RECORD REVIEWS

Ann Wilson

Album: “Immortal”

Grade: B

Ann Wilson is one of rock’s immortal performers, having earned her spot among the greatest vocalists of all-time. On “Immortal,” an album of covers, the Heart singer pays tribute to artists who have died or bands who have had a key member pass on.

The result is an exciting, eye-opening look at largely obscure songs by big-name artists.

It kicks off with Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me,” which benefits from Wilson’s passionate wailing and subtle phrasing. Audioslave’s “I Am the Highway” would feel right at home on most Heart albums, and she plucks “Luna” from the extensive Tom Petty catalog instead of one of his more anthemic recordings.

Unfortunately, Wilson abandoned this tactic in covering the Eagles’ “Life In the Fast Lane.” But the result is so draggy and listless that it literally becomes a parody of itself. (And there are scores of Eagles’ songs she could have picked to honor Glenn Frey, but Don Henley sang this one.)

The true payoff comes on Leonard Cohen’s “A Thousand Kisses Deep.” Rarely has a song benefited from vocals so silky smooth and sensual, and yet they are only part of this woman’s vast vocal repertoire.

A crunchy cover of Cream’s “Politician” should keep the headbangers happy, and David Bowie’s “I’m Afraid of Americans” is just plain fun.

–Wayne Parry, Associated Press

Billy F. Gibbons

Album: “The Big Bad Blues”

Grade: B+

Billy F. Gibbons hasn’t strayed far from the blues but after a 2015 solo debut awash in Afro-Cuban influences, “The Big Bad Blues” is a sort of homecoming in more ways than one – the very ZZ Top-like opening track, “Missin’ Yo’ Kissin,”’ among the record’s best, was penned by his wife, Gilly Stillwater.

Gibbons’ own compositions also make a fine fit with the Chicago blues tradition represented by covers of Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and maracas-wielding Diddley collaborator Jerome Green. The years have added layers of feeling and depth to Gibbons’ gruff vocal register, often resulting in an increasingly symbiotic growl with his guitar.

Waters’ loping “Standing Around Crying” features some smoking harmonica from James Harman that just may cause your own eyes to tear up, while one of the first recordings of the other Waters track, the frantic “Rollin’ and Tumb-lin’,” dates back to 1929 and has been covered by everyone from Cream to Cyndi Lauper.

Green’s “Bring It to Jerome” is missing the call-and-answer background vocals which made Diddley’s original so much fun, but to hear Gibbons sort of harmonizing with himself provides its own dose of excitement. The album bids farewell with Diddley’s “Crackin’ Up” and its Latin feel harkens back to “Perfectamundo,” Gibbons’ previous album.

Among the originals, “Hollywood 151” stands out for its nasty guitars, “Second Line” is a typical Gibbons relationship song inspired by a New Orleans brass band tradition and “Let the Left Hand Know” is incredibly bottom-heavy.

Assisted by the likes of drummer Matt Sorum and co-producer Joe Hardy on bass, Gibbons, who now uses the middle initial in his name, sounds comfortably loose on “The Big Bad Blues,” which more than lives up to its name.

–Pablo Gorondi, Associated Press