The CD: “Stadium Arcadium”
PERFORMER: Red Hot Chili Peppers
WEBSITE: Click here

“Stadium Arcadium” is a curious beast of an album. Clocking in at over two hours, you’d think that this new release from the Red Hot Chili Peppers would be an example of bloated excess. And you’d be right, sort of. It’s definitely a humongous chunk of music–too much to take in at one listen. However, except for a couple of obvious filler tunes, it’d be hard to trim this work down. There’s certainly more than a single CD worth of good music here.

Having said that, this is still a disappointing album. While there’s more than a CD’s worth of good music, there isn’t that much “great” music spread across the two CDs. For this album, the Peppers reunited with producer Rick Rubin, with whom they recorded their breakthrough album “Blood Sugar Sex Magic,” and in many ways this album seems more like an attempt to revisit past glories than a fresh artistic statement. Fans of the Chili Peppers won’t be surprised. There’s nothing really new here. You still get Anthony Kiedis’ quintessential rock star vocals, virtuoso bass and guitar work by Flea and John Frusciante, and a lyrical focus on Southern California as the center of the universe. The band is still a melting pot that can manage to borrow heavily from Lynyrd Skynyrd, hardcore punk, and classic soul, and somehow wind up sounding like themselves.

Unfortunately, that homogeneity works against them. It’s not quite “Tedium Arcadium”, but at several points while listening to this CD, I was struck by how great the band sounds, but how uninspired the material seems to be. It reminded me of the Rolling Stones in the early 1980s, when they were the most polished musically that they had ever been, but couldn’t even come close to writing songs as memorable as they had fifteen years earlier. The Chili Peppers play better than they ever have, but can’t write song like they used to. “Stadium Arcadium” features the same mix of pop ballads and alterna-funk that they’ve been cranking out for the last two decades. The high quality of the musicianship makes the blandness of the songs more glaring.

There are exceptions. “Snow (Hey Oh)” is a catchy little half-rap with a memorable guitar riff and a great chorus. “Stadium Arcadium,” the title track, is one cheesy synthesizer away from sounding like ASIA, but at least it doesn’t sound too much like their previous work. “21st Century” harkens back to their pre-success days, with a percolating new wave synth and a killer bass line.

This may sound sacrilegious, but maybe the guys should consider bringing in an outside lyricist. Musically, this is a killer album for the most part. Lyrically, it falls flat. “She’s Only 18″ is a sad lament about how tough it is when your date is more than twenty years younger than you. Boo-freakin’-hoo! What are they going to do next, write a blues song about how their limo is the wrong color? These guys seem to be at the height of their powers as musicians. It’s a shame that they also seem to be about a decade past their peak as songwriters.

— By Rudy Panucci

THE CD:
THE PERFORMER: Andrew Russo doing the music of John Corigliano
WEBSITE: Click here
GET RECORD: Click here

Andrew Russo, who made a memorable debut with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra in February, has a new recording of the piano music of John Corigliano, who has gotten some play in Charleston.

In the 1990’s, flutist James Galway played his “Pied Piper Fantasy” and classical guitarist Sharon Isbin played his “Troubadors” with the orchestra. Those pieces are populist landmarks, kaleidoscopic and engaging. Russo’s album of Corigliano’s piano music features some more serious fare, though there is nothing remotely dry or off-putting in it, even if one piece seems scary (more on that in a bit).

The crowd pleaser here is the Sonata for Violin and Piano, the early work that launched Corigliano’s career in the 1960s. Violinist Corey Cerovsek, who also appeared with the WVSO this season, joins Russo. Together, they bring an old-style magnetism to the music. Their timbres are abundant and multi-hued; textures are clean and vibrant. The music of the three fast movements — think jubilant, rhythmic energy — is vivacious while the lyricism in the slow one is downright attractive.

Russo offers penetrating accounts of the “Etude Fantasy,” five pieces reminiscent of the serious work of Copland with a Rachmaninov chaser, and the “Fantasia on an Ostinato.” The Fantasia uses a fragment of the slow movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony to spin a minimalist web. Russo’s performance is haunting, intense and luminous.

