Tli IE I3ILLI3OARI) 14 i VI i hooks. Instead of three or four NEED TO BREATHE EDDIE VEDDER KENNY "BABYFACE" JAMES BLUNT great potential singles, we get The Heat Music From the Motion EDMONDS All the Lost Souls one in "Here for the Party" and Producers: Need to Breathe, Picture Into the Wild Play list Producer: Tom Rothrock a bunch that try really hard but Rick Beato, Ed Roland Producers: Eddie Vedder, Producer: Kenny "Babyface" Custard/Atlantic ultimately fail to balance irony, Atlantic/Word Records Adam Kasper Edmonds Release Date: Sept. 18 nasty shredding and big cho- Release Date: Aug. 28 J Records Mercury larnpc Rhint ran tin a Int in Ipcc than ruses-no matter how much us ©Need to Breathe's Atlantic Release Date: Sept. 18 Release Date: Sept. 18 four minutes. Worldwide 2005 No. 1 "You're Beautiful" closet metalheads want them debut, "Daylight," was a In 1990, recent college 113 As one of R &B's most (3:33), a love song so plaintive that it worked for anyone to succeed. -WO gem filled with memorable, well - graduate Christopher successful producers, in any stage of infatuation, made the shaggy crooner a crafted songs and solid musi- McCandless cut off all con- Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds superstar. On this sophomore effort, Blunt doesn't SHOUT OUT LOUDS cianship, and this sophomore set tact with his family, donated has always been more inter- repeat the feat in a single song, but does something Our Ill Wills is another great rock album. all his money to charity and ested in soft sounds than in hot even better: He shows the abandon and confidence of a Producer: Bjorn Yttling Brothers Bo and Bear Rhinehart embarked on an epic cross - beats, and on "Playlist," the long-term artist, not just a one -hit wonder. Sounding like Merge have penned an impressive col- country journey that ended mostly- covers follow -up to John Mayer channeling Jeff Buckley in the middle of Release Date: Sept. 71 lection filled with grit and grace. with his death two years 2005's underrated "Grown & Abbey Road, each of Blunt's songs are infused with love, ©There's an implied "you These guys know how to write later in the Alaskan wilder- Sexy," he draws a line from his loss and confusion, but are rendered so elegantly that it can't go home again" thoughtful, literate lyrics with ness. His story was first told work back to the '70s -era lite- sounds like he's got everything figured out. He wraps his when Adam Olenius warns an ear-grabbing melodies, and Bear in a 1996 Jon Krakauer book rock hits that first inspired him head around mortality on "I'll Take Everything" (3:05), estranged lover "don't come has a compelling voice that and is about to hit the big to croon earnestly about the begs for a moment of relief on "Give Me Love" (3:36) back to Stockholm no more" breathes (pardon the pun) life screen in a Sean Penn - wonders of love and friendship. and declares his heartbreak on hit -to -be "I Really Want on Shout Out Louds' second into the material. Among the directed film with this Sonic sap threatens everything You" (3:29). There's not a misstep throughout. -KM album. That doesn't apply to album's many highlights are soundtrack from Pearl Jam's here, but Edmonds usually the Swedish quintet, however, "Restless," "We Could Run Eddie Vedder. The motiva- manages to stave off Hallmark which clearly draws strength Away" and "Streets of Gold." tions behind McCandless' ickiness with an ear -tickling de- Warner Bros. pounding piano and clocking from the Scandinavian home Word Records is distributing this journey may have been tail or two; dig the tasty Span- Release Date: Sept. 18 in at six -and -a -half minutes. base where it works with pro- set to Christian retail and tracks known only to him, but Ved- ish guitar on his version of Jim Lush and lovely, Knopf - "Ghost" swirls with feedback ducer Bjorn Yttling, who brings like the shimmering "Signatures der effectively conjures the Croce's "Time in a Bottle" or the ler's fifth solo record and a soaring chorus and "Pho- in his Peter Bjorn & John band - of the Divine (Yahweh)" should endless possibilities of the gorgeous backing vocals on his doesn't deviate from the for- nytown" is a driving rocker mate John Eriksson and, on further bolster the band's profile open road with sparse, never reading of James Taylor's mula set forth on his earlier ef- backed by a funky bassline. The many of these 12 tracks, a full there. But Need to Breathe morose, tracks akin to Pearl "Shower the People." One of forts, proving that he's taken album still boasts Rogue string section to add a kind of shouldn't be pigeonholed in any Jam's "Thumbing My Way" the disc's two originals, "Not the maxim "if it isn't