Category Archives: 2009 music reviews

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Shakira – She Wolf

Of all the artists I listen to regularly, Shakira is perhaps the biggest test of my recent conclusion that it’s music — not lyrics — that means the most to me.

For one thing, Shakira’s best work has been recorded entirely in Spanish, so I have very little idea what she’s saying at all (and I don’t care). And second, her English-language songs alternate between generic love proclamations/condemnations and some of the most oddball, head-scratching lyrics you’re likely to find in a contemporary pop song. This is a woman who once titled a song ‘Poem to a Horse.’

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Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk

I find it a lot harder to write CD reviews than movie reviews, partly because I need to listen to an album carefully several times before I feel comfortable writing about it and things pile up. So I have a handful of 2009 albums sitting unreviewed that I hope to get to over the next couple of weeks so I can have a proper summary of my year in music.

I don’t buy a ton of albums, not compared to true music hounds. I average maybe 15-20 per year, generally the new releases of artists I like and a few attempts to broaden my horizons by picking up something new that’s receiving a lot of acclaim.

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Rihanna – Rated R

What a fascinating career Rihanna has already had.

By 2008, she had sold more than 12 million albums worldwide and notched more #1 singles than any other woman this decade (or century, or millennium). And she was just 19 years old, having gone from an unknown schoolgirl in a small town in Barbados to an international megastar.

And then, on the night of the 2009 Grammys, she became the most famous victim of domestic violence since Tina Turner when her boyfriend, singer Chris Brown, viciously beat her during an argument in his car. The pictures of Rihanna following the incident were horrific, as was the prospect of her returning to Brown’s side — which she did, briefly, before thinking better of it and leaving him for good.

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Lyle Lovett – Natural Forces

When I wrapped up my recent Lyle Lovett theme weeks, I held out hope that he would break out of the slump he’d been in for the past dozen years or so. His last album, It’s Not Big It’s Large, was a step in the right direction — a bit slight, but featuring stronger material than he’d released in years. I figured his next turn at bat would be major.

I was wrong.

Natural Forces is another stop-gap Lyle Lovett album, enjoyable enough for what it is but a shadow of the man’s best work. It contains only four original songs and most of those aren’t even as good as the covers that make up the rest of the album. It’s a pleasure, as always, to hear Lovett and his peerless band perform but it’s a fleeting pleasure when what you really want is the next Road to Ensenada or Joshua Judges Ruth.

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John Mayer – Battle Studies

I’m often intrigued by the group think exhibited by music and movie critics — not so much in their appraisal of a new work but in the angle from which they approach it. The most recent example I’ve noticed is in the commentary on John Mayer’s new album, Battle Studies, which I’ve been enjoying for about a week now.

Almost every review I’ve read has made a point to comment on the dichotomy between Mayer’s public image (including a popular Twitter account, stand-up comedy routines and frequent appearances on tabloid covers with the likes of Jennifer Aniston and Jessica Simpson) and the low-key, earnest music he records.

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