Album Review

This Week’s New Reviews, Starring The Jonas Brothers

8/12/08, 1:08 pm EST

This week’s batch of new Rolling Stone reviews is online, and it is headlined by the high-profile release of RS cover boys the Jonas BrothersA Little Bit Longer. Of the teen dreams’ new album, Jody Rosen writes, “The boys’ fantastic third album is steeped in the fuzzed-up guitars, three-part harmonies and cotton-candy choruses of Big Star and Cheap Trick. Power-pop die-hards awaiting the genre’s commercial saviors must reckon with the fact that the messiahs have arrived…and they’re a Disney boy band.” Click below for the full review, plus check out reviews for new records from Loudon Wainwright III and Irma Thomas.

Review: The Jonas Brothers’ A Little Bit Longer (4 stars)

Review: Loudon Wainwright III’s Recovery (3.5 stars)

Review: Irma Thomas’ Simply Grand (3.5 stars)

New Reviews: Conor Oberst, Randy Newman and More

8/5/08, 12:11 pm EST

Conor Oberst’s first solo album in over a decade leads the way in this week’s new Rolling Stone reviews. Will Hermes calls the self-titled record “A rough-hewn, death-haunted travelogue [that] proves that while you can run from home, you can’t run from yourself.” Click below for this review plus reviews of new albums from One Day as a Lion, Randy Newman, Lloyd and CSNY.

Conor Oberst, Conor Oberst (3.5 stars)

Randy Newman, Harps and Angels (4 stars)

Lloyd, Lessons in Love (3 stars)

One Day as a Lion, One Day as a Lion EP (4 stars)

CSNY, Déjà Vu Live (3 stars)

[Photo: Chona Kasinger]

New Reviews: Three U2 Reissues, Plus Nas, Dr. Dog and More

7/22/08, 1:42 pm EST

Today marks the release of the deluxe reissues of the first three U2 albums: Boy, October and War. David Fricke declares Boy “sprecociously magnificent for its proudly spiritual optimism in the thick of post-punk nihilism.” Click below for reviews of these three landmark releases, as well as the Rolling Stone reviews of NasUntitled and new releases from Dr. Dog and CSS.

Reviews: U2’s Boy, October and War

Review: Nas’ Untitled

Review: CSS’ Donkey

Review: Dr. Dog’s Fate

Rolling Stone Album Reviews

This Week’s Reviews: John Mayer, G Unit, Alkaline Trio and Sebadoh

7/1/08, 5:12 pm EST

John Mayer’s latest live album Where The Light Is: Live in Los Angeles leads the pack in this week’s RollingStone.com exclusive reviews for records hitting stores today. Mark Kemp writes, “Groupies will swoon over the opening five-song acoustic set of lightweight favorites like ‘Daughters,’ but it’s when Mayer trots out the power trio that his blues licks get red-hot, peaking with the squalling, ten-minute guitar workout ‘Out of My Mind.’” Click below for the Mayer album plus round-ups of new albums by G Unit, Alkaline Trio and Amos Lee plus a review of the reissue of Sebadoh’s Bubble and Scrape.

Review: John Mayer’s Where the Light Is: Live From Los Angeles

Review: G Unit’s T.O.S. (Terminate On Site)

Review: Alkaline Trio’s Agony & Irony

Review: Amos Lee’s Last Days at the Lodge

Review: Sebadoh’s Bubble and Scrape

Scarlett Johansson Album Available Online; Read the Review

5/13/08, 4:37 pm EST

The release date for Scarlett Johansson’s collection of Tom Waits covers Anywhere I Lay My Head is next Tuesday, but the album premiered today on imeem. Head over there to sample tracks from the album and click below to read the review of the album and for the rest of the latest Rolling Stone album reviews, including new releases from Elvis Costello, Foxboro Hot Tubs and Foxy Brown.

Album Review: Scarlett Johansson’s Anywhere I Lay My Head

Rolling Stone Album Reviews

[Photo: Brea Souders]

Rolling Stone Review: The Raconteurs’ “Consolers of the Lonely”

3/28/08, 5:45 pm EST

Jack White and Brendon Benson shocked everyone on Tuesday when they released the second album from their band the Raconteurs after announcing its existence just one week ago. The Rolling Stone review will appear in next week’s issue, but Rock Daily has the full text now. Click here for the review of Consolers of the Lonely, which Melissa Maerz says “comes together like a blissfully stoned conversation between White and Benson about their favorite bands: Led Zeppelin, the Who, Badfinger.”

Drive-By Truckers’ “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark”: Stream the Entire Album Early and Read the RS Review

1/17/08, 12:29 pm EST

Georgia’s favorite Southern Rock revivalists Drive-By Truckers drop their new album Brighter Than Creation’s Dark next week, but you can stream the entire album for free via Rhapsody right now. Also be sure to check out Robert Christgau’s review of the record, where he praises the band for “letting the songwriting speak for itself.”

