Doug Taylor

SweetbackStage (2) (Epic)The trio that’s backed up Sade for two decades forged this identity in 1996. Sweetback’s second album welcomes vocalists Aya, Chocolate Genius and Ivana Santilli into a sophisticated chill groove not far removed from the band’s main gig. The impulse to experiment is limited, but most compelling is a fusion of hits by […]

Ray DaviesOther People’s Lives(V2)Just when his urbane influence can be heard so clearly in the latest batch of UK bands, here comes Ray Davies with his first full studio album post-Kinks. He experienced renewal while living in New Orleans, and his characters and concerns are back, vivid as ever. The songs rock furtively, with the […]

Kasey ChambersCarnival(Warner)The spunk that made Chambers so captivating on her first couple of releases has morphed into an intense humility that could be faith. When she sings “Praise the Lord” on “Sign on the Door,” it feels more like general elation than shout-outs upstairs. It’s either a metaphor for personal devotion, or Chambers is being […]

Scott Miller & the CommonwealthReconstruction(Sugar Hill)We don’t hear too many crack Southern bands in these parts anymore. This live set is a taste of what we’re missing. Miller muses over the landscape (“Why does everything around me have to look the same” from “Amtrak Crescent”), sin, salvation, cars and cards. “Drunk All Around this Town” […]

Princess SuperstarMy Machine(!K7)If Princess Superstar seemed uncharacteristically quiet since her 2001 breakthrough, “Bad Babysitter,” the fruits of her focus have arrived. As her handle betrays an obsession with fame, My Machine is an opera of self-indictment that envisions her own desire taken to science fiction extremes. Backed by an army of “duplicants,” Superstar corners the […]

JobriathLonely Planet Boy(Attack)When such a huge 1970s flop turns up, you know the re-releasers were digging deep. Jobriath was an American knockoff of Ziggy Stardust-period Bowie, so gay it was part of the hype. (Morrissey, a fan, contributes the liner notes.) Jobriath’s singing can be described as caterwauling, but his songs and piano have a […]

Kinky Atlas(Nettwerk)If half the songs weren’t in Spanish and there wasn’t an extra Latin pizzazz in the rhythms, Kinky would still rock out. LA engineer Thom Russo enables the band to inject a harder, bassier drive into its second album. “The Headphon-ist” separates and lifts each son- ic element while pondering the shape of silence. […]

Roxanne PotvinThe Way it Feels(Alert)The album is not her debut, but it feels like a coming out party for the Gatineau gal, what with the guest cameos and the busiest guitarist/producer around, Colin Linden. John Hiatt harmonizes on the snappiest of her compositions, “A Love That’s Simple.” Daniel Lanois turns up on the ballad “La […]

Todd SniderThe Devil You Know(New Door/Universal)Snider creates the illusion of disengagement, that he might inhabit the life of the loser he no longer is. If you haven’t had to hang drywall for a tyrant or don’t see the relevance of President Bush’s frat-boy past—well, Snider has and does. His path to rock is through humour […]

VariousDevil’s Blues(True North)Eighteen songs about drinking, gambling, lust and jealousy, from 1949 to 1977, make up Devil’s Blues. A few names may be familiar, like Memphis Minnie and Otis Rush, but the set leans heavily towards obscure and nasty. Cash McCall doesn’t quite make it all the way to double-entendre delineating his desires on “Stoop […]

Todd Snider That Was Me 1994 – 1998(Hip-o)Snider is a Nashville smartass and charmer whose early work is due for a re-airing. This set picks the cream from the first three of his seven albums and will be a delight to recent converts. Comparisons to John Prine and Jerry Jeff Walker are apt, for both […]

Saint EtienneTales from Turnpike House(Savoy Jazz)Somewhere below cult status here despite being one of the most sophisticated, sexy bands in the UK for 15 years, Saint Etienne carry on danceably. The velvet voice of Sarah Cracknell is the first thing newcomers will notice. Without her, it could be mistaken for blokes with beats and a […]