3 CD reviews you didn't ask for

Here's something completely unrelated to the impending move/job change.
I've been listening to Paul Simon's new album, Surprise, at BN (where I've been working a couple nights a week in the music/DVD dept. After 9 or so on a Thursday, there's not much else to do but listen to the cd we're playing). It's ok. It was produced by Brian Eno, who makes everything sound very antiseptic and clean. Graceland was clean, too, but on that album Simon was more playful. Here, he's good and has some clever things to say, as with the well-titled lead track, "How can you live in the Northeast?" But, like James Taylor's recent albums, Simon seems far too content and peaceful to make an interesting record. That's not such a big deal for Taylor, who's naturally sedated, but Simon was more adventurous long ago.

Then there's Bruce Springsteen's new album, We Shall Overcome. It's a bunch of old folk tunes Pete Seeger performed (but didn't necessarily write). This is also now playing at Barnes & Noble. I figured I'd like it. The songs are leftist and carry a new anti-Bush admin feeling. Plus, it's a fun idea. Springsteen got a bunch of musicians together and started recording with minimal or no rehearsal, so the album plays very lively and loose. Yet it sucks. It sucks hard. It's not tuneful, the songs are sloppy (maybe rehearsals are good), and Springsteen's nonsensical shouting is irritating.

Then there's Pearl Jam. I'm a softie for PJ. The early albums are both sentimental favorites and, speaking objectively, wicked awesome. Then No Code was good, but not as good as Vitalogy. Yield was good, too, but still not Vitalogy. Binaural had some good songs, but sucked as an album (and had a wretched first single, "Nothing as it seems." Riot Act had some great songs, but as Eddie Vedder noted, it's hard to make an album about economics and politics that's very fun. But Pearl Jam, the new one, is great. All the reviews say it's their best since Vitalogy, and it is. The first single, "World Wide Suicide," is both a fun rock song and a decent slam on the Iraq War and Bush (though, as usual, Vedder's singing is tough to understand -- perhaps that's why it's been a hit, actually -- if everyone knew the song was so political, they might balk). The rest of the album is just as strong. I could go on, but I probably should be planning our yard sale or preparing for the job in some way...