B+ Charlie Puth
Voicenotes
Atlantic
The delay in the release of Charlie Puth's second album has been maddening. He already had a hit with one of the songs, "Attention," last summer. "How Long" came out this winter.
The 13-track Voicenotes is an astonishing collection of summer-perfect pop, crafted by a gifted songwriter with a butterfly falsetto and a knack for hooks. He named the album after the iPhone recording app he uses.
The songs mostly deal with youthful infatuation. He asks a lover to be understanding ("Patient"), suspects he's being cheated on ("How Long" and "Somebody Told Me"), tries to convince a girl he's mature enough ("Boy"), tells a girl to stop sweating him ("Slow It Down") and misses his long-distance squeeze ("LA Girls").
Puth invites others to his party -- and mimics their styles. He made the finger-snapping a capella "If You Leave Me Now" with Boyz II Men and a groovy, uplifting James Taylor-ish tune in "Change" that also features Taylor. Puth had a hand in writing all the songs and produced the album.
In the liner notes, he says they were crafted with the music software Pro Tools -- and empowers others: "Anyone that tells you that you can't make hit records and an album that you are proud of without expensive studios, gear, millions of dollars or even other producers, they are wrong."
Perhaps the only misstep is the last song, the piano-driven ballad "Through It All," a kind of grandiose mic drop that channels Frank Sinatra's "My Way."
Puth has a fantastic career ahead, but maybe this isn't quite the right time for his victory lap. He should have let the first 12 songs prove it.
Hot tracks: "Patient," "Somebody Told Me," "Change"
-- MARK KENNEDY
The Associated Press
B Sevendust
All I See Is War
Rise
Atlanta-based metal-heads Sevendust are back with their 12th studio album and it is filled with blistering hooks, driving grooves and infectious choruses, knitted together by Lajon Witherspoon's vocals and Morgan Rose's sharp tat-tat-tat drumming.
They have teamed up for the first time with producer Michael "Elvis" Baskette, and he has layered more production elements and allowed the group to explore softer terrain. It's another step in the band's movement toward a cleaner, polished sound.
Much of the new album could easily fit on a Foo Fighters' album, including "Not Original," "Descend" and "Life Deceives You," songs rooted in bluesy or progressive rock. Old-school fans of Sevendust have "God Bites His Tongue," "Cheers" and "Risen."
"Medicated," a song about deadening and dependency, showcases the merging of a super-tight band with powerful lyrics: "So numb all the time/How have we become so empty?" asks Witherspoon.
Other outstanding tracks are the first -- "Dirty," which includes a virtuoso solo by lead guitarist Clint Lowery -- and the last, "The Truth," both showcasing a band able to rage furiously one moment and then instantly switch to melodic.
Hot tracks: "Dirty," "The Truth," "Medicated"
-- MARK KENNEDY
The Associated Press
Style on 05/22/2018