For the apparently scary, the pianist Steven Heyman joins Russo on “Chiaroscuro,” a piece for two pianos tuned a quarter step apart. Tuning two pianos in quartertones breaks the half step intervals to yield 24 steps in an octave — spread over the two instruments. The notion is over 100 years old, so don’t get dragged down by a notion of “new music is scary.”

In Corigliano’s piece, the effect yields a jangling world of sound, but you don’t really notice the odd tunings in the short opening piece, which is a kind of fanfare that sets up the odd sounds. The middle movement reveals a melody that descends through the 24-note scale, to surprising effect, although with a slight giggle quotient. The finale is a brilliant Bartokian fantasia on the “Old One-Hundredth Psalm Tune.” In the capable hands of Russo and Heyman, it sounds clangorous and exhilarating and ultimately, if clandestinely, beautiful.

— By David Williams

THE CD: “Hit From the Git”
PERFORMER: The Bob Thompson Unit
WEBSITE: www.colortones.com

On “Hit from the Git,” the Bob Thompson Unit’s latest release, the Charleston keyboardist tries to channel jazz legend Herbie Hancock’s funky, soulful sound of the early ’70s. This is a worthy goal: “Head Hunters”-era Hancock represents a pinnacle of groove-based jazz, full of exhilarating melodies and compelling beats.

“Hit from the Git” stumbles a bit out of the gate, with the five-piece band settling into an uptempo groove on the title track that gets buried under an overly ornate melody. Guitarist Ryan Kennedy’s solo is technically impressive but lacks coherence: the licks sound like they were cut and pasted out of a practice book, rather than flowing spontaneously into one another.

“Blues for America,” an almost-eight-minute epic (one of five tunes written by leader Thompson), finds bassist Chris Allen and drummer Tim Courts locked in a plodding groove. While Thompson and alto saxophonist Doug Payne deliver credible solos, the song fails to rise above the lackluster rhythm section. Somebody wake these guys up!

On “Still Waters,” the band hits its stride, digging into Thompson’s meditative ballad and producing soulful solos that command (and reward) the listener’s attention. Kennedy displays a delicate, bluesy touch on the slower song, and his playing is much more tasteful than his shredding on the faster numbers. Payne is also in top form, bending notes into a beautiful line in his elegant solo.

The band also delivers a satisfying version of “Afro Blue,” a Mongo Santamaria song made famous by John Coltrane. Kennedy’s staccato guitar pattern compliments Courts’ polyrhythmic beats, giving Thompson and Payne a fertile backdrop for their lilting, restless solos.

The quintet fares less well on “Donna Lee,” Charlie Parker’s bebop standard written over the chord changes to “Back Home in Indiana.” By slowing the tempo down to a crawl and having piano, guitar and bass play the head in unison, Thompson makes Parker’s soaring line sound like a teaching device. (Note to bassist Allen: A little bit of chromaticism makes a solo interesting. Too much turns it into a practice exercise.)

While the band is clearly talented, what’s missing from most of “Hit from the Git” is the sense of group interplay that makes jazz so exciting. Each musician seems to be performing in a bubble, not playing off of each other. The result is flat and airless: the music never really opens up and breathes.

– By Andrew Clevenger

THE CD: “Broken Boy Soldiers” (Third Man/V2)
PERFORMER: The Raconteurs (a.k.a. the Saboteurs)
WEBSITE: Click here.
SUGGESTED TRACKS: “Blue Veins,” “Broken Boy Solder,” “Steady, As She Goes,” “Level”
YOU’LL LIKE IT IF:: any album by indie-rock heroes has you marking your calendar.

The Raconteurs boast a lineup worthy of buying expensive panties just to throw them: Jack White of the White Stripes (insert pubescent shriek); Detroit pop-smith Brendan Benson, and the neo-blues Greenhornes. Yet somehow the recently-released fruit of this fertile orchard, “Broken Boy Soldiers,” yields several sweet moments, but falls criminally short of the juicy experience it could have been.

