Music CDs Reviews - Page 6

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band member, string wizard and musicologist John McEuen spearheads this collection of 45 songs from the 1800s, all authentically recorded with often-neglected original lyrics and using instruments from the period. With such classics as “Barbara Allen,” “Home on the Range,” “Shenandoah” and “Beautiful Dreamer,” and performances by Gary Morris, Lyle Lovett, Michael Martin Murphey, Marty Stuart, Red Stegall, Don Edwards and dozens of others, it’s a delightfully diverting trip back in time to the songs and styles that accompanied a landmark century of American expansion, adventure and upheaval.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Picked from a mass casting call in 1966 for a new comedy television series, Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork went on to become The Monkees, a pop-cultural phenomena born in the magic intersection of media and marketing. Their third album, the first for which they were allowed to write, choose and perform their own music, was a watershed achievement for the group, proving to the world that they were, indeed, a “real band,” and not just a group of actor-puppets. Abounding with extras, this double-CD 40th anniversary re-release includes a photo-packed booklet with interviews about the making of the record, and both stereo and mono mixes of all the songs, letting you re-experience how they originally spilled out of AM radios in 1967’s flower-power-y “Summer of Love.”
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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From 1969 to 1976, Elvis Presley was the king of Las Vegas, performing 837 sold-out shows to two and a half million fans. Timed to coincide with the Sept. 18 ABC-TV special Elvis: Viva Las Vegas, this special-edition CD compiles 15 live-in-concert tunes recorded during his prime Las Vegas years, including See See Rider, Polk Salad Annie, Walk a Mile in My Shoes and An American Trilogy, plus the title track, Viva Las Vegas, from the movie of the same name. Close your eyes and you’ll swear you’re back in the ‘70s in the Hilton ballroom and the King is holding court.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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This inventive recasting of well-known Presley hits applies crisp bluegrass drive to the original rockabilly jive of “Hound Dog,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” “All Shook Up” and nine other Elvis songs from the 1950s and early ‘60s. It’s a cross-cultural cocktail that’ll have you smiling and tapping your toes from the very first notes: a delicate fiddle-and-mandolin dance to the theme from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, which Presley liked to use as a dramatic show opener.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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If you only remember this shaggy, sunny pop trio of Tulsa-based teen brothers from their infectiously hooky 1997 hit “MmmBop,” you’re in for a surprise. Now ten years down the road, they’re older, wiser and more musically seasoned, making this collection of 14 new songs an invigorating display of catchy melodies, rockin’ rhythms and themes that have evolved well beyond adolescence. The opening track, “Great Divide,” inspired by the siblings’ trip last year to Africa where they witnessed firsthand the devastation of AIDS, features a children’s choir recorded in the cafeteria of a Mozambique orphanage.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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As anyone knows who’s ever tuned in to America’s longest-running primetime TV comedy series , The Simpsons, it’s almost as fun to listen as it is to watch. These 40 songs culled from the soundtrack of the show’s past nine seasons, aglow with their own wonderfully satiric charm and featuring the well-known voices of the cast plus various musical guests, are guaranteed to make you smile. Casting its far-reaching lampoon across everything from ‘80s pop hits to Broadway show tunes, Testify is a tuneful treat that perfectly matches the gleeful, finely tuned cleverness of the show.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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It’s cloak-and-dagger time with these 10 nerve-jangling tales of tough-talking wise guys and smoldering femme fatales of the 1940s and ‘50s, available for the first time on DVD. Robert MItchum, Edward G. Robison, Ricardo Montalban, Robert Ryan and Van Heflin provide star power to light up the murk and mystery of Act of Violence, Mystery Street, Crime Wave, Decoy, The Big Steal, They Live By Night, Side Street, Where Danger Lives and Tension. Extras include commentary and original theatrical trailers.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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The decade of rollerblades, disco balls and mood rings had its own soundtrack, and this triple-CD collection rounds up 57 of its biggest hits along with a photo-packed scrapbook of bands and singers. Take a smile-a-while joyride back to the days of Rare Earth, Bread, Elton John, Leo Sayer, Terry Jacks, Captain & Tennille, K.C. and the Sunshine Band and dozens of other acts that helped define the era’s unique spectrum of sound.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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With the hot, Tony Award-winning musical The Jersey Boys putting the music and rags-to-riches story of Frankie Valli and The 4 Seasons back in the spotlight, this lavish CD/DVD set adds a collectible capstone to the group’s impressive, two-decade hit parade. Three CDs are packed with tunes (“Sherry,” “Dawn (Go Away),” “Let’s Hang On!,” “My Eyes Adored You,” “Grease,” “December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)” “Who Loves You”), a DVD showcases rare performance clips from the 1960s through the ‘70s and an 84-page booklet takes you behind each song with track-by-track commentary by a variety of entertainment icons—including Bob Dylan, Barry Manilow, Billy Joel, Keith Urban and actor Joe Pesci—who recall falling under the magical spell of some blue-collar kids from New Jersey who changed the musical world.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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This restored re-release of Tijuana Brass trumpeteer Albert’s 1979 Grammy-winning masterpiece is a nostalgic return to a disco-crazy era when his sensual, laid-back, easy-groovin’ sound—mixing funk, jazz, pop and other international musical textures—was both commercially hot and refreshingly, uniquely cool.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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