ALBUM REVIEWS
MAROON 5 Red Pill Blues Interscope/222 Records
When Adam Levine hits his buzzer and swivels his chair on The Voice, you know he recognizes talent. So is it any surprise that the Maroon 5 frontman has an excellent ear when he records with his band?
Red Pill Blues finds Maroon 5 doing what it does best, writing well-crafted, cleverly produced pop songs that instantly nudge you to the dance floor.
Maroon 5’s strong sixth studio album is co-produced by Levine, who has a hand in writing every song, and J Kash, who helped the band with the previous hits Sugar and Cold. Aided by some inspired guests, the 10-track album sparkles without messing around too much with the band’s slick, hook-driven sound.
There are potential hits all over the album, from the opening radio-ready Best 4 You, to the flirty, dance floor-friendly What Lovers Do, showcasing a super SZA. Lips on You, co-written by Charlie Puth, is a perfect slice of melancholy electronica, while the strummy Girls Like You sounds nicely Ed Sheeran-ish.
BOOTSY COLLINS
World Wide Funk Mascot Records
The word “funk” is said or sung more than 200 times on the new Bootsy Collins album. What were you expecting? Banjo duets, Viking metal or Gregorian chants? Didn’t think so. World Wide Funk is a self-contained party record. Think of something witty to say between tracks and you won’t have to play anything else for over 70 minutes.
Collins can keep the dance floor full with his genial sequencing of freaky rhythms, slinky ballads and slow jams. If the crowd doesn’t feel like shaking its groove thing, there are enough guests on the album to pack the parquet by themselves.
From an introduction by Iggy Pop to contributions from Musiq Soulchild, Doug E. Fresh, Chuck D and Big Daddy Kane, there are more bass players on a single track than you can shake a Chapman Stick at.
LEE ANN WOMACK
The Lonely, The Lonesome & The Gone ATO Records
After a long sojourn, Lee Ann Womack got her mojo back on 2014’s The Way I’m Living, and now she’s returned to her native East Texas to make The Lonely, The Lonesome & The Gone, as good an album as she’s ever done.
Produced again by her husband, Frank Liddell, the set relies more on Womack’s songwriting than before. She co-wrote six of the 14 tunes, including down-onyour-luck opener All the Trouble and the desolate Hollywood, portraying a relationship (barely) going through the motions.
The magnificent He Called Me Baby comes down somewhere between Charlie Rich’s version, a country chart-topper, and Candi Staton’s soulful reading, while her take on popular murder ballad Long Black Veil emphatically transmits its needless tragedy.