Young Michael Jackson, huh? Not quite. "Because of You" goes strong for several tracks before it thuds into cocky sex talk and tuneless ex-girl soliloquies.
On the upside, Jay-Z delivers a 32-second rhyme on "Crazy," a catchy infatuation tune. "Can We Chill" is flirty, infectious and charming. "Leaving Tonight" is a breakup gem featuring Jennifer Hudson that has "next single" written all over it.
It's downhill from there. He denies a sex addiction over a hot track on "Addicted," but there's a problem - he sounds like a cocky sex addict: "I'm not addicted to sex, but girl I guarantee that if you lay with me you just might be." "Sex With My Ex" is a "better in bed" speech with horrid metal flavor.
"Go on Girl" is weepy and disjointed.
Ne-Yo doesn't totally fail. His latest is a perfect candidate for track-by-track downloading.
DeAnne M. Bradley, Link
Tracks to download: "Because of You," "Crazy," "Can We Chill," "Leaving Tonight"
In concert: Ne-Yo with Trey Songz, 8 p.m.
Thursday at The NorVa, 317 Monticello Ave., Norfolk. Tickets: $31.
50 advance, $36.50 day of show. (757) 671-8100.
"Favourite Worst Nightmare" by Arctic Monkeys reminds me of the 1980s and bands such as Echo and the Bunnymen and New Order, but these dudes from outside Sheffield, England, definitely have created their own sound.
And it's a popular one. Now I get why the band sold out The NorVa in Norfolk last June and why its first CD, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," was the fastest selling debut album in UK chart-selling history in 2006.
The CD's first track, "Brianstorm" (not brainstorm), starts with a frantic Dick-Dalesque guitar riff that puts you in the mood for more.
Lead singer Alex Turner's heavy accent adds to the flavor and fun of this band's sound. Lyrics on most of the CD's 12 songs twist and turn like a kite caught in a nor 'easter.
"You used to get it in your fishnets, now you only get it in your nightdress," sings Turner in "Fluorescent Adolescent."
Most of the songs are upbeat with chipper guitar sounds, harmonious background vocals when applicable and leg-moving rhythms. We hope AM will take off in America as it has in Great Britain.
Toni Guagenti, The Pilot
Tracks to download: "Brianstorm," "D Is for Dangerous," "505," "Do Me a Favour"
For half a century, Neil Sedaka has been successfully writing and singing, so the obvious thing is an album of his hits.
Heavy does not define his career, but a notable exception is the seriously dark "Going Nowhere," a beautiful, thoughtful love song, a stranger in the midst of pleasant fluff.
Sedaka has recorded chart toppers galore, and this collection features 22 of them, including a couple of rare demos.
Fans of the performer will find what they are looking for, including the first and second versions of "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do." "Bad Blood" is good listening, and "Should've Never Let You Go" features some excellent dad-daughter harmony. There is some chirping by Toni Tennille, who, with her Captain husband, cut one of Sedaka's biggest hits, "Love Will Keep Us Together.
" That is the only deviation from the Sedaka vocalizing.
There is a teeny bit of Connie Francis at the end of the song he wrote for the teen musical "Where the Boys Are."
It is interesting to hear his style evolve from teen to adulthood - from "Calendar Girl" to "The Hungry Years.
"
Tracks to download: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (version 1), "Calendar Girl," "Rainy Day Bells"
You might remember the erotic song released in the early '70s by Charlotte Gainsbourg's parents, Serge Gainsbourg and actress Jane Birkin, "Je T'aime...
Moi Non Plus." The younger Gainsbourg doesn't attempt anything near as daring, although the influence is clear.
Her album is bathed in an elegant electronic sea by producer Nigel Godrich, with music and lyrics written by the group Air as well as Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy.
With such a battery of names, you'd expect stellar results. Her combination of control and breathy phrasing is haunting and arresting.
As you might expect, the subject matter ranges from compulsively self-absorbed ("Beauty Mark") to slightly less self-absorbed ("The Songs That We Sing").
She's at her best on "Jamais," which stands apart from the other tracks here for its tale of empty love. Gainsbourg is a convincing singer, and she makes the egocentric songs sound credible - more a tribute to her talent than the songwriters'.
The result is a solid, if unremarkable, album that, were it not put together by the famous names involved, would merit little notice otherwise.
Larry Printz, The Pilot
Tracks to download: "5:55," "The Songs That We Sing," "Jamais"
During his rich and varied career, eclectic string wizard Ry Cooder has dabbled in Caribbean, African and Mexican American music, creating a slew of lauded projects that include the now iconic "Buena Vista Social Club." For his latest, this "musician's musician" returns to his beloved Americana roots in a big way but with a unique anthropomorphic twist.
"My Name Is Buddy" is literally a Dust Bowl "Wind in the Willows," an Americana "Animal Farm," as Cooder presents a picaresque work chronicling the travels of a red cat named Buddy and his critter posse of Lefty the Mouse and Tom Toad as they journey through Depression-era Dust-Bowl America.
Genres range from hillbilly, folky bluegrass and Mexican to cool-talkin' jazz and gospel soul. Musical guests include Van Dyke Parks, Pete Seeger, Flaco Jimenez, soul singers Terry Evans and Bobby King, and the Chieftains' Paddy Moloney.
The listener is transported to union rallies, migrant worker camps, tent revivals, hobo jungles and immigrant ghettos.
The CD is an impressive work that entertains on so many levels from the drama of a bygone America to tunes created for the she er love of the music.
Eric Feber, The Pilot
Tracks to download: "Green Dog," "J.
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