Taking The Long Way
Artist: Dixie Chicks
Nothing changes folks like babies and war, and since the release of their last album, 2002's Home, the Dixie Chicks have been forever altered by both. If that album showcased the trio as precocious young adults, Taking the Long Way finds them sobered and matured, and in a grown-up state of mind. Produced by the celebrated Rick Rubin (Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers), who saw the Chicks as "a great rock act making a country album, not a country act making a rock album," their new record impresses both as beautiful sonic tapestry (peppered with myriad Beatlesque hallmarks) and forthright yet vulnerable portrait of three women shaken by the personal and political events of the past few years... [ More]
Alanna Nash, Amazon.com
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Highway Companion
Artist: Tom Petty
Four years after he took Elvis Costello's advice and bit the music/radio biz hands that have simultaneously fed and frustrated him for decades on the scabrous The Last DJ, Tom Petty returned to the studio with more personally introspective matters on his mind. Reuniting with producer/Wilbury sideman Jeff Lynne sans Heartbreakers for his third solo release proper, the veteran doesn't so much retool his trademark sound here as allow it the freedom to roam... [ More]
Jerry McCulley, Amazon.com
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Idlewild
Artist: OutKast
Despite its title title, this is not a soundtrack for the Idlewild movie--almost no songs appear in the film. Instead, the tunes seem inspired by Idlewild's narrative themes. Outkast extends the eccentric streak that began on Stankonia and continued through The Love Below/Speakerboxxx. Fans of that last album may enjoy Idlewild's continued eclecticism, especially from Andre 3000, who seems to be moving further away from "rap" every moment toward some bizarre love child of Prince and Melvin Van Peebles... [ More]
Oliver Wang, Amazon.com
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All the Roadrunning
Artist: Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris
Over the last seven years, Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris quietly recorded an album by stealing "a few precious hours of studio time here and there," as the ex-Dire Straits singer/guitarist puts it. Good thing they kept it largely under wraps--expectations would have pushed through the clouds, especially as Knopfler conjured 10 of the 12 cuts, and Harris, who writes potently, but little, contributed two ("Love and Happiness," "Belle Starr"). Yet now that it's here, All the Roadrunning--while beautiful--seems somehow underwhelming, and without a true centerpiece... [ More]
Alanna Nash, Amazon.com
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