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My Favorite Albums for 2010

12/21/2010

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My Favorite Albums for 2010 *

     (The asterisk is to acknowledge that this year I only listened to a small fraction of the hundreds of albums heard annually during the many years I was pop music critic at the Los Angeles Times. So, think of the 10 albums as simply my favorite new releases for the year—recommendations from me to you. That said, the top choices—by Arcade Fire and Kanye West—both live up to my top album choices over the years.)


AT THE TOP


     1        Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs”  (Merge)
         At a time when thousands of young rock bands seem to have given up on trying to dominate the cultural landscape the way groups from the Beatles to U2 once did, the Fire burns with ambition and purpose, making music that is both thrilling sonically and insightful lyrically. Suburban life is a topic that invites cliché and ham-fisted declarations, but Win Butler (and cohorts) speaks eloquently about both times wasted and lessons learned from the past. A brilliant, inspiring work.

     2  Kanye West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” (Roc-A-Fella/Island Def Jam)
    
Along with expanding rap’s thematic zone, West’s early goal was to expand rap’s sonic range to include anything that entered his imagination, be it a string section or prog-rock. “Fantasy” is his boldest step forward since “Late Registration” in 2005. The album is smart, provocative, funny and revealing—touching on matters as diverse as West’s own celebrity and compulsiveness to the nation’s cultural values. An album filled with both sweeping grandeur and deep-rooted intimacy. A modern classic. 

The Runners-up (alphabetical) 

     The Black Keys’ “Brothers’ (Nonesuch)
     After years of being spoken about chiefly as White Stripes-ian because the Keys, too, is an intense, roots-minded blues-rock duo from the Midwest, Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach do much here to assert their own identity, thanks chiefly to improved songwriting. The music here is taut and tenacious, bristling with the sensual urgency of the blues.

     Dead Weather’s “Sea of Cowards” (Third Man/Warner Bros.)
    
White and his mates in Dead Weather are reminding us that rock at its most powerful is neither conventional nor safe. It is the voice of extremism, fueled with an optimism and faith that music can still touch the heart and stir the imagination—and that albums, not just individual tracks, do matter.

     Elton John and Leon Russell’s “The Union” (Decca/Rocket) 
     Leon Russell once stood at the very center of rock ‘n’ roll, both on the “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” tour and his own albums. This album not only puts the spotlight back on him, but it also reminds us that Elton is more than a flashy superstar. He and lyricist Bernie Taupin are superb pop-rock forces. Produced by T Bone Burnett.

     The National’s “High Violet” (4AD)
     These Brooklyn-based Ohioans’ musical vision combines the rock tension and spectacle of Jesus & Mary Chain (“Terrible Love”), quiet evocativeness of R.E.M. (“Afraid of Everyone”) and grand declarations of early David Bowie (“Bloodbuzz Ohio”) in imaginative reflections about trying to find and maintain emotional balance.

The rest of the Top 10 (alphabetical)

     Elvis Costello’s “National Ransom” (Hear Music)
     There’s such fury in the opening track that you could picture Costello listening to his old, high-energy gem “Pump It Up” before recording it. Besides a thoughtful body of songs, some of which speak to the national psyche, the album employs several of the musical styles that have interested the Englishman over the years, including music hall.

     Cee Lo Green’s  “The Lady Killer” (Elektra)  
            “F—k You” is one of the most irresistible singles since “Crazy,” but it’s far from all that this Georgia mix of hip-hop, neo soul and dance fever has going for it. The tone is playful, but some moments are tender and surprisingly humble for a man who calls himself a lady killer. Winning in a lively, mainstream way.

     Janelle Monae’s “ The ArchAndroid” (Bad Boy/Atlantic)
     This remarkably ambitious musical brew toasts some of the most alluring pop/hip-hop/soul/disco/rock sounds of the last 50 years. The singer playfully cites such as influences as James Brown’s cape, Stevie Wonder’s mirrored glasses and Jack White’s mustache.  Add Walt Disney, Judy Garland and Grace Jones. Full of life and heart.

