record reviews

CBS Films

Andrew Daly and Griffin Gluck star in the comedy “Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life.”

GREEN DAY

Album: “Revolution Radio”

Grade: A

“Revolution Radio” sees Green Day back on the straight and narrow, a dozen potent tunes encasing the punk attitude with plenty of pop hooks.

The band shakes off a few years in the wilderness, including personal crises and artistic diversions, with a no-frills collection in which they work from a clean slate without losing their collective memory. There’s no overall concept, nothing really innovative, but there’s room for the topical and ample rawness in sounds and feelings.

First single “Bang Bang” is inhabited by the “semi-automatic lonely boy” who seeks to be a “celebrity martyr,” while “Outlaws” is a doomed power-cum-murder ballad with a quiet/loud/quiet dynamic like Radiohead’s “Creep.”

Also making their mark are “Bouncing Off the Wall,” a bit of anarchy in the USA; “Forever Now,” which hides a three-part, seven-minute opus behind a much-used title while closing with a reprise of opening track “Somewhere Now;” and “Still Breathing,” a kind of survival of the least disturbed where a “home that’s for the restless” is about as good as it gets.

Singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong’s most recent New Year’s resolution was “to destroy the phrase ‘pop-punk’ forever.” On “Revolution Radio,” he and the rest of band fail splendidly.

—Pablo Gorondi, Associated Press

Barry Gibb

Album: “In the Now”

Grade: B-

If anyone had said the Bee Gees’ music would stand the test of time, most serious music people would have scoffed.

Rulers of the disco era, the fraternal purveyors of nine No. 1 hits, including “Stayin’ Alive” and “Night Fever,” seemed destined to have their songs trotted out for nostalgic purposes only — on Oldies Night, say, in the lounge of the airport Holiday Inn.

But then Al Green covered “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” so well no one else had to sing it again. And songs like “How Deep Is Your Love” showed staying power with their delicate sense of melody.

But this is 2016, several decades on, and the new release up for consideration is “In the Now.” It comes from the last surviving Bee Gee, Barry Gibb, who soldiers on without his late brothers, Robin and Maurice.

Gibb, who did a nostalgia tour a few years ago, is doing something braver now: offering original music. The songs, co-written with his two sons, are sometimes corny and too wordy.

But Gibb still has a striking sense of melody, and there are poignant lyrics here — most notably on songs that are themselves nostalgia trips, like “End of the Rainbow” and “Home Truth Song.”

—Scott Stroud, Associated Press

Rick Astley

Album: “50”

Grade: A-

No, you’re not being Rick-rolled . He’s back.

Rick Astley, the soulful English pop star with the bouffant hair who sang “Never Gonna Give You Up” in the 1980s, has resurfaced with a new album that’s fun, modern and surprisingly strong. Turns out, the joke is on us.

The dozen songs on “50” — named, in a sort of Adele hat-tip to his current age — is pure blue-eyed soul, from the gospel-flavored opening track “Keep Singing” to the John Mayer-esque “Pieces,” a guitar-driven populist tune. He also gets honky-tonk, electro-funky and folky. Few artists from the ‘80s have returned to deliver a new batch of songs with such diversity and strength.

Astley’s voice is warm and powerful and he has reason: “50” scored his first U.K. No. 1 in 29 years.

Astley wrote and produced “50” all alone — and performs all the instruments — proving he’s kept up with changes in music while we were wasting time sending each other internet links with his “Never Gonna Give You Up” video.

—Mark Kennedy, Associated Press