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Spin This: CD Reviews
CD reviews from The Tampa Tribune
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Published: November 12, 2009
SAY ANYTHING:
'SAY ANYTHING'
(RCA) **
There's something in Max Bemis' overwrought lyrics and vocals that suggests he's in on his own joke, and that may be what makes Say Anything a bit more tolerable than most of its emo peers.
Bemis can be funny, too ("You're like Bjork with better fashion sense" goes a line from "Crush'd"). There's also a good deal more musical variety on "Say Anything" than on most modern rock platters, even if Neal Avron's steroid-pumped production does its best to bludgeon it all into a radio-ready blur.
Download this: "Hate Everything"
Curtis Ross
WEEZER:
'RADITUDE'
(DGC/INTERSCOPE) ***
The songs are relentlessly upbeat and radio-friendly like a gazillion other pop-punk bands, but the X-factor remains the nerd ascetic of Rivers Cuomo. Who else opens with a song about a guy urging a girl to make a move because "I haven't got all night"? Maybe he was anxious to get home and read X-Men comics. He's still funny, too (hear "The Girl Got Hot").
Musically, the band stretches a little (for instance, "Can't Stop The Partyin'") but mainly stays in Cuomo's pop-punk sweet spot. That's OK. No one does this sort of thing better than him right now.
Download this: "Trippin' Down the Freeway"
Kevin Walker
PATTY LOVELESS:
'MOUNTAIN SOUL II'
(SAGUARO ROAD) ***½
When she was racking up country-pop hits in the '80s and '90s, Loveless' Kentucky twang grounded her kitschiest songs. As she's matured as an artist, the authenticity of her vocals made her move in 2001 back to her neo-traditional roots on "Mountain Soul" all the easier.
After almost a decade of aiming at the pop charts, Loveless picks up on a new label where the previous album left off, giving country purists this treasury of outstanding bluegrass and gospel songs expertly performed.
Download this: "Prisoner's Tears"
Jeff Houck
CDs are rated on a scale of zero to four stars.
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