My Amazon Reviews: Coldplay "Ghost Stories"

Telling Strange Tales
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Stripping themselves back considerably from their last few albums, Coldplay's "Ghost Stories" bares the band to key piano pop balladry and Chris Martin's laments of love. For fans of the lush "Viva La Vida" or the Eno-inilftrated "Mylo Xyloto, this will sound almost naked. Martin has never sounded this intimate, and the band hasn't been this uncluttered sine their "Parachutes" debut.

What would explain this sudden call back to a more bare bones sound? Well, for one, Martin and longtime lady Gwyneth Paltrow have called it quits, and some of the songs sure do feel like break-up please. "Magic" is the earnest tip of the iceberg, as Martin keeps begging "I don't want anyone else but you" over and over above a most subdued electronic pulse. Where most other bands would make this into pure corn, Coldplay make it so darn earnest that you kind of feel for the guy. And it doesn't always work. Soon after, he wails on "Ink" that he loves so much it hurts...just like that brand new tattoo. Even Martin can't get away with that one.

But what he does pull out of his hat here is sometimes close to brilliance. Coldplay may easily be one of the biggest bands in the world, but few would make such a left field turn as they do on "Ghost Stories." That inclination towards pop heavens is on full display on the album's most uptempo track, "Sky Full Of Stars." On prior albums, the band would have laid on the production till the song was bleeding U2-isms, this time around, it's piano filtered through some electronic treatments and Martin laying on as thick as he can. "In a sky full of stars, I think I saw you..." just as the beat kicks in courtesy of Swedish DJ Avicii. It's the kind of song that makes you happy to hear it on the radio.

"Ghost Stories" may be confessionals all the way, but it also brings Coldplay down to Earth. By the time it's over, Martin is comparing himself to a flock of birds drifting above the ground in that big falsetto of his. For all the glitter and widescreen production of their previous albums, this is where they finally find their soul. Bare souls, it seems, perhaps fly better.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Foster The People "Supermodel"

In the Shadow of "Pumped Up Kicks"
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Mark Foster, who essentially is Foster The People, had to work on the road with an actual band instead of his one man studio project. It makes his/their sophomore "Supermodel" a more expansive album than its predecessor. The songs are richer, with fuller sound and Foster's vocals are more assured than before. There's less dependence on gimmickry and more attention to making the songs solid throughout. The first single, "Coming Of Age," drives down this path expertly.

However, "Pumped Up Kicks" set the bar pretty high and "Torches" was an average album built around a brilliant single. "Supermodel" doesn't have anything to match that watermark. Even with "Coming Of Age," the rest of the album is - again - a pretty average affair. "Are You Who You Want to Be?" does up Foster The People's rock quotient, and "Pseudologia Fantastica" plays around with MGMT's trippiness (so does "A Beginner's Guide To Destroying The Moon," a better title than actual song), but "Supermodel" shows little growth from Foster The People's debut. Download the mentioned songs and you get the best of what can only be referred to as a sophomore slump of an album.

     

My Amazon Reviews: The Fray "Helios"

God Of The Sun
3 Out Of 5 Stars

If you were wondering what "Helios" is, the Ancient Greeks worshiped the dude. The Fray seek to harness that power on their fourth album, and it's a dramatic change of pace for the band. Their stock in trade before this was piano-driven adult pop, but they've pushed the pianos to the back of the stage for this album. Only the opener, "Hold My Hand," will sound familiar with The Fray via their biggest hit, "How To Save a Life." The rest vary from another Ryan Tedder insta-hit (actually, the excellent "Love Don't Die") to danceable pop ("Give It Away").

Lead singer Isaac Slade is pretty decent at making accessible soft rock tunes, and even with attempts at breaking the mold, like the drumbeat stomp of "Wherever This Goes" strain at the bit for the band to just cut loose a bit more, which is why the outside sourced "Love Don't Die" stands out so much. If Coldplay is watered down U2, then The Fray is Coldplay filtered to a pop essence. They even channel The Cure at one point, on "Closer To Me." You can tell that The Fray are more ambitious than they can actually accomplish, which makes "Helios" at least enjoyable. If middle of the road but capably produced pop (think Coldplay, Maroon 5 and OneRepublic) turns your motor, "Helios" will set your sun dial.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Gavin DeGraw "Make A Move"

Gavin Makes His Big Pop Move
3 Out Of 5 Stars

After the top ten success of "Sweeter," touring with Train and Maroon 5, you could hardly blame Gavin DeGraw for wanting his albums to achieve that headliner level of success on his own. "Make a Move" is just that kind of album, tasting of the generic pop Maroon 5 turns out on a regular basis, but minus the charisma of an Adam Levine, and pumped up production-wise until it falls victim to the loudness wars. Even with a decent stereo system, "Best I Ever Had" splats its way through its over-compression. If that's not enough, the songs here are all co-helmed by hired guns like Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, which robs the songs of personality but makes them sound exquisitely tailored for pop radio, like the way "Heartbreak" so effortlessly clones Maroon 5.

