/A T-shirt isn't all that original." Weiland addresses his 2002 split from wife Mary, with whom he has since reunited, on the potent power ballad "Fall to Pieces": "It's been a long year/ Since you've been gone/ I've been alone here/ I've grown old." Meanwhile, axeman Slash lets rip a series of incendiary solos on cuts like the driving "Sucker Train Blues" and the swaggering "Dirty Little Thing." He remains a guitar god among mortals.
ROCK
Rachel Yamagata
On her full-length debut, singer-song-writer Rachel Yamagata shows that it was more than just Happenstance that she got a record deal. Having spent five years in the Chicago funk band Bumpus, Yamagata, 26, released a self-titled solo EP last year. She follows that up with this 13-track set of dreamy folk-pop that alternately brings to mind a jazzier Sarah McLachlan, a funkier Norah Jones or a younger Rickie Lee Jones. With her smoky vocals, Yamagata lights a quiet fire under moody, melancholy tracks such as the country-tinged "Paper Doll" and the wistful, waltz-like "Be Be Your Love." Yamagata, who plays keyboards and the occasional tambourine on the CD, is surrounded by a quirky mix of trumpet, clarinet, banjo and violin on the whimsical "I Want You." French horn and cello pop up on the bittersweet ballad "I'll Find a Way." Yamagata's lyrics are dipped in heartache and romantic yearning. "You may hate me, but I'll remember to love you," she sings on the hushed "Quiet." Happenstance was produced by John Alagía, who was also behind the boards for John Mayer's hit Room for Squares. And with this disc, Yamagata may have established herself as the next big singer-songwriter.
FOLK-POP
Sweetback
Sweetback consists of Sade's three secret weapons–Stuart Matthewman (guitar/saxophone), Paul Spencer Denman (bass) and Andrew Hale (piano/keyboards)–who, since 1984's sparkling Diamond Life disc, have played the perfect sidemen to chanteuse Sade Adu. On the jazz-pop trio's 1996 self-titled CD, Sweetback recruited Maxwell and Amel Larrieux to give voice to their smooth, oh-so-sensual soundscapes. On the mood-enhancing follow-up, Stage 2, singers Chocolate Genius and newcomer Aya are sitting in with Sade's boys. While neither can hold a scented candle to Miss Adu, Aya's ethereal soprano adds a finespun texture to the lush tapestry of tracks like the ambient "Lover" and "Round and Round," which, with its Latin rhythms, recalls Sade's 1985 hit "The Sweetest Taboo." When the gruff-voiced Chocolate Genius takes the lead on three cuts, however, the results are not quite as sweet.
JAZZ-POP
Josh Gracin
Although he finished fourth on American Idol last year, Josh Gracin, 23, is at best a marginally competent country singer. Right now there are surely dozens better, more experienced vocalists performing in Nashville without a recording contract. And while he has a veteran producer in Marty Williams (Rascal Flatts, Faith Hill, Reba McEntire) for his self-titled freshman album, Gracin fails to capitalize on his 15 minutes of TV notoriety with this amateurish collection. The Westland, Mich., native, who will remain on active duty in the Marines through September, stays tolerably close to the right key and has a passable sense of rhythm. And Williams has provided him with a strong set of backup musicians who help lend a modicum of interest to even Gracin's most banal tunes, such as the insipid "I Want to Live" and the treacly "One Little Soldier." Still, Gracin won't make anyone forget Johnny Cash or Waylon Jennings. He may still have a following from Idol, but we'll see how far the patriotic vote gets him in the real world.
COUNTRY
Bond
They may look like the kind of Bond girls who would be hanging out with Agent 007, but these four women from the U.K. and Australia are actually classically trained string musicians. On their fourth CD, Haylie Ecker (first violin), Eos Chater (second violin), Tania Davis (viola) and Gay-Yee Westerhoff (cello) make plucky pop-classical music that would make Bach roll over in his grave. Taking familiar themes and updating them with elements of dance, electronica and techno, Bond brings classical music to the clubs on such numbers as "Hungarian," based on Brahms's Hungarian Dance No. 5, and "Adagio for Strings," inspired by Barber's Adagio for Strings. But the results are nothing to rave about. While there is a fun novelty factor to hearing Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and the Habanera aria from Bizet's Carmen modernized with synthesized beats (on "Midnight Garden" and "Señorita," respectively), the disc is about as thin as a G string. The quartet, backed throughout by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, sings for the first time on a cover of the 1975 Silver Convention disco hit "Fly Robin Fly" that fails to take off. They're better off fiddling to the pulsating Latin grooves of the fiesta-starting "Samba."
POP-CLASSICAL
Andy Bey
CRITIC'S CHOICE
With a style reminiscent of his idols Nat King Cole and Sarah Vaughan, Andy Bey, 64, has recorded songs by everyone from Strayhorn to Sting in an unforgettable baritone that's equal parts benediction and seduction. His four-octave range, nuanced phrasings and effortless delivery make refrains spiral from despair to promise and give the plainest lyrics complexity. On this disc, Bey gets to the emotional heart of 10 tracks, "Lush Life" and "Speak Low" among them. Bey performs with colorful intensity, letting loose shouts and vamps against shifting rhythms and differing combos of brass and woodwinds. Without a doubt, these American songs have met an American master.
JAZZ
Lenny Kravitz
Fifteen years after his debut, 1989's Let Love Rule, Lenny Kravitz, who hit the big 4-0 last month, continues his classic-rock revival on his seventh studio album, Baptism.
ON WHAT HE'S LISTENING TO A lot of classical music, a lot of jazz, stuff without vocals. When I'm working on so much music of my own, I don't want to hear much vocal music.
ON ATTENDING THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTION IN MARCH It was kind of a surreal experience. I'm sitting there with Mick [Jagger], Yoko [Ono], Keith [Richards], Robert Plant. You flash back to yourself as a kid, look at yourself now, and you go, "This is funny." These are all people that I'm friendly with now. And I still deeply respect their work.
ON TURNING 40
Forty never looked so good. I'm in the best shape of my life. Truthfully. I'm in better shape now than I was in high school. So for me it's about that–it's not about a number. You can be 20 and be out of shape and unhealthy. I'm still a young man.
ON HAVING COURTNEY LOVE AS A NEIGHBOR IN MANHATTAN Exciting neighbor to have. You open the elevator and she's naked in there. The doorman will say, "She was naked, running through the lobby." It's great, you know? Adds a little excitement to the building. She's a sweetheart. She's got her stuff, but when you sit and just talk with her, there's a very intelligent, beautiful person inside of there.
ON BEING A ROCK STAR You miss being able to be anonymous, you miss being able to just take a walk and look at people. You miss the way it was before people were, like, hunting you. But at the end of the day it's a great life that I have. I get to do what I love. I got a big ol' grin on my face.
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