My Amazon Reviews: David Bowie "Let's Dance"

Underneath The Serious Moonlight
4 Out Of 5 Stars

In the documentary "5 Years," there's a segment about "Let's Dance" that is kind of telling. When he arrived at the studio with producer Nile Rodgers, the consensus was that A) He wanted to make a 'hit record' and B) He was in fighting shape, buffed out from working out and taking boxing lessons. Those boxer gloves on the cover were not an affectation. Neither was the desire to have a commercially successful album. "Let's Dance" became Bowie's biggest hit to that date and racked up three hit singles, two of them top ten and only his second number one in the title track.

The album, as a whole, has held up quite well, given the production being very much of its time. Rodgers' bass lines are prominent, but the secret weapon was then little known guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. His sinewy guitar fires up "Modern Love" and the second recorded version of "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)." (The original was a synth heavy and more ominous version produced by co-writer Giorgio Morodor.) It's the first thing you hear on the CD, firing off the trio of hits back to back; "Modern Love," "China Girl" (co-written with Iggy Pop) and the title track's triumphant dance wallop. Had the album been an EP of the first side alone, the rating would have been five stars.

It's the lesser known songs that don't completely fulfill the early promise of "Let's Dance." That leaves "Ricochet," "Without You," "Criminal World," "Cat People" and "Shake It" to flesh out the album. I've already said how much I enjoy "Cat People," and of the others, only "Shake It" sounded like it could have been a follow-up single to the big three. The rest just can't compete.They aren't total tail-waggers, It's just that the initial salvos were flawless. Bowie is in fine form throughout, and he got his wish. "Let's Dance" still sounds like it was supposed to, and that is purely commercial, brainy and danceable pop.

     

My Amazon Reviews: The Kooks "Listen"

Kook Funk
3 Out Of 5 Stars

The Kooks have become an entirely different band since their debut. What began as a band that used The Kinks and The Arctic Monkeys as a jumping off point has reinvented itself as, of all things, funky. Soulful background vocals, disco-fied guitars, use of electronic drums and other trappings cover a lot of ground on "Listen." It's a much better album that the lackadaisical "Junk Of The Heart," but I never expected them to want to be Chic. Or Daft Punk.

The biggest culprit here is "Down," which breaks into a "down down, diggity down down diggy diggy down" (Kid Rock, anyone?) hook. Along with an insistent bass, it's a song that wouldn't be out of place to get a polished up club remix. The big soul vocal backups from "Around Down" bust the album wide open from the very beginning, Granted, this is a far more exciting album than "Junk" was, but not the direction I ever thought I'd hear The Kooks aiming for.

There are a couple classicist pop tunes here, like "Bad Habit" or the squiggly synth in "Dreams," lead singer Luke Pritchard has an engaging voice, and guitarist Hugh Harris and bassist Max Rafferty get a real chance to strut their stuff. Along with a touch of irony; in my I-tunes library, "Listen" buttresses Kool And The Gang" without the feeling changing up very much. So if you came here looking for the inspiring "Konk" or the perkiness of their debut, you won't find it on "Listen." But if you want a serving of dance-rock, you'll get what you came for.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Lady Gaga "Artpop"

Lady Uh-Oh
3 Out Of 5 Stars

One of the brilliant things about Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" was just how varied the song styles were. It was like she took a sponge over the best of what the 80's and 90's had to offer, sopped it up, then wrung it out all over her music. A little Madonna, a little Prince, even a little Springsteen. It was an 'everything but the kitchen sink' approach and it worked to an amazing effect. Now, after riding a tidal wave of personality and more hype than just about any pop album in the last few years, we get "ArtPop." What was an amalgamation before now just comes off as rote. Her personality still compensates for a lot here, but this is not much more than a standard issue laptop dance album. After Katy Perry's disappointing "Prism," "Artpop" carries too much baggage and ultimately fails to deliver the goods.

The opener, the middle eastern tinged "Aura," does give the album a major kickstart, but even then it just ascends into electronic dance music. There's the three rappers on "Jewels and Drugs," which does not one up having Kanye West on the last album. And for friggin' sakes, a pot puffing song in "Mary Jane Holland"? If I wanted Myley Cyrus, I would've bought "Bangerz." The profanities are gratuitous, the songs sound-alikes, and the lack of variety gets painfully obvious after a couple of listens.

The saving graces come mostly from the singles. "Applause" was enough of a bell-ringer that I was prepared for a solid album. Odd that it is what closes the album. "Venus" is also fun, where the worldplay may be juvenile (Uranus, hee hee hee), but the hook inescapable. The duet with R Kelly is a big surprise as the old school crooner is a perfect match for a subdued Gaga on "Do What U Want" (even the title is a throwback, in the way the best songs on "Born This Way" were). That's only four songs that I think will interest me long enough to go back to the album for. Lady Gaga is now in danger of becoming something I was hoping she'd be able to avoid; "Artpop" reveals the artist as cookie-cutter poptart saved mainly by that larger than life character she's invented for herself.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Donna Summer "Crayons"

She Comes In Colors
3 Out Of 5 Stars

"So many years ago on the radio/She crept into your soul and learned to love you." Yes, and we loved to love you, too, baby. Donna Summer sounds happy to be making a new record, some 17 years after her previous album, but she sounds conflicted. Does she want to reclaim her position as Queen of Disco ("I'm A Fire") or just be the Queen and you should lover her for it? "The Queen Is Back" (from which the opening lyric is taken) is a reminder that, when she was a superstar, she had the world in her pocket.

