Pat Spurgeon and the death of former bassist Evan Farrell.) Rogue Wave has always been a pop band, which is why it’s odd that this turn of events ends up feeling like a risky move. There isn’t as much room for subtlety in Permalight’s quest for the ultimate hook, which means fans need to prepare themselves for electro-pop, songs that sound indebted to “Hey Ya!” and Blur, and lyrics like “Turn the light / on tonight / permalight / say goodnight.” The new formula will undoubtedly freak out some folks not used to shaking it like a Polaroid picture, but those willing to give the whole package a chance will be rewarded with a robust disc that deftly balances mindless fun with mindful focus.

Fall Out Boy have become the kings of emo — without actually showing much emotion. Sure, they make all the signature emo moves: Singer Patrick Stump bellows cries of hurt, catalogs of grievances and confessions of inadequacy over guitars that hurtle toward big choruses. The group’s fourth album, Folie à Deux, begins in high-angst mode, with him crooning “I’m coming apart at the seams” over a funereal organ.

But behind the melodrama there is a smirk. In the galloping “Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes,” Stump sings about nervous breakdowns and detox stints before delivering a jokey self-critique: “Nobody wants to hear you sing about tragedy.” The title of “The (Shipped) Gold Standard” is an in-joke about record sales, and the chorus rises to winking couplet: “You can only blame your problems on the world for so long/Before it all becomes the same old song.” In Fall Out Boy’s world, tongue-in-cheek always trumps heart-on-sleeve.

That’s certainly the case on Folie à Deux, their most exuberantly cheeky release yet. It’s also their most rock-star-ish. The guest list boasts names that only an A-list band could corral, from emo homeboys (Gym Class Heroes’ Travis McCoy) to rappers (Lil Wayne, Pharrell) to eminences (Elvis Costello, Debbie Harry). The music suggests that Fall Out Boy, now firmly established as leading Gen Y rock torchbearers, are starting to think about their place in history. In “Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet,” Stump sings, “I don’t just want to be a footnote.” This heightened historical self-consciousness registers most strongly in the music itself, which mashes up the band’s staples — caffeine-injected punk pop and bursts of prog-rock pomp — with more old-school sounds: Beatlesque backing vocals in “America’s Suitehearts,” string-swathed soul balladeering in the glorious “What a Catch, Donnie.” Fall Out Boy began dabbling with R&B on 2007’s Infinity on High, and they further explore their funky side here: Stump is emerging as one of the world’s most unlikely blue-eyed-soul stars, breathing life into classic R&B chord progressions and flaunting his agile voice. (He seems determined to give Robin Thicke a run for the Best White Boy Falsetto prize.)

The musical mix on Folie à Deux suggests a band with an advanced case of ADD, ricocheting between genres and eras, tempos and time signatures, often several times in a given song. But there is monomaniacal focus in the lyrics of Pete Wentz, FOB’s bassist, pin-up and poet/jester. Wentz is, as always, hyperverbose and infatuated by puns. (The wordplay is sometimes not quite as clever as Wentz thinks: “The mad key’s tripping/Singing vows/Before we exchange smoke rings.”) Above all, Fall Out Boy remain obsessed with Fall Out Boy. “Throw your cameras in the air/And wave them like you just don’t care,” Stump bellows in “(Coffee’s for Closers).” Rock stars have been making records about rock stardom for decades, but few have had such fun singing about the absurdities, the narcissism — and, as the album title suggests, the follies — of a life lived in fame’s strobelit glare. “I don’t care what you think/As long as it’s about me,” sings Stump in “I Don’t Care,” adding what could be FOB’s credo, a summary of their trickster-ish approach to the emo game: “The best of us can find happiness in misery.”

• Click here to download full album

Australia’s Sick Puppies have been rapidly gaining buzz over the past decade, with their popularity getting bumped up a notch when they won the YouTube Video of the Year award back in 2006 (“All The Same,” otherwise known as the “Free Hugs” video). With their third studio album Tri-Polar, the band seems to be following in the footsteps of radio-friendly bands like Nickelback – and that’s not always such a good thing. Granted, frontman Shimon Moore has a grittier guitar tone than Chad Smith, but there are just too many times on Tri-Polar when the music sounds like a carbon copy of plenty of other radio-friendly bands out there.

