Full-tilt vocals, uneven songs undermine Underwood
C+ Carrie Underwood
Storyteller
19/Arista
There’s no denying the great voice Carrie Underwood possesses.
It has power and authority, but what it doesn’t have is nuance or subtlety. She pretty much gives all her songs a full-blown, all-out performance. That approach also defines her limitations — at times, one is not sure which emotion is being tapped, so we have to turn to the song’s lyrics.
That leads us to another weakness: uneven material. “The Girl You Think I Am” plays the daddy’s little girl card, while “Renegade Runaway” and cliche-riddled “Mexico” are even worse.
She scores real points with “Relapse,” about falling back into old romantic habits, and “Dirty Laundry,” in which she chides her lover for being dishonest. The touching “What I Never Knew I Always Wanted,” which Underwood co-wrote, is a tribute to her husband, hockey player Mike Fisher, and their son, Isaiah.
Best of all is “Church Bells,” a strong song about domestic violence with powerful lyrics.
“Everyone thought they were Ken and Barbie/But Ken was always getting way too drunk … And all his money could never save Jenny/From the devil living in his eyes.” A little edge in the vocal would have been helpful; a sense of outrage, even better.
Hot tracks: “Church Bells,” “What I Never Knew I Always Wanted,” “Dirty Laundry.”
— ELLIS WIDNER
B- Original Broadway Cast
Woman of the Year
Masterworks Broadway
Limited vocal abilities didn’t keep screen star Lauren Bacall from winning two Tony Awards for musicals. That goes to show what good writing and lots of charisma can do for a performance.
Woman of the Year, which opened in 1981, was based on the 1942 battle of the sexes comedy starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. The story is updated and given a little tweaking with Bacall as a driven TV newswoman and Harry Guardino as a less-driven cartoonist. They fall in love and complications ensue.
Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb wrote the songs specifically for Bacall, working around her very limited range and power, so the songs fit her perfectly and she puts them across with a lot of personality and energy, particularly on numbers like the rapid-fire “When You’re Right, You’re Right,” and the playful “One of the Boys.”
The songs may not be Kander and Ebb’s best efforts, but they’re not bad either. They’re light and witty, with a comic, slightly cynical take on adult romance.
Hot tracks: “When You’re Right, You’re Right,” “One of the Boys,” “It Isn’t Working,” “The Grass Is Always Greener.”
— JENNIFER NIXON
B- Demi Lovato
Confident
Hollywood/Island
Demi Lovato is blunt when it comes to presenting the true self: peeling back a Disney star’s layers to reveal struggles with mental health, displaying a makeup-less face and naked body for a Vanity Fair shoot in the name of unvarnished beauty. In a world of body-shaming and perfection at any cost, Lovato is to be applauded.
The only thing you’d wish for the X Factor judge, with a voice stronger and more nuanced than every Glee cast member combined, is that she’d use that same display of nakedness on her new album. The gospel-lite ballad “Stone Cold” offers Lovato delicious opportunities to crackle and pop passionately in a voice similar in tone and rigor to fellow baritone soul-shouter Maggie Bell.
The hard swing of the title track, the grand gesture and punch of the empowering “For You,” and even the high-pitched breathiness of “Cool for the Summer,” her girl-on-girl romp, hits a sweet spot in Lovato’s pop mythology. That last song lays bare the sole problem with Confident: It clicks and swooshes pretty much like every other glossy-girl album on the market. Blame producers/ co-writers Max Martin and Stargate rather than Lovato. The melodies and vocals are dynamic. The production is just a shame.
Hot tracks: “Stone Cold,” “For You.”
— A.D. AMOROSI
The Philadelphia Inquirer
B+ John Renbourn
The Attic Tapes
Riverboat
English folk singer/guitarist John Renbourn, known for his prodigious guitar skills and perhaps familiar to most as a member of the ’60s Brit jazzy folk group Pentangle, wrote the liner notes for this collection of demos and live recordings before his death in March.
Renbourn rode the wave of the British folk revival of the late ’50s and early ’60s and, like Bert Jansch and Davy Graham, also drew upon American blues and jazz as influences and inspiration. Renbourn’s brilliance shines especially on the delicate, intricate playing on his original “Rosslyn,” one of 20 selections on this engagingly warm set.
These recordings were made before the beginning of Pentangle and were located in the attic of Mac MacLeod, one of Renbourn’s accompanists.
It is a superb reminder of a fine guitarist’s talents.
Hot tracks: “Rosslyn,” Tampa Red’s “It Hurts Me Too,” “Donovan’s Picking Up the Sunshine,” with Beverley Martyn.
— ELLIS WIDNER