to maintain the American spirit while making the magic we simply call music. Music for the Motherless Child is a compassionate feast for the ears. Wu Man plays the Chinese lute. She's a deeply evocative pipa player, and her duets with Simpson strengthen their respective influences. Wait until you hear the title track--Simpson sings the melody with his slide guitar and Wu Man responds with a wavering, gentle echo. Recorded by Kavi Alexander, this record is a lilting tribute to why people make and listen to music. --Bob Boilen  (less)

to maintain the American spirit while making the magic we simply call music. Music for the Motherless Child is a compassionate feast for the ears. Wu Man plays the Chinese lute. She's a deeply evocative pipa player, and her duets with Simpson strengthen their respective influences. Wait until you hear the title track--Simpson sings the melody with his slide guitar and Wu Man responds with a wavering, gentle echo. Recorded by Kavi Alexander, this record is a lilting tribute to why people make and listen to music. --Bob Boilen  (less)

mostly African American audience throughout the '70s, this Georgia-born sister is seldom cited as a key player in the vocal stakes. Fortunately, this first-ever two-CD retrospective of Jackson's work for New York-based Spring Records includes plenty of good old-fashioned Southern soul singing alongside the famous raps and monologues that made albums like 1974's Caught Up , 1975's Still Caught Up , and 1977's Feelin' Bitchy such bestsellers for the truth-tellin' Jackson. Hit singles like her first chart outing, the socially conscious "Child of God (It's Hard to Believe)" and her biggest, "Hurts So Good," are balanced with mainstays of her mid-'70s repertoire like "The Rap" and "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want to Be Right)" and humor-filled ditties like "Go Out ...  (less)

pair of albums to rival Toys in the Attic and Rocks after a decade-and-change of decay and despair seemed all but unnatural. While Vacation 's other key players (producer Bruce Fairbairn, outside songwriters Jim Vallance and Desmond Child) are still part of the mix, it's the band's familiar, tough swagger that powers this collection from the get-go. And while the Vallance-Child collaborations ("The Other Side" and the power ballad "What It Takes," respectively) were successful, it's telling that the album's twin pop-rock evergreens, "Love in an Elevator" and "Janie's Got a Gun," originated entirely within the band; the old dogs had not only learned a few new tricks, they seemed bent on tutoring their would-be trainers i...  (less)

Miller is here to take the piss out of this whole ¯look-at-me-I'm-an-important-artiste˜ scene with a record full of his favorite songs. Loose, fun and easy to swallow, ¯The Sauce˜ spans seven decades of songwriting and showcases Spaghetti’s impeccable song choices and uncanny ability to sing the drinking songs for drinkers who like to drink the drinks.  (less)

the gritty, all-too-often untold tales of history's common man. Setting these tales to towering, high-volume alternative rock, King has forged a musical style impervious to simple classifications and labels, with a keen edge sure to captivate rockers both young and old. "I'm a frustrated guitar player who somehow had the ability to sing as well," King admits. "When I was a kid I wanted to be in the circus--I wanted to be a clown. I was riding a unicycle. I was a carnie from 8 years old. So [Rube] is a culmination of everything that intrigued me as a child....I have always been trying to return to that place of inspiration, and have found that it's a time when I was fascinated with Lon Chaney, magicians and circuses...  (less)

2002’s superb The Palace at 4 AM. This time Bennett whittled down a prospective list of six dozen songs into 13 and whipped out an ensemble of probable players (such as Palace cohort Edward Burch) and improbable instruments, including a horde of Hammond organs and a child’s tambourine. Bennett has a uniquely nasal vocal delivery which can too often evoke Elvis Costello, but his ear for pure pop grandeur is palpable on "Wide Open," which could be an outtake from Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors , and the guitar-driven "Replace You," complete with its meaty Hammond accompaniment. Leaving more than 50 songs left on the chopping block and his creative psyche ever agitating, it’s obvious that Jay Bennett has put th...  (less)

birth of a child, the loss of a bass player, the gift of a new one, $1000 worth of booze, $100 worth of white castle, a few heated words and a lot of love. Party Killers was produced by Jason Orris, Engineered by Dustin Miller and Mastered by Dave Gardner.  (less)

Room is also different. Recorded completely remotely over nine months using the Internet as a collaboration tool, Confession in the Back Room brings twelve top notch players together in seven studios from Los Angeles to New Jersey to Philadelphia in sessions so unique that the project was profiled in "Recording Magazine." Certainly not the first to fuse social commentary with rock music, Tom Sheehan does so with great conviction and effect. Among the tracks on Confession in the Back Room, for example, Open All Night explores the darker side of the LA club scene; Come to Papa tackles child abuse; and In the Sandbox, U.S. foreign policy in the middle east. Others explore transvestite prostitutes (Party Girl), presidential/intern dalliance (Crimes of Passion),...  (less)

producer and arranger in many different music environments, recording jingles, soundtracks, dance and electronic records (with Sony Music and Emi) in both Italy and other parts of Europe. In addition to popular sounds, he enjoys composing in his own style, which is a mix between new age, classical and pop music. He defines this mix as soundtracks without movies, a handiwork of piano composition and the wise use of various technologies. The Magic Room is his first solo album. Recorded in his own studio, it contains 16 tracks. Piano is the main hero, backed by both other keyboards and cello. Ryuichi Sakamoto, Michael Nyman and Lyle Mays are three major inspirational artists for his compositions, as well as Einaudi, Allevi, Burt Bacharachs songs and Morricones soundtracks.  (less)