The core songwriting is usually the source of frustration, particularly when it’s obvious that the musicians within the Sick Puppies are a talented bunch. Between Moore’s sonic guitar tones (often reminiscent of Billy Corgan’s style), the driving bass lines of Emma Anzai, and the solid rhythmic backing of Mark Goodwin, there is plenty of ear candy on the CD. The problem is that the choruses and verses aren’t always the most interesting. The power ballad “Maybe” has almost a Bon Jovi vibe at times, while “I Hate You” is simply a theme that has been done to death. The latter song isn’t even that aggressive in its approach, and something gets lost in the translation.

Tri-Polar isn’t completely void of creative moments, however. Many of Anzai’s best grooves figure prominently in song intros (“Should’ve Known Better,” “Riptide, “Master of the Universe”), often making those sections the highlight of the songs . You’re Going Down” (selected as WWE’s official theme for the WWE Extreme Rules event) features Moore using a lower vocal range and has a likable melody similar to “Blue Monday” by New Order. Moore goes the other direction in “Survive,” during which his falsetto keeps popping up at unusual times. The Sick Puppies have always been pretty good at throwing some unexpected turns your way, and Tri-Polar still does have a few pleasant surprises. // 7

• Lyrics and Singing:

While the music always feels a bit cookie cutter on Tri-Polar, the lyrics tend to be even more so. Between the predictable themes of “I Hate You” and “You’re Going Down” (which includes some lines about fists hitting faces and faces hitting the floor), it all seems a little tired. It’s very possible that Shimon Moore was using the record as a venting session, but you can still express anger in a bit more original way than what we’re hearing on the record. // 6

• Impression:

It seems that “White Balloons,” the big closing number, does tend to lean towards being more of an “epic” song. And although it’s totally different than anything else on the CD, it ends up being the most effective offering. Between the acoustic beginning, the alternating female vocals, and numerous transitions, it is hands-down the most engaging tune. While this style might not fit the radio-friendly format that the Sick Puppies seem to be fond of these days, hopefully a few more epic tunes will find their way back onto more of their records in the future.

It’s hard to take for granted the amazing tones from Moore and Anzai, who have a knack at finding the sweet spot in their sound. There are even some interesting tempo changes in songs like “In It For Life,” but the choruses tend to revert to the same old formula we’ve heard before. Moore has such a gift at the guitar, and he would be doing the band a favor by taking on a few more solos along the way. He goes in that direction briefly on a few songs, but those moments end too quickly.

What happened to the stripper-worshiping hedonism of hair metal, or even the lonely, monkish pose those messy ’90s grunge rockers struck? Daughtry and his boys are marriage maniacs. That’s what gives this band its pioneering edge, despite the utter predictability of its music.

Focusing on the drama of long-term relationships, Daughtry does something more radical than many more sonically adventurous (and fashionable) rock bands dare.

This doesn’t make “Leave This Town” anything but a familiar listen. This is by-the-numbers arena rock, played with muscular competence by a relatively young band showing off its chops by executing successful formulas.

That unwed drummer might be the best thing about Daughtry the band — Barnes is itchy enough to push forward anthems that might otherwise plod. Guitarist Josh Steely also has his moments, throwing in spicy little riffs. And there’s Daughtry’s voice, of course, an instrument cleaner and stronger than that of anybody else singing mainstream rock right now. Sometimes the notes he hits here are so open, you’d swear someone had invented a new audio processor just to generate it: Vibrato-Tune. But the mix on “Leave This Town,” by hit doctor Chris Lord-Alge, is so compressed that it’s tough to notice what each player is doing.

Because of this, though many of its songs surely will be radio staples for the next two years. “Leave This Town” might not make an impression on those not already inclined to love it, but Daughtry is still a major architect in mainstream rock, and his music is part of an important shift in the genre.

