Bell Orchestre
Recording a Tape the Colour of the Light
(Rough Trade)

A

Website: www.bellorchestre.com

Blackmore’s Night
The Village Lanterne
(SPV)

C



Website: www.spvusa.com

Who doesn’t secretly believe that the skills former Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore are starting to sound a little wasted performing Renaissance music with his trophy wife and a band of “merrie” minstrels? Granted, Blackmore’s Night wins some kind of traditional music prize for eschewing all the rock folderol and digging deeply into this olde-schoole muse. The guitarist is known for shedding old stylistic skin for new, and it seems that for now he should leave behind this Knights of the Round Table guise and move on down the line and record a damn blues album, at least. Small hope can be found in a track featuring past cohort Joe Lynn Turner husking his leathery pipes on Street of Dreams, albeit only after the lyrics have been whispered by the golden pipes of Mrs. Blackmore. Ritchie, we hardly knew ye.
Jeff Monk

The Charlatans UK
Simpatico
(Creole/Sanctuary)

A



Website: www.thecharlatans.net

‘Madchester,’ ‘baggy mod’ — how you label these still-vital Britpopsters is completely up to you. If you scrap the journalistic handles, close your eyes and just listen without prejudice you soon come to love the current incarnation of these former so-called saviours. From the top it’s apparent that honey-voiced Tim Burgess and crew have not lost an ounce of validity, and, in fact, Simpatico may well fly up into the Top 5 Charlatans discs of all time. By thickening up their pop smarts by not relying on constant hook repetition, this band proves — especially on tracks such as the superb For Your Entertainment and the reggae-fied Muddy Ground — that it has reached some kind of artistic high point. It’s only sweet pop music, but for the 45 or so minutes this disc is playing you may find yourself happily whisked away to planet Charlatan.
Jeff Monk

Dixie Chicks
Taking the Long Way
(Open Wide)

A



Website: www.dixiechicks.com

You have to respect the Chicks. Natalie Maines was the first artist to seriously question the validity of Dubya’s war, and the world came down on her like a ton of bricks with letters threatening her life. Since then, she’s grown strong in both her convictions and in herself. The first four songs (The Long Way Round, Easy Silence, Not Ready to Make Nice and Everyone Knows) are both powerful and vulnerable. Maines has clearly made a stand, and done it on her terms. This is one pissed-off chick, but also a woman who is older, wiser and more determined than ever to make a difference and be heard. Emily Robinson’s song Lubbock or Leave It is a sharp look at the Bible belt. There’s no sugar coating these messages — they’re refreshingly direct. Good on ya, girls.
Chris Brown

Treeful of Starling is an acoustic gypsy carnival of a record, with spitting harmonicas, wheezing squeeze boxes, sweeping violas, sprinkled piano and always Hawksley’s soaring vocal weaving around the melody. You Are too Beautiful is a radio-friendly song that expresses love, desire and loneliness, and there’s a 19th-century sensibility to many of the songs that makes them feel sad and melancholy. Lyrically the songs can be summed up in the quote on the interior cover: “Hymns for a dying planet and a culture in decay.” I prefer the electrified Hawksley over this folk one, but there are a few interesting tunes here, such as Good Bye to Radio, A Moth Is not a Butterfly and the aforementioned You Are too Beautiful.
Chris Brown

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something heavy as shit. That’s the philosophy of Shadows Fall on Fallout From the War, the follow-up to 2004’s The War Within. A collection of covers and leftovers, Fallout finds this quintet in fine form after a wickedly successful run at Ozzfest. Kicking out new American metal that divides its time between melodic aggression and Swedish violence, Shadows Fall uses the 11 tracks here to show why critics believe the band is poised to rise to the top of the modern metal heap. If songs such as In Effigy and Seize the Calm are any indication, a new full-length should indeed be a force to be reckoned with. That said, singer Brian Fair and his comrades do pretty well with material borrowed from Leeway, Only Living Witness and Dangerous Toys — but you won’t see this group playing The Zoo anytime soon.
Mike Warkentin

With her paisley-pink telecaster, Sue Foley has been blazing a trail for Canadian blueswomen for years. A staple at folk, blues and roots festivals each summer, Foley has been wowing blues fans with her guitar work. She has a sweet, light touch with flowing melodic lines that can weep and sting. Not the most memorable singer or songwriter, Foley gets by on her dedication and guitar chops. New Used Car is rather predictable, but there are some passionate guitar solos sprinkled about, and Foley certainly knows a few things about getting the right guitar tone for the song, as she can move from chirpy to swampy. The album jacket features Foley caught in car headlights, and it’s nice to see she dragged out her best 1986 halter top and hairdo for the shoot. Yikes… someone take this poor woman shopping!
Chris Brown

Not bad for a bunch of Christians. After making some noise in 2004 with They’re Only Chasing Safety, Underoath is back on the attack in 2006. For a little extra push the sextet enlisted the help of Killswitch Engage axeman Adam Dutkiewicz and noted big-name mixmaster Chris Lord-Alge. The result is a tight and polished disc of metalcore/heavy screamo that at times sounds a little like Winnipeg’s Comeback Kid (listen to You’re Ever So Inviting for an example). In fact, a lot of other bands come to mind when listening to this, and it’s when Underoath bags the formula (as on There Could Be Nothing After This and the downtempo Casting Such a Thin Shadow) that it shines. Define the Great Line is a very decent album, but it might get lost beside similar discs by CBK, Atreyu and As I Lay Dying.
Mike Warkentin