Mini Reviews of Several Recent Releases

BACHMAN & TURNER - B&T
2010’s Bachman & Turner marks their first recorded collaboration in two decades, yet it could have been released over 20 years ago, so faithful it is to the meat-and-potatoes hard rock recipe they first wrote when with BTO. They made it like they did in the old days and it’s for an audience that yearns for real rock made on real instruments. It’s big, noisy straight ahead rock & roll, ready for the taking. Download: Moonlight Rider; Can’t Go Back To Memphis









HEART – RED VELVET CAR
Red Velvet Car, Heart’s first album since 2004’s Jupiter’s Darling, is music with no seeming commercial aspirations, music that is connected to the past but doesn’t strive to replicate it. Ann’s voice doesn’t reach the same heights -- but they embrace their age, a move that gives their excursions into folk and the record has a meditative mood with textured, acoustic-laden arrangements and miniature epics, all elements that hearken back to Heart’s golden age yet wind up feeling right in line with their vibe in 2010. Download: Hey You; WTF; Queen City







ROBERT PLANT – BAND OF JOY
Band of Joy was the name of Robert Plant’s Black Country psychedelic folk group of the late ‘60s and his revival of its name and spirit in 2010 is of no small significance. It’s an outgrowth of Raising Sand, Plant’s bland duet album with Alison Krauss. Assisted by co-producer Buddy Miller and a band highlighted by harmonist Patty Griffin, Plant finds fiercely original music with covers of Low, Richard & Linda Thompson and Los Lobos. Band of Joy is bold and messy, teeming with life to its very core. It’s as a joyous a record as you’ll ever hear, a testament that the power of music lies not in its writing but in its performance. Download: Silver Rider; You Can’t Buy My Love