RECORD REVIEWS

RECORD REVIEWS

The Raconteurs

Album: “Help Us Stranger”

Grade: A

Often a band is defined by its strongest member. A lead vocalist pushes to the front while the rest of the group fades behind.

For The Raconteurs, this is not the case. Jack White may be the most popular band member (and the most distinctive vocally), but each is essential on “Help Us Stranger,” the foursome’s first album since 2008. While White is known for his many projects – The White Stripes, The Dead Weather and his solo career – The Raconteurs is White at his strongest, with songwriting help from Brendan Benson, who only propels White’s inventive, genre-bending style. They are backed by bassist Jack Lawrence and drummer Patrick Keeler, two musicians who can’t be underestimated.

“Don’t Bother Me” is just the kind of song you’d hope to hear from a band known for pushing boundaries. Its frantic musical composition matches the chaos that the lyrics sketch out: “Your hidden agenda/You ruthless rule bender/Your surface duplicity/It’s all nothing new to me.”

“Shine the Light on Me” is similarly experimental. The track starts with whirling, distorted notes before harmonies pour in an almost Queen-like manner. Benson’s voice smoothly intertwines with White’s before fat piano chords clamor over the track as he sings, “When you’re searching in the dark/It doesn’t matter if you’re blind does it?/Can’t you see?”

Overall, the 12-track set never disappoints. Each song is unique and vital. From the angst of “Don’t Bother Me” to the weighty “Thoughts and Prayers,” with its searing violin and Nashville soul and blues influence, “Help Us Stranger” is a rock ‘n’ roll album that is not afraid to venture to new places.

–Ragan Clark, Associated Press

Willie Nelson

Album: “Ride Me Back Home”

Grade: B

Willie Nelson’s latest studio offering, “Ride Me Back Home,” is a relaxed, joyous collection that finds Nelson reflecting, explicitly, on age and its toll – complaining, in fact, about the way time has left his face so lined – but free of any self-pity.

It’s more of a celebration than some of his recent albums, and more of a showcase for his deceptively simple guitar work, which still carries an emotional wallop with its easy tone and subtlety.

Nelson vividly evokes the landscapes of the West, particularly in the title track, a paean to the days before horses were fenced in, but also takes listeners to Ellis Island in New York Harbor in a stunning and relevant cover of Guy Clark and Roger Murrah’s “Immigrant Eyes.”

There are also three new tunes Nelson wrote with producer Buddy Cannon. The most meaningful is “Come On Time,” which describes a personal competition with time that the singer knows he can’t possibly win. “You sure have put me in my place,” he concedes. More defiant is “One More Song to Write,” which sounds very much like the work of a man who wants to embrace more of life.

It is odd that Nelson, at 86, sounds as if his singing and guitar playing is almost effortless. It stems in part from his natural phrasing, and the familiarity of his voice, a staple in so many lives for decades, but it also has something to do with the sense of comfort he conveys. He’s long past looking for drama, for conflict and its resolution. It’s more as if he’s visiting with his fans, putting his feet up, and letting it fly.

–Gregory Katz, Associated Press

Hollywood Vampires

Album: “Rise”

Grade: B

When Alice Cooper, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry and movie star Johnny Depp formed a band in 2015 to pay homage to dead drinking buddies, it might have seemed like a pleasant diversion, a one-off lark for otherwise busy artists.

But that first album, with its covers of classic rock songs mainly by artists who died from drug or alcohol use, was so good that it merited a second effort once everyone could find the time.

That time is now, only this time the Vamps dish up mostly new material. “Rise” starts with the insistent “I Want My Now,” as good a song as Cooper has recorded in years, and “Mr. Spider” is a creepy heir to “The Black Widow.” The best is “We Gotta Rise,” Cooper’s humorous successor to “Elected.”

–Wayne Parry, Associated Press