     Munford & Sons’ “Sigh No More” (Glassnote)
    
 There’s a rustic, country, folk, even bluegrass spirit flowing through this English quartet’s debut album,  along with a winning youthful optimism underscored in the title track, “Love, it will not betray, dismay or enslave you / It will set you free.” But the band touches on enough melancholy moments to keep the music rooted in reality.
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Norah Jones, "The Tourist," "Faster" and the new Mickey Mantle biography

12/15/2010

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NORAH JONES’S “…FEATURING NORAH JONES” (EMI)

√ Bob Recommended

If there is anything this gifted country-pop-jazz singer enjoys as much in the studio as singing an exquisite new tune, it’s collaborating with friends and heroes, especially on vintage numbers. The lure of this collection is it brings together 18 of Jones’ collaborations over the past decade. The remarkable range of performers (OutKast, Herbie Hancock, Ryan Adams and the Foo Fighters) and songwriters (Joni Mitchell, Townes Van Zandt and the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) drawn upon is a tribute to Jones’ taste and wide musical vision. Among the highlights: the sensual, blues-rock feel of Norah’s teaming with her sideband, the Little Willies, on the early Elvis Presley hit, “Love Me,” and the alluring, Grammy winning duet with Ray Charles on the country ballad, “Here We Go Again.” Also noteworthy: Jones and Willie Nelson on the pop charmer, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and Jones and M.Ward redoing the lovely Joe Melson-Roy Orbison composition, “Blue Bayou.”  
 

MOVIES

“THE TOURIST”

Deceptively entertaining

This film has gotten some of the worst reviews of any major studio release of the year—a 38 (out of 100) in the www.metacritic.com survey. There are repeated charges of no wit or tension in the plot and no chemistry between box-office superstars Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. And, the film is loaded with problems. But the movie’s final twist helps us make sense of some of the earlier trouble spots and links the movie to the good-natured, romantic drama-comedy tradition of “North by Northwest,” “To Catch a Thief” and “Charade.” You can almost imagine Cary Grant on the screen as Depp—who is presented to us as an ordinary American tourist caught up in international intrigue—runs across Venice rooftops in his pajamas as he tries to elude some killers. There’s no question, however, that Depp and Jolie fail to bring to “The Tourist” the kind of disarming charisma and charm of such teams as Grant and Eva Marie Saint or Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. That’s the film’s main stumbling block—and it is puzzling. The lingering question is whether Depp, especially, is simply dull in the role or whether he is doing a remarkable job of portraying a dull man—as called for in the script. Don’t be surprised if people won’t still be debating the Jolie/Depp matter years from now.  “The Tourist” might even become a cult classic along the lines of John Houston’s “Beat the Devil”—a film whose merits are hotly debated after half a century.

 

“FASTER”

Even the title is forgettable

The only thing I came away from this mediocre action-revenge film was two questions: Why doesn’t Hollywood give Billy Bob Thornton, a fine actor, more parts and why does Hollywood give Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson so many parts?

 

BOOKS

  JANE LEAVY’S “THE LAST BOY: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood” (Harper)

√ Bob Recommended

Though this book feels more like a series of exhaustingly researched and lively written magazine articles than a formal biography, it is entertaining and frequently touching. Leavy, who also wrote the well-received biography “Sandy Koufax,” covers the Yankee great’s career mostly by simply focusing on key events or days in his life, such as the 1953 day in Washington, D.C. that Mantle supposedly hit a ball 565 feet. In writing about those key moments, she reports extensively on the impact of Mantle’s notorious, party boy lifestyle and his early injuries--leaving us to wonder how much greater his stats might have been if he had taken better care of himself. The most moving parts of the book are when she speaks about his post-baseball career and his life-long difficulty in relating to his family. 

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Bruce, Cee Lo and Loretta. Plus "White Material" and "Love and Other Drugs"

12/7/2010

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ALBUMS

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN’S “THE PROMISE: THE DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN STORY” (Columbia)

