George Strait, “Twang” (MCA Nashville)
Country fans know exactly what to expect from George Strait. The Texas-bred veteran is a steady hand in the shifty world of country radio, and his songs have been celebrated as much for their listenability as his authoritative baritone has been praised as a beacon.
Fans appreciate Strait’s predictability, especially because every once in a while he comes up with something so unexpected that it dominates the buzz around a new project.
On Strait’s latest, that surprise gem is “El Rey,” a cover of an Alfredo Jimenez song that Strait manages in Spanish, the mariachi-country song’s original tongue. The CD-closing cover is a left-field treat, not because of Strait’s clumsy Spanish but because the feeling is right. Strait resides in South Texas, not far from the border, and the song is a fitting tribute to that region’s unique cultural landscape. Ricardo Baca
Blur “Midlife: A Beginner’s Guide to Blur” (Virgin)
Long before he was animated and immortalized as 2D, the lead singer of Gorillaz, Damon Albarn was the leading bloke in the English band Blur. For many, Blur is a needle in the haystack of mid- ’90s alternative-rock one-hit wonders. “Song 2,” forever linked with a particularly unbearable teen slasher film and often played at sporting events, is pretty much the only Blur song you’ll find on the average Joe’s iPod. Luckily, we have this double-disc “beginner’s guide” to lead us through more than 10 years of some of the best Britpop ever created.
Part melancholy, part hook-ridden pop music, it’s a retrospective that can soundtrack rainy-day window stares and fast highway drives alike. Disc 1 offers quasi-familiarities like “Beetlebum,” “Girls and Boys” and the aforementioned “Song 2,” while Disc 2 presents the band in its least accessible form. Warm, fuzzed-out guitars ride along punchy synths, and Albarn’s charming accent shines through tracks like “Stereotypes” and “Chemical World.” John Hendrickson