A cold war divides the supergroup’s catalog — songs swing either White or Benson (the Greenhornes, sans frontman Craig Fox, play neutral but solid backup). Not in a tense, horn-locking way. “Soldiers” feels compromised as if neither side wanted to overshadow the other, which could have easily happened.

White and Benson both come from Detroit, but musically they hail from opposite ends of the sonic universe. Benson reportedly hates being described as “power pop,” but how else does one peg a man citing the Cars and Electric Light Orchestra as among his influences? Enough said.

White, on the other hand, comes to us via the screeching, gritty, beating-the-crap-out-of-other-bands highway from Hell, a road paved by numerous hooligans of rock. Granted, he more than waxed pop on the Stripes’ 2005 album, “Get Behind Me Satan,” and played nice on Loretta Lynn’s brilliant 2004 album, “Van Lear Rose.”

But Jack’s softer side whimpers in the corner on most of his Raconteurs contributions. Songs such as the squealing, psychedelic march of “Broken Boy Solder” and the smoky, wailing depression of “Blue Veins” smack of classic Jack (hear 1999’s “White Stripes“).

Yet most of the time, White’s tunes run up against the enchanting, bubble-gum drone of Benson’s cuts such as “Together” and “Yellow Sun.” Goodbye flow, goodbye congruity. Nice knowing you. A good album, yes. But “Soldiers” differs so much from one song to the next why did Benson and White bother to record together?

Here’s why. White’s hard style occasionally loves-up just right on Benson’s softer sound to spawn little cuties such as “Steady, As She Goes” and “Level,” songs with daddy Jack’s dirty rock and daddy Brendan’s pop good looks. With the charming purity and seductive naughtiness of a corrupted choir girl, these songs reveal the true Raconteurs. Here’s hoping Benson and White get a little more frisky next time.

–by Morgan Kelly

THE CD: “Pearl Jam”
PERFORMER: Pearl Jam (Monkeywrench/J. Records)
WEBSITES: here and here
LISTEN: here
YOU’LL LIKE IT IF YOU LIKE: Hard-charging, insightful rock with no cheese on top.

So you think you’ve heard everything Pearl Jam has to offer on their seven previous studio efforts? Fans, you would be right…they do still rock. On their eponymously titled new one (frontman Edward Vedder said a title would have been “pretentious”…okay), the band that has nothing to prove, and no world left to conquer, reaches down and comes up with an effort that is no doubt better than 2002’s “Riot Act” and probably THE definitive Pearl Jam CD!! [You are only allowed one exclamation point per post. Preferably none– ed.]

The first single, “World Wide Suicide,” has already reached the top slot on Billboard’s Modern Rock charts. You’re still standing there with your arms crossed because you are a cynic?? OK. You watch the news? Well, it may be tough to get into one of your all-time favorite bands when nucya-lur apocalypse is as as certain as a worthless dollar. Vedder feels the same, screaming on “Suicide”: “What does it mean when a war has taken over?” You’re back on board? Good. Now you’re ready to rock to “Life Wasted” and “Comatose,” which sound to me like they could’ve fit on most PJ records.

“Marker In the Sand” is one of the best songs on the CD. It sounds like the band (Vedder, Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Matt Cameron) has found a nice middle ground, musically speaking, between their rockin’ side (verses) and their soft side (chorus). Vedder sings on the soft-strumming choruses: “What went wrong/walking tightrope high/over moral ground/walk the bridges/before you burn them down.” All this in a land which sees “both sides claiming killing in god’s name,” and “god is nowhere to be found.” Vedder breaks down, singing “god what do you say?” over the end of the song. This is classic Pearl Jam: chorus/reverb effects giving the guitars an oceanic quality, Vedder’s vocal range, the tempo changes, the rock. The outro picks up the tempo, ending things on a high note with cool organ riffage.