√ Bob Recommended

          This marvelously designed retrospective is almost as thoughtful and inspiring as one of Springsteen’s best albums because it speaks to the heart of what makes rock ‘n’ roll great. The remastered version of “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” two discs of extra material recorded during the “Darkness” sessions and a DVD documentary of the making of “Darkness” all stress that it takes much more than craft and desire to make landmark music. An artist also needs a sense of vision and purpose. “Darkness” is a great album because you feel that vision and purpose in virtually every note. In the documentary, we hear Bruce tell us he wasn’t looking for “hits,” but songs that would define his goals as a songwriter and musician. If, for instance, he had put “Fire” or “Because the Night” on the album, he knew they had a chance to become huge hits, but he didn’t want to be represented by them; they weren’t building the bond he wanted with the audience. While several of the left-over songs are fun (and a few are close to the ambition of “Darkness”) , it’s clear listening to them now that Bruce made the right choices in assembling “Darkness” as the follow-up to “Born to Run.” He had moved way beyond most of the other material he recorded at the time. That said, a few of the tracks on the two new discs are noteworthy, including “Breakaway,” “Because the Night,” “Come on (Let’s Go Tonight)” and “Save My Love. And there is one great song: “The Promise.” The imaginative album packaging allows us to look through Bruce’s old notebooks as he searches, song by song, for the music that will prove that he wasn’t just lucky with “Born to Run.” Another thrilling chapter in a monumental rock ‘n’ roll legacy.   

 

CEE LO GREEN’S “The Lady Killer” (Elektra)

√ Bob Recommended

“F—k You” is one of the most irresistible singles since “Crazy,” but it’s far from all that this Georgia mix of hip-hop, neo soul and dance fever has going for him in this album.  If anyone wanted to do a remake of “Saturday Night Fever,” the opening track here—“BrightLightsBiggerCity”—would be the ideal centerpiece for the soundtrack. It comes complete with the boastful swagger of “Billie Jean.” But there’s also the early Motown silkiness of “It’s OK,” the funky, Stax edge of “”Satisfied” and the disarming regret of “Cry Baby.” In trying for variety, Green sometimes wanders too far from his strengths, but the heart of the album is surprisingly tender and, even, humble for a man who calls himself a lady killer. The production, too, is nicely tailored. Contemporary, yet classic in a winning, mainstream way.

LORETTA LYNN’S “COAL MINER’S DAUGHTER: A TRIBUTE TO LORETTA LYNN” (Columbia)

√ Bob Recommended

Six years after “Van Lear Rose,” the great comeback album she made with producer Jack White, Lynn returns—at least in spirit—in this tribute collection featuring versions of her songs by various contemporary artists. Among country music artists, Gretchen Wilson, Carrie Underwood, Alan Jackson and Martina McBride stand out. But the real highlights are the contributions by the “non-country” forces: the White Stripes, Paramore and, especially, Lucinda Williams who turns in a show-stopping version of “Somebody Somewhere (Don’t Know What He’s Missing Tonight).” At the end, Lynn joins Sheryl Crow and Miranda Lambert on her signature tune, “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”

FILMS

“WHITE MATERIAL”

√ Bob Recommended

There are so many life-defining social, political, racial and cultural issues circulating in this story of a West African nation’s struggle to deal with its bloody past and uncertain future that most directors would quickly succumb to melodrama. But Claire Denis and actress Isabelle Huppert never even come close—and their restraint is at the heart of the French film’s brilliance. Ignoring all advice to leave her family’s coffee plantation as anarchy sweeps across the country, Huppert clings to what she has been taught—people are basically decent and the land belongs to her and her family. But rules no longer apply and she is caught between a clash between corrupt government officials and a rebel army filled with drug-taking child soldiers. The result is a madness that is horrifying in its unrelenting savagery and detail. One of the best films of the year.

 

“LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS”

Nice touches, but flawed.

“Love…” is much more “serious” in theme than the trailers or even the first two-thirds of the movie would have you believe, and the transition from silly, romantic comedy to complex drama is frequently jarring. While there are some funny moments in the first two-thirds of the movie (though not as many as you’d probably like) and some touching ones in the final third, the juxtaposition between the serious and light leaves you feeling manipulated. Even the chemistry feels off. Anne Hathaway is effective as a troubled, free-spirit, but Jake Gyllenhaalnever really achieves the shift in tone his character demands.

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    Robert Hilburn

         I was pop music critic and pop music editor of the Los Angeles Times from 1970 through 2005, and am writing books.  A memoir, "Corn Flakes with John Lennon" was published last fall.  The paperback is due in October.  I am now working on a biography.
    Photo by Jeff Amlotte, copyright 2009.

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