RECORD REVIEWS

Imagine Dragons

Album: “Origins”

Grade: B+

Less than a year and a half after releasing the double-platinum album “Evolve” and crisscrossing the globe on a 100-date tour, the band is back with a dozen new songs.

“Origins” is supposed to be a sister companion to last year’s monster “Evolve” and it’s an intriguing follow-up, offering more textures and sonic experiments. If “Origins” was the band stalking around as an arena powerhouse, “Origins” is their quirky little sister, making cool stuff in her bedroom.

Don’t let the first single, “Natural,” fool you. That slice of bombastic, fist-pumping bravado seems to indicate more of the same on “Origins,” but they drift into other areas, like the blissed-out summer jam “Cool Out” that could be on a DNCE album, and the gloriously anarchic, disruptive “Digital,” which plays with dub step and chops itself into pieces.

“Bullet in a Gun” is fresh with unpredictable electronic flourishes, and the club-ready “Only” has interesting temp shifts and unexpected layered parts, as if the Dragons are fighting monotony this time. “West Coast” is basically a folky tune that could happily sit in a Lumineers album – how’s that for predictable?

Lyrically, “Origins” dwells on modern-day alienation and the band’s own uncomfortable relationship to its own fame. On “Zero,” lead singer Dan Reynolds reminds everyone he once felt empty and unreal. On the moody “Bullet in a Gun,” he notes sadly: “To make a name you pay the price” and later the words “sellout, sellout, sellout!” are heard.

The new album extends the band’s flirtation with Charles Darwin – taking its name from “On the Origin of Species” and coming right after “Evolve.” In some ways, the names should be reversed: “Origins” shows their sound really evolving.

–Mark Kennedy, Associated Press

The Revivalists

Album: “Take Good Care”

Grade: C-

The New Orleans-based The Revivalists are back and bigger than ever – literally – with their fourth full-length album. They’ve recruited a new member – they’re up to eight now, if you’re counting – and offer a bumper crop of 14 new songs.

The first half of “Take Good Care” is mostly promising stuff, featuring the band’s exciting mix of jazz-funk grooves, blues rock and warm melodies. The second half falls off a cliff. They should have quit when they were ahead.

For anyone not a die-hard RevHead, the jam-band octet made a name for themselves with the sweet and funky tune “Wish I Knew You,” which found major success on the alternative charts in 2016 and last year. Rolling Stone magazine named them one of “10 Bands You Need to Know.”

And for seven or so tracks on “Take Good Care,” the Revivalists prove they might be the real deal, especially with the slow-burning opener “Otherside of Paradise,” the euphoric “All My Friends” and the clever rocker “Change,” all showing variety and expert musicianship. But by the time you get to the end, their sound has gotten flattened-out, generic and boring.

“Future” sounds like a lazy Strokes rip-off and “Some People Say” is a warmed-over Chris Stapleton song. “Celebration” and “When I’m With You” are sagging, needy songs that ape the E Street Band. There’s inconsistency and tediousness all over the 14-track album. How did this happen?

–Mark Kennedy, Associated Press