
Artist: No Doubt
Album: Return of Saturn
Release Date: April 11, 2000
Genre: Pop/Rock
Format: mp3 / FLAC
Return of Saturn is an almost defiantly mature record about two things: Stefani's exploration of a troubled romance and her own romantic ideals, plus a serious attempt by the group to not only keep new wave alive, but to make that adolescent music relevant to an older audience. It's a high concept, but Return of Saturn is filled with satisfying contradictions. It's melodic, but deceptively complex; it can seem frothy, but it's never frivolous. No Doubt's desire to expand the emotional template of new wave is the perfect match for Stefani's themes -- she may be writing about love, but she's not writing adolescent love songs. Fragments of her teenaged romantic fantasies remain, but she's writing as a woman in her late 20s. She's tired of being another "ex-girlfriend" -- she wants to fall in love, get married, and have a family. It's a subject that's surprisingly uncommon in pop music, which would alone make Return of Saturn an interesting album. What makes it a successful one is that the band delivers an aural equivalent of Stefani's lyrical themes. They also begin with their adolescent musical ideals, adding depth and detail to their pop-ska foundation. They balance their non-ironic love of new wave with contemporary production and a sensibility borrowed from classic rock: that albums are greater than the sum of their parts. Surprisingly, they pull it off -- it's a far stronger record than Tragic Kingdom, even if the catchiest numbers don't have the same swagger and punch as their previous hit singles. So be it. With Return of Saturn, No Doubt have made a terrific, layered record that exceeds any expectations set by Tragic Kingdom. Not only have they found their voice, they know what to do with it.

Artist: North Mississippi Allstars
Album: Hernando
Release Date: January 22, 2008
Genre: Pop/Rock
Format: mp3 / FLAC
The North Mississippi Allstars have stripped things down a bit for Hernando, their fifth studio album and the first for the group's recently launched label Songs of the South, merging their usual Southern folk blues sound with elements of metal and even a touch of swing, all of it done with the lean efficiency of a maturing power trio. Led by Luther Dickinson's soaring slide guitar work and anchored by a thundering rhythm section of brother Cody Dickinson on drums and Chris Chew on bass, NMA on Hernando are no less than an obvious continuation of the late-'60s blues-rock tradition of Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with a little bit of AC/DC strut thrown in, and while the result isn't perhaps their best album, it isn't far off the mark, either. Recorded and produced by the legendary Jim Dickinson (father of Luther and Cody) at his Zebra Ranch Studio in Coldwater, MS, just a stone's throw up Highway 51 from the band's hometown of Hernando (hence the title), the sound is crisp and thundering, but still retains the ragged looseness that is a NMA trademark and is also one of its biggest strengths. This is blues-rock done Mississippi style, and if NMA swaps out a little of its hometown R.L. Burnside/Otha Turner leanings for the Led Zeppelin side of the equation, it isn't a drastic shift, and songs like "Keep the Devil Down" and "Eaglebird" (which features Cody Dickinson on electric washboard of all things and carries a co-writing credit for Kid Rock's bass player Aaron Julison) would fit seamlessly into any of NMA's live sets from the past ten years. Other highlights include the energetic skip-a-long "Mizzip," "Come Go with Me" (with a guest vocal from James Mathus), and a startling version of Champion Jack Dupree's "I'd Love to Be a Hippie" (sung by bassist Chew and featuring piano from East Memphis Slim) that is easily the most striking track on Hernando. Cut after cut veers off in interesting ways, and Luther Dickinson's guitar leads are always dangerously reckless and thrilling, echoing early Hendrix at times. The only thing missing on Hernando is that North Mississippi fife and drum tradition that NMA have so wonderfully updated for the rock era on past albums. It's understandable that the band might want to move on from that approach a little (and truthfully, it stills hovers here intangibly in the background), but they have always done it so well that Hernando seems strangely incomplete and unfinished without it.

Artist: Merzbow
Album: Minazo, Vol. 1
Release Date: June 27, 2006
Genre: Avant-Garde
Format: mp3 / FLAC
The "tender" side of Merzbow? Not exactly, but close. Minazo is not only the name of an album by Masami Akita (Merzbow), it was the name of an elephant seal who passed away in a Japanese Aquarium in 2005. Minazo, who passed away at the age of 11 when the average life expectancy for such an animal is 20, was the only elephant seal in Japan and was brought from Uruguay in 1995. Akita visited the aquarium often simply to visit the seal and received "behind the scenes" access to him. In his booklet essay, he describes the way Minazo was trained to be entertainment for the customers of the aquarium. Akita claims he "feels anger and sadness" each time he hears about animals dying in captivity far away from their natural habitat. What has any of this to do with the noise/music found on this disc? Only Akita knows. Here are the usual confrontational extreme sounds the punters either love or hate Merzbow for: the ultra-high frequencies that rip at the eardrums in headphones; the crushing middle sonics with percussive scrapes, bangs, and whirrs that are beautiful irritants; and the subsonic lows that can move your spine around at high volumes. The piece is divided into four sections and the disc plays for almost an hour. Given that this is only "volume one" of the Minazo series, listeners can expect more. This sounds like sadness that has become rage. One can only imagine what effect such a piece might have had on Minazo, had he heard it. But then, this isn't a noise symphony for the creature, but an indictment against those who Akita claims mistreated him. This is yet more brutal racket that is also compelling in its way by a master of the medium.