This Christian father of two is not the first rocker to tackle the subject of monogamy, but he could be the most focused on its ups and downs and the most passionate about its value. It’s one thing to offer to lay your lover down on a bed of roses, the way Jon Bon Jovi did; it’s another to write about how an argument can make you stalk off clutching your car keys and then come slinking back, or to assess a breakup with the level-headed words, “Don’t be surprised when we hate this tomorrow, God knows we tried to find an easier way.”

That song, “No Surprise” was co-written by Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger; but unlike that band, Daughtry never indulges in tongue-wagging lechery. When he does address new love, in “Supernatural,” it’s with a blushing hopefulness that would have suited a 1960s girl group (or the Jonas Brothers).

More often, Daughtry dwells on those downs — the misunderstandings, regrets, momentary straying and emotionally charged returns that make up a lifetime spent together. Most remarkable are the two songs he co-wrote with the talented pen-for-hire Brian Howes.

“Ghost of Me” vainly comforts a lover whose (possibly justified) doubts about the singer come out in her dreams. “What I Meant to Say” is anti-apology from a tongue-tied guy who can’t get the upper hand with his argumentative mate. Both focus on the kinds of real problems that actually wreck relationships, not on the fantasy realm of romance.

Daughtry might get more credit for his interesting perspective if he were a sharper writer on a line-by-line level. He’s prone to clichés, and to flowery phrases like “tonight the sunset means so much,” which work against his common-man persona. He could learn something from more grass-roots songwriters like Billy Bragg and John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats, who’ve been burrowing into the details of domestic life for years, in more literary settings. He can also learn from country music, which he reaches toward here with the not too original Vince Gill duet “Tennessee Line.”

But what’s important about Daughtry’s relationship rock is that it is rock, macho and cathartic. In recent years, the audience for this music has matured and expanded to include middle-aged PTA parents and the “nice” kids who would never have gone for the gender-bending, whiskey-swilling lifestyle with which the music was long associated.

Chris Daughtry and his mates are making rock that’s not just safe for this more sober crowd, but powerfully attuned to it. Dismiss him at your peril.

– Ann Powers

• Download Leave This Town – Daughtry

Unstoppable

Rascal Flatts have sold more than 18 million units with three consecutive albums hitting the #1 spot on the Billboard Top 200 chart. Their success has earned them numerous ACM, CMA and AMA Group Of The Year awards. So, when they optimistically title their album Unstoppable, you better believe it!
This is by far their best album ever. If you’re a fan of Rascal Flatts, you will totally love this album, if you weren’t a fan before you will be now.

Rascal Flatts – Unstoppable Track Listing

1. “Love Who You Love” – 3:36
2. “Here Comes Goodbye” – 4:04
3. “Close” – 3:48
4. “Forever” – 4:16
5. “She’d Be California” – 4:18
6. “Unstoppable” – 3:48
7. “Things That Matter” – 4:41
8. “Summer Nights” – 4:02
9. “Holdin’ On” – 4:25
10. “Once” – 3:49
11. “Why” – 4:55
12. “American Living” (JCPenney Bonus Track)

The first single, “Here Comes Goodbye“, was sent to radio on January 20, 2009 and reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in the issue dated April 25, 2009. The song was co-written by American Idol season 6 finalist Chris Sligh.
Three tracks were released as digital singles prior to the album’s release: “Forever“, “Love Who You Love” and “Things That Matter“, on March 17, 24, and 31, respectively.

Rascal Flatts will tour in support of the album on the Rascal Flatts American Living Unstoppable Tour, presented by department store chain JCPenney.

With Unstoppable, Gary, Joe Don and Jay release their most powerful and accessible album to date, taking their career and country music another large step forward. The trio is as proud of the project as they’ve ever been.

Album Information

Released April 7, 2009
Genre Country rock
Length 45:45 (without bonus track)
Label Lyric Street
Producer Dann Huff and Rascal Flatts

Download Unstoppable – Rascal Flatts

• Part one
• Bonus

Manson says of the new album, “I think my life definitely ended and began. The record sounds very final, but it’s almost optimistic – though that feels like a strange word to use. It’s a phoenix from the fire and a redemption resurrection.”

