Album Review: Phillip Phillips "The World From The Side Of The Moon"

FINALLY, "American Idol" winner Phillip Phillips released his first album, "The World from the Side of the Moon". I absolutely loved this guy on the show... I think his takes on some pretty big songs were really great. If you like Dave Matthews Band, you'll love him. He also sounds a little bit like Mumford & Sons at times... it's a unique blend. I was really worried that coming off the show they would try to "popify" him, but they really let him stay true to his sound and unique style. This is definitely a must buy album (a great stocking stuffer)!

Favorite songs: "Home" and "Get Up Get Down"

Album Review: Madonna "MDNA"

Today Madonna released her 12th studio album, "MDNA". I really like this album. Some of the songs make me think back to the sounds of the "Ray of Light" album. She definitely toys a little bit the the religious themes in several of the songs. But more than that, it's just fun music. I bee-bopped by way to work listening to this this morning and it was super entertaining. Catchy, good fun pop music. It's been a while.

Favorite songs: "Girl Gone Wild" (both the original and the remix), "Gang Bang", and "I'm A Sinner"

We tried to get tickets to see her on this tour but it sold out in something like 5 minutes flat. If she's anything, she's an amazing entertainer!

Album Review: The Civil Wars "Barton Hollow"

Last night while watching the Grammys, I discovered a new band called The Civil Wars. I'm not entirely sure why I haven't already heard of them - I commute pretty far each day and listen to a good deal of music on the radio on country, R&B, pop and rock stations - I figured there wasn't much that I would have missed.

The group consists of two singer-songwriters, Joy Williams and John Paul White. Both of them have really great voices. I tried to do some research on them, but there is surprisingly little information on the internet. From the sounds of it, both have some very serious vocal training and it translates to absolutely beautiful tone and amazing harmonies.

The album is "a capella" - basically they have no percussion... all guitars, strings and voices. I really like it! I wish they would get picked up on mainstream radio!

Favorite songs: "Barton Hollow", "Poison & Wine", and "Dance Me To The End Of Love".

This is a must-buy album!

Album Review: Tony Bennett "Duets II"

This week I went ahead and bought Tony Bennett's "Duets II". I'm not going to lie, I really liked the first one, so I jumped at the chance of getting a second round of duets, especially once I saw the duet partner lineup. I really love Tony Bennett's voice and some of these pairings are really unique. I also sort of can't believe that this guy is 85 years old and still singing... I hope I'm that way too!

Instead of doing my normal couple of songs, I'm going to give a quick review of each of the songs:

