New Album Capsule Reviews
OK, here’s a new feature for the site – capsule album
reviews, where I will provide brief reviews of some recently released albums of
interest. This is something I’ll try to do every few months or so as needed to
cover relevant albums. So, first up are some notable albums from the first
couple months of 2022. As always, these are just my own opinions, and since
these are relatively new albums, are mostly based on relatively few listens
(but at least 3 times per album).
Elvis Costello & The Imposters – The Boy Named If (2022)
Elvis is back with another new album, something like his 32
nd,
and although I am an Elvis fan from his earliest days on, I have to admit that
I haven’t really paid much attention to his last several albums. Sure, I
listened to them when they first came out, but overall, his more recent output
just hasn’t resonated enough to stick with me or go back for repeated listens.
But that is not the case with this latest album, which is a real keeper. In
fact, this is probably his best album in about the last 20 years. First off, it
sounds great, and benefits greatly from a very dynamic Imposters band and wonderful
arrangements (Pete Thomas’ drums are prominent here, backed by Davey Faragher’s
bass, and Steve Nieve’s eclectic keyboards, and Elvis’ otherworldly guitar
sounds) showing an energy, vitality, and presence not matched in decades. Elvis
has generated a diverse collection of great songs here, from driving rockers to
stirring ballads to quirky eccentricities. Elvis has pulled out the Wayback
machine for this one, producing songs with the style and arrangements reminiscent
of albums from the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, and throughout his illustrious career, such
as
Armed Forces, Trust, Imperial Bedroom, Spike, and
Brutal Youth. Elvis’s
voice even sounds younger and more fluid here than on other recent albums. If
you have ever been an Elvis fan at all, you must check out this album, as it is
great, and could possibly rank among his top ten very best (but needs more time
to resonate).
Best tracks: ‘Farewell OK’, ‘What if I Can’t Give You Anything
But Love’, ‘Paint the Red Rose Blue’, ‘My Most Beautiful Mistake’, ‘The Man You
Love to Hate’, ‘Mr. Crescent’. Weakest track: ‘Mistook Me for a Friend’. Rating: 4 stars (for now, but could move up
to 4.5 with repeated listens, it’s that good).
Jethro Tull – The Zealot Gene (2022)
Ian Anderson is back with a new incarnation of Jethro Tull,
and the first new Tull album in nearly 20 years. And Ian harkens back to sounds
and styles reminiscent of some of their earlier albums. Overall, it’s great to hear
Ian’s flute as a major component as well as some of Tull’s characteristic
styles and strong songwriting throughout.
Although it is clear that Ian’s voice is not what it used to be, his
talk-singing style works well enough here. Where the album falls flat,
unfortunately, is with the backing band, which is just completely generic and
lackluster. The album does seem to really be an Ian Anderson solo album, as the
backing band contribute virtually nothing here (and the backing arrangements
are also frustratingly repetitive), and weaken what could have been several
very strong tracks. It just doesn’t sound like a band at all, just Ian with
some generic backing musicians. Certainly not like Jethro Tull of the glory
days, where stellar guitar work from Martin Barre, bassist Jeffrey Hammond,
John Evans keyboards, and the dynamic drumming of Barriemore Barlow provided
scintillating contributions to the Tull sound. I can understand why they wanted
to call this a Jethro Tull album, due to the stylistic aspects being very much
in line with what we know as Jethro Tull, but realistically, this is still an
Ian Anderson solo album. Here, the musicians other than Anderson just don’t
provide any spark at all. For this reason, the more acoustic tracks work the
best here, highlighting Ian’s acoustic guitar, flute, harmonica, mandolin,
vocals, and lyrics. Still, there are some very good tracks here, and the album
is definitely worth checking out, just be aware that it is not classic
Tull.
Best Tracks: ‘Mrs. Tibbets’, ‘Sad City Sisters’, ‘Where Did
Saturday Go?’, ‘Three Love Three’. Weakest tracks: ‘Mine is the Mountain’, ‘The
Zealot Gene’. Rating: 3 stars.
