- Prince — "Welcome 2 America"
- Legacy Recordings
Anyone who feared that Prince's vault was filled with nothing but Billy Joel covers, as the satirical website The Onion joked shortly after his death, need not worry.
"Welcome 2 America" is the first complete, previously unreleased record to come out since Prince died in 2016. And it's a stunner.
Incredibly, "Welcome 2 America" manages to be as relevant, or maybe even more relevant, today than when it was recorded, and promptly shelved, in 2010. Most of the songs have been unheard until now.
Confronting themes of racial justice, equality, big tech and just what it means to be human, "Welcome 2 America" feels like the soundtrack for the years since Prince's untimely death. It's almost as if Prince knew "Welcome 2 America" would mean more in 2021 than it might have when first recorded.
From the first song and title track, which starts off with Prince bemoaning the power of the iPhone and Google, the tone of "Welcome 2 America" is made clear.
"Land of the free/home of the slave," Prince determines, and we're off.
Oh, and it rocks too, in the genre-defying way that defined Prince's career.
Just try not to get up and dance during "Hot Summer" or "1000 Light Years From Here." There is one cover on the record, but it's not from Billy Joel. Instead, Prince taps fellow Minneapolis musicians Soul Asylum, making the song "Stand Up and B Strong" sound like a Prince original.
But "Welcome 2 America" is also tinged with melancholy. As alive, relevant and fresh as Prince sounds, there's no escaping the fact that he's gone and the only reason we're hearing this now is because of that.
— Scott Bauer, The Associated Press
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- Dee Snider — "Leave a Scar"
- Napalm
This is not a Twisted Sister album, not by any measure.
The latest solo album from the band's frontman Dee Snider is harder, heavier and more steeped in new metal than anything the former MTV darlings did in the '80s.
Times and tastes change, and 2021 Dee Snider fully embraces today's metal scene, including the guttural growls of guest "vocalist" George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher that may be off-putting to old-school fans.
Snider's influences help shape his evolution here, including elements of late-'80s Alice Cooper and Accept, with heaping doses of Anthrax-like riffs and backing chants, particularly on "Down But Never Out."
He declares his mission early on in "I Gotta Rock (Again)" and when he says "I'm gonna rock until the day that I die," you'd best believe him. At 66, he is as ripped physically as a 20-year-old, and it is easy to imagine him onstage another two decades from now.
Snider takes dead aim at the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters on "Crying for Your Life," dripping with disdain for people who thought they could act with impunity. (He says the song also applies to anyone who refuses to own up to their actions.)
Most of this is fast-paced, relentlessly pounding metal, in notable contrast to the more melodic rock anthems he crafted for Twisted Sister. But then again, it's not 1984 anymore and like a shark, Snider is always moving forward.
— Wayne Parry, The Associated Press
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- Los Lobos — "Native Sons"
- New West
Considering the covers album "Native Sons" pays tribute to the music of a single city — Los Lobos' native Los Angeles — the set's breadth is breathtaking.
Familiar songs by Jackson Browne, Buffalo Springfield and the Beach Boys are interspersed with R&B and garage rock obscurities, along with nods to Los Lobos' many Latin influences. It's melting-pot pop and true Americana.
The adventurous song selections make the album a celebration of diversity, and a showcase for Los Lobos' marvelous versatility. Guitar solos by David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas soar, and both shine on lead vocals, while the group's harmonies shimmer, especially on the Beach Boys' "Sail On, Sailor."
On War's "The World Is a Ghetto," Los Lobos becomes a jam band. Other highlights include "Dichoso," a smoky Willie Bobo ballad; "Love Special Delivery," freewheeling '60s rock with a whole lot of drumming; and "Los Chucos Suaves," a dance number that mixes Spanish lyrics with a line about the "boogie woogie jitterbug."
The lone original tune is the title cut, a love song to Los Lobos' hometown that serves as the album's centerpiece. It's true roots music.
— Steven Wine, The Associated Press