But it's only been four years!

You know, an Annie Lennox album comes around about as often as a Sade album (nah, not that irregularly, but you get my point). Annie's last effort was 2003's Bare, an album that--although it had moments of beauty--is not the one I go back to (that one is Diva, which actually has achieved the rare quality of sounding better than it did 15 years ago).

So when I learned that Annie Lennox was releasing a new album, I was like, "Wait, so soon?" And when I first heard the leadoff single for this new work, "Dark Road," I was like, 'ehhh...'

I admit I wasn't the first one out at the crack o'dawn yesterday to pick up this fourth solo album, Songs of Mass Destruction. I held off until today, because frankly, I wasn't that into the idea, or the concept (one more aging diva giving us a collection of protest songs?). Well, I'm pleased to admit I was wrong.

Sure, Annie Lennox is political. Sure, she's enigmatic. But goddamn, can this girl sing. I have to say that Songs is possibly some of her finest vocal work, maybe ever. Maybe it's Glen Ballard, the man who produced the insanely successful Jagged Little Pill for Alanis What's-'er-Name 12 years ago (yeah, you read it right, 12 years ago). Ballard decided to drop the overly-theatrical production of Annie's last album and concentrate on her voice. Which works just beautifully.

This album is topical without being dated. It's got the right mix of heavy ballads and uptempo, gospel-ly rock and dance tracks. She sounds great and looks, as you can see, gorgeous.

Standout tracks: "Dark Road," "Coloured Bedspread" (even though as my friend pointed out, the lyrics make quite little sense), "Ghosts in My Machine" and the sublime "Fingernail Moon."

Oh, and I'm sure you've heard about the song "Sing," which Annie wrote to call attention to the plight of the HIV epidemic in Africa. It features 23 female artists from Madonna (who has a verse of her own) to KT Tunstall to k.d. lang to Gladys Knight to Celine Di-fawkin-on. The concept is great, but, I dunno, it doesn't do much for me.

Well worth a download, this album. It grows on you. Trust me.

Devoted to Beauty

You know, I've loved Mary Chapin Carpenter for about 15 years. She was the first country singer I actually identified with, and her work inspired one of my own songs, "Marked." So she's one of these artists--although my own musical tastes change and grow--whom I'll still buy anything new they release the day they do, sound unheard, if you will.

Chapin has, basically, mastered the art of writing the pretty, topical song. Her melodies have never faltered, her voice has maintained its rich, all-encompassing tone. But, in my opinion, her stuff is kind of boring these days. It's way too slow, way too pretty, way too samey-sounding.

That being said, the single from her 2007 album The Calling called "On With the Song" moved me when it was released in February. It's the sharpest and most biting social commentary she's ever made in song, and it ROCKS. For that reason, I was thrilled she had come back...but the rest of The Calling had me calling for my pillows. Sigh.

Well, download "On With the Song" anyway. And pick up her classic 1992 album Come On Come On for a glimpse of her at the apex of her popularity.

Classic Video of the Week: Double

It was 21 years ago this week that I picked up the 45 you see at the left...it was a song by Swiss musicians Felix Haug and Kurt Maloo, pictured twice each on the album cover...called "Captain of Her Heart." It's one of the most sophisticated, well-crafted, mature songs of the 1980s.

I felt so international when I listened to this song--at the time it was one of the few songs on the US Pop charts that was also a hit in nearly every country in Europe. It features a plaintive melody for its verses, then switches to a major key for its catchy chorus...peppered by a pre-Kenny G saxophone. I sort of pair this song up with "The Sweetest Taboo" by Sade, another shimmeringly mature hit of the time. I'll blog on Sade soon.

Double's lead singer Kurt Valoo (shown here at the second and fourth positions) continues to record and remix. However, the other member of Double, Felix Haug, died of a heart attack in 2004 at the age of 52.

Have a listen to the classic "Captain of Her Heart." (Click on the photo above to see the video). And remember, this is how good pop radio used to be.

The Best Album I've Heard All Year

I normally don't like to make predictions on what my favorite album of the year is until at least December. And this year is particularly difficult to throw that title around willy-nilly; after all, it's a year that saw a new Joni Mitchell, and in a few weeks, will welcome new works by two other divae I've loved for over 25 years--Alison Moyet and Annie Lennox.

But back in March, an album was released that was so transcendent, so fantastic, so extraordinary that I knew without a doubt I wouldn't like anything as much as I liked it. The album is Out of the Woods by Tracey Thorn (you'll know her from her days as singer for Everything But the Girl, who had a few extraordinary albums--Walking Wounded and Amplified Heart among them--of their own).

I stumbled upon Tracey's MySpace page back before the album was released, and based on the strength of the first single, a bouncy, very early 80's sounding track called "It's All True"--think an updated version of Shannon's 1982 watershed single "Let the Music Play"--I was hooked and couldn't wait for the rest of the album. A second track appeared before the album was released--which is actually Tracey's current single, the glorious "Grand Canyon," which is my favorite song of the year so far and will likely be loved by everyone who loved the great soaring vocals over driving electronic beats that made EBTG's last two efforts so astounding.

And there's this fantastic, Scritti-Politti sounding, driving dance song called "Raise the Roof," which is also retro and completely of its time. The other uptempo number, a ditty called "Get Around to It," was actually a cover by Arthur Russell, an underground hero of the New York dance/electronic scene back in the 80s, and a guy I never heard of until Tracey remade his song (I've since learned to love him).

I really think you should stop what you're doing right now and either listen to "Grand Canyon"--ignoring the fact that the 'video' for this is somebody's 2 motorcycles parked in a garage--or go buy Out of the Woods immediately. People, it's that good. Ask my friend Rob, who I essentially forced to purchase it (via Amazon, I think, and at a damned good price) whilst I was visiting him Friday evening.

I haven't even talked about the ballads--and I admit, this is a slower album overall than the tracks above would indicate. Again, Thorn's vocals--plaintive, pure, and sad--give this album a beautiful aural texture that comes through most predominantly in songs like "Hands Up to the Ceiling," an ode to the way life was as a teen and how we can miss some of that energy as we mature; along with "Easy," and "Falling off a Log" and the gorgeous "By Picadilly Station I Sat Down and Wept."

I've mentioned nearly every song on here...because there isn't a stinker in the bunch. "Nowhere Near" was the song that took me the longest to really get into. Tracey says it reminds her producer Ewan Pearson of "the Carpenters on acid," and that is truly the best way to describe it. You really have to hear it to understand, but you will.

Out of the Woods is Tracey's second solo album, as a matter of fact. The first was called A Distant Shore--and was released in 1982. Although EBTG may not ever record something as a duo again (Ben Watt is busy with his DJ/producer career), I pray for another Tracey album...I simply can't wait a quarter century for something else this good.

Awww, shucks, folks

Gee, thanks, everyone! I've gotten so many positive, welcome-back comments about the blog and it does feel good to come back.

I also appreciate all the emails and notes about the new Joni. I understand I'm responsible for at least a few of you checking it out; hope you enjoy it.

SO much to get caught up on..let's forge ahead.