“Big Wave” is one of my personal faves off the CD, a punk version of Pearl Jam that is on display in their music only slightly. Pearl Jam fans like the band as much for their music (which takes on a jam band quality live, with extended solos) as Vedder’s vocals and words (from the personal to the political). The political side is on display in “Army Reserve,” written from the perspective of a wife who “tells herself and everyone else father is risking his life for our freedoms” and then sees “lightning in my child’s eye.” Wow. The personal is on display in the song “Come Back.” Vedder sings “Since you slipped away/know that I still remain true. . . From wherever you are/come back.”

I support the band not because they’re big time rock stars (which we need) but because they’ve used their stardom to support worthy causes, like taking on Ticketmaster, apathy, bad public policy, and yes, even Satan. I like them because they didn’t kill themselves.

The band is touring worldwide, then coming stateside for a string of gigs with Louisville-Kentucky’s own My Morning Jacket. Who said Ky. was just good for lazy American workers? I kid. I kid.

THE CD: “Living With War”
PERFORMER: Neil Young (Reprise)
WEBSITE: neilyoung.com
LISTEN: Here
A disclaimer: If you’re into that whole North Korean, Bush-is-God, leader worship thing, stop reading now.

So, 36 years ago today (5.4) students protesting the conflict in Vietnam were shot at Kent State University, providing the inspiration behind Neil Young’s song “Ohio.” Young returns with his much anticipated anti-war, anti-Bush CD “Living With War,” which you can listen to in its entirety on his website.

Young still rocks — for scientific proof of my argument, see “Rockin’ In the Free World.” Yeah, I learned to play that song on bass: It’s easy, and it gives me goosebumps. As do many of the 10 tunes on “War.” Recorded in 10 days (no, ’twas not outsourced to India,) “War” is short, bitter, sweet, and oh, did I mention it rocks?

Young is not alone; he’s brought a powerful afro-spiritual female chorus with him, giving the songs more weight. Black god rulez!

“After the Garden” kicks things off and sets the truly patriotic table with rhetoric that’ll have Sean Hannity rolling over in his grave (he’ll die after hearing the first couple of bars.) A cool reverse-sounding riff opens, with Young singing in his patented nasal voice: “Won’t need no shadow man/runnin the government/won’t need no stinkin’ WAR. Won’t need no haircut/won’t need no shoeshine/after the garden is gone.”

The title track follows “Garden” and finds Young praying for peace and taking the unheard of holy vow to “never kill again.” HUH?? Like me, Young admits he’s “not bound by the thought police.” Rock on, you crazy Canadian! “The Restless Consumer” has nice distorted riffage, along with a Dennis Miller-like rant against TV ads, Madison Avenue, lies, poverty, and war.

“Shock and Awe” is more driving protest rock, with a trumpet solo and a big, cymbal-riding, rock show end to the song. No fade-outs. “Families” is written for the people that suffer daily, while corrupt cronies and their subsidiaries get rich. Potable drinking water? Not gonna happen. Not in Dick Cheney’s America.

“Flags of Freedom” is probably the best song on the CD. Lyrics? Pick ‘em up!

“Today’s the day our younger son is goin’ off to war/Fighting the age old battle/we sometimes won before. . . Do you see the flags of freedom? What color are they now? Do you think that you believe in yours/more than they do theirs somehow?”

The song creating the most buzz, “Let’s Impeach the President,” is a song John Conyers could get behind. Young calls for the prez to be impeached for “lyin’” and “spyin’” and, oh yeah: “hijacking our religion to get elected/Divided our country into colors/and still leavin’ black people neglected.” Young delivers this verbal blow to the Bush admin.: “What if Al-Qaeda blew up the levees? Would New Orleans have been safer that way/sheltered by the government’s protection?” Cool samples of Bush contradicting himself, ala The Daily Show appear. Young gives Bush the rope to hang himself free of charge.

“Lookin’ For a Leader” has Young searching for someone to steer our country away from a Thelma and Louise finish. “Maybe it’s a woman, or a black man, after all. Maybe it’s Colin Powell, to right what he’s done wrong.”

