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New Reviews: The Shins Find Balance on 'Port of Morrow'

Also: New music by Radiohead, Slash, Regina Spektor, Spiritualized and more

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The Shins perform for KLRU-TV 'Austin City Limits Live' at the Moody Theatre in Austin, Texas.
Andy Sheppard/Redferns via Getty Images
March 21, 2012 11:55 AM ET

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Jon Dolan says that Shins frontman James Mercer "nails a balance of economy and sweep" on his band's new album Port of Morrow, "matching the studio lushness he craves with the secondhand melodicism that made 'New Slang' resonate beyond the vegan cookouts of his base in Portlandia." Also, Simon Vozick-Levinson praises two new songs Radiohead have been playing at recent concerts, and Joe Levy says that the Hunger Games soundtrack is "the rare soundtrack that feels like it's made by and for fans."

ALBUMS

The Shins - Port of Morrow

Various Artists - The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 and Beyond

Esperanza Spalding - Radio Music Society

Kevin Gordon - Gloryland

SONGS

Radiohead "Identikit" and "Skirting on the Surface"

Spiritualized "Hey Jane"

Michael Kiwanuka "Lasan"

Regina Spektor "All the Rowboats"

The Gossip "Perfect World"

Slash "You're A Lie"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

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