POP/ROCK
Various artists, "Cities 97 Sampler: Live From Studio C Volume 26"
Cities 97 may be evolving into more of a Top 40 radio station but it hasn't abandoned its charity bonanza "Sampler" and its emphasis on the live singer-songwriter aspect. Among the 19 contributors are a few old Cities favorite artists (Ingrid Michaelson, Eric Hutchinson, Phillip Phillips) and a bunch of fresh faces. Ed Sheeran and ZZ Ward showcase their soulfulness on "Sing" and "Last Love Song," respectively. Delta Rae adds some gospelly soul on "Bottom of the River," and Michaelson's "Girls Chase Boys" and Aloe Blacc's "Wake Me Up" prove that great hooks work even when the music is stripped down. Birdy ("Skinny Love") and Mary Lambert ("Secrets") assert themselves as powerful singers with powerful messages.
Sadly, this "Sampler" doesn't show any love for Twin Cities artists unless you count Minnetonka-bred Zac Barnett, lead singer of Brooklyn-based American Authors.
"Volume 26," which is expected to raise $900,000 for various charities, will go on sale for $25.97 at 8 a.m. Thursday at Target stores in the Twin Cities. The previous 25 "Samplers" have generated more than $10 million for Minnesota charities.
Jon Bream, Star Tribune
Foo Fighters, "Sonic Highways" (Roswell/RCA)
Foo Fighters' eighth studio album arrives accompanied by what might be the most elaborate "making of" promotional video ever. That would be the accompanying eight-hour TV series on HBO. Each week in the Dave Grohl-directed documentary, the Foo frontman and bandmates visit a studio in a different American city. Grohl interviews historic music-makers — Buddy Guy in Chicago, Dolly Parton in Nashville, Ian MacKaye of Fugazi in Washington, D.C. — and the band records a new Foo Fighters song.
The thoroughly enjoyable TV series will do nothing to harm Grohl's reputation as the nicest guy in rock, and the thoroughly mediocre "Sonic Highways" album will do nothing to erase the impression that Grohl is a middling songwriter who gets by on undying enthusiasm, the occasional hard-to-resist hook, and one great self-titled album from 1995. Part of the problem is the ponderous concept: The genuine and likable Grohl wrote rocked-out songs like "Congregation," which features Zac Brown, and the ponderous "What Did I Do?/God As My Witness" by incorporating the words of his interview subjects into the lyrics. With few exceptions, such as the concise, bracing "In the Clear," the approach weighs down the songs with a burden of significance they cannot bear.
Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer
