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My Amazon Reviews: Ray LaMontagne "God Willin' and The Creek Don't Rise"

Ray LaMontagne Finds his Groove
4 Out of 5 Stars

From the opening funk of "Repo Man" to the final jerky chord in "Devil's In The Jukebox," Ray LaMontagne's fourth major label studio release kicks into a pocket that only his first came close to. Now totally self-produced and with a full band, LaMontagne sounds better than ever.

There's a lot of Dylan and Van Morrison again, especially on the steel-guitar centered "New York City's Killing Me." The production is less reverb heavy than on "Gossip In The Grain," and he seems over the heartache that fueled "Til The Sun Turns Black." "Beg Steal or Borrow" refects these changes in its countrified arrangements and the look back at what he's done since. "Your old friends...now they just bore you," he laments. At the same time, it feels like is creativity has made a huge leap.

Is LaMontagne a changed man then? Leaving producer Johns behind might seem so, this album's more homogenized sound also says yes. While the grittier and snarling "Repo Man" is the poppiest thing here, the remaining album rests nicely in a folk-country vein, without any clinkers like "Gossip's" "Meg White." "God Willin'" is easily one of the year's best from an artist that just continues to impress.

My Amazon Reviews: Phoebe Snow "Something Real"

Something Slick

3 Out of 5 Stars

In the years of the late 80's when big voiced female singers were all the rage (think Anita Baker, Mariah Carey and - because of her Grammy Impact - Bonnie Raitt), Phoebe Snow made a strong attempt at a "Nick of Time" like comeback. "Something Real" was a solid effort, if not a terrific one. It was also her first album after a nine year hiatus. She even had a minor adult contemporary radio hit off of it, with "If I Could Just Get Through The Night," and the album climbed to 75 on Billboard.

While Snow wrote half the songs here herself, the problem becomes that the music doesn't rise to the occasion. Snow has a one of a kind voice, which keeps the album from falling completely off the radar, but the is so slick and professionally tasteful that it falls on the wrong side of sterile. That is readily apparent on the ill-advised cover of The Emotions' "Best of My Love." When Snow plays to her strengths, like on "Cardiac Arrest" or the jazzy "Soothin'," the album is far more effective.

"Arrest" stalks the turf Raitt claimed on her comeback album, and makes me wonder what a more effective or unified production team (the album credits four producers) might have given "Something Real." I was fortunate enough to see her live at a small club in support of this album, and she socked these songs with a power the album lacked...especially "If I Could Just Get Through The Night" and the title song. These are good songs by a gifted artist on what is, ultimately, a so-so album.