Doubt Сомнение (2008)

Along with his Rock Fabulous Orchestra, Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame presents what amounts to a best-of collection on The Dave Stewart Songbook Volume One. In addition to smash-hits from Eurythmics such as “Sweet Dreams” and “Here Comes the Rain Again,” the songbook includes timeless tracks penned by Stewart including Tom Petty’s “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” No Doubt’s “Underneath It All,” Mick Jagger’s “Old Habits Die Hard” (which earned Dave and Mick a Golden Globe award), Celine Dion’s “Taking Chances” and songs written and produced for U2, Sinead O’Connor, Jon Bon Jovi, Bryan Ferry, Bob Geldof, Beyonce, Sarah McLaughlan, Shakespear’s Sister and Candy Dulfer. All songs have been with recorded with his touring band and a full orchestra.

Terra feels like an attempt to move Mariza into the musical mainstream. She's already established herself at the forefront of fado, as one of the leading performers of the emotive Portuguese style, and there's no doubt she possesses a wonderful voice. But the addition of several guests, such as Chucho Valdés, Ivan Lins, and Tito Paris (among others) seems to open up the seams between fado and other genres, including Brazilian music and jazz. It does so relatively subtly, and she keeps her base pretty firmly in fado (witness the glorious "Ja Me Deixou"). Her duet with Paris on "Beijo de Saudade" is a highlight, and the voices play off each other gloriously, hers pure and clear, his gruff and harsh. Ultimately, the question is whether it all works, and it does, because it doesn't try to do too much, just a small re-positioning, although what the future will bring remains to be seen.

Home Before Dark is Neil Diamond's second collaboration with producer Rick Rubin. It follows the fine but ill-fated 12 Songs, which was sabotaged by Sony's "Rootkit" program scandal: a nefarious bit of "copy protection" software that invaded the operating system of PCs and wreaked havoc. 12 Songs had to be recalled from store shelves just as Diamond received better reviews than he had in a decade. Sony reissued it in 2007, but the damage was done. Diamond, disappointed but undaunted, sought out Rubin. Rubin enlisted Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench and lead guitarist Mike Campbell, studio guitarist/bassist Smokey Hormel, and former Chavez guitar slinger Matt Sweeney.

Russian virtuoso Lev Vinocour tells us in his own liner note that he received tuition from Mikhail Pletnev while a pupil of Lev Vlassenko at the Moscow Conservatoire. At the time he heard Pletnev perform some of his arrangements of numbers from The Sleeping Beauty, and Vinocour records the whole Concert Suite here, alongside a selection of altogether more modest arrangements from the same ballet by Theodor Kirchner (1823-1903)…