**David Gray @ UIC Pavilion (312/559-1212 TM) on 2.7
**Pretenders @ Chicago Theater (312/559-1212 TM) on 2.15
**Bon Jovi and Goo Goo Dolls @ United Center (312/559-1212 TM) on 3.1
Coming as it does, three years after the disappointing Viva El Amor!, Loose Screw (Artemis), the latest album by The Pretenders, another disappointment, doesn't hold much promise for the band. The in-your-face annoyance of opening tune 'Lie To Me' had me fast forwarding to the Jamaican beat (supplied by original drummer Martin Chambers) of 'Give Me Some Time,' which recalls 'Private Life' from the band's groundbreaking 1980 self-titled debut. Musically and lyrically, Loose Screw comes up short, especially when compared to the aforementioned debut or the essential return to form of 1984's Learning To Crawl. Because of Chrissie Hynde's distinctive phrasing and choked-up vocals, most of the tracks, including 'Know Who Your Friends Are,' 'I Should Of,' 'The Losing,' and a cover of All Seeing Eye's 'Walk Like A Panther,' are enjoyable enough, if not earth shaking. However, songs such as 'Complex Person' and 'Saving Grace' are, to put it loosely, below par.
Bon Jovi has been in a decline for a few years, a fact that you can hear loud and clear on Bounce (Island). Ask any mullet-wearing Bon Jovi fan and they'll probably blame front-man Jon Bon Jovi. A combination of factors, including his 1997 solo disc and an acting career, could be a couple of the reasons. Mostly, Bon Jovi just sounds like a band anxious to recapture the youthful energy of its '80s hair-band glory. The desperation is there on songs such as 'Everyday,' 'Joey,' 'Love Me Back To Life,' and the title track, to name a few. A couple of songs ('Misunderstood' and 'The Wrong Side Of Right'), make reference to running 'all the lights,' which sound as if someone is looking for escape. With an album such as this, that hits with more of a thud than a bounce, now might be the time for Bon Jovi to take that leap.
Sometimes it's hard to reconcile the glossy and commercial Goo Goo Dolls with the band's early persona as punky Replacements-inspired rockers. You don't have to go back that far to hear the difference—just 10 years, to 1993 Superstar Car Wash. Nevertheless, success came calling for their 1995 Boy Named Goo disc and the rest is musical history. On Gutterflower (Warner Brothers), the Goo Goo Dolls themselves sound as if they are also trying to reconcile these dual identities, with mixed results on 'Here Is Gone,' 'Up, Up, Up,' 'Sympathy,' 'Smash' and 'Tucked Away.'
Counting Crows seemed to experience success right from the start, with the release of their major-label debut disc August and Everything After released 10 years ago. While they haven't reignited the initial spark, they do continue to plug away, as is evident on Hard Candy (Geffen). 'American Girls,' which sounds like something you might have heard on '70s top-40 radio and features backing vocals by Sheryl Crow, probably causes cavities. Ambitious tunes such as 'Goodnight L.A.,' 'Butterfly In Reverse' (co-written by Ryan Adams), 'Miami,' 'Black and Blue,' and the Band-influenced 'If I Could Give All My Love or Richard Manuel Is Dead,' are all admirable. While it's hard to fault a band who thinks that some of its songs 'may contain trace amounts of Joni Mitchell,' it's hard to calculate just what their contribution is worth.
When the nearly comprehensive Cracker hits compilation Garage D'Or was released in 2000, some thought it signaled an end to the group, especially when the buzz about a Camper Van Beethoven reunion started. David Lowery, of both Cracker and CVB, has proven the nay-sayers wrong by releasing the ironically titled Forever (Back Porch/Virgin). Cracker hasn't crumbled, its unique sense of humor still as salty as a Saltine, especially on 'Shine' (which name-checks Burt Bacharach), 'Don't Bring Us Down,' 'Miss Santa Cruz County,' and 'Superfan,' to name a few. The biggest disappointment here is that more people aren't listening to Cracker.
Jam band deluxe, Rusted Root, put on its party duds for the appropriately titled Welcome To The Party (Island). All dressed up in their funkiest finery, Rusted Root encourages listeners to push the furniture up against the wall and roll up the rugs so that the dancing can begin. How this level of soulful funk will sit with longtime listeners hasn't been determined. However, the party really gets going on 'Weave' and continues through 'Artificial Winter,' 'Too Much,' 'Hands Are Law,' and the remix ready 'People Of My Village.'
Kick off your Birkenstocks, roll up your tie-dyed sleeves and dance.
Frankly, I'm disappointed that Creed-derivative junk such as Lifehouse's Stanley Climbfall (Dreamworks). With so many other bands that came before them, couldn't they have found one more original to emulate? At least label-mates Papa Roach attempt to do something with all of that aggression on Lovehatetragedy (Dreamworks), especially on the mournful 'Walking Thru Barbed Wire' and their cover of the Pixies' 'Gouge Away.'
Probably the two biggest recent disappointments are Have You Fed The Fish? (Artist Direct) by Badly Drawn Boy and David Gray's A New Day At Midnight (ATO/RCA/IHT). While each album is perfectly fine by its own merits, the disappointment arises because of the expectations for each disc. Have You Fed The Fish? comes after Badly Drawn Boy (a.k.a. Damon Gough) released a pair of sensational albums—The Hour of The Bewilderbeast and the soundtrack to About A Boy. Both of those exceptional albums set a standard for BDB to follow, and he comes close a couple of times (the stringy 'All Possibilities,' the retro 'You Were Right,' the understated 'How?,' and the slippery funk 'The Further I Slide,' for instance), but mainly the album is unfocused and will probably leave listeners cold as, well, a fish.
David Gray's remarkable 1999 album White Ladder was his fourth full-length disc, but for many people it served as his introductory release. His three previous albums went all but ignored, but the electro-folk of White Ladder was a departure for Gray and earned him a considerable following. The things that made White Ladder so transcendent are in short supply on A New Day At Midnight, which is much bleaker (Gray's father died during the recording process and that colors the material), although there are a few reminders of what made White Ladder so memorable on 'Caroline,' 'Long Distance Call,' 'Kangaroo,' and 'Last Boat To America,' for example.
