record reviews

September 25, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

TONY BENNETT

Album: “Duets II”

Grade: A

Tony Bennett is a singular performer, not just because of his amazing voice or his remarkable longevity, but also because of his graciousness.

You can actually hear his generosity on “Duets II” (Columbia), in the way he always gives his collaborators the space to shine, whether it’s the gorgeous phrasing and harmonies he builds with Norah Jones in “Speak Low” or his playful banter with Lady Gaga, who also gets to show off her impressive voice in “The Lady Is a Tramp.”

Bennett and producer Phil Ramone pull a poignant, memorable performance from Amy Winehouse on the classic “Body and Soul,” her final studio recording before her death in July. It showcases both Winehouse’s range and her unique delivery, as well as the sadness in her life, giving extra care to the phrasing of the foreboding line, “My life, a wreck you’re making.”

On “Blue Velvet,” with his great duet partner k.d. lang, Bennett breathes new, painfully pretty life into the standard, their lush harmonies matched by the well-orchestrated swelling of strings. When Aretha Franklin arrives for “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” you can hear how the two legends push each other to bring their A-games to hold the spotlight, both separately and together, in the thrilling climax.

It’s a marvel among many marvels on Bennett’s “Duets II,” raising the project beyond clever marketing and turning it into an artistic gem.

— Glenn Gamboa, Newsday

Tori Amos

Album: “Night of Hunters” (Deutsche Grammophon)

Grade: A

Tori Amos has established herself as an unmistakable musical presence with a distinctive voice, her powerful piano playing and a penchant for lyrics that can be a bit, well, confounding.

“Night of Hunters” is packed with those piercing Amos vocals, her dominating piano and a fair share of head-scratching lyrics, this time around a classically inspired theme of reinvention.

“Hunters” is Amos’ first release on the Berlin-based classical record label Deutsche Grammophon, and there are clear classical, even operatic influences, from sweeping strings and reedy woodwinds to back Amos’ gripping piano (“Nautical Twilight,” “Your Ghost,” “Seven Sisters.”) It’s a beautifully composed album that highlights Amos’ classical training and her fierce intensity as a musician and songwriter. But long gone are the pointedly poignant — and accessible — lyrics of her earlier work.

Amos has said the album uses to the structure of a classical song cycle to tell the story of one life-changing night in the life of a woman who’s at the end of a relationship. The album allows the listener to “follow her on a journey to explore complex musical and emotional subject matter,” Amos says. It’s heady stuff, and the complicated narrative will likely elude those uninitiated in Amos-speak. For instance, the song “Cactus Practice,” while lovely, includes lines like, “Will you induct me into a drink of the Cactus Practice?”

— Karen Hawkins, Associated Press

SUPERHEAVY

Album: “SuperHeavy”

Grade: B

SuperHeavy — Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart, Damien Marley, A.R. Rahman and Joss Stone — is full of surprises. The single “Miracle Worker” offers a bizarre taste, with Marley toasting, “Don’t be preposterous,” in a call-and-response with Stone. Given the band’s membership, it’s surprising how dominant Marley and Rahman are on the sound of “SuperHeavy” (A&M). This is basically a reggae album, with world beat tinges, and Jagger and Stone offering support. Perhaps the biggest shock, though, is how well it works in “I Can’t Take It No More.”

— Glenn Gamboa, Newsday

kasabian

Album: “Velociraptor!” (Columbia)

Grade: A

“Velociraptor!,” the fourth offering from British rockers Kasabian, is destined to become a modern classic.

Recorded in their hometown of Leicester and mixed in San Francisco, “Velociraptor!” is written and produced by Kasabian’s Sergio Pizzorno. The 11-track album is bursting at the seams with full-on anthemic indie rock that this British four-piece is known for. Influences of Primal Scream, the Chemical Brothers, Led Zeppelin to The Beatles scream out.

Not leaving anything to chance, the band kicks things off with a catchy psychedelic pop song, “Let’s Roll Just Like We Used To,” a love letter to their days living on a Welsh farm (where they recorded 2004’s “Empire”). It’s crying out to be featured in an angst-ridden, coming-of-age movie.

The tribal bass and infectious vocal chant of “Days Are Forgotten” will have the masses singing along, while “Goodbye Kiss” is as un-Kasabian as it gets — no brash guitars, just a sweet flowing love song.

Tom Meighan takes the vocal lead on the melancholic “Le Fee Verte.” “How does it feel, to live your life when nothing is real, so just send me down the river,” he warbles, sounding like McCartney in Wings.

“Acid Turkish Bath [Shelter From The Storm]” is a Led Zeppelin-inspired, Middle Eastern psychedelic effort, while “Man of Simple Pleasures” starts off sounding like the Gorillaz (not surprising, as Gorillaz producer Dan the Automater , who worked on Kasbian’s “West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum,” lends a hand on this album too).

“Velociraptor!” is as rock ‘n’ roll as it gets and should catapult Kasabian to the next level.

— Reetu Rupal, Associated Press

The Jayhawks

Album: “Mockingbird Time” (Rounder)

Grade: B

The past tugs at the Jayhawks on “Mockingbird Time,” perhaps because it’s the first full-band studio release since 1995 to feature both founding members, Gary Louris and Mark Olson.

The reunited quintet reflects and reminisces. “Childhood washed away ... where did it go?” Louris and Olson ask on “Tiny Arrows.” Not that the two songwriters have been apart that long — they recorded an album as an acoustic duo in 2008.

This time they plug in to draw from the Jayhawks’ familiar musical palette. Their love of the 1960s remains strong, with druggy instrumental breaks and frequent aural nods to the Byrds (“She Walks In So Many Ways”) and Buffalo Springfield (“Tiny Arrows,” “Black-Eyed Susan”). Whether the band’s rocking out or turning twangy, soulful melodies linger.

While Louris and Olson mostly sing in harmony, the album is dominated by moments of solitude, with the outdoors the sole companion. The passage of the years is measured via affectionate references to rain, wind, grass, sky, clouds, lightning, sunshine, rivers, hills, desert and songbirds — “Mockingbird Time.”

One conclusion reached is that it’s good to reconnect with old friends. This album allows fans of the Jayhawks to do just that.

— Steven Wine, Associated Press