Artist: Illinois Jacquet
Album: Flying Home: The Best of Verve Years
Release Date: March 22, 1994
Genre: Jazz
Format: mp3 / FLAC
Illinois Jacquet's reputation as a premier improvising swing-to-bop tenor saxophonist is firmly cemented via these 20 selections, actually the best of the Clef label recordings in the '50s produced by Norman Granz. This is a well-chosen collection, with groups ranging from small ensembles and spirited organ combos (check out the very hip "Port of Rico") to a select few big bands. Many tracks such as "Speedliner," "Heads," "The Kid and the Brute," and "Achtung" were perfect jam vehicles, and are great inclusions here, but Jacquet was not only known in that format. His extraordinary ballad work, rivaled only by Lester Young and Ben Webster, is well represented on a smattering of standards as well as "Pastel," "Bluesitis," and "Where Are You?" On top of that, you get all-time hits "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Cotton Tail," and his signature solo during "Flying Home." The urgent, forward-thinking, or tender sound of Illinois Jacquet is well documented on this fine compilation, which is easily recommended for both Jacquet mavens and newcomers to this mighty musician.

Artist: The Pernice Brothers
Album: Live a Little
Release Date: October 3, 2006
Genre: Pop/Rock
Format: mp3 / FLAC
Joe Pernice and his compatriots have taken one step forward and one step back on the fifth studio album from the Pernice Brothers, Live a Little, and both moves have served them well. Live a Little finds the band teaming up again with Michael Deming, the producer who worked with Joe Pernice during the latter days of the Scud Mountain Boys and was behind the board for Overcome by Happiness, the Pernice Brothers' debut. Live a Little lacks the gloss of Discover a Lovelier You or the harder surfaces of Yours, Mine & Ours (both of which were produced by Thom Monahan), but it also feels considerably fuller and more mature than the quiet, tentative texture of the debut. Live a Little sounds more open and roomy than the past few Pernice Brothers efforts, while at the same time reflecting the lusher pop sound the band has embraced since 1998; a bit of the gingerbread has been stripped away, but the sound is still classic-style pop at its most delicious, buoyed by Deming's subtle string charts. And while there's a bit less of the "sunshine pop for a cloudy day" mood of their previous albums on Live a Little, Joe Pernice remains one of the finest songwriters at work today, and these 11 new songs (plus a remake of "Grudge F***" from the final Scud Mountain Boys album) find him in superb form -- the melodies are intelligent but hooky, with the touches of tart sophistication never getting in the way of their sweetness, and his lyrics walk a glorious tightrope between the classic adolescent obsessions of rock (i.e., girls) and the more troubling concerns of adulthood (i.e., women). And as usual, Joe's collaborators deliver the goods, especially Peyton Pinkerton on guitar and James Wallborne on keyboards, playing these songs with the passion and skill they richly deserve. No one in indie pop has consistently delivered such impressive results in the new millennium as Joe Pernice, and Live a Little makes it clear he isn't done making superb music anytime soon.

Artist: Matthew Sweet
Album: Playlist: The Very Best of Matthew Sweet
Release Date: May 10, 2011
Genre: Pop/Rock
Format: mp3 / FLAC
Sony/Legacy’s 2011 compilation Playlist: The Very Best of Matthew Sweet has a couple of relative rarities -- a demo of “Time Capsule” is included instead of the single, there’s a live “Don’t Cry No Tears” -- and a few staples are MIA (notably “Divine Intervention”), but noticing these absences amounts to nitpicking a very fine hits collection. All of Sweet’s biggest hits -- “I’ve Been Waiting,” “Girlfriend,” “Sick of Myself,” “Where You Get Love,” “Evangeline,” “We’re the Same” -- are here, snappily sequenced and providing some pure power pop thrills. Its predecessor, 2000’s Time Capsule, runs longer and contains some songs that should have been here, but anybody looking for Sweet’s basics will not be disappointed by this fine comp.

Artist: Slim Whitman
Album: 20 Greatest All Time Hymns
Release Date: July 25, 2006
Genre: Country
Format: mp3 / FLAC
Intersound's 20 Greatest All Time Hymns is an adequate collection of Slim Whitman re-creating traditional gospel standards including "Precious Memories," "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," "How Great Thou Art," and "Whispering Hope." While it isn't definitive, it should suit the needs of casual fans on a tight budget.

Artist: Vicente Fernández
Album: Estatua de Marfil
Release Date: July 1, 1997
Genre: Latin
Format: mp3 / FLAC
The last survivor from the Golden Age of Mexican ranchera, Vicente Fernandez has achieved the same stature as legendary singers such as Pedro Infante, Javier Solis, and Jorge Negrete. His thunderous voice is an ideal vehicle for expressing the pride, longing and passion inherent in classic Mexican songs such as "El Rey" and "Volver Volver." Musically, this 1997 recording finds Fernandez in top shape. His buoyant personality shines through from the very first track, a downright erotic version of "Nos Estorbo la Ropa," a famous Teodoro Bello composition telling the story of two lovers whose sensuous occupations manage to "turn winter into springtime." And in the fiery "Dime a Quien Le Rezas," he visits Spanish territory, adding flamenco inflections and dancing acoustic guitars. A tender love ballad, "Estatua de Marfil" finds Fernandez comparing the beauty of a woman to a refined ivory statue.