'THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE FIFTIES'

'THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE FIFTIES'
Barry Manilow (Arista)
Grade: D-
"I've had some pretty amazing experiences in my career, but this one tops them all," Barry Manilow, 59, said in a statement reacting to the news that his covers CD of '50s pop songs by Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Frankie Avalon, the Everly Brothers and Elvis Presley, recorded at the suggestion of his old pal Clive Davis, had debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 -- his first No. 1 album since "Live" in 1977.
Unfortunately, his "Greatest Songs of the Fifties" ranks not at the top but among the bottom of his recorded works, especially when compared to his recent output on the small jazz-oriented Concord label. For instance, the more inspired "Here at the Mayflower" (2001), a concept album that would make for a nifty stage musical, found Manilow in top voice and at the peak of his songwriting talents.
Back on Arista, Manilow and Davis pander for a hit by tapping the lucrative, yet cheesy, standards market. Face it, much of the music of the '50s was corny and Manilow's Wonder Bread readings of overexposed tunes such as "Unchained Melody," "Are You Lonesome Tonight" and "Venus" add nothing to the originals. On "Sincerely/Teach Me Tonight" duet partner Phyllis McGuire slurs on a medley of the two hits she had with the McGuire Sisters 50 years ago.
Technically, Manilow's voice is OK and the musicianship is fine. But frankly, we like him better when HE writes the songs the whole world sings.
-- Howard Cohen, Miami Herald
'LIVE TRUCKER'
Kid Rock (Atlantic Records)
Grade: C
Recorded almost entirely at Detroit shows in 2000 and 2004, "Live Trucker" has moments that capture Kid Rock's arena-sized oomph. Opening track "Son of Detroit," one of the few newer tunes here, rides a growling, high-energy groove that reappears mostly on the older stuff -- well-traveled rap-rock blasts such as "Bawitdaba," "Cowboy" and "Devil Without a Cause," featuring late emcee Joe C.
The 14-track record slows just once, with the midalbum placement of "Picture," cut in '04 with a pre-platinum Gretchen Wilson on rich duet vocals and a capacity Cobo Arena crowd as a full-bodied backing choral group.
The vintage material is performed by the five-piece Twisted Brown Trucker Band with a comfy tightness that comes from years on the road, without the loss of intensity that can come from years of road weariness. Organist Jimmy Bones, the band's stealth musical spine, is wisely kept atop the mix, but it's Kid Rock's voice -- undoubtedly treated to some friendly studio massaging -- that inevitably leads the affair.
-- Brian McCollum, Detroit Free Press
'STRAIGHT TO HELL'
Hank Williams III (Bruc)
Grade: C
As its title suggests, Hank III's two-disc "Straight to Hell" spends most of its time generously partaking of modern-day country's forbidden fruit. On Disc 1, the grandson of country legend Hank Williams and son of Hank Jr. never strays far from his signature hellbilly sound, frequently drawing inspiration from drug and alcohol abuse and raging against the Music Row machine.
(On "Not Everybody Likes Us," he takes special pains to diss Kid Rock, an increasingly frequent Nashville visitor and newfound pal of his pop's.)
Two notable -- and refreshingly sedate -- exceptions to the usual hell-raising are the eerie, bluegrass-flavored "D. Ray White" and the Southern rock-inspired "Low Down."
Disc 2 is largely consumed by a bizarre, 40-plus-minute hidden track, a sometimes mesmerizing collage of sounds that includes trains, galloping horses, Pentecostal preaching and Hank III convincingly covering his grandfather's plaintive "I Could Never Be Ashamed of You."
-- Greg Crawford, Detroit Free Press
'IF ONLY YOU WERE LONELY'
Hawthorne Heights (Victory)
Grade: B
The kids understand something about Hawthorne Heights that older people don't get.
The band out of Dayton, Ohio, is truly a grass-roots phenomenon that is expected to debut at or near the top of the Billboard charts, selling an unprecedented (for a band on an independent label) 200,000 copies of "If Only You Were Lonely" before it ever hit the stores Tuesday.
How to explain it? The band's formula starts with a relentless work ethic. It's on the road constantly; it uses the Internet in a savvy way through performances and Web sites, and its sound is perfectly safe -- noisy, but melodic and familiar.
Good Charlotte and Fall Out Boy already trod the same creative ground as Hawthorne: staccato rhythms -- these guys do not have a clue how to swing -- lyrics that explore relationships at the high school sophomore level and lots of full-throated screaming to prove they really mean it.
It sells even though critics hate it (maybe it sells because critics hate it), grown-ups find it dull, and there's a certain built-in authenticity to a band that makes its bones on the road playing loud guitars.
-- Rod Lockwood, Toledo Blade