Marilyn Manson – The High End of Low Track Listing

1. “Devour” – 3:46
2. “Pretty As A Swastika” (censored for retail as “Pretty as a ($)”) – 2:45
3. “Leave a Scar” – 3:55
4. “Four Rusted Horses” – 5:00
5. “Arma-Goddamn-Motherfuckin-Geddon” – 3:39
6. “Blank and White” – 4:27
7. “Running to the Edge of the World” – 6:26
8. “I Want to Kill You Like They Do in the Movies” – 9:02
9. “WOW” – 4:55
10. “Wight Spider” – 5:33
11. “Unkillable Monster” – 3:44
12. “We’re from America” – 5:04
13. “I Have to Look Up Just to See Hell” – 4:12
14. “Into the Fire” – 5:15
15. “15″ – 4:21

Deluxe Edition bonus disc

1. “Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon” (Teddybears Remix) – 3:31
2. “Leave A Scar” (Alternate Version) – 4:02
3. “Running To The Edge Of The World” (Alternate Version) – 6:08
4. “Wight Spider” (Alternate Version) – 5:28
5. “Four Rusted Horses” (Opening Titles Version) – 5:02
6. “I Have To Look Up Just To See Hell” (Alternate Version) – 4:08

The album’s first radio single “Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon” was released on May 14, 2009.

‘The High End of Low’ debuted at #4 on Billboard 200 with 49,000 copies sold. Despite reaching a higher charting position than Manson’s last studio effort Eat Me, Drink me which debuted at number 8, it arrives with the lowest opening week sum of any of Manson’s albums since The Last Tour on Earth began with 26,000 in 1999.

The album as a whole is a triumph, with Manson also exploring his more introspective side. Twiggy has shown himself to be a great songwriter and he took over the guitar duties again with great results.
Manson is one of the few genuinely colorful rock-stars around and he has delivered yet another solid album to his impressive resume.
Manson will also kick off his world tour with a headline festival run this June in Europe.

Album Information

Released May 20, 2009
Recorded March 2008 – January 2009 in Hollywood, California
Genre Glam rock, Alternative rock, Industrial metal
Length 72:12 (Main CD), 28:25 (Bonus CD)
Label Interscope
Producer Sean Beavan, Marilyn Manson, Chris Vrenna

Download The High End of Low – Marilyn Manson

• part one
• part two

If that sounds absurd, guess again – the Rockford quartet at its best is a heavier, harder-hitting Midwestern Fab Four:  Robin Zander’s a vocalist as versatile as Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison rolled into one, Bun E. Carlos is a thundering update of Ringo Starr, Tom Petersson is an ultra-melodic guitarist masquerading as a bassist in the McCartney mold, and Rick Nielsen is a strafe-and-stun guitarist who suggests what the Beatles might’ve sounded like with a six-string terrorist like Jeff Beck or Pete Townshend in their lineup.

That’s high praise, but when Cheap Trick is good, they are very, very good, a quartet that has essentially remained intact since their early ‘70s inception. The problem is they’re maddeningly inconsistent on record. It’s possible to write off the middle section of their career as an inept attempt to keep up with the MTV times by welcoming in outside songwriters and heavy handed producers that diluted their mix of wicked wit and metallic pop.

But as independent artists, beginning with an unjustly overlooked 1997 self-titled release, the foursome has reclaimed its sound and legacy with a series of fine releases. “The Latest” (Cheap Trick Unlimited) is the best of that recent bunch, with producer Julian Raymond adding just a spritz of orchestration to a series of songs that balance the ornate and the violent, a pop album equally audacious and inviting. The band shows its range from the outset, with Zander’s glorious vocal intro, a ripping cover of Slade’s glam-rock gem “When the Lights are Out,” an opulent psychedelic pop ballad (“Miss Tomorrow”)  and then the fist-in-face “Sick Man of Europe,” with Petersson’s predatory bass leading the way.

