Florence & The Machine - MTV Unplugged CD

MTV Unplugged buy CD music Adele's 2009 debut album, 19, was a Grammy-winning smash hit that revealed the British singer/songwriter's knack for bittersweet soul and folk-infused love songs that brought to mind an infectious mix of Dusty Springfield and Terry Callier. The album earned her a ton of fans, and interest was high for the inevitable follow-up. In many ways, her sophomore album, the similarly age-appropriate-titled 21, is a continuation of the sounds and themes Adele was working with on 19. She is still the bluesy pop diva with a singer/songwriter's soul and seemingly bottomless capacity for heartbreak. The best thing the album does is to showcase Adele's titanic vocal ability, which -- more than a few times on 21 -- is simply spine-tingling. Last time around we got the gauzy, Callier-esque folk-soul ballad "Daydreamer" to slowly draw us into the album; here, Adele immediately injects us with the propulsive gospel fever-blues anthem "Rolling in the Deep." While the track certainly owes a heavy debt to the punk-blues of Beth Ditto and the Gossip, it is also ridiculously sexy and one of the best singles of any decade. Elsewhere, we get tracks like the blues-inflected Ryan Tedder co-write "Rumour Has It" and the old-school-style soul cut "He Won't Go," which are terrifically catchy, booty-shaking numbers and exactly the kind of songs you want and expect from Adele. Similarly enthralling is the centerpiece of the album, the mega-ballad showstopper "Take It All." Co-written by her "Chasing Pavements" partner Francis White, the song begins with Adele proclaiming "Didn't I give it all?" Delivered starkly at first with Adele set against simple piano accompaniment and later backed by a gospel choir, it's an instant-classic sort of song in the tradition of "The Rose," "And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going," and "All by Myself" that could stand over the years as a career landmark for the singer and a cathartic moment for fans who identify with their idol's Pyrrhic lovelorn persona. Ultimately, Adele does give us her all on 21, and for now that is enough. ~ Matt Collar Editor: Dana Nielsen. Photographer: Lauren Dukoff. Personnel: Adele (vocals). Recording information: AirStudios, London, England; Angel Studios, London, England; Eastcote Studios, London, England; Harmony Studios, West Hollywood, CA; metropolis Studios, London, England; Myaudiotonic Studios, London, England; Patriot Studios, Denver, CO; Serenity Sound, Hollywood, CA; Shangri La Studios, Malibu, CA; Sphere Studios, London, England; Wendyhouse Productions, London, England.

MTV Unplugged album for sale Revelator is the debut studio album from the 11-piece Tedeschi-Trucks Band, who already have a reputation as a wildly exciting live jam group. That said, the record that Susan Tedeschi and husband Derek Trucks have recorded proves something beyond their well-founded reputation as a live unit: that they can write, perform, and produce great songs that capture the authentic, emotional fire and original arrangements that so many modern blues and roots recordings lack. The duo forged their two individual solo bands (Trucks remains with the Allman Brothers Band) and added some other players. Oteil and Kofi Burbridge and Mike Mattison, as well as drummers Tyler Greenwell and J.J. Johnson are on board, as well as backing vocalists and a horn section. Produced by Trucks and Jim Scott, these 12 songs seamlessly meld blues, rock, Southern soul, gospel, and funk traditions into a heady, seductive, spine-slipping stew. The record also showcases Tedeschi as one of the finest vocal stylists in roots music, and Trucks, has become the only true heir of Duane Allman's bell-like slide guitar tone, his taste and restraint. More than this, Revelator offers proof that this pair and their bandmates are serious songwriters as well as players--anyone remember the original Little Feat? It's like that, but with a woman up front. While the single, "Midnight in Harlem," highlights the softer,side of the band with Tedeschi's soulful croon and Trucks' swooning slide, it's the harder numbers that fill out the story. The sexy opener "Come See About Me," the bluesy, gospelized "Don't Let Me Slide" (one of two cuts written by Trucks and Tedeschi with Jayhawk Gary Louris), the second-line funk-blues of "Bound for Glory" with its punchy horns; all of these offer evidence of the real depth that this band abundantly possesses. There's the skittering, slow-tempo guitar and B-3 soul-blues of "Simple Things," and the New Orleans-style horns introducing "Until You Remember," which can distract the listener for a moment from experiencing these songs for what they are-- until Tedeschi opens her mouth and lets the lyrics come up from her belly and drip from her lips and Trucks matches her emotion in his solo-- love songs; the likes of which we haven't heard since Delaney & Bonnie. The Eastern modal tinge in Trucks' playing and tablas dustinguishes "These Walls," tempered by the quiet conviction in the grain of Tedeschi's vocal would have made for a better single. The nasty, funky, Hendrixian droning blues of "Learn How to Love" is textured by Kofi's funky clavinet and Wurlitzer. Speaking of funk, Tedeschi takes her own smoking guitar break in "Love Has Something Else to Say," a slamming, break-ridden funk tune that quakes. It combines hard Southern Stax-styled rhythm, soul, blues, and nasty-ass rock. Revelator is a roots record that sets a modern standard even as it draws its inspiration from the past. It's got everything a listener could want: grit, groove, raw, spiritual emotion, and expert-level musical truth. ~ Thom Jurek Recording information: Plyrz Studios; Rong-Tai Studio; Studio P, Sausalito, CA; Swamp Raga Studios, Jacksonville, FL. Photographers: James Minchin; Jessica Shouse. Personnel: J.J. Johnson (drums). Audio Mixer: Jim Scott .

