record reviews

October 24, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

KINGS OF LEON

Album: “Come Around Sundown” (RCA)

Grade: B-

Before they became the Grammy-winning torchbearers for American Rock, Kings of Leon were wholly unpredictable, wildly uneven and all sorts of fun.

Then came the anthemic, omnipresent one-two punch of “Sex on Fire” and “Use Somebody” and suddenly the Followill brothers — singer-guitarist Caleb, bassist Jared, drummer Nathan — and guitarist cousin Matthew Followill had something to lose.

And their new album, “Come Around Sundown,” sounds like a misguided attempt to simply hang on to as many of those casual chanters of “This sex is on fire!” as possible.

The odd, messy single “Radio active” shows promise with its driving bass line and Caleb’s mishmash of Important Rock Band vocal approaches. It’s the most successful of the U2- influenced atmospheric songs (“The End,” “The Face,” “The Immortals”) the band rolls out like Xeroxed copies, each generation getting slightly duller than the one before it.

Even when they return to their Southern-rock roots for the pretty, gospel-tinged, acoustic ache of “Back Down South,” it sounds too clean-shaven to have come from them. Maybe it’s a production issue from Angelo Petraglia and Jacquire King, who also helmed the band’s breakthrough “Only by the Night,” but the passion seems drained from the delivery and even the laughter sounds canned.

Only on the brilliant “Mary,” with its Spector-ish wall-of-guitars and Stones strut, does the band sound like it was interested in trying something new. Surely the “Sex on Fire” guys have more daring left than that.

— Glenn Gamboa, Long Island Newsday

ELTON JOHN AND LEON RUSSELL

Album: “The Union” (Decca)

Grade: B

Forty years after they first toured together, Elton John throws new light on the talents of one of his heroes: Leon Russell, the hirsute, often top-hatted session player and author of “Tight Rope” and “Delta Lady.”

For “The Union,” John drafted producer T Bone Burnett, who brought some of his usual collaborators (such as guitarist Marc Ribot) to back John and Russell, who duet on vocals and/or piano.

The result: a collection of new Russell and/or John songs, many with lyrics from John’s longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin, that veers from spicy New Orleans honky-tonk to earnest gospel to sentimental pop. While Taupin’s platitudes bog down “Never Too Old,” nothing diminishes the lively interplay between John, 63, and Russell, 68, on “A Dream Come True” and “Hey Ahab.” Unsurprisingly, “The Union” doesn’t equal Russell’s “Carney” or John’s “Tumbleweed Connection,” but it often does a fine job of revisiting their spirit.

— Steve Klinge, Philadelphia Inquirer

THE WALKMEN

Album: “Lisbon” (Fat Possum)

Grade: B

There are moments on the latest Walkmen album (the band’s sixth overall and first for indie Fat Possum) that connect immediately. Take “Victory,” which stirs up everything the Brooklyn quintet does so well: ringing guitars, pounding drums, stark lyrics (“There’s blood, all over my hands”), Hamilton Leithauser’s tortured croon.

But there are moments on “Lisbon” that don’t connect right away, moments that care more about tension than release. Atmosphere has always been a card in the Walkmen’s back pocket, but on the well-paced “Lisbon,” the songs unfold more like a drunken street parade than a rowdy basement party.

In other words, the party’s moved outside. Or most of it has. On “Blue as Your Blood” and “While I Shovel the Snow,” a different kind of crowd is required to appreciate, or even pick up on, the nuance that’s now a very active ingredient in the band’s chemistry.

— Michael Pollock, Philadelphia Inquirer

DWIGHT TWILLEY

Album: “Green Blimp” (Big Oak)

Grade: B

The title song of Dwight Twilley’s new album evokes “Yellow Submarine” with its innocent trippiness (“In the green blimp where I live ...”). Yes, Twilley, who first hit in 1975 with “I’m on Fire,” remains mightily influenced by The Beatles. Mostly, however, the Oklahoman is driven by the side of the Fab Four that gave rise to what has become known as power pop.

Long a master of the form, Twilley shows he still knows how to reinvigorate it. The muscular “Get Up,” “Doctor” and “Witches in the Sky” put the power in the pop.

But Twilley’s brand of melodic classicism also successfully encompasses the ELO-ish, quasi-orchestral grandeur of “Me and Melanie” and the string-kissed balladry of “Let It Rain.”

— Nick Cristiano, Philadelphia Inquirer