Cat Power’s “Jukebox”: Stream the Entire Album Early and Read the RS Review

1/16/08, 5:17 pm EST

Indie darling Chan Marshall’s latest album as Cat Power doesn’t come out until next week, but you can stream all of Jukebox via Rhapsody for free here. While you’re at it, be sure to read Melissa Maerz’s four star review of the new record, where she says “Jukebox sounds like Marshall’s version of I’m Not There — a testament to the idea that ‘I is another’ — and nothing drives that message home more than her reconstruction of her own song, 1998’s ‘Metal Heart.’”

[Photo: Getty]

New Music Tuesdays: Foo Fighters, Devendra Banhart

9/25/07, 8:00 am EST

Skip it, download it or buy it? Rolling Stone contributing editor Christian Hoard delivers the full story on the Foo Fighters’ Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace and Devendra Banhart’s Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon.

To read our full review of the Foo Fighters album, click here, and for Devendra Banhart, click here.

>>Watch every episode of our weekly New Music Tuesdays video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Tuesday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

New Music Tuesdays: Eddie Vedder, James Blunt

9/18/07, 7:59 am EST


Click here to watch the New Music Tuesdays reviews of Eddie Vedder and James Blunt’s new albums.

Rolling Stone’s Christian Hoard presents the “sensitive souls edition” of New Music Tuesdays, examining Eddie Vedder’s soundtrack to the film Into the Wild and James Blunt’s sophomore album All the Lost Souls. The verdict: Vedder’s LP is an apt soundtrack for the subject matter at hand (and a winner for Pearl Jam fans), and Blunt’s new album is a slightly sappy improvement over his debut, which featured the ubiquitous “You’re Beautiful”; though Hoard believes it only serves to make Coldplay sound exciting. Watch the video for his full reviews.

To read our full review of Eddie Vedder’s album, click here, and for James Blunt, click here.

>>Watch every episode of our weekly New Music Tuesdays video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Tuesday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

Fall Music Preview: The Best of the Rest

9/11/07, 9:39 am EST


You’ve seen Rolling Stone’s preview of the hottest albums hitting stores this fall, now we’ve got the lowdown on even more noteworthy records coming out between now and the end of the year. Click here to check out album details and sample tracks from Joni Mitchell, Coheed and Cambria, Chamillionaire and more, and stay tuned for in-the-studio videos throughout the rest of the week.

Photo: Mora/Getty

New Music Tuesdays: The Cribs, Rooney

7/17/07, 10:00 am EST

This week, RS executive editor Joe Levy sits down with RollingStone.com staff writer Elizabeth Goodman to talk about the new discs from Rooney and The Cribs. Check it out!

Plus: Read the review for The Cribs’ Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever here

>>Watch every episode of our weekly New Music Tuesdays video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Tuesday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

New Music Tuesdays: Smashing Pumpkins, Spoon

7/10/07, 5:18 pm EST

Will Rolling Stone’s Joe Levy and Brian Hiatt give Billy Corgan’s latest a thumbs up? Watch as they dissect the newest releases from Corgan’s reunited squad and Austin’s indie-rock heroes.

>>Watch every episode of our weekly New Music Tuesdays video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Tuesday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

“American Idol,” The Instant EP’s: Rob Sheffield Rates Blake Lewis’ and Jordin Sparks’ AutoTuned Efforts

5/25/07, 11:23 am EST

American Idol, EP, Blake Lewis, Jordin SparksWhat’s this? Blake and Jordin already have music for sale at the iTunes store? Gosh, this really is their now! It’s your now, it’s my now, it’s the whole world’s now! In all candor, neither EP is what you’d call a bargain, not with four bucks for five songs that everybody remotely interested already has in their TiVo. But with America still recovering from the trauma of hearing Ruben Studdard sing about tangerine trees and marmalade skies, not to mention the image of Taylor Hicks blowing his mind out in a car (why wasn’t that the Ford commercial?), I’m happier than the Hotness at a discount spray-tanner to report that Jordin and Blake sound like pros in a real recording studio, where they have the AutoTune angels to wave their magic wands at pitchiness problems. They can both use the help. (more…)

Ian Hunter Discusses His New Album, “Shrunken Heads”

5/15/07, 5:02 pm EST

Ian Hunter
Among the myriad reasons we’re stoked about today (general existential excitement for life, it’s turkey chili day at the soup cart) is the fact that today, May 15th, is the release date for Shrunken Heads, the latest solo album from former Mott the Hoople frontman and all around rock legend Ian Hunter. The singer and songwriter, who now lives in Connecticut with his family, took the time to talk to us about the album, his collaboration with Jeff Tweedy, and his advise for young bands navigating the rock star life. Check it out.

Rolling Stone: The state of the world, especially politics, has become a major theme in your writing.

Ian Hunter: Yeah, without a doubt. That’s what Shrunken Heads is all about — small heads voting for small heads and then you get this.

RS: Jeff Tweedy sang on three songs off Shrunken Heads (”Words (Big Mouth),” “Fuss About Nothing,” and “Guiding Light.”) How did that collaboration come about? (more…)




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