record reviews

January 9, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

DURAN DURAN

Album: “All You Need Is Now”

Grade: B

Considering how many bands owe at least part of their career to Duran Duran and their well-crafted combination of new wave, funk and rock, why shouldn’t the Durans revisit their own work as well?

On “All You Need Is Now” (Skin Traders), the band teams up with producer Mark Ronson, a self-proclaimed Durannie who calls the new album the stylistic follow-up to the band’s smash “Rio.” Though it doesn’t quite live up to that kind of hype, it’s certainly far better than “Red Carpet Massacre,” the band’s misguided collaboration with Timbaland.

There is a “Hungry Like the Wolf”-era feel to the fantastic “Girl Panic,” the catchiest Duran song since “Come Undone” nearly two decades ago. On top of Simon LeBon’s still-stylish delivery and John Taylor’s distinctive bass groove, they drop Nick Rhodes’ synthesizer bursts and a Roger Taylor drum breakdown that sounds like an homage to “Rio.”

The smooth disco groove of “Safe,” with Scissor Sister Ana Matronic, feels like a cousin to the band’s ’80s classics, while the ballad “Leave a Light On” could be a new-millennium “Save a Prayer.”

The Durans are at their best, though, when they continue to push the envelope, as they do on the delightfully weird synth epic “The Man Who Stole a Leopard.” It’s a sign that, while Duran Duran is looking back, its best could still be ahead.

— Glenn Gamboa, Long Island Newsday

Various Artists

Album: “Country Strong: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” (RCA Nashville)

Grade: C+

As often happens with Hollywood films, the soundtrack to “Country Strong,” starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw, leans harder on traditional country music than the Nashville music industry does. Modern country music blurs genre lines with its rocking pop-country hybrid; “Country Strong” highlights an older-fashioned sound firmly belonging to country traditions with performances by Hank Williams Jr., Lee Ann Womack, a duet with Chris Young and Patty Loveless, and others.

Paltrow will get the most attention for her three new songs and a duet with McGraw. Playing an aging country star, she sings convincingly, although not distinctive enough to suggest she has an alternate career as a country diva.

Leighton Meester, co-star of TV’s “Gossip Girl,” plays a beauty queen seeking a career in country music, while Garrett Hedlund of “TRON: Legacy” plays an attractive, young singer-songwriter. Both present a song each: Meester’s breathy voice is reminiscent of several contemporary female country stars; Hedlund’s rough-cut acoustic song presents a stand-out moment.

Too many songs, such as Sara Evans’ “A Little Bit Stronger,” sound like throwaways left off previous albums. But Faith Hill’s slow boil on “Give in to Me” shows the pretenders what makes a great country music performance.

— Michael McCall, Associated Press

Gorillaz

Album: “The Fall” (EMI Records)

Grade: C+

Just because the Gorillaz recorded their latest album with the help of the iPad doesn’t mean you can. You ask why? It’s because frontman Damon Albarn is a musical genius and, well, you probably are not.

“The Fall” was recorded while the virtual band toured North America last fall. They used 20 iPad applications to create the 15-track set, which is the group’s most simplistic album yet. And that isn’t a bad thing.

While most of the songs are titled after places the group visited on tour, other tracks are highlighted by objects that inspire Albarn: There’s the gloomy “Little Pink Plastic Bags” and “Revolving Doors,” a tune that sounds like Albarn is searching for something — or searching for himself.

“The Fall,” Gorillaz’s fourth album, was recorded in just 32 days. It was released for free on Christmas Day to fan-club members and was available as a stream for the rest of the world; a physical disc is planned this year.

While the new record has a nice sound, it’s not as top-notch as the band’s past CDs, including the genre-bending “Plastic Beach,” one of 2010’s best albums.

The other downfall is the lack of collaborations on the record, which the cartoon band is widely — and respectfully — known for. You won’t find songs with great assists from De La Soul, Snoop Dogg or Little Dragon. However, veteran singer-songwriter Bobby Womack is still around, and on “Bobby in Phoenix,” he is both magically talented on the guitar and on the mic.

— Mesfin Fekadu, Associated Press

DIDDY-DIRTY MONEY

Album: “Last Train to Paris” (Bad Boy/Interscope)

Grade: B

Sean Combs is seldom on anyone’s favorite rapper list. That’s not his strong suit. What he’s best at is big, expensive motion pictures of music — story line and soundtrack. This time, a chance encounter turned into a lady-hunt and a meld of Ibiza techno, Berlin blip, U.K. grime, and good ol’ U.S.A. thump. That mix makes “Last Train to Paris” run — that and songwriter/ singers Dawn Richard and Kalenna. These two play prominent parts in the rushing electro “Hello Good Morning” and sing background on other cuts. With Diddy, they make a sort of hip-hop Human League. Diddy whispers his usual eight-bar soliloquies and tries his hand at crooning (the ice-blue “Twisted”). Much of “Train’s” vibe, however, rests on the exquisite swirl of sound and guest performances in the electro-groove. The blinking “Yeah Yeah You Would” features Grace Jones at her chilliest, and the aptly titled “Strobe Lights” stars a grouchy Lil Wayne. A stunningly sweet “Angels” hosts old pal The Notorious B.I.G., raised from the dead to pair with his present-day doppelganger, Rick Ross. Surprisingly for a Diddy LP, this “Train’s” on track.

—A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer

BUDDY GUY

Album: “Living Proof” (Silvertone)

Grade: A

He’s still got a few tricks up his sleeve, Buddy Guy boasts on “74 Years Young,” the lead track on his new album. The blues titan then goes on, not to showboat — as he has been known to do — but to show he can still deliver the goods.

“Living Proof” is a set of hard-hitting, no-frills blues built on a collection of songs that, save for the occasional tired metaphor (“Key Don’t Fit”), are more than sturdy. Guy, producer Tom Hambridge, and Gary Nicholson had a hand in writing most of them, from the autobiographical “Thank Me Someday” to the attitude-heavy kiss-off “Let the Door Knob Hit Ya.”

Guy, of course, fires off some blazing guitar solos, but two of the most affecting songs are soulful, gospel-tinged ballads that find him contemplating mortality — “Everybody’s Got to Go” and “Stay Around a Little Longer.” The latter is a duet with B.B. King in which both declare, “I feel like I’ve got a lot more to give.” This album is living proof, if you will, that Buddy Guy certainly does.

— Nick Cristiano, Philadelphia Inquirer

JIM BYRNES

Album: “Everywhere West” (Black Hen)

Grade: A

In the liner notes to his latest album, Jim Byrnes writes about how he soaked up the blues while growing up in St. Louis — seeing the likes of Jimmy Reed and Howling Wolf, later playing with Furry Lewis and Henry Townshend. The music obviously inhabited him deeply — and vice versa. While Byrnes went on to become an actor of note, perhaps best known for his role as “Lifeguard” on the great ’80s TV series “Wiseguy,” the raspy-voiced singer and guitarist also became a superb roots musician.

Working again with producer and multi-instrumentalist Steve Dawson, Byrnes once more crafts an absorbing and highly entertaining personal vision out of topflight original songs and covers that meld blues, country, gospel and jazz. Sometimes, he and Dawson come up with inspired rearrangements — Robert Johnson’s “From Four Till Late,” for instance, gets a jaunty, Dixieland-ish makeover with banjo, slide guitar and horns — and sometimes they stick close to the originals, as on Reed’s “Take Out Some Insurance on Me.” Overall, the results are comfortably familiar yet thrillingly fresh. Quite a trick.

—Nick Cristiano, Philadelphia Inquirer