COUNTRY-POP
Just before releasing Unstoppable, Rascal Flatts won their seventh consecutive ACM award for Top Vocal Group. Those kinds of bragging rights certainly make them live up to the title of their sixth studio album. The country trio keeps rolling here, with an undeniable craft to back up their indisputable commercial appeal. Once again they prove especially adept at the heartbreak ballad; first single "Here Comes Goodbye" and "Once" follow in the wistful footsteps of "What Hurts the Most" and "Winner at a Losing Game." Meanwhile, upbeat tunes like "Love Who You Love" and "Summer Nights" continue to smoothly blur the lines between country and soft rock.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Things That Matter," a soothing, stock-taking ballad
Sounds of the Universe |
ALT-ROCK
Depeche Mode doesn't do much sonic exploration on Sounds of the Universe, the 12th studio album from the synth-pop pioneers. But hey, did you really want them to go country? It's a testament to their stubbornness that, even with all those trendy retro-'80s bands out there, nobody can do a Depeche Mode song like Depeche Mode. And there are some strong ones here, led by first single "Wrong," an industrial-edged stomper with a self-loathing lyric: "There's something wrong with me chemically/ Something wrong with me inherently," sings frontman Dave Gahan, making you feel his pain. Of course, with these brooding Brits, even the disc's most uplifting moment, the dance-floor catharsis of "Peace," comes with a goth sense of foreboding. Peace, it seems, will have to wait.
Two Suns |
ALT-POP
Bat for Lashes is Natasha Khan, a British siren who comes off like a crossbreed of Björk and Sarah McLachlan on her second album. Her ethereal vocals and eccentric atmospherics can create an alluring mood, but not enough of the songs on Two Suns truly shine.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Daniel," a pulsing, electronica-infused reverie
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>• Gospel and secular music file into the same pew on this spirited set (subtitled An All-Star Music Celebration), which finds Queen Latifah (right) leading the title standard and Jon Bon Jovi taking "Keep the Faith" to church.
>NEIL YOUNG Fork in the Road There's a low-budget quality—just check out the dirt-cheap packaging—but it suits the recession that hangs over this car-themed CD. "I've got hope/ But you can't eat hope," sings Young on the title tune. Amen, brother.
FAST & FURIOUS Original Soundtrack More cohesive than your average soundtrack, with the Neptunes handling most of the production (including six new tracks), this is a beat-driven party mix. Rapper Pitbull brings his Latin flavor to five cuts.
PETER BJORN AND JOHN Living Thing If you thought that this Swedish trio might sound anything like Peter, Paul and Mary, think again. PB&J make electro-fied pop, but they could use more songs like "Stay This Way" that really stick with you.
JADAKISS The Last Kiss It's been five years—an eternity in rap—since Jadakiss' No. 1 last album, Kiss of Death. Helping him make this successful (if overstuffed) comeback is an army of guest stars, from Nas and Ne-Yo to Jazmine Sullivan and Mary J. Blige.
>• The original American Idol, 27, is still coming out on top, hitting No. 1 with her fourth album, All I Ever Wanted.
MY FIRST CONCERT It was either Aerosmith or the Toadies. I was 15 or 16. Toadies are my favorite band of all time, and I love Aerosmith. I just knew Steven Tyler was gonna be my husband!
THE FIRST SONG I SLOW-DANCED TO "I Can Love You Like That" by John Michael Montgomery. I was dreading it. I slowly turned into more of a romantic, but I was not like that at all when I was a kid. And poor guys, they're always off beat!
MY FAVORITE SONG TO SING AS A KID "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinéad O'Connor. Oh my God, and the video? We didn't have MTV at our house, but I would go over to my friend's house and pray for it to come on.
MY PICK-ME-UP SONG "That's Not My Name" by the Ting Tings. I get on my friends' nerves because I play it all the time in the car, but it just makes me happy.
THE SONG I SING IN THE SHOWER "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" by Aretha Franklin. But it just sounds good in the shower, so I don't sing it anywhere else.
THE LAST ALBUM I BOUGHT Mine! Every time I have an album, I have to buy it the day it comes out. At midnight I buy it on iTunes and then I go buy it in the store. It's exciting.
>• On Yanni Voices, the New Age instrumentalist, 54, prominently uses singers for the first time.
ON "CAMP YANNI" Camp Yanni is my house. It's on the ocean [in South Florida] and it's got the studio of my dreams. I tend to be private, but once we found [the four singers on Yanni Voices], they were here all the time, so we called it Camp Yanni.
ON HIS LOVE LIFE I do date, but that's all I want to say. When I went out with Linda [Evans], we were so publicized that now I try to keep my private life as private as possible.
ON CUTTING HIS FAMOUSLY LONG HAIR It was three years ago. I was in Greece and I was scuba-diving almost daily, and my hair got on my nerves. Long hair is not very good in the water. So I started trimming it a little bit at a time. And I ended up liking it shorter!
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