My Amazon Reviews: Train "Save Me San Fransisco"

Back On Track
4 Out Of 5 Stars

"Save Me San Fransisco" was a somewhat prophetic title for Train. For many, the band had been written off, even the members themselves were in the throes of doubt. What's a band in trouble to do? Get back to their roots. The reward was one of the biggest singles of 2010, a million selling album, and a band that suddenly were everyone's golden boys.

"Save Me San Fransisco" is a journeyman's effort, filled with breezy melodies and a free spirited sound. They even lift a few lines of another San Fransisco band, The Doobie Brothers' "Black Water" to reference their home city one more time (on "I Got You"). In fact, pop cultrure references are all over the album: Winger, Madonna, Mr.Mister, the Fillmore, Sonny and Cher (yeah, check your cool-meter at the door, folks) that come off as catchy as they are corny. After all, if they can pull off the rhyme of "Hey Soul Sister, ain't that Mr Mister on the radio?" and get you to believe they mean it, then Train has got more going on than most bands who want you to take them ever so seriously.

Lead singer Pat Monahan delivers the goods vocally, too. He's just earnest enough to make "Marry Me" transcend its sappy wedding bells tale, yet can make the travelogue of the title track feel like both a confessional and a plea to Train's old fans to remember the band and the good times that the likes of "Drops Of Jupiter" did in the early 2000's. "Save Ne San Francisco" does that and more. It's not only a great return to form for Train, it's one of the better pop albums you're likely to hear from this decade.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Katy Perry "Prism"

Girl Powerless
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Katy Perry had her taste of fluffy pop success with "Teenage Dream," which was an insubstantial album, but loaded with inescapable pop hooks. It was a flirty, teasing album filled with songs of coming into your own ("Firework," the title track) and goofy songs about being teenaged and irresponsible ("Last Friday Night"). There was also obvious filler ("E.T."). but enough good material to compensate. Not so "Prism." Every song is synth laden and seems to ditch the goofy fun of "Teenage Dream" for songs about empowerment and being more grown-up about life.

Someone should have warned her. The girl who danced around with fruit bowls on her head is not the lady making "Prism." Only "Roar," "Walking On Air" and the lovely "By The Grace Of God" pull this CD out from the ranks of a total dud. Perry is still a gifted enough songwriter that even the filler is catchy, but unlike "Teenage Dream," the filler is quickly forgettable. Perry is holding back here. Where is the personality? She sounds restrained, the kind of pop that plenty of other pop-tarts come up with on a regular basis, where "Teenage Dream" and her debut "One of The Boys" often came of as flirty and fiery, now she just sounds like she wants to be taken seriously. "Unconditionally" calls out for love that lasts forever, but not with any spark.

The obligatory guest shot comes from Juicy J, who doesn't have the spike of Snoop Dog on the summer anthem "California Gurls." "Dark Horse" again suffers from a lack of a sense of fun. Perry just isn't a gifted enough singer to convey the kind of emotional depth that "Prism" demands of the songs. "Roar" made for high expectations, but "Prism" just doesn't measure up. It's an average album from a woman who suggested that she may have had more to offer than platitudes and easy cliches. It just sounds like she's not trying very hard.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Train "Drops Of Jupiter"

Fifth Planet Out
4 Out Of 5 Stars

For their second album, Train broadened their sound out to a more contemporary sound, losing the alternative leanings of their debut and adding rock that was more reminiscent of Counting Crows than the rootsier vein of the debut. The tightening up paid of in a big way, when "Drops Of Jupiter" and its title song went top ten and the album sold almost three million copies in 2001. This comes in on two levels; Pat Monahan is an effective pop songwriter, and the eclectic mix of instruments (a mandolin here, a vibraphone there) helped the songs stand out when mixed with the usual radio fare. It's one of many elements that made the stately single almost omnipresent when it hit the top 40 and started getting massively played.

But Train is more then just power ballads and guitar strumming. They've got a knack for poppier rock hooks (helped along by producer Brendan O'Brien, whose credits range from Pearl Jam to The Black Crowes, whose work does get some echoes here), the kind that turn into ear-worms with ease. This is not to confuse Train with a true rock band, when they try to actually rock (on "Respect"), it's not entirely convincing. The other unfortunate thing is the band is kind of faceless. Did you know Train has multiple top ten albums? Probably not. But the good thing is that, even with an album as even and decent sounding as "Drops Of Jupiter" is, Train got better as the albums progressed, even managing a comeback when many pundits had written them of. "Drops of Jupiter" is a good starting point if you want to find out how Train managed to be both massively popular and yet under the radar at the same time.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Barenaked Ladies "Gordon"

Go go, Gordon
4 Out Of 5 Stars

When the American debut of Barenaked Ladies crossed my desk many years ago, I was not sure quite what to make of them. They were certainly crucially adept, as each song sounded musically delightful. They had a whimsical sense of humor that would pop-up baldly on many of the songs. They were vocally versatile, with multiple lead singers who could also harmonize nicely. I thought "Gordon" was one of the best debut albums I'd heard in years, much the equal of 10cc or the likes of Nick Lowe, two other artists who weren't afraid if mixing serious playing with goofy jokes.