MTV Unplugged CD music The Tedeschi Trucks Band is an 11-piece ensemble made up of guitarist-vocalist Susan Tedeschi's and guitarist Derek Trucks' individual bands. They made their debut with 2011's Grammy-winning Revelator, a sprawling collection that showcased funky R&B, gospel, blues, and scorching large band rock. Everybody's Talkin', a double disc, is a live offering from that supporting tour. Produced by Trucks, it includes live versions of some album tracks and six beautifully chosen covers; all its tunes are given extended, imaginatively arranged treatments. It's an unusual live record because its balance of sonic precision and stage-born kinetics is perfect -- this band transitions seamlessly between R&B, blues, rock, gospel, and jazz. These performances never succumb to mere jam band clichés. On disc one, "Midnight in Harlem" is introduced by a mini raga played as a slide solo by Trucks. The band enters gradually, and Tedeschi's soulful vocal carries them all the way in. (Tedeschi is revealed, song after song -- far beyond her solo records or even Revelator -- to be among the truly great singers in modern blues and rock; by turns graceful and grainy, her expression reaches the spiritual in execution.) At over 11 minutes, the interplay between guitarists, Mike Mattison's backing vocals, keyboards, and rhythm section are impeccable. Things get rowdier on "Learn How to Love," with nasty guitar work by Tedeschi, and a burning tenor sax solo by Kebbi Williams. The horn section really pops in "Bound for Glory"; the exchange between the Burbridge brothers on bass and keys, with drummers Tyler Greenwell and J.J. Johnson, adds a knotty improv bridge where deep funk and blues grind together. The disc closes with an astonishing reading of John Sebastian's "Darlin" Be Home Soon." With horns tastefully accenting and underscoring lead vocals, Trucks' slide solo stays melodically true, yet moves through the band's shimmering groove into the stratosphere (and he does this throughout this album, over and over again, helping to elevate not only the tune, but the sense of groove, space, and texture). Disc two contains only four cuts but they're all gems: Pearl Woods' "That Did It" (a Bobby "Blue" Bland vehicle) is a down and gritty strut, with excellent, in-the-grain guitar work by Tedeschi. Stevie Wonder's "Uptight" is a 15-minute soul rave-up with a beautiful jazz interlude and scat singing from Oteil Burbridge in its middle, followed by a wonderfully imagined slide solo by Trucks. It's followed by the deep, horn-driven, wah-wah funk of "Love Has Something Else to Say" before closing with a stirring read of Sam Cooke's "Wade in the Water." It's a spooky gospel-blues with gorgeous alternate lead vocals by Mark Rivers and Tedeschi. Everybody's Talkin' is what every live album should be: an accurate, exciting reflection of a band at its peak, playing full-throttle and providing plenty of surprises. ~ Thom Jurek Recording information: Farfield Theatre Company At The Klein, Bridgeport, CT (10/25/2011); The Danforth Music Hall, Toronto, ON (10/25/2011); The Warner Theatre, Washington, D.C. (10/25/2011); Farfield Theatre Company At The Klein, Bridgeport, CT (10/28/2011); The Danforth Music Hall, Toronto, ON (10/28/2011); The Warner Theatre, Washington, D.C. (10/28/2011); Farfield Theatre Company At The Klein, Bridgeport, CT (10/29/2011); The Danforth Music Hall, Toronto, ON (10/29/2011); The Warner Theatre, Washington, D.C. (10/29/2011). Photographer: C. Taylor Crothers. Personnel: Susan Tedeschi (vocals, guitar); Mike Mattison, Mark Rivers (vocals); Derek Trucks (guitar); Kebbi Williams (saxophone); Maurice Brown (trumpet); Kofi Burbridge (keyboards); J.J. Johnson , Tyler Greenwell (drums, percussion). Audio Mixer: Jim Scott .

