This week is slow for new releases, yet the handful of titles making their way to market involve the participation of numerous music notables.
Carlos Santana "Supernatural: Legacy Edition."
With stars like Dave Matthews, Rob Thomas, Eric Clapton, Lauryn Hill and Cee-Lo, "Supernatural" was the best-selling album of 1999, as well as the winner of a record-breaking nine Grammy Awards. After selling more than 25 million copies worldwide, Santana's comeback classic gets beefed up for a two-CD remastered sound that will entice audiophiles, but the main draw is the inclusion of 11 bonus cuts, seven previously unreleased. It's a mixed bag. There's only one unheard superstar matchup ("Rain Down on Me" featuring Dave Matthews and Carter Beauford), and the club mixes and instrumental versions are hardly essential. But the rest of the bonus materials, primarily Santana band outtakes from the original sessions, measure up, including "Ya Yo Me Cure," a funky cover of Cuban ensemble Irakere's signature tune "Bacalao Con Pan," and a Bob Marley medley that dovetails well with the pan-global vibe of "Supernatural."
Tindersticks "Falling Down a Mountain"
This band has been turning out moody masterpieces worthy of being shelved alongside iconic sad bastards like Leonard Cohen, Scott Walker, and Lee Hazlewood. This follow-up to 2008's "The Hungry Saw," lead singer Stuart Staples' baritone vocals sound as brooding as ever, yet the overall album shows more musical variety. Opening with a jazzy title tune graced by trumpet and spidery bass lines, the program encompasses the jubilant "Harmony Around My Table," the ersatz country of "Black Smoke," and a stark voice-and-piano number, "Factory Girls." And while the duet "Peanuts" isn't one of the record's best, it sure is a joy to hear Staples joined by reclusive Canadian singer-songwriter Mary Margaret O'Hara.
Devonte Hynes "Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You"
With works like his noisy metal-meets-post-punk of "Test Icicles", or his rootsy 2008 debut as Lightspeed Champion, "Falling Off the Lavender Bridge", people might want to give his recent take a fair shake. Whereas the 24-year-old's last record featured the involvement of Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Monsters of Folk) and the extended Saddle Creek family, the sophomore Lightspeed Champion full-length is a different, more exquisite proposition. Embracing an orchestral pop sound better suited to Hynes' quavering vocals and ambitious lyrics, and produced and mixed by Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley), "Life Is Sweet!" is pitched somewhere between the work of contemporary art rock oddballs like Grizzly Bear and Parenthetical Girls, and histrionic '90s Britpop bands such as Suede and My Life Story. Not the easiest listen, but a rewarding one.
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