I also wondered if American audiences would ever catch on. The humor was often blatant, like "Grade Nine," which poked fun at elementary school nerdom, right down to the Rush guitar licks. Or one of their eventual concert staples, "If I Had A Million Dollars," which was both a decent song and a poke at consumerism that ends in a punch line (and included a bacon joke. After all Barenaked ladies are Canadian). But amidst the comedic moments were some serious, thought provoking songwriting. "The Flag" with Ed Robertson and Steve Page is a serious look at the "complicated people leading complicated lives," as a relationship falls to surrender, or the lovely pair together in the jazzy "I Love You."

Either side of the Barenaked Ladies' equation worked. If you were willing to allow the sense of humor not get in the way of the musicianship and the ace singing and writing of Ed Robertson and Steve Page, "Gordon" is a rewarding album. They also got better real fast, and as "One Week" eventually proved, they had the stuff of stardom.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Three Dog Night "Icon"

An excellent quickie career overview of Three Dog Night
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Three Dog Night started in the late sixties as a rocking outfit who made their reputation at their concerts. To the point that one of their earliest albums was "Captured Live at the Forum." But they soon evolved into a singles act, racking up 21 top forty hits between 1969 and 1975. What they also had was impeccable tastes in songwriters. They plucked out gems from the likes of Laura Nero ("Eli's Comeing"), Harry Nillson ("one"), John Hiatt ("Sure As I'm Sitting Here" not included here) and Leo Sayer ("The Show Must Go On"). They really struck gold on what became their standard bearer, the inescapable "Joy To The World." Face it, you just went "Jeremiah was a bullfrog" in your head after reading that last line. Don't fib.

They were buoyed by a trio of lead vocalists, Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron, and Cory Wells. It was one of the qualities that kept the band's sound fresh. They could work their way around a rocker like "Liar," something soulful like "Never Been to Spain," or the inspired silliness of "Joy To The World." If you were an AM radio listener through the early seventies, Three Dog Night were pretty much unavoidable. That also began to work against them; as the band became more popular, the more obvious it became that they were fishing for hits and the albums became wickedly uneven, with the final straw being 1975's "Hard Labor," the band broke up soon after.

This quickie dozen song compilation from the Icon series gets the job done on the cheap, but cuts that string of hits down by a few essentials. "Sure As I'm Sitting Here" and "Play Something Sweet" immediately spring to mind. That's why the three star/C grade is applied here. I will also note that the sound of this CD is heads above any other Three Dog Night re-issue. Worth it for the value, but not for the depth.

     

My Amazon Reviews: OneRepublic "Native"

Going Native
4 Out Of 5 Stars

OneRepublic's third album, "Native," reels in the bombast of the last album, "Waking Up." In its place are smooth synths, grand choruses and bandleader Ryan Tedder's soulful voice. He's also a songwriter who has his ears glued to what makes a current hit (he counts Rhianna, Beyonce and Maroon 5 among his successes), so "Native" sounds like, well, most of the melodic pop singles of the day.

This is not a bad thing. A really good pop band (say, Maroon 5) can get in your ear canal and fill your day with a fair amount of joy. OneRepublic wants you to have a great day. They trade in on the previously mentioned bands, while obviously paying attention to the success of Mumford and Sons with a string plucked optimistic anthem titled "I Lived." Any similarities to M&S's "I Will Wait" are completely noncoincidental. Yet there are those huge hooked poptunes like the single "If I Lose Myself," or "Something I Need," which build off melodies before bursting into powerful choruses.

Tedder and OneRepublic are an eager to please bunch. "Native" is the kind of pop that you'll get from the likes of Maroon 5, The Fray and, when they're feeling really ambitious, Coldplay. By reigning in the tendency to over-produce (my main argument with "Waking Up"), he may have the best album he and his band-mates have turned in to date.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Rachel Sweet "B.A.B.Y.: The Best of Rachel Sweet"

The Sweet Spot
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Stiff Records thought they had a ringer in 15 year old country belter Rachel Sweet. They teamed her up with Svengali Liam Sternberg and used her incredible voice, which crossed Brenda Lee country with new-wave brass, dressed her up as jailbait (to more than a little controversy) and released "Fool Around." Controversy or no, Sweet blew it all to the side with her faithful versions of Carla Thomas' "B.A.B.Y." and Del Shannon's "I Go To Pieces," Sweet proved she was more than a tarted up image. This compilation samples from her two Stiff albums, "Fool Around" and the more straight-forward "Protect The Innocent."

Backed on some of these songs by The Rumour and Will Birch and The Records, Sweet never lacked for decent backup musicians. She could move easily between styles, covering Elvis Presley's "Baby Let's Play House" or Elvis Costello's "Stranger in The House," then busting loose with label-mate Lene Lovich for "Cuckoo Clock." The half of this disc not produced by Sternberg was done by pop maestros Martin Rushent and Alan Winstanley and is taken from the terrific "Protect The Innocent." She went from covering The Damned's punk classic "New Rose" to doing the seductive teen-dream "Tonight Ricky."

While Sweet cut two more albums for Columbia, they aren't represented here. While that's a shame, they were both uneven albums and can be found on the two-fer Then He Kissed Me/Blame It on Love. This best of manages to pull together over an hour from two albums, making "B.A.B.Y - The Best Of Rachel Sweet" a real bargain for old fans of everything Stiff.