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Album Review: Avril Lavigne – Goodbye Lullaby
On “What The Hell”—the bouncy lead single from Avril Lavigne’s fourth studio album Goodbye Lullabye—the 26-year-old Canadian famous for her skaterpunk-meets-pop style struts with a defiant swagger as she scorches an old flame. “All I really want is to mess around,” she sings. “And I don’t really care about if you love me or hate me.”
Later, on “Smile,” she proclaims that she’s “a crazy bitch” who “does what [she] wants when [she] feels like it,” and who wants to “lose control.” But the gusto of those songs can’t hide the obvious emotional turmoil at the core of the bulk of the songs on Goodbye Lullaby, an album which showcases a thoroughly dejected young woman who seems—with only a couple of exceptions—to have lost all faith in love.
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Katy Perry – “E.T.” (“Futuristic Lover”)
There’s no shocking girl-on-girl action, no cotton candy-laced teenage dreams and no flashing of peacocks in the California sunshine. “E.T.” is raw sexual energy set to a dark, thumping, rave-inspired beat. And although Perry’s voice has never sounded bigger or richer, that energy alone is not enough to save what is otherwise a thoroughly second-rate song that’s plagued by an ill-conceived concept. In “E.T.,” Perry sings that she’s ready for abduction, as well as the relatively innocuous lines, “Infect me with your lovin’/Fill me with your poison.” But as the song pounds along to a beat ripped from Russian duo t.A.T.u.’s 2002 hit “All The Things She Said,” the constant string of outer space metaphors quickly grows tiresome.
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Album Review: The JaneDear Girls – The JaneDear Girls
Young men are repeatedly painted as deceitful, hormone-driven sex fiends willing to do or say anything to get into a girl’s pants, and they bear the full burden of failed relationships.Young men are repeatedly painted as deceitful, hormone-driven sex fiends willing to do or say anything to get into a girl’s pants, and they bear the full burden of failed relationships
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Album Review: The Grascals – The Grascals and Friends – Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin
With Songs of the Statler Brothers, Cracker Barrel demonstrated that it was not only capable of landing a marquee act, but also that it was interested in producing valuable original content for its customers. Following that initial release comes The Grascals & Friends: Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, a robust release that could have found a worthy home with any label that deals in bluegrass or roots music. The disc features the renowned sextet—perhaps one of the greatest bluegrass outfits ever assembled—performing hits from country music’s past, accompanied by some of modern country music’s biggest stars
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Heidi Newfield – “Stay Up Late”
In the early 2000s, a gravelly-voiced firecracker of a singer named Heidi Newfield lead the trio Trick Pony into the Top 20 of Billboard’s country singles chart a total of four times, peaking in 2001 with the band’s lone Top 10 hit “On A Night Like This” (which made it all the way to #4). Newfield’s most defining song, however, was her 2008 debut solo effort, a song that—by chart standards—doesn’t distinguish itself from already-forgotten Trick Pony ditties like “Pour Me” (#12) and “Just What I Do” (#13)
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10 Best “Not Quite Country” Albums of 2010
Many of the artists on this list could have be featured on one of our country lists. They didn’t, but I still think the albums they released in 2010 might be appreciated by fans of country music
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Avril Lavigne – “What The Hell”
Avril Lavigne hasn’t had a Top 10 single anywhere in the world since 2007’s “Hot,” and her latest single, titled “What The Hell,” isn’t likely to change that. Co-written by mega producer and songwriter Max Martin, this warmed-over slice of pop is peppy, but it sounds dated and it lacks the bite that made the best of the singer’s earlier work compelling.
And it takes a lot more to compete in today’s pop landscape than simple peppiness. When Lavigne emerged in 2002, she was something of a pop counterculture figure. She wasn’t just a singer, but a symbol for people—primarily girls and young women—who were beginning to reject the gloss of overexposed female icons like Brittney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Lavigne’s skater-punk style made her seem earthy in contrast, and her self-penned songs—full of attitude and spunk—sounded like nothing else on the radio at that time.
She wasn’t just alternative, she was an alternative.
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The 50 Best Country Songs of 2010
The best country music often comes from the most unlikely places. A host of perennial “best songs” contenders appear on this list, but much of 2010′s most compelling country music was produced by unknown or little-known artists whose releases went largely unnoticed by listeners and media alike
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10 Worst Country Albums of 2010
From country rap to pop-country crap, there was an especially long list of dreadfully bad country albums in 2010. Here’s a countdown of ten of the worst offenders
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Top 10 Country Music Albums of 2010
If your musical tastes are anything like mine, you’ll remember 2010 as one of the worst years for country music in a very long time. Mainstream country was almost unbearable, and some of the year’s most promising Americana releases (Ryan Bingham, Robert Plant) were lackluster affairs that failed to live up to their predecessors.
But, for every Colt Ford there’s a Jamey Johnson, and for every Danny Gokey there’s a Gary Allan. And just like every year, a handful of talented artists stepped up and delivered albums full of inspired music. Here’s a list of the ten best albums of the year
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