MUSIC REVIEWS
Rod Stewart, “Blood Red Roses” (Republic Records)
Nostalgia has been a focal feature of Rod Stewart’s songwriting even as far back as 1971’s “Maggie May,” and some of the best tunes on “Blood Red Roses,” his 30th studio album, explore that same vein.
“Farewell” pays tribute to a friend through a poignant melody and reminisces about their shared London youth. “Honey Gold” features sweeping strings, an electric guitar echoing the one on “Tonight’s the Night” and one of his clearest vocals on the record as Stewart honors an unidentified “woman of the world” who’s been around apparently since his time in The Faces.
Most of the tracks were written by Sir Roderick himself and long-time associate Kevin Savigar, but Stewart also gives a touching performance on “Grace,” a song by Frank and Sean O’Meara and a tragic, true-life story about the briefest of marriages during the 1916 Irish insurrection against British rule.
“Didn’t I,” about parents struggling to cope with their daughter’s addiction; the soulish disco of “Give Me Love;” the lively, Motown-inspired “Rest of My Life;” and “Look in Her Eyes,” with sweet backing vocals from Bridget Cady, also hit the spot, but the tender “Julia,” another nostalgic chapter, is marred by distracting white-noise-like guitar and blues classic “Rollin’ & Tumblin’” struggles to turn on square wheels. A foray into EDM and the Stones-like “Vegas Shuffle” grate.
Stewart’s classic rasp is slightly silkier and still effective but “Blood Red Roses,” actually a whaling term, is a bit all over the flower shop.— Pablo Gorondi, The Associated Press
Cher, “Dancing Queen” (Warner Bros.)
OK, everyone, settle down. We have a question. This is important. No, really. Can someone turn the music down? Ready? OK: Put your hand up if you’ve ever asked for an album of ABBA covers by Cher. Seriously, who wanted this? Anyone? Crickets? We thought so. Well, Cher, we guess, wanted it, maybe to buy a new yacht or fulfill some label requirement. Warner Bros. Records clearly did, too, if only to profit on the icon’s appearance in “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.” The whiff of a quick buck is so sour here that it taints the Swedish band’s bubbly compositions. Like one song’s chorus goes: “Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie!”
Cher offers a very deliberate, 10-track collection of classic ABBA songs, including “Waterloo,” ”Mamma Mia” and “SOS.” Inexplicably, she returns to “Fernando” for another swing, having already supplied a version for the film’s soundtrack.
All the versions are fantastically well produced, mixed and arranged, but there’s a strange coldness in these tracks, as if all the fun was drained. Cher takes them all very, very seriously, like they were tunes by Stephen Sondheim instead of frothy disco songs. Her take on “The Winner Takes It All” is especially preposterous and pompous. Only one song, “One of Us,” the final one on the album, reinterprets the original into something somewhat stirring and thoughtful.
The cleverness of the “Mamma Mia!” films is that familiar pop songs from the 1970s get sung by movie stars in a lush romantic comedy. That’s different from belting out the same tunes in a recording studio and not adding anything.
Please, Cher, go ahead and do an acoustic version or even a punk take of the ABBA catalog. But “Dancing Queen”—except for one song—has nothing new to say and simply reeks with the appalling stench of greed.— Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press