COUNTRY
“Hits I Missed … And One I Didn’t”
George Jones
Bandit
It is a clever idea: Take the undisputedly best singer in Nashville, have him put his unique vocal imprint on 11 classic country hits, call it “Hits I Missed,” and then add a new version of his best-known song.
Jones delivers breathtaking versions of the Willie Nelson-penned “Funny How Time Slips Away,” Hank Williams Jr.’s “The Blues Man,” (a duet with Dolly Parton), and Alan Jackson’s “Here in the Real World.”
He uses his deep voice to caress every emotional note out of songs made into hits by Bobby Bare (“Detroit City”), Randy Travis (“On the Other Hand”), Mark Chesnutt (“Too Cold at Home”) and Ray Charles (“Busted”). Other songs include “If You’re Gonna Do Me Wrong” and “Skip a Rope.”
Another “missed” song is Merle Haggard’s “Today I Started Loving You Again.” It is the only tune Jones doesn’t improve on. He, of course, does a great job with it. But Haggard is Haggard, and nobody will ever steal a song from him.
“He Stopped Loving Her Today” is the lone Jones hit on the album. The new version remains the country music archetype of a lost-love tearjerker.
It would be a crying shame for any country fan to miss this album.
– Ed Will
INDIE ROCK
“Clap Your Hands Say Yeah”
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Self-released
White-hot Brooklyn quintet Clap Your Hands Say Yeah conveys the spirit of its name with giddy vocals, palm-slapping percussion and chiming guitars.
Released to an instant crush of hipster acclaim (“the next Arcade Fire”), the band’s self-titled debut lives up to the buzz – mostly. Unlike The Arcade Fire, CYHSY’s influences are nakedly evident and brusquely synthesized.
The vocal specter of David Byrne and the more general musical influence of New York’s late ’70s CBGB scene haunts nearly every song. A wall of My Bloody Valentine-worthy guitars hems in high-register vocals in the gorgeous “In This Home on Ice,” a song that would surely make Bob Pollard and Kevin Shields proud. But while this record is worth getting excited about, it’s far from the year’s defining statement.
– John Wenzel