1. The Lady Is A Tramp featuring Lady Gaga: I have to admit, Gaga is really starting to grow on me. I was pleasantly surprised with this first song on the album - she proves that she can actually sing without any of that crazy electronic stuff. They took the classic and added some cute little things to it to updated it.
2. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) featuring John Mayer: If there was one voice that I would pick to blend pretty well with Tony Bennett's it would probably be John Mayer.
3. Body and Soul featuring Amy Winehouse: I feel sort of bad speaking ill of the dead, but I'm really not that impressed with her singing on this song. She has a distinct sound to her voice, but it's really hard to understand her... and her harmonies just don't really mesh with Tony Bennett... it was sort of an odd duet.
4. Don't Get Around Much Anymore featuring Michael Bublé: This is another one of those voices that was just meant to sing with Tony Bennett. I could listen to this song over and over again.
5. Blue Velvet featuring k.d. lang: I really liked this one too... k.d. lang has such a mellow voice and this song just screams for it. This is one of the types of songs that you'll listen to on the way home from work after a stressful day.
6. How Do You Keep The Music Playing featuring Aretha Franklin: Up until about the last 30 seconds of the song, Aretha really keeps her "queen of soul" voice reigned in. Just when you think she's made it through the whole song, she lets some runs go.
7. The Girl I Love featuring Sheryl Crow: This is not a bad song, but it sounds a little like Sheryl Crow is trying too hard.
8. On The Sunny Side Of The Street featuring Willie Nelson: Talk about a weird match up. Not the greatest on the album, but I love Willie's voice, so it makes it work!
9. Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me) featuring Queen Latifah: I don't know that I'd ever heard this song before, but I think it's absolutely beautiful and am amazed at how beautiful Queen Latifah's voice is!
10. Speak Low featuring Norah Jones: She has one of those amazing jazz voices that lends itself to this style of music - and this is an amazing song!
11. This Is All I Ask featuring Josh Groban: Josh Groban has to be one of my favorite classical singers, so it pains me to say this. He can't really cross over into other genres. I love his classical music, but when he tries his hand at other types of music, he sounds like an opera singer trying to sing Britney Spears. It just doesn't work for me.
12. Watch What Happens featuring Natalie Cole: If anyone can sing with one of the greats, it's Natalie Cole. Great tune.
13. Stranger In Paradise featuring Andrea Bocelli: Now this is a guy who can sing classical and then blend it into almost any other style of music. Where Josh Groban fell short, Andrea Bocelli stepped in!
14. The Way You Look Tonight featuring Faith Hill: You know, in the last few years, I've liked Faith Hill's music less and less. Don't get me wrong, she has a great voice, but this song just feels very awkward and forced.
15. Yesterday I Heard The Rain featuring Alejandro Sanz: This is a really beautiful song. I hadn't heard of Alejandro Sanz before, but he's a very accomplished Spanish singer-songwriter. He sang his bit in Spanish and it was really pretty.
16. It Had To Be You featuring Carrie Underwood: I was actually a little disappointed with this one. I've always thought Carrie could sing the alphabet and I'd like it, but again, this felt forced to me. She normally does really well with the duet thing, so I'm not exactly sure what happened with this one.
17. When Do The Bells Ring For Me featuring Mariah Carey: Also a great song. How do you go wrong with Mariah Carey? Ok... well, there was "Glitter"...

This is definitely a great album - I highly recommend it!

Album Review: Zac Brown Band "You Get What You Give"

My new favorite song is "Knee Deep", featuring Jimmy Buffett. They worked on this song after doing CMT's Crossroads together and I think this is a really great pairing! I recently purchased the Zac Brown Band's newest album "You Get What You Give" after hearing a couple of the songs on the radio. As always, with Zac Brown, I was definitely pleased. The harmonies of this band are absolutely amazing. I love their witty little songs and I love that they collaborate with so many cool people (on this album it's Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett.

I definitely recommend purchasing this album - to me The Zac Brown Band is like the Dave Matthews Band of country music.

Favorite songs: "Knee Deep", "Colder Weather" and "As She's Walking Away"

Album Review: Bruno Mars "Doo-Wops & Hooligans"

Let me start by saying what a cool name for an album. I never thought I liked Bruno Mars - in fact, until very recently all that I'd heard of him was an article on TMZ that talked about him getting busted for cocaine. Then I heard this song "Grenade" just about everywhere. And every time I heard it, I kept thinking that I should really look up who sang it because he had a pleasant voice. On about the 100th time, I realized that this was the guy that sang the hook on the hit pop song "Billionaire". You may also recall him from his awesome Grammy's performance - he did the whole old school feel with the fedora and black and white vibe.

As it turns out, "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" is Bruno's debut album - which I never would have guessed since it seemed like I had heard his voice everywhere. I was very happy with my album purchase. The songs are catchy, upbeat and Bruno actually really has a pretty good voice. All in all, it's very entertaining album - great for listening to on a road trip or your drive to work.

His latest single "The Lazy Song" is awesome - it has that sort of Dave-Matthews-Meets-Jack-Johnson feel and is about exactly what the title says - being lazy all day.

Favorite songs: "Grenade", "Just The Way You Are" and "The Lazy Song".

Album Review: Adele "21"

My most recent musical purchase is Adele's sophomore album, "21". For those of you unsure about who Adele is, she's an English singer-songwriter. You may have seen her on the Grammy's in 2009 when she won best new artist. Her albums are titled by the age that she was when they were written and released. She's very honest in her songwriting and writes about the love and heartbreak in her life. She even does a cover of The Cure's "Lovesong" with a really cool bluesy, jazzy spin to it.

