CD reviews

Jerry Lee Lewis Last Man Standing Artist First/ 2006 ♥♥♥♥♥	Ain’t nothin’ wrong with ole time rock ’n roll. Lewis is the last surviving “legend” to come from monumental Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee, whose alumni includes Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Elvis. This album reflects and resurfaces that classic rock and roll and country sound that both originated and perpetuated Lewis’ career. This album is packed, with 21 tracks in total. Each song is a duet with one of a slough of megastars. The roster includes the likes of Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Ringo Starr, Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Neil Young . . . all right you get the idea. Most of them come with their own tune (that or a rock/blues classic), and each does their best to keep up with Lewis’ zest. There’s something to be said about a man who can outshine so many major stars through the better part of an album. My only qualm might be that the guests can sometimes seem superfluous to the song, and don’t get enough time to truly shine. This is most notable for guitar heroes Eric Clapton, B.B. King and Buddy Guy, who all get some solo time but not enough to really rip up the blues guitar like I know they can. I love the fact that this is clearly Lewis’ show but sometimes I want to hear more from such legends. Overall, each star finds a nice meld with Lewis to create a great, old-fashioned rock tune. That’s what really matters in the end. The way Lewis interjects his own style onto known tunes reminds me somewhat of Johnny Cash’s own musical revival. Whereas Cash had a sombre and timeless atmosphere in his songs, Lewis simply brings the party. With that it mind, let it be said that these songs are in very capable hands; or as Lewis might say: “the best left hand in the biz.” William O’Donnell, Volunteer Staff
Underoath Define the Great Line Tooth & Nail/ 2006 ♥♥½	Under the co-producing guidance of Adam Dutkiewicz (of Killswitch Engage) comes Underoath. These Christian rockers do their best to assemble creatively chaotic metal (as is the style of the time). With no repeating choruses or even definite verses, the songs of Define the Great Line come at the listener as one lump sum of screaming, pounding, and strange time-signatures. I’m not sure if the idea is that these lads are so pent up with emotional energy that they explode onto their instruments rather than play a set of straightahead tunes or what. Whatever their motivation may be, you have to be in a specific mindset to listen to such a group. If not, it can get tiresome and boring rather fast; and boredom is a cardinal sin with metal music. The only breaks from the madness are slight, mostly piano-driven intermissions, which in themselves are not the most riveting to listen to. To their credit, they seem to be able to handle their instruments well enough. Going in and out of differing timesignatures is no easy task for young players. These boys use this style to create a more chaotic sound; and that’s about the height of what they achieve. For the style they have driven towards, Underoath are not slouches. The metal/punk sub-genre of (often pretentious) screamo is not a favourite of mine, but it is nice to come across something that is somewhat listenable (not too corny at least). I’m sure that many a tortured (teenage) soul out there will find gobs of deep meaning in the wordless picture story inside the liner notes, just as they will with the rant-like lyrics that slip in-between it. For a rating, I’ll go halfway for it being a decent attempt at an exhausted sub-genre; also in hopes that they’ll move elsewhere eventually. William O’Donnell, Volunteer Staff
Joanna Newsom Ys Drag City/ 2006 ♥♥♥♥♥	Produced by the legendary Jim O’Rourke, recorded by the legendary Steve Albini, with string arrangements by the legendariest of all, Van Dyke Parks, singer/songwriter/harpist Joanna Newsom’s latest album, Ys, would be in danger of being buried under all this legend if it weren’t for Newsom herself; she outshines them all. Critical comparisons to Bjork and Kate Bush are warranted, to a degree, as a way of explaining Newsom’s vocal idiosyncrasies to the unconvinced, though Ys is a better album than Bush has ever been able to muster, great though she is. For one thing, Newsom is less prone to flights of whimsy, though Ys features numerous “thee’s” and creatures in trees. The five songs here range in length between seven and 17 minutes, and while not without structure, they tend toward ornate melodic embellishments; it’s often hard to figure out where in particular a song is going, though it’s always to a delightful place. Twelve-minute opener “Emily,” working with excellent string arrangements by Parks, hits a bewildering array of emotional registers and features some of the best (and most tenderly nostalgic) astronomical lyrics of the year: “Pa pointed out to me for the hundredth time tonight / The way the ladle leads to a dirt-red bullet of light / Squint skyward and listen / loving him, we move within his borders / just asterisms / in the stars’ set order.” Though every song here is truly excellent, credit should also go to “Monkey & Bear” simply because its initial fairy-tale naïveté is so brilliantly subverted, giving way as it does to a dark and tragic tale of master-slave love and humiliation. Last week in the Manitoban a minor oversight meant that two undeserving albums were on the receiving end of that great pentacle cluster, the five star review. It pleases me, then, to present a genuinely deserving album. And how! I’m tempted to give it six, but that would be downright silly. Evan Johnson, Staff