Big Big Train – Welcome to the Planet (2022)
Big Big Train’s follow-up to their stellar 2021 album,
Common Ground, is Welcome to the Planet, which continues their run of wonderful
albums, with another collection of great songs. Although it can’t quite match
the heights of the previous album (which was my pick for best album of 2021),
it is still a great album. The band continues growing and developing during a
period of transition and changeover in personnel, exploring and moving in some
new directions, and getting contributions from various band members. Both of
the songs written by drummer Nick D’Virgiolio (‘Connection Plan’ and the
dynamic instrumental ‘Bats in the Belfry’) are excellent and quite different
from previous Big Big Train songs (including an extended drum solo). The first
half of the album shines the brightest, with ‘Connection Plan’, the grand and
sumptuous ‘Lanterna’, the sparse and beautiful ballad ‘Capitoline Venus’
(featuring perhaps the best vocal performance from David Longdon), and the
atmospheric instrumental ‘A Room with No Ceiling’. The conclusion of the album
is weakened a bit by the final two songs, as ‘Oak and Stone’ languishes some with
an odd unsettled melody, and the final title track may be the strangest in the
band’s history, starting with disturbing lyrics and then perhaps the least
inviting ‘Welcome’ ever with beautiful harmonies but a dark and twisted melody.
Then, towards the end of the song it transitions into a New Orleans-style
Dixieland jam before ending with the opening disturbing mood and lyrics.
Certainly an intriguing track from newcomer pianist Carly Bryant, but ends the
album with more of a WTF? than the grandness of previous releases. Despite that
questionable ending, still a great album overall. However, it is also
bittersweet hearing the wonderful vocals of David Longdon on this album. Great
that we get these new songs from him, after his tragic death late last year,
but sad that we will not hear his voice or his other contributions on future
albums.
Best Tracks: ‘Connection Plan’, ‘Lanterna’, ‘Capitoline
Venus’, ‘A Room with No Ceiling’,’ Bats in the Belfry’. Weakest track: ‘Oak and
Stone’. Rating: 4 stars.
Jonas Lindberg and the Other Side – Miles From Nowhere
(2022)
Jonas Lindberg & The Other Side are a Swedish
progressive rock band, and Miles From Nowhere is their 2
nd
full-length album. I was not aware of this band until a couple months ago when
a couple of pre-album singles were released promoting the band and new album,
and they sounded really good. When I first heard the full album, I thought,
yes, this is very good. They have a delightful mix of catchy pop melodies and
vocal harmonies interspersed with extended progressive passages and intriguing
instrumental sections. Jonas plays many of the instruments himself, from bass,
guitar, keyboards, and vocals, but with able assistance from the rest of the
band, especially the impeccable lead and backing vocals shared by Jonas
Sundqvist and Jenny Storm. The expansive album provides over 75 minutes of
music, with several extended length tracks, capped off with the epic multi-part
album-closing title track (over 25 min. long). Upon repeated listenings of the
album, I loved it more and more, and upgraded my ranking from very good to
great! The band’s influences are clear and present throughout, emulating the
style and structure of music provided by
Neal Morse and his various bands
(
Spock’s Beard, Transatlantic, Neal Morse Band) and
The Flower Kings, among
others, and the only criticism I might have is that it may stay a bit too close
to those influences, but with music this good it’s hard to complain, and it is
done with such great style, finesse, and originality that the music itself it
transcends those comparisons (Neal himself would be proud to have created such
a great album). So, if you are at all a fan of the kind of music played by Neal
Morse and his various projects, or just strong melodic progressive rock, you
should really like this album. And this is certainly an up and coming band to
keep an eye out for what they do next.
Best Tracks: 'Miles From Nowhere', 'Summer Queen', 'Astral
Journey', 'Why I’m Here'. Weak tracks: None. Rating: 4 stars (upgraded from 3.5
after repeated listenings).
So, overall, a great set of albums to start the year.
Although it is early, most of these (Elvis Costello, Big Big Train, and Jonas
Lindberg) will undoubtedly at least be in consideration for end of year honors
and best of lists. And there are more big name releases that have already
come out this month (such as the new albums from The Flower Kings and Marillion)
that I need more time to get to know, as well as others known and unknown that are on the way that I will include in the next
roundup soon. Until then, stay tuned for more music and commentary right here.
So, what did you think about these albums, or perhaps some other recent albums
of interest you may be listening to these days?
BB’s Rating scale:
1 star – Terrible, torturous to have to listen to
1.5 stars - Poor, not worth your time
2 stars – Fair, maybe a couple half-way decent songs, but
sub-par overall
2.5 stars – Average, OK, meh, not bad but not that good either
3 stars – Good, solid album, several good songs, but not
spectacular. Certainly worthy, but may not be something you come back to very
often
3.5 stars – Very good album. Some stellar tracks, very
enjoyable overall
4 stars – Great album, filled with great songs, one that you
will want to come back to over and over again
4.5 stars – Excellent album, beyond great, superb in every
way, just short of a masterpiece
5 stars – A Masterpiece, among the greatest albums of its
type, and has stood the test of time
