Album Reviews: Lady Gaga, The Archives and Jason Wilber – Worcester Telegram

"Chromatica," Lady Gaga

In the 12 years since Lady Gaga dropped her first album, the singer has exceptionally shown that she knows how to create a killer album. "The Fame" was danceable and clever. "The Fame Monster" was an epic adventure into her darker mind. "Born This Way" brilliantly wove in elements of rock and house with her signature pop. Though she might have tripped over her disco ball on "ARTPOP," the album still had direction and character. And "Joanne" was a deep, emotional set of songs that paved the way for the sound of "A Star is Born," a flawless album that captures all the great sides of Gaga. Enter "Chromatica," her sixth studio effort, and her return to the electro dance-pop sound that made her a multiplatinum pop star. It's an album made for the clubs, though during this current pandemic, that's equivalent to dancing alone in front of your floor mirror. But instead of bopping along to the album, you'll want to social distance from it. "Chromatica" is a letdown from one of pop's best voices. The production, which is basic, is the album's biggest problem and the flat sound doesn't help bring the heavy themes of the album to life like Gaga has been able to do in the past. BloodPop works as lead producer, co-crafting most songs on the project. But other helpers are also part of the process, including Max Martin, Skrillex, Ryan Tedder, Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso, Justin Tranter, BURNS, Rami Yacoub and Tchami. Too many cooks in the kitchen could be the reason the album lacks real flavor. Where is the salt, or spark? "Alice," one of the better songs on the 16-track set, opens the album as Gaga sings, "My name isn't Alice/But I'll keep looking, I'll keep looking for Wonderland." Her search isn't over if "Chromatica" is any indication this feels like a watered-down version of the creative Gaga we all love. In an interview to promote the album, she explained that "Free Woman" was about her sexual assault and "Rain on Me" was partly about her overdrinking. The topics are real and at times, extremely heavy, and Gaga gets points for sharing her real-life feelings and experiences in her music. But the album's production doesn't serve as the best vessel for those deep emotions to breathe. And her vocal performance, surprisingly plain and unmemorable, doesn't help either. Sometimes it feels like Gaga isn't even present. Some of the lyrics feel lazy, too. On "Plastic Doll" she sings, "I've lived in a pink box so long/I am top shelf, they built me strong." Enter side-eye emoji here. Gaga fares better on tracks such as "Replay," or even "911" and "Babylon," though both songs sound like leftover tracks from "Born This Way." But most of "Chromatica" is problematic: First single "Stupid Love" is forgettable; "Enigma" is predictable; and the inclusion of the chart-topping Ariana Grande on the bouncy but super-mediocre "Rain on Me" screams, "I JUST WANT A NO. 1 HIT RIGHT NOW." Having little depth, the best way to describe "Chromatica" might be shallow. Mesfin Fekadu, The Associated Press

"Carry Me Home. A Reggae Tribute to Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson," The Archives

The Archives, a reggae band from Washington, D.C., pay an inspired tribute to the late, groundbreaking soul and jazz poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron and his collaborator Brian Jackson on songs from the 1970s that are still powerfully relevant today. Founded and led by keyboardist Darryl "Trane" Burke, who produced the album with Eric Hilton of Thievery Corporation, The Archives play at a very high level. With some notable guests, including Jackson himself, they've made a very fine album. The band's homebase is a connection Scott-Heron and Jackson lived in the city and the area for years and the reggae versions aren't a random stylistic choice either, as Scott-Heron's father was a Jamaican soccer player. Opener "Home Is Where the Hatred Is" is like a first-person update of John Prine's heartbreaking "Sam Stone." Instead of the addict's child lamenting the father's torment, the junkie himself tells the tale "Home is where I live inside my white powder dreams." Puma Ptah's vocals and a horn section both add degrees of drama. Scott-Heron's best-known composition, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," is stripped of most of its lengthy lyrics, a sensible choice as, for example, neither Spiro Agnew nor John Mitchell mean today what they did during the Nixon era and trying to update the references may have been an unnecessary step too far. "Who'll Pay Reparations on My Soul?" draws power from its harsh questions and all-too-familiar life story, while "Must Be Something" features Jackson as one of three vocalists, their singing the best part of a great arrangement. Raheem DeVaughn puts some very touching Marvin Gaye-like vocals on "A Toast to the People" and Jackson plays a Grandmother Moog on "Winter in America," another classic he co-wrote with Scott-Heron. "Carry Me Home" is a true labor of love that respectfully but bravely re-imagines a selection of great songs while placing a much-deserved spotlight on a pair of pioneers whose messages continue to ring too true. Pablo Gorondi, The Associated Press

"Time Traveler," Jason Wilber

Lucky man, Jason Wilber. For 24 years he traveled the world with a stage pass to every John Prine concert. Wilber was Prine's lead guitarist, and a terrific one at that. "Time Traveler" features the sideman doing his side gig as a singer-songwriter himself, and the album carries poignancy because of Prine's death last month at age 73 from coronavirus complications. The album's 12 songs don't really echo Prine, or the twang of Nashville. Wilber sounds more like a seasoned balladeer at a campus coffeehouse in, say, Bloomington, Indiana, which happens to be his hometown. The album was recorded there well before Prine's death, so it's a coincidence the songs are appropriately reflective and wistful, the tempos mostly mid, the arrangements intimate. Wilber simultaneously is releasing a four-song EP titled "Honey Bee," which has a bigger sound and even makes a late push into bouncy pop on "Free (The Singularity)." Wilber's plaintive tenor wears well throughout as he touches on a wide range of topics. He makes like Rocket Man on "Living In Space," gets the seasonal blues with "On Holidays," and considers the tangled web known as the internet on "Spider." "If We Were Free" seems especially pertinent to the present moment when Wilber sings, "Outside our walls a world burns." While Wilber goes solo, he doesn't solo much. For a better sample of his guitar skills, check out the 2010 set "John Prine: In Person & On Stage." Steven Wine, The Associated Press

Excerpt from:

Album Reviews: Lady Gaga, The Archives and Jason Wilber - Worcester Telegram