My Amazon Reviews: Iron And Wine "Ghost On Ghost"

Spirits in The Material World
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Sam Beam must be a very restless person. With each album, he presses himself towards new musical idioms, sometimes working, sometimes not. On "Ghost on Ghost," his sixth album, he decides he wants to be in the same jazzy realm as a Van Morrison or Joni Mitchell, infusing the songs with horns, piano and blues. This is one of those times where it doesn't work.

Beam, as Iron and Wine, has one of the most pleasing voices in popular music. He rarely lifted himself above a whisper on classic folk albums like "The Shepherd's Dog" and "Our Endless Numbered Days," so I was surprised the first time I saw him live; he sang with a full throated tenor. He leapt to that level of singing on "Kiss Each Other Clean," an album whose sonic excursions reminded me of Lindsey Buckingham at his weirdest. "Ghost on Ghost" pulls in the reigns on that experimental project and returns to the musical. But where "Kiss" was produced in extremes, "Ghost" is over produced in a poppy-lite fashion.

Beam writes songs that are strong on melody and often strong on message. He can deliver a story-song like few men working in today's music scene. Nowhere is this more evident than "Ghost's" "Winter Prayers." Unencumbered by the dense production of much of the album, it's Beam, guitar and piano with some light percussion. It delivers its message without hindrance from the bulk of the album's near easy listening style. I still love Iron and Wine, however, I never expected Sam Beam to deliver an album so extraordinarily average. "Ghost on Ghost" is a disappointment in an otherwise stellar discography.

      

My Amazon Reviews: Matisyahu "Spark Seeker"

Squeezing Out Sparks
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Matisyahu must have known his number was just about up. "Spark Seeker" finds him ditching the eclecticism of "Light" and "Youth" for a more electronic, hip hop (read, mainstream) sound. There's a lot of Auto-tuning and phase-shifted vocals and some guest appearances (rapper Shyne being the biggest name). In the biggest concession of all, gone are the huge beard and Hasidim garb. Heck, he's on a motorcycle on the album's inner-photo.

What this means for the music is actually very little. Middle Eastern influences are melded into the hip-hop and rap; right from the beginning with one J.Ralph, he kicks off what sounds like a call to prayer ("Crossroads"). Hebrew choruses and verses mix in with the ultra slick beats, courtesy of producer Kool Kojak. Kojak's credits are mainly along the lines of Ke$sha, Nicki Manaj, Katy Perry and many others, so you know this was a crafted sonic move. But Matisyahu can't help it. He remains as eclectic as ever with a greater - if that is possible - sense of being an uplifting force in his music.

There's a smooth sax solo in "Summer Wind," and a powerful lyric in "Fire Of Freedom" and slinky groove of "Tel Avivin'." Which is not a false way to groove as the man recorded "Spark Seeker" both in Los Angeles and Israel. Matisyahu took his own journey to make this album in the personal and mystical sense, with the end result being his tightest and possibly his most provocative disc to date.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Kate Bush "50 Words For Snow"

Winter Music
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Grey skies, swirling flakes, choir-boy son. In "50 Words for Snow," her first new collection of songs in eight years, Kate Bush pulls herself in a cold cloak of moody introspection that seems perfect for brooding on the shortest days of the year. The CD clocks in at a dreamy hour, with songs stretching as long as 13 minutes. Themes drift in and out, establishing themselves but never pulverizing you. "The World is so loud," she quietly intones on the opening song, "but keep falling, I'll find you." This is no "Running Up That Hill." "50 Words for Snow" takes its time to accumulate.

That may make it tough going for some listeners. Some of the songs here take on a classical, even operatic quality (comparisons to Tori Amos' recent "Night of Hunters" sprang to mind on my first listen) to many of the songs. There's also nothing here that ropes you in on a first listen. Kate is exploring a sensual world here, and it moves in slowly. Still, there are two moments of pure oddness here. On "Snowed In At Wheeler Street," Kate may have drawn the absolute weirdest vocal performance out of Elton John's career, and on the title track, Stephen Fry drily keeps giving his 50 words, each phrase becoming increasingly odder as the song goes on. All the while, Kate is egging him on, singing "come on now, you've got 32 to go!" With its bubbly synth gliding underneath, it's the most likely song to become remixed into a single.

Then again, despite the melancholy, cold feeling to the disc, "50 Words For Snow" contains songs about making love to a snowman ("Misty") and possibly getting it on with Bigfoot ("Wild Man"). Chilly or not, you never know what to expect when it comes to Kate Bush. I'm more than willing to sit by with a cup of hot cocoa and see where the seasons take her.