B Ed Sheeran
Divide
Atlantic
On Divide, British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran shoots out a dozen vastly different songs that showcase his tremendous musical ability, from misty ballads to hip-hop. Each is calculated to find a happy fan somewhere.
If you are looking for a consistent sound, move along. Sheeran's latest is a bit like the singer himself: in flux. He's only 26 yet nostalgic for the days of first kisses. He's in love, but misses his exes. He combines cynicism, idealism and beguiling insecurity.
"I beg you don't be disappointed with the man I've become," he sings in the terrific "Eraser," a hard-strumming meditation on fame akin to Eminem's "Lose Yourself."
The album has already produced two big hits, the foot-stomping U2-like rocker "Castle on the Hill" and the slinky, spare "Shape of You."
There are missteps. "Perfect," with its swelling orchestra and sincerity, seems written for a Disney movie. The bluesy and overwrought "Dive" sounds like a John Mayer reject. Better ballads are "How Would You Feel (Paean)" and "Happier."
Then there are experiments, like "Galway Girl," an audacious mix of Celtic fiddle and rap which just skirts the edge of parody. "What Do I Know?" -- a rare foray into politics -- comes off wishy-washy.
Sheeran is best when he's heartbroken and bitter and he's gloriously both on "New Man," a pop takedown of an ex-lover's gym-sculpted new man.
This album is certain to add listeners, subtract a few weary of his inconsistency, but multiply his bank account. However you divide it, Sheeran is a special talent.
Hot tracks: "Eraser," "Castle on the Hill," "New Man"
-- MARK KENNEDY
The Associated Press
A- Little Big Town
The Breaker
Capitol
Little Big Town is definitely on a roll. Their excellent 2014 album Pain Killer and hit songs such as "Pontoon," "Girl Crush" and "Day Drinking" took them to the top of the charts, to award shows and made them a hot concert act. Last year, they surprised fans with the catchy and cool pop/dance album Wanderlust, produced by Pharrell.
Now comes The Breaker and the group, which includes Cherokee Village's Phillip Sweet, returns to country with an engaging, vibrant work. The group's high-energy, propulsive harmonies have been compared to Fleetwood Mac, and when one hears "Happy People," it seems apt. LBT's vocals are packed with drama and emotion. The poignant "Happy People" was co-written by Lori McKenna, co-writer of "Girl Crush" and Tim McGraw's hit "Humble and Kind."
The album includes their No. 1 hit "Better Man," written by Taylor Swift, whose lyric includes the wonderful line "You push my love away like it's some kind of loaded gun." Karen Fairchild's voice soars on this compelling tune.
"Night on Our Side," which has Sweet and Jimi Westbrook as collaborators, has a country-rock vibe. "When Someone Stops Loving You" aches with the pain of lost love. The deceptively low-key "Don't Die Young, Don't Get Old" is a melancholy heartbreaker.
Hot tracks: "When Someone Stops Loving You," "Better Man," "Happy People"
-- ELLIS WIDNER
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
B+ Jaime Wyatt
Felony Blues
Forty Below
Jaime Wyatt didn't have to sing a flawless cover of Merle Haggard's classic, "Misery and Gin" to prove that she' has lived a little bit.
But she did, and she has. It's written all over everything she does.
It isn't just the seven songs the 31-year-old delivers with gusto on Felony Blues, her second album and first in more than a decade. Wyatt's work tacks back and forth between gorgeous balladry and straight-ahead Southern California country-rock. Think Linda Ronstadt during her Stone Poneys period and for a decade or so after, when she ruled the pop airwaves.
With Wyatt, the edges are serrated, the polish missing. The result is as authentic as anything you'll find in modern country.
Whether she's singing about the need to graduate so she can pursue a romance with someone in prison on "Wasco," or her tendency to drift away on "From Outer Space," Wyatt brings urgency to her work. As soon as you think she has settled in as an outlaw country diva, she turns around and drops a gorgeous ballad called "Giving Back the Best of Me."
A blazing talent, Wyatt got her first record deal at age 17 but developed a drug problem and spent a little time in jail. Music helped her survive.
Hot tracks: "Misery and Gin," "Wasco," "Giving Back the Best of Me"
-- SCOTT STROUD
The Associated Press
B+ The Doors
London Fog 1966
Rhino
The Doors will celebrate a golden anniversary this month with a three-LP take on their still-provocative debut (The Doors: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition). But before The Doors saw the light of day, there was the bar band, captured in these never-before-released tapes of their time as a house band at London Fog -- a dive bar on Los Angeles' Sunset Strip.
Though The Doors presented shamanic monotone poet Jim Morrison, cabaret organist Ray Manzarek and company as fully formed psychedelic sensualists whose snaky sound reflected a darker California than the usual sunshine dream of the era, the quartet's roots were in raw rural blues. When drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger find the pocket of Big Joe Williams' "Baby, Please Don't Go," they burrow deep. When Morrison reaches into his personal primordial ooze to appropriate Muddy Waters' hurt for "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man," you hear how The Doors' next steps were logical progressions of a blue-black start.
Minus any studio cleansing, these tunes are crackling gut-punch jazz-psychedelia shot through with Morrison's meaty croon.
Hot tracks: "Baby, Please Don't Go," "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man"
-- A.D. AMOROSI
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Style on 03/14/2017