A Gary Clark Jr.
This Land
Warner Bros.
Gary Clark Jr.'s virtuoso blues guitar playing has been impressive for years, almost at the expense of the songs on his previous albums.
However, on his new album This Land, Clark makes an artistic quantum leap, writing potent songs that are even more powerful than his fiery solos. And Clark manages this in a variety of styles, ranging from the blues he is known for to new experiments in reggae, hip-hop and even punk, as well as several soulful numbers featuring Prince-ly falsettos. It's a career-making album that will introduce Clark to all sorts of new music fans.
This Land's bold title track sets the tone for the new Clark era -- a racially charged protest song inspired by one of Clark's neighbors not believing that he owned his 50-acre farm outside Austin, Texas. He uses the personal affront as the jumping-off point for a far more universal declaration -- "I'm America's son, this is where I come from ... This land is mine." The music of This Land is as pointed as the lyrics, with its snarling guitars and aggressive drumbeats.
Clark recognizes that maintaining that kind of intensity would be exhausting, so he tosses in some gorgeous breaks, like the Prince-inspired "Pearl Cadillac," delivered in a sexy falsetto call-and-response with his guitar playing that is just as memorable as his rage in "This Land." The Ramones-driven punk of "Gotta Get Into Something" is another welcome change of pace, as is the sparkling soul of "Don't Wait 'Til Tomorrow," which spikes what could be a John Legend ballad with raucous funk guitar.
That's not to say that Clark has abandoned his blues roots -- as the instant-classic "Dirty Dishes Blues" shows -- but "This Land" shows that he has so much more to offer than anyone ever expected.
Hot tracks: "This Land," "Pearl Cadillac," "Don't Wait 'Til Tomorrow," "Dirty Dishes Blues"
-- GLENN GAMBOA
Newsday (TNS)
B+ Chaka Khan
Hello Happiness
Diary/Island
With just seven songs in 28 minutes, Chaka Khan's Hello Happiness is a little bundle of joy. But don't feel shortchanged.
Consider it a corrective to all those overlong, overblown sets of incessant sonic doodles and listen up as Khan makes her feelings and intentions clear from the start: "Music makes me say/Goodbye sadness/Hello happiness."
The title track is a good sampler for the rest of the record -- deep grooves, dance floor beats and Khan's excellent voice, which, even decades since her days with funksters Rufus and a dozen years after her last solo release, has not lost the ability to create its own flow while forming a tight connection to each song.
The production from Switch and Sarah Ruba Taylor applies just the right amount of now sounds to classic disco and funk structures, with some space judiciously reserved for rapturous reggae on "Isn't That Enough" and a gliding acoustic guitar on cozy "Ladylike."
Elsewhere, the scalding, exuberant "Too Hot" isn't shy to describe the kind of man who'll earn a swipe right, and "Like Sugar" features Khan on timbales and is based on the Fatback Band's "Do the Bus Stop."
Chaka Khan has found some contentment and Hello Happiness is gratifying proof.
Hot tracks: "Isn't That Enough," "Too Hot," "Like Sugar"
-- PABLO GORONDI
The Associated Press
C+ Various Artists
Music Inspired by the Film Roma
Columbia
Give this album of music with songs by Beck, Patti Smith, Jessie Reyez, T-Bone Burnett, and fast-rising star Billie Eilish major points for truth in titling. It truly is "inspired by" Alfonso Cuaron's Oscar-winning paean to 1970s Mexico City: Not a single song is actually heard in the movie. (There's also a traditional Roma soundtrack of music that is actually heard in Cuaron's film, from '70s Mexican singers Juan Gabriel and Leo Dan to Yvonne Elliman's "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar.)
But this album takes another tack, with the director inviting favorite artists to use his movie as a muse. The results are mixed: Beck's orchestral cover of 1980s Brit band Colourbox's "Tarantula" is pretty enough; Smith's remake of her 1996 song "Wing" feels stately and profound. And Eilish's spooky "When I Was Older" and Unkle featuring Michael Kiwanuka's prayer-like "On My Knees" are highlights.
The problem is the best songs have a poetic quality without making salient connections to the film, while others, like "Psycho" by Bu Cuaron (the director's daughter) and Ibeyi's "Cleo Who Takes Care of You," strive too hard to be specific. There is a bonus: The dulcet bark of the movie's scene-stealing dog, Borras, is heard in Ciudad de Mexico's opening "Tepeji 21" and Sonido Gallo Negro's delightful "Cumbia del Borras."
Hot tracks: "Wing," "When I Was Older," "Cumbia del Borras"
-- DAN DELUCA
The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)
Style on 03/05/2019