‘American Idiot’ a
refreshing tale of the times

SOUND BITES: Audio reviews

updated 2:38 p.m. ET Sept. 23, 2004

Green Day tells the story of the "American Idiot", Keith Urban comes back strong with "Be Here", John Fogerty goes retro and former "Cosby Show" kid Raven-Symone proclaims "This Is My Time" in this week's new releases.

“American Idiot,” Green Day
Green Day’s “American Idiot” is not a rock opera for the ages. But it is refreshing for this age.

In what is one of the most creative efforts in rock music this year, Green Day has come up with a political and social statement about the death of the American dream, and weaved it together in a 13 song track. It’s an album that returns rock music to a time where making a statement — politically or otherwise — was as important as generating a hit.

The album follows the year in the life of a character named “Jesus of Suburbia,” which is the second song — complete with a five-part suite. The album, following a street ode of sorts, also has characters named “Whatsername” and “St. Jimmy.” Although the songs are tied together, most stand well on their own.

The title track, “American Idiot,” is typical Green Day with its smashing drums, ear-shattering guitar and in-your-face lyrics: “Don’t want to be an American Idiot/Don’t want a nation under the new mania/Can you hear the sound of hysteria?” Needless to say, it’s also the album’s first single.

But for every “American Idiot” moment (and there are a handful — from “Give Me Novacaine” to “Letterbomb”), the album offers something different, such as the ballads “Are We the Waiting” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends.”

The other big undertaking on the album is the nine-minute epic “Homecoming,” another five-part song, that is big musically and complicated lyrically. It may be a risk to have two such numbers on an album. But like most of the album, it strangely works.

So the only question remaining for Green Day: When does the live production — a la The Who’s “Tommy” — hit theaters?
— Chelsea J. Carter

“Be Here,” Keith Urban
Keith Urban’s new album, “Be Here,” is facing stiff competition — from his last album. Although “Golden Road” was released in 2002 and went double platinum, it’s still a best-seller on the country charts.

But fans may finally be able to make a detour from “Golden Road” with “Be Here,” an even better album.

Urban, who wrote or co-wrote a majority of the 13 tracks, sounds more confident on this album, resulting in a deliver that’s jaunty for up-tempo songs and intimate for the ballads. Then there’s Urban’s virtuosity on anything with strings and a pick.

The CD follows the path of a second-date conversation; mostly lighthearted, but with a few personal insights.

He leads off with two feel-good songs including “Days Go By,” a Celtic-tinged rocker that’s already hit No. 1 on Billboard’s country chart.

The tender Rodney Crowell ballad “Making Memories of Us” showcases Urban at his romantic best.

Urban’s banjo-bouncy tunes turn insightful on “Tonight I Wanna Cry,” where he warbles: “But I’m just drunk enough to let go of my pain/To hell with my pride, let it fall like rain/From my eyes.”

“Nobody Drinks Alone” is equally somber: “Every demon, every ghost/From your past/And every memory you’ve held back/Follows you home/No one drinks alone.” The song climaxes in a soaring minute-and-a-half of Urban on guitar.

Throw in a wonderful cover of the generation-old Elton John-Bernie Taupin tune “Country Comfort” and you have a highly varied and totally listenable collection to accompany any mood you’re in.
— Tom Gardner

“Deja Vu All Over Again,” John Fogerty
The title cut of John Fogerty’s new album is a moving anti-war song reminiscent of his masterpieces “Who’ll Stop The Rain” and “Fortunate Son,” which he wrote and recorded with Creedence Clearwater Revival during the Vietnam War.

“Deja Vu All Over Again” — a phrase credited to Yogi Berra — actually describes all 10 cuts on Fogerty’s first studio album since 1997. Any of the songs would fit neatly on a CCR record, and several rival his best work.

“I Will Walk With You,” flavored with bluegrass instrumentation, is a sweet pledge of devotion to Fogerty’s young daughter. An acoustic approach also works on “Honey Do,” “Rhubarb Pie” and “Sugar-Sugar (In My Life),” each as lighthearted as the titles suggest. The rockers are less engaging, although Mark Knopfler’s lead guitar lifts “Nobody’s Here Anymore.”

The title cut is the biggest throwback, and that’s the point: Fogerty asks how can his country can become involved in another “war that has no end.” He poses the question in sorrow rather than rage above a chugging rhythm, the bass line cleverly echoing one of CCR’s hits, and suddenly it seems like 1971.
— Steven Wine

“This is My Time,” Raven-Symone
Like many 18-year-olds, Raven-Symone is obsessed with love. Songs on her third but more grown-up outing include “What is Love” and “Overloved.” And during “Set Me Free,” the Disney Channel star reveals, “I can love you if you set me free.”

Raven, we get it. You love love.

“This is My Time” is an eclectic blend of pop with R&B beats and a few tween-friendly rock tracks for good measure. The CD borders on Britney territory, but Raven successfully makes it her own with the help of behind-the-scenes contributors like Tricky and Diane Warren. There’s even a few surprises.

The quirky synth-filled “Just Fly Away” is reminiscent of classic Pointer Sisters. “Typical” is an anthem Ashlee Simpson-loving teens will take to heart. And Raven’s cover of “Grazing in the Grass” is pure fun.