That's a darn shame, as the best moments of "Sweeter" and earlier albums showed a promising keyboardist writing and performing some nicely personal work and showing some semblance of personality, ala Five For Fighting's John Ondrasik. As over-done as "Best I Ever Had" is, it's still a darn fine poptune. Same for the mellower "Everything Will Change," co-written with Boys Like Girls' Martin Johnson (who made their pop move on their last album, "Crazy World"), but it still feels like the most personal song on "Make a Move." In total, there aren't any real bad songs here, only indistinguishable ones. That isn't always a hindrance, so if the album wasn't so darn over-produced, I might have bumped it to a fourth star. Between the over-cooked sound and what sounds like a general removal of Gavin's personality, "Make a Move" comes off as generic. He's done better.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Five For Fighting "Bookmarks"

Saving Pages, Saving Graces
4 Out Of 5 Stars

John Ondrasik and his alter-ego, Five For Fighting return with the follow-up to the excellent "Slice." Utilizing his special brand of piano based pop, "Bookmarks" is another set of catchy melancholy, with John's voice riding his piano lines and breaking into an occasional beautiful falsetto. He runs down a road between Elton John (the terrific "Symphony Lane") and Ben Folds, without the snark. I also felt a lot like I was hearing "Coldplay" in the poppy "Your Man."

It's hard to believe that it's been almost 13 years since the quavering voice that sang "Superman" has matured into a singer of relationships and family values (as in, he's got kids and likes to sing about them). First single "What If" explores all those themes at once, or the opening call to strength for "Stand Up." I also found it kind of cool that John would lytic check Hank Williams' "Hey Good Looking" at the beginning of "Down." Always good to know that the man has a sense of history.

That may also be true about both the beautiful if elegiac "The Day I Died" and the Dylan-esque (yes, really) lyrics in "I Don't Want Your Love," which sounds like a direct lineage to "Make You Feel My Love." "The Day I Died" is positively gorgeous, with just John and his piano singing a torch song. Despite my enjoying all the pop conventions and confections on "Bookmarks" (or the whole of Five For Fighting's albums), I think this may be the crowning song of a career. Again, reaching back to Elton John's best work, it's an emotionally packed song that needs nothing else than John's piano and voice. It's the kind of naked honestly that singers who feel they must rely on over-production or of-the-moment sounds could take a lesson or two from.

It brings "Bookmarks" to a moving and satisfying conclusion. While early listening make me think "Slice" may have been the better album, "The Day I Died" is all the reason you'll need to listen to "Bookmarks."

     

My Amazon Reviews: Five For Fighting "Two Lights"

What's a Flag to a Pawn Shop
4 Out Of 5 Stars

When John Ondrasik embarked on the fourth album as Five For Fighting, he made his most obvious move into piano soft pop to that date. "Two Lights" follows in the path of Billy Joel and Elton John. and ay his quirkiest, Ben Folds. It's also the first album he recorded after the birth of his son. So gone are the rocking instincts and in come the falsetto-ed songs to fatherhood. The top 40 single, "The Riddle," epitomizes these emotions, as he imagines his son growing up with the questions every parent must answer, backed with string and John's ever-so-sincere singing.

Not that any of this should surprise previous followers of Five For Fighting. He's been getting mellower and mellower as each album passes, and "Two Lights" is a continuation of that path. What makes his albums consistently is how much of an ear for earnestness and production he's got. Strings swell at just the perfect moment, and there's still plenty of populist lyrics like the kind that made him a star with "Superman" in 2001. It's all very sweet, with the occasional tip of the hat to Americana.

That lineage is explored by the lead track, "Freedom Never Cries." Using the metaphoric imagery that starts with taking a flag to a pawnshop, John tracks that flag's path along the road where "I only talk to God when somebody's about to die" before ultimately hoping for a world of peace for his newborn and the thought that he "never loved a soldier until there was a war." It's a moving (if obvious pull at the heartstrings) song, and among his best. Yet he doesn't forget about the not so distant past, as he longingly recalls his "65 Mustang." The only time this point of view falls flat in "Johnny America," which overworks its premise.

Then there's "Policeman's Xmas Party," a total fiasco. Since John signs mostly in a high register, here he intentionally sings above his range and phrases the song in a grating way. If there was any song that cleaves to the Ben Folds analogy, this is one of them. Too clever and overtly annoying, it makes one wonder why it made the final cut. Better, however, is "California Justice," a road trip gone wrong. The combinations on "Two Lights" don't always work, but John is a strong enough singer/songwriter to skate above the lesser of the numbers here (except "Policeman's Party"). making "Two Lights" land in the middling area of Five For Fighting's discography.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Keane "Strangeland"

Can you hear the call? 
4 Out Of 5 Stars

I'm a sucker for Keane's brand of British Pop; anthemic songs with high soaring melodies and emotional impact. The kind of music Coldplay knocks off in their sleep and Snow Patrol can mount on a good album. "Strangeland" is a return to form in that regard. The synth-pop of "Perfect Symmetry" and the experiments of "Night Train" are gone, replaced with a back to basics approach to composer Tim Rice Oxley's emotional approach and the soaring vocals of Tim Chaplin. There's a lot of calls to the 'wide eyed dreamers' (in "Sovereign Light Café") or 'we're gonna rise again' on the ecstatic first single, "Silenced By The Night."

Pianos plink in the background and there's pipes and flutes, like you can just tell Keane was aiming for the big emotional statement. While this was done perfectly on the album "Under The Iron Sea," on "Strangeland," the band has matured into craftsmen. The lyrics are unforced, but also lack depth. A lesser band would have a calamity in this situation, but Keane have become sharp enough to overcome the occasional triteness by having enough of a sense of space and nuance (both "Neon River" and the excellant "Sea Fog," the discs elegiac closer). There;s also an earnestness to Chaplin's singing that assists in outshining the odd weaknesses.

"Strangeland" is not Keane's finest hour, but it is a return to what makes the unique in their world of pop. "Sometimes our fingers graze the sky" he cheers on "Day Will Come." With sweet and oft-catchy songs that recall Coldplay and U2, Keane are happy with grasping for the stars, and "Strangeland" will satisfy fans of "Under The Iron Sea" or "Hopes and Dreams."