Record reviews

Linkin Park

Album: “One More Light Live”

Grade: B+

It’s unescapably heartbreaking to listen to Linkin Park’s new album. The reason is right there in the title: Live.

Five months after singer Chester Bennington hanged himself, the band has released “One More Light Live,” an album to cherish even if some fans disliked the pop direction the group had recently taken.

Here, we get to hear again that unmistakable voice, both delicate and ferocious. Here, we get to celebrate a unique talent, even as we say goodbye.

“Who cares if one more light goes out?/In the sky of a million stars,” Bennington sings in the fragile song “One More Light.” He answers: “Well, I do.” It’s hard not to get emotional hearing him reaching out to someone in trouble and knowing his light would go out soon.

Recorded earlier in the summer during the band’s tour through South America and Europe, the album is naturally top-heavy with songs from the latest album, with seven of the 16 tracks pulled from “One More Light.”

So it’s not a greatest hits, but it still has essential Linkin Park tunes such as “Crawling,” “Numb,” “In the End,” “What I’ve Done” and “Burn It Down.”

The editing is ragged, with some songs cutting off abruptly, weird extraneous stuff lingering in the mix and intros sometimes attached to previous songs.

— Mark Kennedy, Associated Press

Van Morrison

Album: “Versatile”

Grade: B-

Van Morrison has proven that he’d rather be singing than anything else.

Stage chatter? Not so much. Interviews? Not his thing.

But he loves making music. And make no mistake, he’ll sing what he wants and put his own imprint on it — and there’s a chance it will be wonderful.

Morrison’s 38th studio album, “Versatile,” comes hard on the heels of “Roll With the Punches,” a tribute to the rhythm and blues influences that helped forge the style that made him one of the world’s greatest songwriters. He may not be in his prime at 72, but he isn’t stopping now.

On “Versatile” Morrison veers toward the swinging vibe that has enthralled him at times, applying his signature vocal fearlessness to his own songs, some new and some not, and assorted well-traveled classics. Those include the Cole Porter composition, “I Get A Kick Out of You” and “Unchained Melody,” perhaps the album’s most heartfelt cover.

— Scott Stroud, Associated Press