The Post’s music critic Michaelangelo Matos reviews the latest releases.
ALBUMS OF THE WEEK:
Black Sabbath
“13”
★★★
This has been a year for startlingly good comeback albums from acts you’d never expect to deliver them: My Bloody Valentine, Tricky and now Black Sabbath. The Rick Rubin-produced “13” is their first album since 1983 to feature more than one original member; only drummer Bill Ward is missing (Brad Wilk of Audioslave plays instead).
There are no classics à la “Paranoid,” but the band sounds wide awake and in form: Tony Iommi’s riffs still singe and Ozzy Osbourne’s lyrics (“I don’t want to live forever/But I don’t want to die”) still shake an angry fist at the great beyond.
Jason Isbell
“Southeastern”
★★
Isbell used to be in the great Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers, where he wrote some of the sharpest, most reflective songs. His fourth solo album since leaving the group in 2007 looks back a lot, often ruefully and confessionally (he’s spoken in print about recently going through rehab).
But while the material on “Southeastern” is easy to admire, there’s not much about it that invites repeat listening. The arrangements are dolorous, and while the singing is obviously felt, it seldom catches real fire. There are exceptions, though, such as “Elephant”: “There’s one thing that’s real clear to me/No one dies with dignity.”
DOWNLOADS OF THE WEEK:
Boards of Canada
“Reach for the Dead”
★★½
Scottish electronic duo Boards of Canada create pieces rather than songs — tracks that build gradually instead of hitting you over the head with hooks. This cut from their fourth album is a good example, with creamy, slow-rising synths that eventually make way for a tense beat and windswept string samples.
Nine Inch Nails
“Came Back Haunted”
★★★
Following a four-year hiatus, Trent Reznor’s main project returns for real with this song (an album is out in September), a brooding (what else?) electro-rock number with fizzy synths, a grinding guitar solo and a groove that recalls classics like “Closer” even as it updates them. Welcome back.
The Lonely Island Feat. Adam Levine and Kendrick Lamar
“YOLO”
★½
Some jokes stop being funny after a while. So it is with this “SNL”-sired trio, featuring ex-cast member Andy Samberg, who mock the expression “you only live once” by taking it as an exhortation to avoid risk: “Always wear a straitjacket so you’ll be safe from yourself.” Lamar’s verse is best by far, even though he’s kidding, too.
Chrisette Michele
“A Couple of Forevers”
★★
This string-soaked ’70s-style R&B ballad from Michele’s fourth album, “Better,” is par for the course for her — she’s got an elastic, emotive voice, and the poky, suspended-in-the-clouds arrangement on this song fits her well. But the song itself doesn’t reflect the level of care of the music production or singing.
Harry Connick Jr.
“Every Man Should Know”
★
Connick was certainly on the money when he told his “American Idol” charges that they needed to understand the lyrics of classic songs before they’re ready to sing them properly. That must be why he sounds half-asleep on the title track of his newest album, a by-the-numbers sensitive-guy ballad that deserves no better.