Annie Lennox, “Songs of Mass Destruction” (Arista)
Lennox has made some terrific music with and without the Eurythmics. On her fourth solo outing, 11 new songs reveal a tougher outlook and rougher sound, possibly thanks to rock producer Glen Ballard’s input.
Some instant standouts include the haunting opener, “Dark Road,” which refers to both failed love and Europe’s love-hate relationship with the U.S. Seems pretentious, perhaps, but the gambit works.
The closing epic, “Fingernail Moon,” has Lennox in soaring style, swaddled in a gauzy musical arrangement, and it’s one of her best tracks ever. The headline-grabber is the anthem “Sing,” in which 23 female singers including Madonna, Dido, Pink and Joss Stone join up to raise awareness about mother-child HIV transmission in Africa. Good intentions never sounded so good. Released Tuesday.
Fred Shuster, Los Angeles Daily News
John Fogerty, “Revival” (Fantasy)
Fogerty never was one for nostalgia, and since the “Green River” dried up, he’s kept creating worthwhile, topical music with heart and soul in rockabilly and rootsy American rock.
His latest disc is one of his punchiest, a collection of rip-roaring anthems that make you wonder why artists half his age don’t seem to have any opinion on the state of things.
Fogerty does: In the twin anti-war tirades “Long Dark Night” and “I Can’t Take It No More,” he weighs in on the current administration with a savage attack.
Tracks to revisit include the tunefully optimistic “Don’t You Wish It Was True” and “Gunslinger,” which has a Western theme that evokes vintage Creedence. The deliciously swampy “Creedence Song,” meanwhile, sees Fogerty rightly concluding that “you can’t go wrong if you play a little bit of that Creedence song.” His reverb-drenched swamp-
rock guitar puts the exclamation point right where it belongs. Released Tuesday.
Fred Shuster, Los Angeles Daily News
Motion City Soundtrack, “Even If It Kills Me” (Epitaph)
On its third album, the Minneapolis band perfects a sound that emerged on 2005’s “Commit This to Memory.”
Every track shows the quintet’s strengths: Justin Pierre’s melodic vocals, Jesse Johnson’s funhouse keyboards and a strong batch of tunes powered by industrial-strength hooks.
Factor in crisp, clear co-production from Ric Ocasek (the Cars) and the duo of Adam Schlesigner (Fountains of Wayne) and Eli Janney (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah), and you have an unalloyed pop-rock delight from start (the ebullient “I Fell in Love Without You”) to finish (the buoyant title track).
Consistently excellent albums such as this should be cherished; they don’t happen often.
Sam Gnerre, Los Angeles Daily News
