XL CD reviews

Pat Green, Grupo Fantasma, Ray LaMontagne, Christina Aguilera

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Pat Green

'Cannonball'

(BNA)

On his current hit single, "Feels Just Like It Should," Pat Green sings about reaching that place in life where comfort and righteousness hold the strings of a leaping heart, where hearing "Born To Run" on the car radio elates as it strengthens the sense of finally feeling at home. On this, his 10th album and fourth on a major label, Green is more singer than songwriter, more rising star than expressive artist who happens to be popular. An album is a snapshot of where an artist is musically at the time it was recorded, and Green has never sounded more in focus. There's renewed confidence in his voice; even as he's veered from introspective, guitar-pull-tested material (no Walt Wilkins co-writes here) to go for a snare-popping gloss, Green has never sounded more committed to his lyrics, clichéd though they may be.

Produced by Don Gehman, who helped smooth Green's transition from frat rat to CMT fave with 2003's "Wave On Wave" and also helmed 2004's somewhat disappointing "Lucky Ones," the new album finds singer and producer gelling like a quarterback/receiver tandem in their third season together. Basically, Green has given up the ghost — of Jerry Jeff Walker. On "Cannonball," he sounds more inspired by Darius Rucker or former touring mate Kenny Chesney. When Green moved from Austin to Fort Worth to raise his growing family nearer to relatives, he traded romantic Texas road-trip tunes for finely crafted radio fodder and pleasing heartland rockers such as "Virginia Belle" and the title track. Maturation isn't always the best career move, especially when most of your audience is still in school, but in Green's case, it's an upgrade.

At 14 tracks, the CD's too long. Green, Gehman and their A-team of Nashville studio players should've called it an album after "I'm Tryin' To Find It," the strongest track, in the 11th slot. Still, this is Green's best recording to date because he's realized that wearing his heart on his sleeves doesn't fit him as well as cufflinks.

— Michael Corcoran

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Grupo Fantasma

'Comes Alive'

(Aire Sol)

The easy knock on Grupo Fantasma, that rockin' cumbia jazz band from Laredo and beyond, has been that it's a great live band whose sound doesn't translate as fiercely on record. But that assessment didn't hold with "Movimiento Popular," the group's second studio album, which displayed impressive songwriting and musicianship in 2004. Playing that record was just as good as going to hear the band, plus you didn't have to deal with all those annoying salsa dancers.

But then here comes the 11-headed monster called "Comes Alive" to burn a brilliant ring of fire into the dark night. Wow! Steady touring on the festival circuit has made the band sharp enough to pierce complacency and step out of the Latin rock box. This stomping, grinding, soaring CD, recorded live at Antone's for almost free thanks to AMD's donated mobile recording unit, is an encoded party platter. Imagine Santana if Carlos never left Mexico and fell in with mariachi bebop horns. New lead singer Jose Galeano, whose uncle is timbale master Chepito Areas from early Santana, leads the band with uncluttered vocals because, let's face it, Grupo needs a singer just so it's not considered an instrumental band. The real magic is in the jam.

(Grupo Fantasma celebrates the release of 'Comes Alive' with shows at the Parish on Friday and Saturday.)

--M.C.

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Ray LaMontagne

'Till the Sun Turns Black'

(RCA)

With a scratchy near-whisper, Ray LaMontagne manages to sound romantic asking a question that would make the average woman's eyes roll: "Can I stay here with you, 'til the morning? I am so far from home and I feel a little stoned."

Sure, Ray, you asked so nicely. Eyelashes batting.

These opening lines of "Can I Stay" from LaMontagne's new "Till the Sun Turns Black" lead the album's standout song, which hardly stands alone.

LaMontagne, who will play the Austin City Limits Festival on Sept. 15, delivers 11 songs full of stress-soothing harmonies and heartfelt, bluesy wails. His voice sounds effortless and his strumming even more casual, making this album feel honest, as though LaMontagne is barely trying.

Some critics compare him to Nick Drake, and with a slight twist of one arm, we almost agree. If comparisons must be made, there's a lot more that resembles Lou Reed, Damien Rice, Ben Harper and maybe even Ray Charles, whom LaMontagne credits as a major influence (and a namesake?).

"Till the Sun" features varied tracks that coalesce seamlessly: the violin-laced "Can I Stay" and Phish-like "Barfly" bookend the soulful, neck-swiveling "Three More Days." The ballad-stacked late-summer release has such a cozy acoustic sound that it blatantly hints at autumn, meaning the falling leaves and whipping breezes can't be far behind.

— Sarah Frank

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Christina Aguilera

'Back to Basics'

(RCA)

The title means a couple of things. One, she no longer dresses like a porn star. Two, she's reminding everyone that it was a still-pretty-impressive voice that got her here in the first place. Three, that this ridiculously long double CD is filled with highfalutin songwriting of the old school mixed with high-gloss hip-hop production. The latter comes courtesy of DJ Premier, one of the most important hip-hop producers of all time, the former from Linda Perry, gal-pop's go-to gal for cred building.

Why Aguilera felt the need to release a double CD where a single would have been really compelling . . . well, that's just reminding everyone of her status as the reigning post-teen pop queen of the more-is-more generation. "Restraint" isn't in her lexicon, whether it means scaring parents silly on 2002's dirty-dirty "Stripped" or giving us this physically trying collection.

The single "Ain't No Other Man" explodes, all quick-fire drum breaks, body-blow bass, digital horns and that bunker-busting nuke of a voice. And "Slow Down Baby" is also a keeper, a perfect dance-floor come-on. But much of this sprawl is given over to pop redundancy and well-meaning genre exercises and just too much. Docked a full star for not knowing when to quit — God bless your pipes, girl, but who has this kind of time?

— Joe Gross