What I love most about this album is Adele's voice. She has a very bluesy, gritty voice that I could listen to all day long. Even better, she knows how to use it. From her careful phrasing choices to dramatic runs, you want to continue to listen to the album to see what she'll do next. This is definitely a must own album!

Favorite songs: "Rumour Has It", "Set Fire to the Rain", "Take It All", and "I Found a Boy".

Album Review: Esperanza Spalding "Esperanza"

In watching the Grammy's this year, many people were very surprised to hear Esperanza Spalding win  the Best New Artist award. In fact, most people probably said "Who?". I decided to download her latest album "Esperanza" and give it a try. I was very pleasantly surprised. Not only does she have a beautiful voice, but she rocks the stand up bass!

This is definitely a jazz album, so pop people, beware. You'll notice very different chord progressions and harmonies than you're used to hearing in pop music. I really love the tone of her voice and she is very talented!

Favorite Songs: "Precious", "Espera" and "Love in Time".

Album Review: Cee Lo Green "The Lady Killer"

When I first heard the song "F**k You" on the radio, I instantly thought I recognized the voice, but couldn't quite place who Cee Lo Green was. In doing my research for this post, I discovered that he was in the group Gnarls Barkley (their big hit was "Crazy").

The whole album is spectacular! Be ready for a little shock; the song on the radio is censored to "eff you" but the song on the album throws it all out there. Shy of one other song on the album, the rest of the songs are clean (beware: "F**k You" definitely makes up for it!). Still, it has that Outcast-meets-old-school-R&B feel to the whole album... it's very catchy! I think Cee Lo has really found his niche... this is definitely his style of singing! I love the tone to his voice and have listened to the album several times in the past few days!

Favorite songs: "F**k you"

Album Review: Christina Aguilera "Bionic"

As many of you know, I've been a Christina Aguilera fan since way back in the day. I especially enjoyed her last album, "Back to Basics" because of the jazzy flair to it. So, of course, when her new CD, "Bionic" came out last week, I'm sure I was one of the first people to download it.

True to her style, Christina switched up not only her look, but her sound on this new album. That's one of my favorite things about her - just when you fall in love with her voice, she finds something new to do with it. This CD is no exception - she's moved more towards the realm of electronic pop. At first I was disappointed to hear how processed her voice was, however, her fantastic vocal ability enables them to do some pretty cool things.

I didn't love it the first time I listened to it, but by the 2nd and 3rd times, I was singing along. One of the things that shocked me was the number of "f bombs" that she drops. Until this album, her previous records have been mostly clean... it is a little shocking to hear that language, especially since it's not needed to make her point. Six of the songs on the album are marked explicit by iTunes.

Favorite songs: "Not Myself Tonight", "Woohoo" and "Birds of Prey".

Album Review: Josh Turner "Haywire"

Apparently it's country week here on my blog. I just purchased the new Josh Turner album, titled "Haywire". I absolutely love his voice... he's got that bass that I'm totally in awe of (maybe because I'm a soprano?). My favorite song by far is "Why Don't We Just Dance". It's catchy, it's sweet, it's the perfect first single. The video is also super cute. The single "Haywire" is great also, and Josh co-wrote it. The album also has a couple of live cuts, including "Long Black Train" and "Your Man" from his last album. Definitely worth the money!

Album Review: Lady Antebellum "Need You Now"

I recently bought the new Lady Antebellum album, called "Need You Now". I absolutely love it. I think this is one of the hottest groups in country and if they're careful, they'll have a long career. This album debuted at number one on the billboard charts last week.

The two songs you've probably heard on the radio already are the title track, "Need You Now" and the last single, "American Honey". Of the two, I absolutely love "Need You Now"... I really love when they switch the vocals back and forth between the Charles and Hillary. I also really like the song "If I Knew Then"... it sort of has a sad 80's country song feel to it.