03.13.2008
Spins: Janet Jackson, Tift Merritt, Jamshied Sharifi
Janet Jackson
Discipline
Label: Island Def Jam
If you like: Janet Jackson
Song to download: “Rock With U”
2 1/2 stars (out of four)
Janet Jackson is back, kind of. Her last album, 20 Y.O., was a critical and commercial flop, displaying a desperate need to keep up with the current crop of teen pop stars.
Desperation just isn’t Jackson’s style. In the 1980s and ‘90s, she was Miss Jackson, the personification of sassy independence. Long overshadowed by her famously weird brother, Michael, Jackson found her voice to dominate the R&B and pop charts with a swagger only slightly hidden by that sweet, soft voice of hers.
But Jackson seemed to have lost her pop mojo in the last few years.
She’s got it back judging from Discipline, her tenth studio album. Her voice, never her strong suit, is all computerized sensuality over futuristic electro-pop. A group of producers provides Jackson with funky beats tailored for the dance floor. The party gets off to a good start with the lead single, “Feedback” - and it nearly never stops.
When the party slows in the middle, Jackson falters, allowing sappy love songs such as “Greatest X” to filter through with cliched lyrics and music that sound as if they were left off the last ‘N Sync album.
Jackson, even with new producers, doesn’t cover any new ground. Anyone who listed to janet. or The Velvet Rope knows about Jackson’s predilections for S&M and heavy breathing. Yet, here Jackson is again, being her naughty, nasty self. Miss Jackson likes sex. We get the point. Move on.
And on occasion she does, thankfully, giving us glimpses of a grown woman (she is 41, after all) who is unquestionably more than comfortable in her skin.
Tift Merritt
Another Country
Label: Fantasy
If you like: Kathleen Edwards, Allison Moorer
Song to download: “Morning Is My Destination”
3 1/2 stars
Another Country is the third album by North Carolina’s Tift Merritt - and it’s a fine one. The title refers not so much to Merritt’s continued move away from alt-country than the fact that most of these songs, among her best, were written during a writing sojourn in Paris.
The album still nods to her country roots - “Something To Me,” performed with guitarist Charlie Sexton, is an accurate reflection of a rural singer-songwriter. But the majority of the album celebrates Merritt’s continued maturation into a singer and songwriter of versatility and depth.
Folk, rock, blues and country all come into play, but Merritt sounds most at home when she lets her soul light shine, offering up Memphis-style vocal intensity to personalize economical songs. Her voice has never sounded better, wholly embodying each song in a voice sweet and delicate one moment, sensual and commanding the next. Don’t define Merritt’s music, just accept it for what it is - her own. The rewards that follow are many.
Jamshied Sharifi
One
Label: Ceres Records
If you like: World music
Song to download: “Setaa”
3 stars
James Sharifi is the son of an Iranian father and American mother. He went on to a career scoring films in Hollywood, indulging his love of Middle Eastern music by producing albums for notable musicians from the region.
On One, Sharifi fuses musical cultures with ease, creating an intoxicating fusion of Middle Eastern, African, Asian and Western music. His skill as a film composer is evident, as the songs are sweeping in scope, so much so that it can seem too manufactured at times.
The charm of One is in the intermingled performances of the various musicians, all playing instruments native to their cultures, and the beauty of the singers (including Paula Cole). The Middle Eastern singers are extraordinary, navigating incredibly difficult melodies with grace. The disc lacks the realism of a field recording, but Shariff does a fine job of capturing the global magic of music, making listeners wonder how so many countries engulfed in violence can offer music so gorgeous.
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