Le Chat Lunatique
Demonic Lovely
2/5
Available Now
The interesting thing about going to a CD release party is that the listener gets a sense of how the band sounds live and not how good the CD is. Sometimes, the CD is left wanting. This is definitely the case with Demonic Lovely. It's a well-crafted album, and the songs flow together well. The problem is this: The pop that Le Chat Lunatique has live is completely missing from its CD.
It's a bit like listening to the band's live performance but with one's head firmly covered by pillows strapped to either ear with a belt - you can hear it, but it's muffled. Only one song really seems to come through intact. Either in concert or on CD, "If You Don't Know" works well. Even so, it's definitely not the same experience. Overall, while Le Chat Lunatique's freshman effort is not particularly well-produced, it's a band worth listening to. Try to catch them live.
Missy Higgins
On A Clear Night
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4/5
Available Now
Australian Missy Higgins has managed to put together a decent album with On a Clear Night. On the other hand, nothing really seems to pop out very well, and a couple of the songs give the listener the impression that they've heard them before - in a million different forms, by a million different female artists - and overall, this takes away from the impact of the album. Not to say that anything here is bad, simply a bit clichéd.
In spite of its shortcomings, it's hard to dislike this album. While the individual songs don't have any particular pull of their own, the album does. It has the feel of an album that was crafted to tell a story - using the entire feel of each individual song to tell the story, rather than the lyrics.
The best part of the whole album is Higgins' voice. It hovers somewhere between folksy and sultry - somewhere between Janis Joplin and Marilyn Monroe. For a singer, that's not a bad place to be.
Sheryl Crow
Detours
1/5
Available Now
If anyone can get away with making a bad protest album, it would have to be Sheryl Crow. Every song on this album sounds like it was written by an environmentally conscious and very stoned hippie. It's definitely the music of an artist who woke up one morning and decided she was going to start caring about things, dammit.
As to the actual sound, one has to ask one question: "Where is the Crow of the '90s?" You know, the one we all remember, the one that wrote good music? She's certainly nowhere to be found on this album. To be blunt, this album sounds like it could have been recorded by a teenage girl in her shower. At the same time, it has all the earmarks of overproduced music. It's got that corporate beat floating around in the background throughout the entire album. Seriously, Sheryl, you're better than this crap. Next time, try harder.