Lyrically, “Time” is filled with tired cliches and bad metaphors, which isn’t shocking considering the former “Cosby Show” actress co-wrote five songs on the 13-track disc. Not overwhelmingly deep, the lyrics only become engaging when Raven lets loose. During “Life is Beautiful,” she manages to turn grabbing a chalupa into a rollicking affair. “We can dance on some chairs with some cute millionaires or on the tables of your local Taco Bell,” Raven raps.

While there’s a few things to hate about “Time,” the perky Raven’s catchy tunes can’t help but be loved — or at least stuck in your head in the next day.
— Derrik J. Lang

“Peace ... Back by Popular Demand,” Keb’ Mo’
When Bob Dylan uttered the lyrics “the times, they are a-changin”’ so many years ago, they became ingrained in American music’s pantheon, as a skinny kid from Minnesota sang in response to daily news of deaths in a faraway land.

Sound familiar? It does to Keb’ Mo’, whose style of country-oriented blues harkens back to legends like Robert Johnson, but deftly blends R&B and clarity into it.

The 52-year-old musician gathered nine protest standards from the 1960s and 1970s, updating them for contemporary times and adding his mellifluous standards, to draw attention to the lack of peace worldwide.

The nearly 40-minute “Peace ... Back by Popular Demand” features covers of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changing,” and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Happening, Brother?” among others.

All are laid-back interpretations, mostly true to the original form, but slightly tweaked with a lyric changed here and there. More importantly, all of them resonate with earnestness and a sincere desire to bring people together, despite their political leanings.

It’s an ambitious effort for any artist and Keb’ Mo’, nee Kevin Moore, pulls it off.

The songs are catchy and the music is his trademark fashion. Hearing him use a country-tinged, gospel-inspired intro to “(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” — the song made famous by Elvis Costello and the Attractions — gives it deeper meaning and impact.

And that’s what this album is designed to do.
— Matt Moore

“Rebel Soul Music,” Martin Luther
Like the civil rights leader he’s named after, newcomer Martin Luther wants to spark a revolution. But instead of leading a march on Washington, the singer-songwriter (along with like-minded hipsters including Van Hunt, Saul Williams, and his tour mate Cody Chestnutt) is at the forefront of a new rock and soul music movement. Armed with an electric guitar, a raspy, falsetto-prone tenor that recalls Lenny Kravitz and Sly Stone, and a colorful collection of 14 songs, Luther embarks on his Rebel Soul Music mission.

Unlike its neo-soul counterpart, Luther’s rebel-soul — first heard on his overlooked 2000 debut “The Calling” — is inspired as much by Prince and Jimi Hendrix as it is by Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. Luther, a member of the Roots’ alt-hop extended family, convincingly rocks out on head-nodding selections like the guitar-fueled “Sleep Walking” and the frenetic, punk-funk title track. Yet, the disc’s strongest cuts are ambient, lounge-ready tracks that reveal the charismatic singer’s softer side, like the ska-accented “Daily Bread,” the Prince-ly “Truth or Dare,” and the Curtis Mayfield-reminiscent “Rise.”

Lyrically, Luther waxes poetic about an array of topics, from the gentrification of his native San Francisco neighborhood (“No Place Like Home”), to a volatile romance (“The I.R.S.”), and the plight of Black artists in America (“Ms. America”).

On that latter, gospel-informed track, Luther muses: “You see, the future of our musical legacy is at stake.” But thanks to visionaries like Luther, the future of soul music actually looks brighter than ever.
— Tracy E. Hopkins

“Street Knowledge,” Cornel West
Cornel West, the author and Princeton University African-American studies professor, probably knows his fledgling rap career won’t reach the heights of a Jay-Z or Nelly — for that matter, even often overlooked Talib Kweli.

So his sophomore release, “Street Knowledge” should be looked at as an extension of his popular lectures. The double CD is a series of spoken word pieces set to R&B, funk and hip-hop. Most of the music, though not spectacular, is not bad, despite bland sound quality.

West, who speaks frequently on the American sociopolitical landscape and specifically on black America, conveys the same message he gives to audiences on the lecture circuit on “Street Knowledge.”

But as far as a musical offering, those messages are left better conveyed by conscious hip- hop artists like Kweli and Mos Def. Whereas the points on the album are well taken, the delivery is off — it’s clear West is best behind a podium and not in a recording studio.

Several of the tracks were imported from West’s debut work “Sketches of My Culture” in hopes that those who missed them on the first album would hear them on the second. Still, to his credit, West assembles an impressive group of cameos for the new material on album.

On “Keeping it PI,” Atlanta’s Killa Mike goes from crunk to collegiate to add freestyle vocals to the track. And the album’s most interesting track is “The N Word, Part 2” in which West brings in talk show host Tavis Smiley and author and fellow lecturer Michael Eric Dyson. Through talking, not rapping, they dissect the ethnic slur that has astonishingly entered a fourth century of debate and overuse.

Still, the most listener-friendly piece is the guitar-flavored “Everything’s Going To Be Alright.” It is not a far throw from some of the motivational speeches of Rev. Jesse Jackson or Malcolm X.
— Madison J. Gray

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