Simple Plan, “Simple Plan”
At first glance, Simple Plan’s teaming here with A-list producers Max Martin and Nate “Danja” Hills appears to be a move born of desperation: a last-ditch effort to compete with the younger, prettier dance-pop stars more capable of keeping up with the times than a rusty old pop-punk band. (That’s not a new role for Danja, whom Duran Duran hired last year to perform the same miracle.) This is what the move appears to be upon further examination, too. Yet to its credit, Simple Plan is a shameless little heatseeker, which isn’t much of a musical problem. Provided you’re after a good time, several cuts make excellent use of keyboard bleeps and drum-machine beats. Nothing on “Simple Plan” sounds like the work of a band in a room, but aren’t there plenty of those to go around?
The Puppini Sisters, “The Rise & Fall of Ruby Woo”The three music school grads in this daffy London-based trio have a longer memory than their demographic peers in the Pipettes. Rather than revive the sounds of ’60s-era girl-group pop, the Puppini Sisters bring back the close-harmony ’40s-era stylings of the Andrews Sisters, precarious hairdos and all. As on their 2006 debut, “Betcha Bottom Dollar” (which featured a killer version of Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights”), the Puppinis mix period material with radically reworked takes on more recent pop fare, including the Bangles’ “Walk Like an Egyptian” and Beyonce’s ”Crazy in Love.” The latter’s good fun, but the album’s highlight might be “Old Cape Cod,” the dreamy Patti Page hit that Groove Armada memorably sampled in “At the River.” Sound like a gimmick? It is. But it’s a good one.
Maceo Parker, “Roots & Grooves”The first half of the legendary saxman’s two-disc live set with Germany’s WDR Big Band is a rollicking tribute to Ray Charles. The second half goes — and let’s turn it over to Maceo Parker here — “Back to Funk,” and the two sides demand, with equal ferocity, that you get out of your chair. Parker says early on that he’s long dreamed of doing Charles tunes with a big band, and his enthusiasm is nearly thick enough to grab a handful of: “Hallelujah I Love Her So” leaps and dances, while “Busted” and the obligatory “Georgia on My Mind” strike a nearly perfected level of simmering soul. And with the big band, nuggets like “Shake Everything You Got” and a sprawling, kitchen-sink take on “Pass the Peas” works up a mighty lather in each of its 17 minutes and 48 seconds.
Carrie Newcomer, “The Geography of Light”Though this is her 11th Rounder album, you could be forgiven for thinking of Carrie Newcomer as a newcomer herself. The singer-songwriter is deeply rooted in her native Indiana, and she finds artistic inspiration and personal comfort in the Midwest. She may be a regional artist, but she has a universal vision and appeal. Her pure, pitch-perfect voice has a slight huskiness that conveys the “heart” in heartland, and she surrounds herself with skilled musicians who augment her with richly textured piano, percussion, violin, cello, banjo, ukulele and the occasional English horn. The songs reflect her varied interests: spiritual, literary, philosophical, environmental, charitable. Though there’s a seriousness of purpose here, she also displays a flair for the whimsical on “Don’t Push Send,” about the dangers of impulsively written e-mail.
Chris Cable, “My Life’s Been a Country Song”The fourth studio album by talented Nashville hunk Chris Cagle starts strong and rhythmic: heartland country-rocker (and current chart hit) parsing several competing definitions of the adjective “gone”; funny talking-blues-inspired country-rocker about a barfly who requests everything but love songs; boy-is-back-in-town country-rocker funky enough to pass for Big & Rich. Beyond that, the power ballads build up with sufficient drama, and there’s more catchy cleverness — particularly “Little Sundress,” where Cagle admires a young lady’s apparel selection, “golden Tropicana tan” and reggae dance moves. The nostalgic number where a C-and-D student falls for a girl who gets A’s and B’s as her daddy stands in the way is sweet, too. The album slacks toward the end (pandering name-drops of older country classics whose glory doesn’t rub off as intended; a final dollop of sensitive-male mush) but by then, Cagle has already reeled you in.
Blue Highway, “Through the Window of a Train”When it came time to record its eighth album, Blue Highway decided to hunker down at storied Maggard Sound in Big Stone Gap, Va., hoping to conjure the magic that Ralph Stanley and others have made there. History will show that the group made a fine decision. Self-penned and self-produced, the album builds on the band’s already impressive resume. Standouts include “Sycamore Hollow,” a vocal and instrumental narrative of love and death set during the Civil War, and “Two Soldiers,” a percipient look at the servicemen charged with notifying next of kin of the death of a loved one. “Homeless Man” is a stark reflection on a life lost. After 14 years together and various side projects, Blue Highway keeps creating music that connects and entertains.
Gonzalo Rubalcaba, “Avatar”Cuban-born pianist/ composer Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s follow-up to the Latin jazz Grammy Award-winning “Supernova” finds him working in a quintet setting with Marcus Gilmore, Matt Brewer, Yosvany Terry and Mike Rodriguez. These seven tunes share an impressionistic vibe within frameworks that suggest a good deal of improvisational latitude. “Peace” is a sustained meditation between Rubalcaba and Brewer (acoustic bass) that soothes the ear and hooks the imagination in a most appealing fashion. ”This Is It,” at 12 minutes-plus, unfolds at a moderate tempo while affording the ensemble a vehicle for solos that offer a terrific variety of sonic textures. Rubalcaba has gone more postmodern than Latin with “Avatar,” and it’s a praiseworthy project.