“Pay the Devil” Van MorrisonWhen he’s on, there’s no better live performer, band leader or songwriter in the pop music pantheon than Van Morrison.
But when he’s off (or feeling notoriously temperamental), there’s no artist near as dissatisfying or confounding.
“Devil” is Morrison’s take on country standards. Morrison’s selection of material is sublime, including Webb Pierce’s “There Stands the Glass,” but something between the music and the vocal performance doesn’t come together.
As usual, Morrison’s band is tight, but vocally, he just seems to breeze through the tracks. It sounds like an album made to pay the electric bill and not an interesting foray into another style of music. Unlike his last three masterful records, Morrison phones this one in, hoping that the material will make up the difference. Unfortunately, it doesn’t.
-Darren White
“Underage Thinking” Teddy Geiger
There’s nothing wrong with Teddy Geiger.
On his demo album, “Step Ladder,” the teenage Geiger was contemplative, melodic and, in a word, sweet.
Unfortunately, his first full-length album, “Underage Thinking,” can’t even compare.
It’s not Geiger’s fault, necessarily. Sounding like a cross between John Mayer and Gavin Degraw, the vocals of the extraordinarily talented Geiger still sound amazing. The problem lies with the production of the album.
It’s a shame that the producer didn’t realize that Geiger alone with a guitar in his hand is enough to carry a great CD. Rather, he is almost buried under the extra instruments (several of which he played during the recording), and instead of serving to highlight his voice, the instrumentals only detract from it.
-Kelsey Hasler
“Youth” Matisyahu
For an album by a reformed Phish-head who refuses to grow up, “Youth,” the latest release by Hasidic rapper Matisyahu is aptly named.
Stealing all the good gimmicks and refusing to share, Matisyahu bills himself as “Hasidic beatbox reggae,” but a more appropriate term is monotonous.
Almost every song on “Youth” deals with the former Matthew Miller’s newfound religion. As if that weren’t enough, Matisyahu chooses to deliver his sermons in a style more like Sean Paul than Bob Marley.
There’s no reason someone with so much talent and a great backing band should make an album where every song sounds this derived and similar. The album does have some good moments, and each song portrays a very kind world view and attitude toward others. While Matisyahu seems sincere, it’s not enough to save “Youth.”
-Darren White
“Distort Yourself” Institute
“Distort Yourself,” Institute’s debut album, was supposed to be Gavin Rossdale’s return to rock – and he came back with a yawn.
Admittedly, the first single, “Bullet Proof Skin,” is pretty catchy, but like Rossdale’s former band Bush taught us, a good album does not follow from a good single.
Just how cheesy is “Distort Yourself”? There is a song called “When Animals Attack.”
Usually titles have little to do with a song’s quality, but, in this case, it captures the tone of the entire album – loud and raw but lacking any real substance.
After listening to the album about five times, it disappeared from my iPod. After giving it another spin a couple of months later, it only seemed worse.
For every great comment made about Bush’s “Sixteen Stone,” I could make 10 bad ones about Institute.
-Brian Chatman
“Comfort of Strangers” Beth Orton
On Beth Orton’s 2006 release, “Comfort of Strangers,” Orton plays it far too safe, relying more on standard songwriter clichÂs rather than mining for new original depth.
The disc starts off promisingly enough, with the clever up-tempo track “Worms,” but the momentum ends just as quickly by the next track, “Conceived.” Orton delivers lines such as “Some of the time the future comes round just to see, that all is not as it could be” so disinterestedly it’s a wonder she ever made it to the studio to record the tracks. It’s certainly nowhere near the mastery of “Central Reservation.”
While adding “Comfort” to the worst-of list might be a little harsh, it’s almost warranted by Orton’s misuse of her talent. Eventually, Orton will break free from the mold and record the album she’s been threatening to for some time – she just hasn’t yet.
-Darren White