MTV Unplugged songs There's a point just past the halfway mark on "Shake It Out," the rousing first single from Florence + the Machine's second studio release, when the swelling guitars, organs, and strings, staccato percussion, and Florence Welch's air-raid siren of a voice lock up in a herculean battle over which one is going to launch itself into the stratosphere first. It's a contest that plays out at least once on each of Ceremonials' immaculately produced 12 tracks. Such carefully calculated moments of rhapsody would dissolve into redundant treacle in less capable hands, but Welch does emotional bombast better than any of her contemporaries, and when she wails into the black abyss above, the listener can't help but return the call. Bigger and bolder than 2009's excellent Lungs, Ceremonials rolls in like fog over the Thames, doling out a heavy-handed mix of Brit-pop-infused neo-soul anthems and lush, movie trailer-ready ballads that fuse the bluesy, electro-despair of Adele with the ornate, gothic melodrama of Kate Bush and Floodland-era Sisters of Mercy. Producer Paul Epworth (Bloc Party, Friendly Fires) knows that the fiercest weapon in his arsenal is Florence herself, and he stacks her vocals accordingly, creating a fevered, pagan gospel choir on "What the Water Gave Me" and "Leave My Body," a ghostly, Phil Spector-ish chorale on the surprisingly Beatlesque "Breaking Down," and a defiant, uplifting horde of merry pranksters on the spirited "Heartlines," resulting in that rare sophomore outing that not only manages to avoid the slump, but bests its predecessor in the process. ~ James Christopher Monger Recording information: Abbey Road; Wolf Tone Studios, London. Photographer: Tom Beard. Personnel: Florence Welch (vocals); Rob Ackroyd (guitar); Tom Monger (harp); Christopher Lloyd Hayden (drums). Liner Note Author: Emma Forrest.

MTV Unplugged album for sale In case there was any doubt that Joanna Newsom was busy making music -- along with modeling and starring in MGMT videos -- in the four years between her brilliant second album Ys and its follow-up, Have One on Me's three-disc, two-hour expanse is proof positive. The album's massive size suggests that Newsom is bent on outdoing herself with each release, but the music is simpler than Ys' symphonic reveries. Instead, she uses this oversize canvas to travel from Appalachian folk to big city pop, with stops at country, soul, and gospel along the way. It's a dense journey, not just as a whole, but from song to song. Most of the album's range is in the title track: Over 11 minutes, "Have One on Me" begins with jazzy harp stylings and some of Newsom's most polished vocals, returns to Milk-Eyed Mender's rural whimsy, passes through a marching band, and lands in a British folk reverie. Similarly striking moments appear at the beginning and end of this triptych, but the first disc presents Newsom's biggest departures. Have One on Me's first third incorporates rock and pop, giving it a Laurel Canyon flair that underscores the `70s vibe of the whole endeavor. The lovely "Easy" plays like a Ys track rewritten for a rock opera; "Good Intentions Paving Company" flirts with winsome country-rock; "'81" is the closest the album comes to having a pop single; and the limpid, almost painfully quiet "Baby Birch" reaffirms that Newsom doesn't have to be complex to be moving. The album's third disc dives into her dramatic side, especially on "Kingfisher," a chamber pop fantasia that plays like a condensed version of Ys. Have One on Me's middle stretch unfurls songs that expand on Milk-Eyed Mender's serenity, including the dazzlingly beautiful "Go Long," which ranks among Newsom's finest songs. At its best, Have One on Me is an impressive album with the intimacy of a live performance. ~ Heather Phares Photographer: Annabel Mehran. Arranger: Ryan Francesconi. Personnel: Joanna Newsom (harp, piano); Neal Morgan (drums, percussion). Recording information: Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, CA; King Sound & Pictures, Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, CA; Portland, OR; Radiostar Studio, Weed, CA; Sear Sound, New York, NY; Station To Station, Grass Valley, CA; The Cedar House, Seattle, WA; The Quarry House, Trinidad, CA.

MTV Unplugged CD music Laura Marling, fresh off of a Mercury Prize nomination at the age of 20 for 2010's I Speak Because I Can, knows that with critical acclaim comes great expectation. Her third studio album, the loose and languid A Creature I Don't Know, both edifies her old-soul persona and diffuses it, offering up 11 slabs of retro Anglophile folk that manages to both push the envelope and seal it shut. Marling's vocal affectations, which are ultimately charming despite their frequent Joni Mitchell-isms, are far more apparent this time around, especially on the album's first three tracks, all of which showcase a fervent singer/songwriter with a fiercely independent spirit who's tempered by a strong familiarity with her parents' record collection. That said, it's a syllabus that's been ingested and honed rather than spit out and glossed over, and most of the time, Marling makes a great case for all of those Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson comparisons. Brimming with life and lush with spanish guitar, rolling banjos, summer of love chord changes, and moor-bound tales of love gone bad, A Creature I Don't Know is ultimately triumphant, due in great part to Marling's magnificent codeine voice, which sounds like it's been pouring out of the radio for five decades, especially on stand-out cuts like "Sophia," "The Beast," "My Friends," and "All My Rage." Three albums in, the young singer/songwriter sounds brave and confident yet breakable and guarded, and while A Creature I Don't Know may not be the bolt from the blue fans and critics were hoping for, it's most certainly storm born. ~ James Christopher Monger Recording information: RAK Studios, London. Illustrator: Shynola. Personnel: Ethan Johns, Graham Brown, Matt Ingram, Ruth De Turberville, Pete Roe, Marcus Hamblett. Audio Mixer: Ethan Johns.