My Amazon Reviews: Glee: The Music, Volume 5

A Rebound from Volume 4  
4 Out of 5 Stars

My thoughts on the fourth volume of music from Glee was that it leaned too heavily on one style and not enough work in the variety that has made the soundtracks to the show enjoyable fluff. For the fifth volume, the producers correct that issue by mixing everything from the musical "Rent," The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Dixie Chicks via Fleetwood Mac and, for the first time, originals written specifically for the show. While some may gripe that there are no selections from The Warblers (and, for that matter Chris Colfer/Kurt), a solo Warblers album is to be released in the Spring.

There's another bonus in the return of Gwyneth Paltrow as Holly Holiday on three songs, proving her chops as a country singer on "Landslide" but otherwise being so-so on Prince's "Kiss" (with Will Shuster/Matthew Morrison) and getting her Joan Jett on for a cover of "Do You Wanna Touch Me." The duet with Morrison is better visually than musically, although Morrison reveals a wicked falsetto. In addition to Jett, the 80's come out through a fun duet by Rachel and Blaine (Darren Criss) on Human League's "Don't You Want Me" and two runs at Michael Jackson.

The originals are both run of the mill pop, with "Get It Right" a solo for Rachel and "Loser Like Me" a bubblegummy number for the entire ensemble. The gang style vocals are missing on this disc, which makes "Loser" and the cover of My Chemical Romance's "Sing" really stand out. "Sing" is easily the best song here, and makes me long for more of the powerful, uplifting numbers that Glee excels at. But another thing that they have frequently done is take a song from another artist outshine the original; on this volume it's Katy Perry's "Firework." takes this anthem of finding your identity and completely nails it, more so than Perry (who I do enjoy, but just is not the strongest singer). There are those who may feel that this goes against singer-songwriting as an ethic, given that Glee is a showcase for glossy-pop, I find it wonderful.

Two more things: Lay off the Queen numbers. Queen is now Glee's new Journey.

And why is Sam/Chord Overstreet not featured in the CD cast shots? He's now getting prominent solos on the songs and is a strong show character. Leaving him out of the picture seems like a slight.

 

My Amazon Reviews: Suzanne Vega "Nine Objects of Desire"

The high hanging fruits 
4 Out Of 5 Stars

For a Greenwich Village folkie, Suzanne Vega was one restless woman. Following a love of Nine Inch Nails, she made the "Industrial Folk" (her term) of "99.9 F°" and followed it with this, a slightly more subdued but no less adventurous album. "Nine Objects of Desire" runs the gamut from more industrial (the opening "Birthday") to the jazzy "Caramel" and the dreamlike finale, "My Favorite Plum."

The highlights are, as is typically with Vega's best work, the lyrics. The erotic "Caramel" uses an old standard form of substituting a candy for desire, but she stakes her own territory with the arrangement. "Honeymoon Suite" describes an enigmatic dream encounter her husband had, and includes the beautiful descriptive couplet "When we sleep so close together/that our hair becomes entwined." I have also always loved the teasingly fun way she mixes gambling metaphors on "No Cheap Thrill" with casual romantic encounters. When it comes to these kinds of lyrical puzzles, Vega has few equals.

It's interesting to note that many of these songs seemed rooted in the relationship with her then husband, producer Mitchell Froom. I say this mainly because her next album, "Songs in Red and Grey," was less 'produced' and a heck of a lot more straightforward lyrically, and took five years to appear after this one. Taken as a pair, however, "Nine Objects of Desire" and "99.9 F°" make interesting bookends in Vega's always intriguing career.

My Amazon Reviews: Simple Minds "The Best Of"

All the things they said 
4 Out of 5 Stars
 
Simple Minds went through three distinct periods as a band, and on this two disc compilation, all get a fair shake. There was the early, experimental/arty phase, best represented here by "Themes for Great Cities." While they stayed virtually unknown in America in this period, they began running up a string of international hits.

Lead singer Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill soon began finding Simple Minds' own sound, and the albums began featuring tighter songwriting and playing. Starting with "New Gold Dream," Kerr's Christianity began to influence the lyrics to a greater degree, and the band became more boisterous. "Promised You A Miracle" made inroads on MTV and the song "Someone Somewhere in The Summertime" is terrific. Steve Lillywhite produced "Sparkle In The Rain" and treated Kerr's spiritual questing the the same sort of sonics he gave to U2, making "Up On The Catwalk" another breakout song.

Then came the Americanization. After Bryan Ferry and Billy Idol reportedly turned down "Don't You Forget About Me" (and Kerr himself initially passed on it), this single from "The Breakfast Club" broke away from the soundtrack and became a classic slice of 80's new-wave bombast, thanks to producer Keith Forsey. While the band wasn't all that receptive to this sound, "Once Upon a Time" used American producer Jimmy Iovine to bolster the sound to U2 arena levels and Kerr's vocals went for epic reach. "Alive and Kicking" and "Sanctify Yourself" became deserved hits, but this is probably the least representative of Simple Minds' overall sound.

Naturally, the band went into a creative slump after. The highly political "Street Fighting Years" pulled back on the sweeping sound, also replacing it with histronic songs. "Belfast Child" was probably the highlight, but why the cover of Peter Gabriel's "Biko" was done almost note for note is a mystery. And while "Real Life" yielded the minor hit "See The Lights," the band had pretty much fallen into formula. Of the later works, "She's a River" and "War Babies" hold their own the best. At two discs and 32 songs, this is probably all the Simple Minds you need.