The rest isn’t quite as riveting. The closing ballad, “Smile,” smacks of the  band’s wayward ‘80s, and some of the rockers are a bit bar-band rote. But it’s great to hear Carlos’ cymbal work drive “Alive” in between bursts of Nielsen guitar, and “Times of our Lives” is one of those kaleidoscope arrangements that  — like Cheap Trick itself – just keeps spinning out new colors.

greg@gregkot.com

• Download The Latest (Cheap Trick)

The songs here are incredibly random and feel sincerely like songs the band actually loves. Dando’s voice sounds older, wiser but still with that far-off sadness that made him such an icon for the disassociated pop crowd. Essentially The Lemonheads were an “indie” band long before anybody knew that would grow into some kind of sub-genre classification.

The music on Varshons ranges from still and quiet to full on rocking but never repetitive. The band moves out into enough tiny areas of experimentation to keep each song different. For instance the disco enhanced cover of Arling And Cameron’s “Dirty Robot” featuring Kate Moss. It doesn’t sound cool but it really is.

The band also attempts to Lemonhead-ize some real doozies on Varshons. Try and imagine a slow and sensitive version of a GG Allen song (Layin’ Up With Linda) or an even more heart breaking version of a Leonard Cohen jam (Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye) and you start to get the idea of how cool Varshons is. I was also really impressed with the obscurity of some of the selections. No band covering Fuckemos, Sam Gopal, Randy Alvey & Green Fuz is looking to make out with the top 40 set. The Lemonheads also do a cover of Waiting Around To Die by Towne Van Zant. This is one of the most crushingly wonderful songs ever written and Dando maintains that while making the song his own.

I’ve always been a Lemonheads fan and I’ve long felt they were robbed of their rightful place in the pantheon of pop greats. Along with bands like Jellyfish, The Krays and Urge Overkill, The Lemonheads wrote brilliant pop gems that were lost in the shuffle of noisier but much less talented bands. Varshons is clearly The Lemondheads’ announcement that they are not only back but also still marching to the beat of their own drummer. This album is so strong I can’t wait to hear the original work The Lemonheads do next.

Songs in this album:

1. Beautiful Lyrics
2. Dandelion Seeds Lyrics
3. Dirty Robot Lyrics
4. Fragile Lyrics
5. Green Fuz Lyrics
6. Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye Lyrics
7. I Just Can t Take It Anymore Lyrics
8. Layin Up With Linda Lyrics
9. New Mexico Lyrics
10. Waiting Around To Die Lyrics
11. Yesterlove Lyrics

Download (Only for review. If you like it, please buy legally)

• Varshons -Lemonhead

With its urgent hooks and surging sincerity, cradlesong is recognizably Thomas’ work, right down to its lower-case typography, but with the assistance of longtime producer Matt Serletic he’s tweaked the formula of his 2005 solo debut Something to Be in judicious ways, using his worldbeat inflections as an underpinning instead of flair, something that ties the album together even when it lends the album a self-conscious sobriety that’s a bit oppressive, despite Thomas’ enveloping hooks.

Still, those hooks go a long way toward opening up a somewhat hermetically sealed album, a record built on careful details in its productions and lyrics, a record constructed with discipline and eager to be taken seriously. This dogged sense of purpose does result in a tighter, better record than Something to Be and even it’s not a lot of fun, it’s not meant to be: it’s big music about big issues, even inflating personal issues to the universal. If it seems somewhat out of step with its year, that almost makes Thomas’ somber, determined craft admirable — he’s doing this not because it’ll give him a hit but because he believes in it.

Songs in this album:

1. Cradlesong Lyrics
2. Fire On The Mountain Lyrics
3. Gasoline Lyrics
4. Getting Late Lyrics
5. Give Me The Meltdown Lyrics
6. Hard On You Lyrics
7. Her Diamonds Lyrics
8. Mockingbird Lyrics
9. Natural Lyrics
10. Real World ‘09 Lyrics
11. Snowblind Lyrics
12. Someday Lyrics
13. Still Aint Over You Lyrics
14. Wonderful Lyrics

Download (Only for review. If you like it, please buy legally)

• part one
• part two