Slow Down

Taking a cue from the Eagles, Foreigner decided to release their first album in 15 years, creating a package that touches upon all phases of their past and into the present on the three-disc Can't Slow Down…

On Can't Slow Down, his second solo album, Lionel Richie ran with the sound and success of his eponymous debut, creating an album that was designed to be bigger and better. It's entirely possible that he took a cue from Michael Jackson's Thriller, which set out to win over listeners of every corner of the mainstream pop audience, because Richie does a similar thing with Can't Slow Down – he plays to the MOR adult contemporary audience, to be sure, but he ups the ante on his dance numbers, creating grooves that are funkier, and he even adds a bit of rock with the sleek nocturnal menace of "Running With the Night," one of the best songs here.

Deep-rooted bluegrass troupe The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys kick it into high gear on Never Slow Down, their newest collection of classic songs and soon-to-be-classic originals. The GRAMMY-nominated group pours every ounce of passion they have into these recordings as they always have, this time with even more fervor and zeal with the addition of new band member Laura Orshaw. Taking on material by their heroes the Stanley Brothers, Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard, George Jones and more, the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys bridge the gap between the past and present, proving the eternal importance of bluegrass and making it accessible to all.

Can't Slow Down … When It's Live! is a live album by rock band Foreigner, released in 2010. It was recorded on March 16 the same year Nashville, Tennessee at the Ryman Auditorium except for the track "Can't Slow Down" recorded in Seebronn, Germany, on July 31, 2010. In 2009 Foreigner released Can't Slow Down, their first album of original music in fifteen years, followed by a successful tour of North America and Europe. Music from that tour has now been put into a new two-CD live album of both Foreigner classics and new songs called Can't Slow Down…When It's Live! "Can’t Slow Down is about fresh starts,” said founding guitarist Mick Jones. “For the band, it was a chance to step out from the shadow of the past and establish its own identity. Personally, the album helped me reclaim my confidence as an artist and rediscover the fun of making music again.”

Can't Slow Down … When It's Live! is a live album by rock band Foreigner, released in 2010. It was recorded on March 16 the same year Nashville, Tennessee at the Ryman Auditorium except for the track "Can't Slow Down" recorded in Seebronn, Germany, on July 31, 2010. In 2009 Foreigner released Can't Slow Down, their first album of original music in fifteen years, followed by a successful tour of North America and Europe. Music from that tour has now been put into a new two-CD live album of both Foreigner classics and new songs called Can't Slow Down…When It's Live! "Can’t Slow Down is about fresh starts,” said founding guitarist Mick Jones. “For the band, it was a chance to step out from the shadow of the past and establish its own identity. Personally, the album helped me reclaim my confidence as an artist and rediscover the fun of making music again.”

At the beginning of his career, Keb' Mo' appeared to be a clever update of the acoustic bluesman, one that managed to recall country-blues but offer a contemporary spin on tradition - sort of like a '90s version of Taj Mahal. With each new album, however, it became clear that authenticity was not a concept that troubled Keb' Mo'. He was more concerned with offering a nice, smooth bluesy pop that was perfect for the House of Blues, not for seedy roadhouse. That's not necessarily a bad thing - it's just the kind of thing that would irritate blues purists who may have placed hope in him in the first place. Slow Down, Mo's third album, will nevertheless be the kind of album that will please listeners who like laid-back, polished blues, not gritty Chicago or Delta blues…

This CD could almost have been subtitled "The Lost Years," defining the period in which Donovan's records barely even made it into stores so that they could be ignored by the public - that had been the fate of Essence to Essence (which actually made it into stores), and 7-Tease and Slow Down World - each died an absolute commercial death in its wake. More's the pity, because there's a lot of beautiful (even gorgeous) and clever music here, a big chunk of it about as good as anything that Donovan ever put out. The zeitgeist behind the songs on these two albums may throw people who are accustomed to his '60s material, when Donovan had a wide listenership and was in sync with the times; here he's singing against his times (and mostly against indifference and self-involvement), and he is so beguiling musically and lyrically, that one feels a real sense of tragedy that these albums weren't more widely heard…