Rita Wilson soars to extraordinary new heights on her highly anticipated new album, Rita Wilson Now & Forever: Duets. A set of true modern standards, Rita Wilson Now & Forever: Duets sees Rita singing alongside giants including Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, Jackson Browne, Tim McGraw, Elvis Costello, Keith Urban, Leslie Odom Jr, Josh Groban, Vince Gill And Jimmie Allen, illustrating the high regard in which she is held by her peers.
There's a cult of Meet Danny Wilson lovers and if you ever ask them about the album, a Steely Dan comparison is bound to come up. It's not without merit, and considering that the other bands the album might remind you of – Deacon Blue and Fairground Attraction – aren't on the tip of much of anyone's tongue, Steely Dan is at close as it comes. But the Dan never sounded this lively, this exuberant, this finger-snapping. If that makes them sound light as feather, keep in mind that Lloyd Cole loves this record. Head songwriter Gary Clark shares some of Cole's love of literate and clever lyrics that fit just right with the notes they land on, but he prefers a horn-section blast to Cole's guitar jangle (plus Clark has more Jimmy Van Heusen records than Cole does, no doubt). The sweet "Mary's Prayer" is the almost-hit, barely making enough impact to call the band a one-hit wonder. It's only part of the story for an album that effortlessly hurls clever arrangements and lyrical stingers out of the speakers. Opening with the syncopated and humble "Davy" and then switching to the Vegas hipster, Bobby Darin-for-the-'80s "Aberdeen" makes for a killer opening, and the album keeps minding the pace.
Teddy Wilson covers a dozen songs by George Gershwin on this live date with bassist Arvell Shaw and drummer Bert Dahlander. All of the music had been in Wilson's repertoire for some time at this point in his career, so his playing seems effortless. The sequencing is a bit unusual, in that all of the faster numbers, including a very brisk "Liza" and "Oh, Lady be Good" (powered by Dahlander's brushwork), are on the first side, while all of the ballads, including a lush "Summertime" and an inventive "Bess, You is My Woman Now," are heard on the second half. Wilson is in top form with his typically eloquent yet swinging style. Shaw is given a number of solo opportunities, displaying his superb arco bass technique in "Nice Work If You Can Get It" and "Our Love Is Here to Stay."
Steven Wilson’s new album The Future Bites is an exploration of how the human brain has evolved in the Internet era. As well as being Wilson’s phenomenal sixth album, The Future Bites is also an online portal to a world of high concept design custom built for the ultra-modern consumer. Where 2017’s To The Bone confronted the emerging global issues of post truth and fake news, The Future Bites places the listener in a world of 21st century addictions. It’s a place where on-going, very public experiments constantly take place into the affects of nascent technology on our lives. From out of control retail therapy, manipulative social media and the loss of individuality, The Future Bites is less a bleak vision of an approaching dystopia, more a curious reading of the here and now.
2015 solo EP from Ann Wilson, lead-singer of the famous classic rock sister duo, Heart. The Ann Wilson Thing! #1 features her renditions of thee R&B and rock classics as well as one brand new original song…
Sugary, commercial pop/rock isn't necessarily a bad thing, and in fact can be fairly enjoyable in the right hands. But Wilson Phillips are much too sweet for their own good. This debut album – which amazingly went five-times platinum during the early 1990s – is about as lightweight and sophomoric as it gets. Chynna Phillips' weak singing on such homogenized, mundane fluff as "Impulsive," "The Dream Is Still Alive," and the chart-topping "Hold On" isn't even remotely convincing. Compared to Phillips' saccharine performances on "You're in Love" (another major hit) and "A Reason to Believe," even Tiffany and Debbie Gibson's debut albums have some bite.