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Spin This: CD Reviews

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 22, 2009

NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND:
SPEED OF LIFE
(SUGAR HILL) ***

There is a well-worn quality to the Dirt Band's bluegrass-flavored music that fits like an old sweater. Now in their fourth decade, they stay true to their roots on the blues jam "Tulsa Sounds Like Trouble to Me" and a mandolin-smothered cover of Stealers Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle."

When on "Good To Be Alive" they sing "Shiny hearses, long and black / Don't come with a luggage rack," they perform like men who understand the music doesn't last forever.

Download this: "Going Up The Country"

Jeff Houck

THE VERY BEST:
WARM HEART OF AFRICA
(GREEN OWL) **½

Singer Esau Mwamwaya, a native of Malawi, and English producers Johan Karlberg and Etienne Tron cheekily dubbed themselves The Very Best on a 2008 mix tape. With quotes and samples from The Beatles, Michael Jackson and The Sweet, the mix was an Internet hit.

Although the follow-up, "Warm Heart of Africa," is enjoyable, it lacks the playfulness of the mix. At its least ambitious, "Warm Heart" sounds less like cross-cultural fusion and more like an African-themed amusement park jingle.

Download this: "Julia"

Curtis Ross

MONSTERS OF FOLK:
MONSTERS OF FOLK
(SHANGRI-LA) **½

The swirling harp and drum machine on opener "Dear God" seem calculated to shatter your expectations and suggest you're entering a dream world where the Monsters (M. Ward, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes) are something more extraordinary than just the Traveling Wilburys of indie rock.

Unfortunately they're not -- not really -- and they settle quickly into a comfortable rut of high-lonesome, mid-tempo folk-rock. "Say Please" and "Losin Yo Head" stand out for at least having the stones to crank up the electric guitars.

Download this: "Losin Yo Head"

Rommie Johnson

CDs are rated on a scale of zero to four stars.