downloads of the week
Bob Dylan surprisingly succeeds with Sinatra cover album
February 2, 2015 | 6:00amAlbum of the Week Bob Dylan “Shadows in the Night” ★★★ Dylan singing songs Sinatra did could have been 10 kinds of awful, but on the long-anticipated (or should that...
Theophilus London and Kanye West ‘Can’t Stop’
November 3, 2014 | 3:58pmDownloads of the Week Theophilus London “Can’t Stop” featuring Kanye West ★★★½ There’s no point in having Kanye be executive producer of your album if you don’t have him drop...
Why Aretha Franklin might be losing respect
October 20, 2014 | 9:58amAlbums of the Week Aretha Franklin “Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics” ★ Once upon a time Aretha Franklin was the greatest singer on earth. On this covers album,...
Jessie J tries too hard on new album
October 13, 2014 | 12:50pmAlbum of the week Jessie J “Sweet Talker” ★★½ If there’s one thing that American music lovers learned this summer, it’s that Jessie J can sing. But just because she...
Leonard Cohen a young 80 with new album ‘Popular Problems’
September 22, 2014 | 4:04pmAlbums of the Week Leonard Cohen “Popular Problems” ★★★ Eighty years old as of Sunday, Leonard Cohen still tours like a college-age punk rocker and writes songs like, well, an 80-year-old...
Maroon 5's latest album is a snooze
September 1, 2014 | 4:11pmAlbums of the Week Maroon 5 "V" ★½ It's not hard to see that Maroon 5 is hunting for another “Moves Like Jagger.” Their fifth album, “V,” is packed with...
Ariana Grande releases forgettable sophomore album
August 25, 2014 | 12:30pmAlbums of the Week Ariana Grande "My Everything" ★★ On her second album, ex-Nickelodeon-turned-pop/R&B star Grande is big-voiced, supple sounding and given serviceable, or worse, material. Big Sean creepily whispering,...
New Orleans crooner Benjamin Booker brings the blues
August 18, 2014 | 11:54amDownloads of the Week Benjamin Booker “Chippewa” ★★★ This blues-rock wunderkind from New Orleans shows he’s worth the hype on his self-titled debut album. “Chippewa,” in particular, combines the 22-year-old’s...
'One' too many for 'Idol' winner Caleb Johnson
August 11, 2014 | 11:46amDownloads of the Week Caleb Johnson “Only One” ★ ½ The 23-year-old “American Idol” Season 13 winner sings like a Chris Cornell-worshiping ham. This machine-tooled power ballad from Johnson’s debut...
Jenny Lewis’ ‘The Voyager’ a big production
July 28, 2014 | 3:58pmAlbums of the Week Jenny Lewis “The Voyager” ★★½ The former Rilo Kiley frontwoman’s ’70s yacht-rock homages can feel overstuffed, even when short. Like later Elvis Costello, she’ll throw in...
Bleachers' new album leaves even more to be 'Desired'
July 14, 2014 | 10:47amAlbums of the Week Bleachers “Strange Desire” ★★★ From this moment on, anyone who refers to Jack Antonoff merely as Lena Dunham’s boyfriend or as the other guy in fun....
Sia's incessant belting on new album gets tiresome
July 7, 2014 | 5:58pmAlbum of the Week Sia “1,000 Forms of Fear” ★½ Australian pop singer-songwriter Sia’s singing has always been full of ululations and melisma, but on hits like 2010’s “You’ve Changed” and...
With Ed’s new album, there’s not much cheerin’ for Sheeran
June 23, 2014 | 2:32pmAlbum of the Week Ed Sheeran “X” ★½ He's back, and this time, it’s lots more Mr. Nice Guy. Despite occasional attempts to move his acoustic-pop sound forward into a funkier...
New Jack White solo album is a clutter step
June 9, 2014 | 5:46pmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRbnAxrS3EM&feature=kp Album of the Week JACK WHITE “Lazaretto” ★★ FOR a man who made his mark on the world with albums recorded in a few days featuring little more than...
Miranda Lambert shows her range in fifth studio album
June 2, 2014 | 3:13pmAlbums of the Week Miranda Lambert “Platinum” ★★★½ Nashville star Lambert’s fifth album is her most ostentatiously wide-ranging. It’s also long (16 songs, and an hour) and therefore doesn’t pack...
The Roots rule with emotionally eclectic 11th album
May 19, 2014 | 10:47amAlbums of the Week The Roots “. . . And Then You Shoot Your Cousin” ★★★ They may play with Jimmy Fallon every weeknight, but the Roots’ albums follow no course other...
Michael Jackson is back with ‘new’ tunes
May 12, 2014 | 11:25amAlbums of the week Michael Jackson “Xscape” ★½ It’s worth remembering that, during the last 30 years of his life, Michael Jackson only released six full albums. That emphasis on quality...
Usher's latest teases his upcoming album
May 5, 2014 | 3:52pmAlbum of the week Tune-Yards “Nikki Nack” ★★★ “Let's not pretend that the world around us isn’t falling,” Merrill Garbus — a k a Tune-Yards — croons on “Look Around,” from her third...
Beyonce's sultry voice shows what 'Dreams' are made of
April 28, 2014 | 10:30amDownloads of the week Boots feat. Beyoncé “Dreams” ★★★ For those who didn’t stay up and read the credits on the night Beyoncé’s self-titled album was released in December, Boots...
Ed Sheeran gets the Pharrell treatment on new single
April 14, 2014 | 3:57pmDownloads of the week The Afghan Whigs “These Sticks” ★★★½ Back in the ’90s, Cincinnati’s Afghan Whigs represented the creepier side of alternative-rock, and the new album “Do to the Beast”...