Taylor Swift sees Red
Here’s what we know you want to know about Red. Yes, ex-BF Jake Gyllenhaal seems to be the subject of analytical examination on “All Too Well,” about a man who breaks up with her on the telephone. “I Knew You Were Trouble” might be about John Mayer.
Here’s what you need to know: Taylor Swift’s ambitious Red plays more to arena pop/rock than Nashville. She’s growing as a writer who embraces collaboration. It works on “The Last Time,” an orchestrated, wonderful co-written duet with Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody, and with Ed Sheeran on their lovely “Everything Has Changed.” While producer/writer Max Martin (Britney Spears, Robyn) worked magic for Swift’s first No. 1 pop hit, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” they are ill-suited, as Martin is all about production and song, not the singer.
Most of Red is personal, even if the pumped-up production and hot drums compete too much with Swift. While the 22-year-old still wears her 16-year-old heart on her sleeve, there are signs of adulthood on the keening and elegiac “The Last Time” and the title song. A deluxe version with six bonus tunes is a Target exclusive.
Hot tracks: The rockin’ “State of
Grace,” “The Last Time,” “All Too Well,” the ring of fire that is “Treacherous,” “Everything Has Changed.”
— ELLIS WIDNER
Jason Aldean
Night Train
Broken Bow
In a short time, the guitarheavy, redneck-happy singalongs of this Georgia-born good ol’ boy have ruled Nashville (listen to Tim McGraw’s “Truck Yeah” to erase any doubt about Jason Aldean’s influence). Night Train is the kind of record a modern superstar makes — the indulgences are right out in the open.
At 15 songs (by Music Row pros), brevity and subtlety are not watchwords here. The majority are pile-driver anthems with ginormous choruses built to reverberate around arenas. The best of those is “This Nothin’ Town,” which is another spin on the country staple of life-in-asmall-town.
Then Aldean sets out to be as dull as possible with songs that go nowhere very slowly. It recovers somewhat toward the end with the hip-hop flavored “1994” and the dark ballad, “Black Tears.” Night Train shows an artist who wants to do as little as possible to upset the gravy train.
But many fans will likely forget it quickly after a spin or two.
Hot tracks: “This Nothin’ Town,” “1994.”
— WERNER TRIESCHMANN
Tori Amos
Gold Dust
Deutsche Grammophon
One year ago Tori Amos released a song cycle of quasiclassical compositions, Night of the Hunters. It was quietly impressive.
Gold Dust is a tragic misstep.
On the 20th anniversary of her incredible first solo album, Little Earthquakes, Amos has recorded with Metropole Orchestra what Rolling Stone called “a scrapbook of her career,” and that is quite right — a papery pile of memories far removed from their antecedents.
“Precious Things,” “Winter,” and “Silent All These Years” from the first album sound mishandled. “Cloud on My Tongue” and “Yes, Anastasia” from Under the Pink sound bloated. She skips several albums to end up with “Gold Dust” from 2002’s Scarlet’s Walk. She’s also skipped over any meaningful collaboration with the orchestra, which comes off like a wellheeled backup player.
Hot tracks: none.
— BOBBY AMPEZZAN
Metz
Metz
Sub Pop
This is furious power-trio punk with all the prerequisites: huge drums, wailing guitars and scraped-raw vocals buried beneath waves of sonic chaos and ecstatic bliss. Metz, hailing from Canada, set a torrid pace on the 11 tracks here. Sure, the black-and-white back cover art — a pair of legs poking out from a recently destroyed drum kit — is reminiscent of some long-lost Charles Peterson print from Sub Pop’s grunge heyday, but Metz plies a somewhat more angular groove. If you’re looking for variety then you’d best move on. Metz has one speed: Wide open.
Hot tracks: The PIL-like vocals of “Rats”; the scorchedearth pummeling of “The Mule.”
— SEAN CLANCY
Ricky Skaggs
Music to My Ears
Skaggs Family
Since his move away from country music to bluegrass, Ricky Skaggs hasn’t seemed to slow down even to catch his breath. He has his own label and can be counted on to release a new bluegrass record or two every year.
Music to My Ears is one or two notches above Skaggs’ usual stellar output. The melodies here are sweeter (the album kicks off with a great one in “Blue Night”) and the topics are sharper (“Soldier’s Son” is a particularly touching ballad). The musicianship provided by a host of friends and Skaggs (mandolin, fretless banjo, rhythm guitar and numerous others) is top notch. Add to all of that a really funny original song about the indestructible nature of ham (“You Can’t Hurt Ham”) and you have a record that should be sought out by any music lover, bluegrass fan or not.
Hot tracks: “You Can’t Hurt Ham,” “Blue Night,” “Soldier’s Son.”