Music CDs Reviews - Page 9

It Takes Two: Classic Duets
Various artists
CD ($26.98)

This decade-sweeping, double-CD collection of familiar love-song pair-ups—including Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston’s “It Takes Two,” Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes’ “Up Where We Belong” “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love” by Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack, plus 29 others—will put you in the mood for snuggling with the one you love.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

From This Moment On
Diana Krall
CD ($18.95)

Turn down the lights and mellow out as Krall, the Grammy-winning jazz pianist, accompanied by an orchestra on eight tunes and a quartet combo on three others, coaxes smooth, soothing, finger-snapping sounds by Irving Berlin (“Isn’t This a Lovely Day”), Cole Porter (“From This Moment On”), George and Ira Gershwin (“I Was Doing Alright”) Johnny Mercer (“Day In, Day Out”) and others from the standards songbook. It’s easy-listening music that’s easily enjoyable.

Jerry Lee Lewis: A Half Century of Hits
CD box, $39.98

The self-proclaimed “wild man” of rock ‘n’ roll, Lewis indeed made his mark in the 1950s as a hyperkinetic, piano-pounding, hair-swirling dervish, the likes of which audiences had never seen. This three-CD box sweeps every one of his Top 20 country and pop hits into one dynamite, 66-track package. There are also two recently discovered singles made when he was only 16, an authoritative 40-page booklet with rare photos from his private collection and even a recorded, off-the-cuff discussion about religion between Jerry Lee and his producer, Sam Phillips, that addresses the constant whipsaw of heaven and hell that made Lewis such a emotionally complex, explosively controversial superstar.

Open Season
Movie soundtrack CD $13.98

Animated movies have certainly gotten hipper over the years, and the music that accompanies them has followed along. Case in point: The soundtrack to the new OpenSeason, about a ragtag army of forest creatures who comically turn the tables on their would-be hunters, orchestrated by these clever, catchy tunes—like “Right to Arm Bears,” “Meet Me in the Meadow” and “Wild as I Wanna Be”—from Paul Westerberg, who made his mark in the 1980s as the leader of the acclaimed rock band The Replacements.

Halloween 2
Mannheim Steamroller
CD/DVD $18.98

Despite its scary-sounding title, this ghoulishly delightful grab bag from the phenomenally successful studio concoction known as Mannheim Steamroller will make you smile as you shiver. In addition to a CD of digitally-doodled classic spooky songs (including “Monster Mash,” “Black Magic Woman” and the themes from Psycho, The Munsters and Dark Shadows), there’s also an additional CD of goose bump-inducing sound effects (perfect for playing as trick-or-treaters come to call) and a DVD video for a new Steamroller original tune, “Creatures of the Night,” that group mastermind Chip Davis hopes will become a Halloween dance-club craze.

Great American Baseball Box 

Neatly packaged in a box covered in faux leather to look like an actual base, this four-CD set is a nostalgic grand slam with more than four hours of material, including songs about the game (including “Centerfield,” “Say Hey” and, of course, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”), play-by-play recordings of momentous moments taken from original broadcasts (Ted Williams homers in his final career at-bat, Willie Mays makes “the catch”), interviews with legendary players past and present, radio commercials and much more, including a 60-page companion book. Batter up!

Gloryland
Anonymous 4
CD $19.98

Taking their name from the nobody-knows-who-wrote-it musical attribution ("Anon. IV”) given in the Middle Ages to a grouping of compositions that would become particularly significant in later years, the four women in this critically praised a cappella act realize their march to a music-of-yesteryear beat won't make it into radio's Top 40 hit parade. But it has it place, as this elegant collection of ancient American folk tunes, gospel ballads and spiritual hymns wraps around you like a colorful, comforting patchwork quilt on a cool evening.

Buck Owens: 21 #1 Hits
CD $18.98

Before bringing cans of Hee Haw TV corn into living rooms across America, Owens had an amazing hot streak on the country charts between 1963 and 1969. Tap your toes to the Telecaster twang and California cool of all his chart-toppers, including "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail,” "I Don't Care (Just as Long as You Love Me),” "Love's Gonna Live Here” and "Act Naturally,” the only honky-tonk song ever to later become a Beatles smash. If you're already an Owens fan, this Collection is a worthy recap of a career that certainly had its share of musical highlights. If you're a stranger to this baron of Bakersfield…well, the Buck starts here.

You're Only Lonely
Raul Malo
CD $18.98

The front man for the rockin' country band The Mavericks steps out with his second solo album, a collection of songs by other artists that he's always loved, contemporary classics like J.D. Souther's title track, Willie Nelson's "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground," The Bee Gee's "Run to Him" and Harry Nilsson's "Remember." Malo's magnificent voice, a throbbing, operatic tenor, brands each one with a smoldering stamp of passionate perfection, honoring the originals while at the same time staking a interpretive claim to them that few other vocalists could ever touch.

Songs From the Neighborhood
Various Artists
Memory Lane Syndication, Inc. ($17.98)

For more than three decades, generations of kids grew up watching Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, learning positive values from the popular PBS series and its kindly, soft-spoken host. Last year, a group of 12 award-winning singers collaborated on a Grammy-winning CD, bringing some of the show's instructive, uplifting songs (all written by the program's creator and star, the late Fred Rogers) to new musical life. Now repackaged with an accompanying DVD, this new dual-disc edition lets you both watch and hear singers such as Amy Grant, Donna Summer, Roberta Flack, Crystal Gayle, Ricky Skaggs and Jon Secada deliver feel-good, kid-centric messages about friendship ("It's You I Like"), dealing with anger ("What Do You Do?") and celebrating life ("This is Just the Day"). Mr. Rogers ended its TV run in 2001, but these tunes, delightfully performed in styles ranging from bluegrass to bossa nova, make the world sound, once again, like one big, friendly neighborhood.