‘Rebirth’ at its best when
J. Lo keeps it on dance floor

“Back to Me,” Kathleen Edwards
Sad sounds swell on “Back to Me,” Kathleen Edwards’ follow-up to a promising 2003 debut, “Failer.” Her droopy dirt-road alto is unadorned, like the countryside in her native Canada. Yet there’s a wonderful warmth to her songs, which search for the lessons coming from loss and disillusion.

“Pink Emerson Radio” marinates in melancholy, listing possessions Edwards lost in an apartment fire. She offers a dark dictum on another cut: “Good things come to those who stop looking.” And then there’s “In State,” inspired by a character reminiscent of the desperate, doomed criminal Edwards sang about in an earlier tune, “Six O’Clock News.” “Maybe 20 years in state will change your mind,” she tells him.

With her dusty delivery, Edwards sounds like a more-on-pitch Lucinda Williams, and shares the same eye for detail. She frames her tales with twangy, muscular accompaniment, and often doubles her vocals with sweet harmony — salve for songs of raw emotion.
— Steven Wine

“Amos Lee,” Amos Lee
On his debut album, singer-songwriter Amos Lee rarely raises his warm, husky voice, because there’s no need. His intimate delivery and lean, tasteful arrangements command attention even at modest volume.

If that sounds like Norah Jones — well, she plays on two cuts and invited Lee to open her European shows beginning last spring. Lee has a more soulful sound than his tour mate, but like Jones, he makes sure every note by every instrument counts.

The Philadelphia native, a former elementary school teacher, draws on ’70s influences ranging from Bill Withers to John Prine and shows terrific vocal dexterity whether he’s singing a ballad, funk or the blues. And he can turn a phrase as well as he sings one: “Every moral has a story,” he notes on “Dreamin’.”

Lee wrote all 11 songs, which clock in at a snappy 36 minutes. He finishes the final tune, “All My Friends,” in an enchanting near whisper, and the only problem with “Amos Lee” is that it ends too soon.
— Steven Wine

“Evil Or Divine,” Dio
In medieval times, people would gather ’round when the troubadour came to town, listening intently to lyrical tales of faraway places, mighty deeds and epic struggles. They still do today when this generation’s heavy metal troubadour, Ronnie James Dio comes to town. “Evil Or Divine,” a live album recorded at New York’s Roseland Ballroom on Dec. 13, 2002, finds Dio at his storytelling best, setting artful, imaginative, evocative lyrics to crunching guitar riffs and a thunderous rhythm section as he charges through a set spanning his three-decade career. It opens with “Killing The Dragon,” a medieval ode that can also be interpreted as a battle with heroin abuse. From there it’s on to a medley of “Egypt” and “Children Of The Sea,” one of his biggest hits with Black Sabbath in 1980.

Other Dio classics including the rapid-fire “Stand Up And Shout,” the metal mission statement “We Rock,” and two gems from his days with Rainbow, “Man On The Silver Mountain” and “Long Live Rock And Roll.” All sound as fresh as the day they were first recorded. His ultimate masterpiece, the majestic “Heaven And Hell” is unfortunately truncated here, perhaps to get this whole show to fit on a single disc, but in the future, not one precious second of this track should be cut.

Guitarist Doug Aldrich rips through each track with intensity, joined by longtime Rainbow bassist Jimmy Bain, former AC/DC drummer Simon Wright, and keyboardist Scott Warren. Yes, it’s only February, but this will undoubtedly be one of the best hard rock albums of 2005.
— Wayne Parry

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