COUNTRY-REGGAE
“Countryman”
Willie Nelson
Lost Highway
This CD’s cover, featuring the red, yellow and green African liberation colors, leaves little doubt that this is the long-rumored reggae album from a country music icon.
The question is: Was it worth the 10-year wait to hear Nelson take on reggae? The answer: an unequivocal yes.
Whether he’s doing the Johnny and June Carter Cash-penned tune “I’m a Worried Man,” which features Toots Hibbert, or Jimmy Cliff’s “Sitting in Limbo,” Nelson puts his unmistakable mark on the reggae sound. Eight of the 12 songs were written or co-written by Nelson, including a lovely version of “One in a Row,” and “How Long Is Forever.”
But that should surprise no one. Nelson has performed and recorded almost all the styles music offers. And each time he has done it about as well as it can be done. Here, Nelson is in top form on guitar and vocals. It seems like Willie and reggae are a match made in herb heaven.
Willie Nelson plays Red Rocks Amphitheater on Sept. 3.
– Ed Will
ROCK
“Love Is the Greatest Revenge”
Tremolo
Tremolo Music/Flagship
Justin Dillon, frontman for this Oakland band, pledged half the royalties from this quasi-anti-war album to a benevolent trust. Fans will decide how the money will be spent. Cancer research, tsunami relief and AIDS care are options.
Most of the CD would actually be worth the money even if the proceeds simply went toward the usual rock ‘n’ roll excesses. Like Peter Murphy fused with Tears for Fears, the opening track, “New Eyes for a New World,” is ebullient pop. Major media outlets have caught on as subsequent tracks are turning up all over film and TV. And while the CD’s mushy middle will turn off fans of more aggressive rock ‘n’ roll, “Baby Blue” and “Wait Up for Me” reveal the U2 influence behind Tremolo’s sensitive side.
– Elana Ashanti Jefferson
ROCK
“We Are the Radio”
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Tee Pee
When Anton Newcombe brought his overdramatic circus of ’60s jangle to Denver’s Larimer Lounge in July, he pitched his band’s new EP to the discerning sold-out crowd by telling them it’s the most important album of his – and perhaps anybody’s – career.
Newcombe’s penchant for hyperbole is nothing new. But “We Are the Radio” is nonetheless a solid record with the expected indulgences of a BJM record. “God Is My Girlfriend” is a deliciously tribal, droning nugget, but it’s balanced by “Teleflows vs. Amplification,” which is self-absorbed, repetitive waste.
– Ricardo Baca