broken, Wave's familiar lighter fare, lush power to the group's one market. Great songs, well - or "Elderly Woman." Espe- Going Nowhere," addresses don't fix it" to heart. Knopfler namely the summery hook of melodic drone. Such tracks as performed, need to be enjoyed cially appropriate are the in Ian- bit- Edmonds' recent divorce continues to craft lyrics that "Lake Michigan" and the lo-fi "Tonight I Have to Leave It," by everyone. -DEP tersweet "End of the Road," guage that's more honest than provide snapshots of simple, goodness of "Chicago X 12." "Hard Rain" and the particu- the primal "The Wolf" and you might expect. -MW small moments: a dance lesson "Fantasies" offers up Shins - larly nasty "You Are Dreaming" WORLD the finger -picked acoustic in a school gym on "Secondary esque "la la las," and the stir- evoke prime period Cure in TICKLAH instrumental "Tuolumne," ,J Waltz," an artist craving a new ring "Missed" is a heartbreak- their defiant celebration of Ticklah vs. Axelrod which mirror the long MARK KNOPFLER color for a painting on "Let It ing ballad, as frontman Zach heartbreak. Sunnier touches Producer: Ticklah stretches of McCandless' Kill to Get Crimson All Go." While Knopfler has Rogue sings, "I could will you include the sprightly African Easy Star quest that were made in Producers: Mark Knopfler, mostly moved away from the to stay but I guess you made guitar flavor of "South America," Release Date: Sept. 18 complete solitude.-JC Guy Fletcher, Chuck Ain/ay type of song he wrote while up your mind," before solemnly and "Normandie," which recalls ©Mixologist Ticklah (Vic- fronting Dire Straits, "Punish asking, "So, what's next ? " -JM PB &J's "Young Folks," without tor Axelrod) has been the Monkey" would not be out the whistling. -GG continued on »p74 REBA McENTIRE of place on the band's classic THE DONNAS Reba Duets album "Money for Nothing." Bitchin' Producers: Tony Brown, Reba There's really not a weak track Producers: The Donnas, KT TUNSTALL McEntire, Justin Timberlake, on "Kill to Get Crimson," mak- Jay Ruston Drastic Fantastic Dann Huff ing Knopfler one of those rare Purple Feather Records Producer: Steve Osbourne MCA Nashville artists who can deliver an al- Release Date: Sept. 18 Virgin Release Date: Sept. 78 bum from start to finish. -CH If it were 1987, "Bitchin' " Release Date: Sept. 18 McEntire teaming with everyone from Faith Hill to Don ROGUE WAVE wet dream. It'd be supported by the prospect of following up her platinum 2006 Henley to Justin Timberlake and Rascal Flatts. Asleep at Heaven's Gate with big- budget videos played debut, "Eye to the Telescope," it's certainly not audible Highlights include the stone country, longing -for- Producer: Roger Moutenot endlessly on "Headbanger's on the 11 tracks of "Drastic Fantastic." Tunstall crushes home "Does the Wind Still Blow in Oklahoma," which Brushfire Ball," and with it, the girls would the sophomore jinx under the stilleto heels of the white McEntire co -wrote with fellow Okie and duet partner Release Date: Sept. 18 score a key tour with Poison en boots she wears on the album cover, delivering a confi- Ronnie Dunn. The moving "Every Other Weekend," 113 Perhaps tired of existing route to their own headlining dent and assured set that's fuller and a touch more elec- with Kenny Chesney, speaks to the heartbreak of bro- in the shadow of the jaunt. It being 2007, the girls' tric than its predecessor. Tunstall sings at one point that ken families, while a duet with Henley on "Break Each Shins at Sub Pop, Rogue Wave awesomely ridiculous Sunset "there's no sense in traveling if we've already been that Other's Hearts Again" finds two former lovers hooking joins Jack Johnson's Brushfire Strip -era gang vocals and ham- way," and while "Drastic Fantastic" doesn't reinvent her up. First single "Because of You" pairs McEntire with label for its third and most am- mer on -laden soloing aren't ex- sound -the hand -clapping first single "Hold On" certain- Kelly Clarkson on the latter's hit, 2006 and "Everyday bitious release. "Asleep" is no- actly going to deliver them the ly harks back toward earlier hit "Suddenly I See " -it People" with Carole King is an uplifting testament to table for its beefed -up instru- keys to Madison Square Gar- does move things forward, charging out of the box with making a difference. The most unexpected cut is mentation and an overall den. While superbly recorded the buoyant "Little Favours" and thrusting a defiant, McEntire's intertwining with Timberlake on "The Only darker tone than its predeces- and at times a hoot to crank girl -power chin out on "Hopeless" and "I Don't Want Promise That Remains"; one could picture the pair sors.