Scott’s career an ‘Experience’

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Editor’s Note: In Sound Advice, the first Saturday of every month, veteran NEWS entertainment writer Dale McGarrigle reviews new rock, pop, alternative, country, folk or blues albums. Different NEWS writers contribute reviews from other musical genres.

“Experience: Jill Scott 826+” (Hidden Beach) – Jill Scott

No one is wondering “Who is Jill Scott?” not after her debut album of that name sold 2 million copies since its release in the summer of 2000. It’s been hard to miss the soul sister on TV or radio in recent months.

Her new, two-CD live album has something for old fans, and should earn her new followers as well. There’s revamped takes of “He Loves Me,” “Love Rain,” “Do You Remember,” “It’s Love” and “One is the Magic Number.” There’s also 10 new or unreleased cuts and her moving poem “The Thickness.” A lot of Scott comes through on her exchanges with the audiences between numbers as well.

What is it that sets Scott apart from other neo-soul newcomers? It’s that she’s got more than attitude. She’s got insight as well. She’s a poet first, and that comes through in her original compositions. She speaks honestly, and listeners respond to that.

“Experience,” executive-produced by her label head, Steve McKeever, and Jazzy Jeff Townes (Will Smith’s ex-partner), showed the many sides of Scott. She’s equally at home opening for rapper Common or former rocker Sting. She’s adept at soul or jazz, hip-hop or spoken word.

Who is Jill Scott? She’s different things to different people. But most of all, she’s true to herself, which shines through in her music. “Experience” shows that she’s got something to say, and that should help her to sustain this early career momentum.

“Playin’ with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues” (RPM Records/Columbia) – Tony Bennett

It’s clear from the title what to expect from Tony Bennett’s latest.

Ten performers – from yesteryear’s chart toppers to today’s – jam with the man himself in a toe-tapping, body-swaying, finger-snapping lineup of jazzy duets.

Bennett is completely at ease with Diana Krall on “Alright, Okay, You Win” and k.d. lang on “Keep the Faith, Baby.” The performances are the most playful, almost conversational, tracks, perhaps due to the fact that Bennett has toured with each over the last two years.

The signature flair of Stevie Wonder on harmonica and B.B. King on guitar puts the snap into their duets with Bennett on “Everyday (I Have the Blues)” and “Let the Good Times Roll.” Cooling things down are Ray Charles on “Evenin'” and Billy Joel on “New York State of Mind,” while distinctive vocals mark the performances of Bonnie Raitt on “I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues” and Natalie Cole on “Stormy Weather.”

The surprise duets come from Sheryl Crow on “Good Morning, Heartache” and Kay Starr on “Blue and Sentimental.” Crow, better known for her pop success on “All I Wanna Do” and “If It Makes You Happy,” wrings the sorrow from her offering, revealing a vocal side not heard in her hits.

Perhaps the sweetest pairing comes with Kay Starr, a jazz singer better known for her ’50s smashes “Rock and Roll Waltz” and “Wheel of Fortune.” Hers is a voice full of experience that blends well with Bennett’s gentle tones.

For his solo efforts, Bennett isn’t really alone: He’s still playing with his longtime friends in the Ralph Sharon Quartet. Their smooth sounds hum along with Bennett’s vocals on such songs as “Undecided Blues” and “Blues in the Night.”

The last – and title – track brings the gang together in a piece that may have you clapping along just for the fun of it. Although if it has taken until the 15th song for you to join in, then you haven’t been listening. – By Janine Pineo

“Thefakesoundofprogress” (Columbia) – Lostprophets

Historically the British have been pretty good at taking American music, playing around with it, turning it into something just different enough to be recognizable, but fantastically original, and often then selling it back to the Yanks. See what the Rolling Stones did to the blues, the Sex Pistols did to punk or what the Chemical Brothers did to house.

But then, sometimes, the music is appropriated, yet nothing new is brought to the table. See Bush with grunge, or now, see Lostprophets with nu-metal.

“Thefakesoundofprogress” is a frightening album, but not in the way it should be. It is scary because it takes a genre that should be horrifyingly exciting, and makes it sound about as thrilling as Bob Ross taking a nap.

Now I may not be the biggest fan of a genre that I always felt owed a little too much to The Young Gods or Ministry to be genuinely original, but at least Limp Bizkit, Slipknot or System of a Down have a certain charm about them – a charm that is entirely absent on this record.

So have these Welsh wannabes created a record that is entirely derivative bollocks? Not really, but it is definitely within howling distance.

There are moments when the band seems to forget itself – moments when it sounds like something interesting may be starting to develop. Check out the disco string references, morphing into a lazy funk-hop loop in “.. And she told me to leave.” Not bad, but it takes five minutes for the song to get there.

And then the ideas seem to run dry and that same, circular, grinding riff that we’ve all heard thousands of times, comes clunking back through with the opening of “Kobrakai.”

So while it says in the liner notes “6 bored kids = melody – aggression – emotion – energy – intelligence,” I’m tempted to counter that “tunelessness – laziness – mimicry – dumb riffing – lack of ideas = 1 bored reviewer.” – By Adam Corrigan

“Almeria Club” (Curb) – Hank Williams Jr.

This album allows ol’ Bocephus to explore some of his father’s musical history. He recorded the bulk of it at the Troy (Ala.) club in the title, where, legend has it, his parents escaped gunfire in 1947 after an irate lover went after his sweetie during Hank Sr.’s concert. He also recorded at the Shreveport (La.) Municipal Auditorium, which had been home to the “Louisiana Hayride,” the radio show that helped lift Hank Sr. to stardom.

“Almeria Club,” written entirely by Williams, is the expected mix of hard-core country, western swing and southern rock. Still, creating that sound is where Hank Jr. feels most comfortable, as such song titles as “X-Treme Country,” “Outdoor Livin’ Man” and “America Will Survive” attest, and is what he excels at.

Williams makes some interesting team-up choices on the album. He hooks up with his friend Kid Rock on “The ‘F’ Word,” a phrase the latter uses liberally in his music. Then he works with the choir of the Greater Pentecostal Temple in Kansas City on “Cross on the Highway,” his tribute to his friends Derrick Thomas and Mike Tellis, who were killed in a car accident.

“Almeria Club” doesn’t add a lot to Williams’ canon. Rather, it’s a project of love, a chance to remember the friends and relatives important to him.