The CD closes with the chorus singing “America the Beautiful.” I wished that Young would rock this song out, but he is nowhere to be found. Weird. Fans, I was able to listen to this entire CD on May 2, one week before this “hot joint” “drops.” The thing that I take away from someone so famous putting out on the Internet is that if you have something important to say in your music, or even if it just rocks, people will support you. Copyright laws? What are those?

People of all stripes can like this CD. Except if you’re a Republican. You will not like it. Promise. I’m off to start my Neil Young tribute band. I play bass.

THE CD: Sleep Is The Enemy (Razor & Tie)
PERFORMER: Danko Jones
WEBSITE: dankojones.com, myspace.com/dankojones, sleepistheenemy.com
YOU’LL LIKE IT IF YOU LIKE: Hot and sweaty riff driven rock n’ roll, with a little bit of groove and a little bit of soul.

Danko Jones is a Toronto-based three-piece (singer/guitarist Danko Jones, bassist J.C. and drummer Damon Richardson — since replaced by Dan Cornelius) that has been kicking around since 1996. The band has spent most of that time doing their thing overseas, where they’re much better known than they are here in the United States. (Their current headlining tour has featured sold-out shows in countries like Finland, Sweden, Germany and Austria, to name a few.)

Up until last year, when the band finally got a U.S. record deal, only a small pocket of stateside fans that followed the international rock scene knew about Danko Jones. That started to change when songs like “Lovercall” and “Forget My Name” from “We Sweat Blood” started getting radio airplay. The funny thing is, that CD had been out everywhere else in the world for a couple years already.

So, while we were getting caught up here, Danko fans across the globe were waiting for a new CD. “Sleep Is The Enemy” was released in February (debuting at No. 8 on the Swedish sales charts). Released everywhere except the States, that is. Their label here decided to hold off until May 23, thinking that we’re still getting acquainted with the last disc. Whatever. It’s time to get on the same page with the rest of the globe.

In concert, Danko (the man) is one of the most charismatic and electrifying performers you’ll see on the touring circuit. He hits the stage fired up and then proceeds to get the audience fired up. He feeds off their energy to get even more fired up. The shows become celebrations. That energy and personality translates to the testosterone fueled songs, which are tight and catchy, with a good deal of tongue in cheek wit thrown in. If you’re wondering about influences, AC/DC, Kiss and Thin Lizzy are good reference points.

Listening to the tunes, you get the idea that Mr. Jones is a smooth operator who always makes the right moves with the ladies (”First Date,” “Natural Tan”). But you also find out that he knows what it’s like to be a jilted lover who has had his heart stapled to the wall (”Baby Hates Me,” “Don’t Fall In Love”). He’s addicted to the opposite sex (”She’s Drugs”), and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to attract and win a woman over (”Invisible,” “When Will I See You Again”).

A note about “Invisible,” which might be my favorite song on the CD: guest vocals were provided by John Garcia, the former voice of the dearly departed Kyuss (a band that featured at least a couple guys who would go on to be part of Queens Of The Stone Age). How cool is that? It’s very cool! The song also features one of the most painful lines I’ve heard in awhile. Let’s just say it’s refers to breaking the part of the anatomy that a guy would least want broken. You’ll cringe when you hear it sung.

Occasionally, Danko displays a bit of a mean streak, especially if he feels like he’s been crossed. If you need to get rid of a little built-up aggression, Danko Jones helps you out with “The Finger” (guess which one the song is about) and “Sleep Is The Enemy.”

Knowing that they’ve got a chance to expand the Danko Jones audience, some songs sound like they might have been written with radio airplay in mind. Maybe you’ve already heard “First Date” on the radio. Overall, “Sleep Is The Enemy” is a worthy follow up to “We Sweat Blood.” Not all of the songs on the new CD are as memorable as songs on its predecessor, but it won’t take long for them to become familiar.

If you’re looking for a solid rock record, put down the Nickelback and leave that Godsmack alone. Danko Jones is what you’re seeking. Catch them live if you ever get a chance. (They’re in Cleveland on May 20th.)

– By Ozz