Lorde soaks in ‘Solar Power’
Sturgill Simpson morphs again on new concept record
“’Cause all the music you loved at 16, you’ll grow out of,” Lorde sings wistfully on “Stoned at the Nail Salon” from her third album, “Solar Power” (Republic). The claim is slightly disingenuous, however: Lorde was 16 when “Royals” became a megahit in 2012, and that’s not a song to grow out of.
On her first two albums, 2013’s “Pure Heroine” and 2017’s “Melodrama,” Lorde wrote sharply observant songs about teen anxiety and heartbreak and celebrity culture. Now 24, she doesn’t want to be a spokesperson for youthful angst. “You need someone to take your pain for you? Well, that’s not me,” she declares in “The Path.”
“Solar Power” has a sunnier disposition than her earlier releases. She finds escape and solace in warm days at the beach on the title track. She looks at New Age wellness culture with a joyful wink in “Mood Ring” and tells her younger self to “do your best to trust the rays of light” on “Secrets From a Girl (Who’s Seen It All).”
“Solar Power” is light, and a bit lightweight, and it’s easy to enjoy.
— Steve Klinge, Philadelphia Inquirer
knows how to do a concept record.
His latest, “The Ballad of Dood & Juanita,” proves once again he is a prodigious musical chameleon. It couldn’t be more different than his last album of original material, 2019’s fuzz rock, eardrum-blasting anime soundtrack “Sound & Fury.” In between he recorded a couple of bluegrass records covering his own songs.
The new record has more in common with the two most recent records,
Sturgill Simpson
Sturgill Simpson (Thirty Tigers)
both released in the past year, and even employs the same top-notch band. Willie Nelson takes a guest turn on the track “Juanita.”
Pure country, with some bluegrass, gospel and a cappella thrown in for good measure, it almost feels like a radio serial from the 1940s.
While expertly crafted and executed, it’s likely to be remembered more as a quirky, interesting curiosity, rather than a defining statement.
— Scott Bauer,
Associated Press
Wanda Jackson: In his book “Unsung Heroes of Rock ’n’ Roll,” Nick
Tosches called Wanda Jackson, “simply and without question,” the greatest woman rock singer ever. It’s hard to argue otherwise for the singer of such immortals as “Let’s Have a Party,” “Mean Mean Man” and “Fujiyama Mama.”
At 83, Jackson is one of the last of the great ’50s rockers still with us, and she remains an inspiration to younger artists. Jack White produced her 2009 album, “The Party Ain’t Over,” and on “Encore” (Big Machine/Blackheart), she teams with fellow
Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Joan Jett.
Beginning with the slashing rockabilly of
“Big Baby” and on to the lowdown “You Drive Me Wild” and the punkishly defiant “Good Girl Down,” “Encore” shows that Jackson has lost little of the rip-it-up fire and swaggering attitude that marked her early work and basically set the template for rock and roll.
At just eight tracks, this “Encore” is all too brief. Another seems definitely in order.