New Kids on the Block
"The Block"
Interscope
****
On their first album since 1994, the thirtysomething members of New Kids on the Block make unusually little try to conceal their ages. There's one song called "Grown Man," for model, and there's another in which the hook goes, "I'm a big boy / You're a big girl now."
"The Block" even ends with a snatch of in-the-studio chatter between Donnie Wahlberg and one of his children -- not the most efficient way of distracting us from the fact that these backstreet boys ar well on their way to becoming middle-aged workforce. (On the other bridge player, the record album does include a track called "Sexify My Love," which is certainly a mistake cipher over the age of 16 should make.)
Perhaps the surest signal of the New Kids' maturity here is the surprising forcefulness of most of the material. They've been roughly long enough to experience what a hit sounds like, and they're wise enough to know that they don't have evermore to reconstruct a undermentioned. So "The Block" comes loaded with sure-thing collaborations with radio-pop rainmakers such as Timbaland, Akon, Ne-Yo and Polow da Don, each of whom treat the propose with deference, not condescension.
The best cuts exude an understated confidence the old New Kids never had: In "Click Click Click" they layer sleek blue-eyed soul vocals over a hushed computer-music groove, piece "Twisted," the Timbaland cut, sets angelic harmonies against a ominous synth riff. "Grown Man," produced by new jack swing maestro Teddy Riley, even makes clever manipulation of a sample of "Chain of Fools."
Considering Top 40's predilection for seamless young faces, "The Block's" unexpected caliber is no guarantee of a commercial rebirth for NKOTB, world Health Organization play the Staples Center on Oct. 8. Believe it or not, though, they've got the right stuff.
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Mikael Wood
A country soul in a strange world
Rodney Crowell
"Sex and Gasoline"
Yep Roc
*** 1/2
Affairs of the heart have tenacious been the domain of esteemed nation singer and songwriter Rodney Crowell, and he hasn't abandoned that territory in his up-to-the-minute effort, in stores today. But the real fire ignites in the title track and several other songs in which Crowell tries to sort out a culture where "it don't make much sense that usual sense don't make no sense no more," as his peer John Prine once assign it.
"Sex and Gasoline" decries the destructive messages about the female body that pummel women and girls by the minute. With Dylanesque bite, he boils the problem down succinctly: "Pop faith, bullwhip thin / Say you ain't nothin simply the soma you're in." Then in "The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design," he questions long-held assumptions about the ever-forward march of progress. Joe Hen- ry's edgy production amplifies the muscle of Crowell's lyrics and the immediacy of his vocals.
Along with peers such as Emmylou Harris and John Hiatt, world Health Organization also launched their careers in the '70s, Crowell seems to have establish the fire to just keep acquiring better.
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Friday 5 September 2008
Tuesday 26 August 2008
Shilpa Shetty - Shilpa Wishes Former Big Brother Rival Jade Well
Shilpa Shetty has offered her condolences to Jade Goody after the latter was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
The Big Brother star topology had been appearing on the Indian version of the world show - known as Bigg Boss - when she was informed of the diagnosis and has flown home to the UK.
And Bollywood actress Shetty, who was the object of supposed racism from Goody when they both appeared on Celebrity Big Brother has offered her support to her former housemate.
"I'd like to suppose on behalf of the people of India that we wish her well and our prayers ar with her," she told GMTV.
"It's so sad for somebody so whitney Moore Young Jr. to be diagnosed with such a dreadful malady - it's horrible," Shetty added.
Goody's appearing on Bigg Boss had been billed as an attempt to rehabilitate her image after being accused of racism towards Shetty.
And the Indian star aforesaid she believed Goody had begun to "work her way into people's hearts".
"People had started to see a different side to Jade, it was unbelievable to see the change in her," she explained.
"It was interesting to watch she had put in the elbow grease to curb her aggressive streak, she was much calmer."
Goody had been a member of the Bigg Boss house for only deuce days when she was informed of her diagnosing and arrived back in the UK on Wednesday to undergo further tests.
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Saturday 16 August 2008
Joss Stone to record Barack Obama campaign song
Joss Stone is gear up to spell and record a campaign song for US Democrat presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
According to The Sun, Stone was asked personally by Obama to write and record the song, which will be the topic song for his election campaign.
Obama is said to favour Stone, a immense star in the USA, because she has appeal to both black and white US citizens.
The paper quotes an anonymous source as saying: "She [Stone] believes he (Obama) is going to be the first black president and she is honoured to be a part of that."
More info
According to The Sun, Stone was asked personally by Obama to write and record the song, which will be the topic song for his election campaign.
Obama is said to favour Stone, a immense star in the USA, because she has appeal to both black and white US citizens.
The paper quotes an anonymous source as saying: "She [Stone] believes he (Obama) is going to be the first black president and she is honoured to be a part of that."
More info
Thursday 7 August 2008
Friday 27 June 2008
Monday 23 June 2008
Asterius
Artist: Asterius
Genre(s):
Other
Discography:
As Descendants Of Stars
Year: 1999
Tracks: 11
Patrizio Buanne
Wednesday 18 June 2008
Marlee Matlin is working on her memoir
NEW YORK —
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Academy Award-winning actress and "Dancing With the Stars" sensation Marlee Matlin is working on a memoir, scheduled to come out in 2009 and tentatively titled "I'll Scream Later."
"As a young girl, I imagined myself as Marcia Brady who just happened to be deaf, skating down the street saying hi to everyone I knew," Matlin, an Oscar winner in 1987 for "Children of a Lesser God," said in a statement issued Tuesday by Simon Spotlight Entertainment, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
"But today, as a mom of four, I'm no longer Marcia. I've morphed into Alice, the Maid. Goodbye, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia."
According to Simon Spotlight, the 42-year-old Matlin will confide about her "unresolved issues and battles with addiction and abuse, many of which she kept hidden from the public and her family." She also will "delve into her loves and life in Hollywood," including such television shows as "Picket Fences," "The Practice" and "The West Wing."
Her previous books include a novel, "Deaf Child Crossing," and the young people's stories "Leading Ladies" and "Nobody's Perfect."
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