Her performances are decent, yet the material is hap hazard. Did a voice as powerful as Summer's really need to be vocodered on the title track? Ziggy Marley drops in to make the song more credible and the message seems to be a reflection on her old controversy with some of her gay audience. "Fame" does the same thing, with a auto-tuned chorus. Granted, it's not as blatant a ploy as the high NRG dance ploy of 1989's "Another Place and Time." It's just that the album sounds generic. If it weren't for the quality of Summer's singing, this could be any-woman music of the 90's, even if it was released in 2008.

The highlights are "Stamp Your Feet," "The Queen Is Back," and bluesy "Slide Over Backwards." It's a shame she never got to release any more music, because despite the plainness of the songs (and it should be noted, she co-wrote all of them), Summer is obviously relaxed and enjoying herself on "Crayons."

     

My Amazon Reviews: Mark Ronson "Record Collection"

Back to The 80's
4 Out Of 5 Stars

The albums and 45's in Mark Ronson's "Record Collection" must have been starting to gather dust around 1982 or so, because so many of these tracks come off as collages from too much of that time period's MTV watching. The likes of Simon LeBon of Duran Duran, Boy George of Culture Club, and D'Angelo all make appearances. Heck, the first time I heard "Bang Bang Bang" (the album's first song) I could have sworn Amanda Warner (aka MNDR) was Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons. There's also the usual pop-raps that that were common early in the genre. There's no gangstas in Ronson's world, but a come-on based on the ecological greatness of riding a bicycle is ("The Bike Song").

It makes "Record Collection" an endearing collage of styles without dropping into a sample happy garble. Ronson uses real instruments in place of most of the samples, which does give the album an old-school feel. Vocalists MNDR and Andrew Wyatt (along with Ronson himself) are dominant through the disc, with the cameos often blending in seamlessly among the regulars. For an album that is a collaborative stack of "singles," "Record Collection" works amazingly well. It's a testament to Ronson's eclectic taste in music and skills as a writer/producer that "Record Collection" holds together as well as it does.

   

My Amazon Reviews: Janet Jackson "Icon: Number Ones"

An Abridged version of Janet's Number Ones double disc
4 Out Of 5 Stars
 
The Icon series has done a fair job of dropping quickie best of collections into the ever decreasing CD market place, keeping artists in the shops desptie any new material to offer. Janet Jackson's "Number Ones" is no exception, culling a tightly wound eleven hits in quick succession, ignoring albums prior to the blockbuster "Control" and including one lesser heard recent song, "Nothing," from Tyler Perry's "Why Did I get Married Too?" movie. But the concentration is on those big moments when Janet took "Control" over her music and images, along with producers of the moment, ex-Prince associates Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

They take up 10 of the twelve songs here, and it's easy to recognize why. The Minneapolis Sound, which combined equal parts industrial slam/pulverizing beat/Janet's commanding studio presence to work dance floor monsters, worked perfectly on those breakthrough hits like "Control," "What Have You Done For Me Lately" or "Miss You Much." Songs that were effectively without melody, but drove home completely on Janet's forceful personality and the Jam/Lewis conquering beats. It didn't take Janet long to diversify even more, as she began to pitch more socially active songs onto the charts, like her AIDS anthem "Together Again" and the lovely ballad "That's The Way Love Goes." She was also giving props to idols like Joni Mitchell (sampling "Big Yellow taxi" on "Got Till It's Gone" or more curiously, America's "Ventura Highway" on "Someone to call My Lover"; sadly these two tracks are not included).

But Jackson, like her brother Michael, decided at a certain stage to trust her own instincts and become her own artist. Even in this admittedly slight collection, she proves that her vision was the right one to peruse. More interested fans should probably bump up to the two disc "Number Ones," but for me, this Icon set fills my space just fine.

   

My Amazon Reviews: Ivy "After Hours"

Back to the 90's.
3 Out Of 5 Stars

If you long for the days of Everything But The Girl's techno moments, or St Etienne's late night whispery cool, you'll probably get a big kick out of Ivy's "All Hours." Husband and wife team Andy Chase and Dominique Durand, along with Fountains of Wayne dude Adam Schlesinger mix the sound of 80's old school synths with the 90's trip-hop with Durand's sweet if somewhat undistinguished voice. As usual, Schlesinger brings his knack for memorable melodies (even though the writing credits are listed as the entire band), and all the songs pop along as expected.

However, Ivy has shown a greater knack for memorable songs that were more up-front that dreamy background. "All Hours" could have easily been titles "After Hours" for all its lack of energy. The muted chill of "All Hours" might have been a treasure; to me it sounds like something that dropped out of a 1997 lockbox.