George Michael “Symphonica” Island Records
If you are familiar with George Michael’s body of work, it will come as no surprise that his brand of pop and adult-contemporary songs translate well to a live-performance setting backed by a symphony.
Recorded on his European tour, “Symphonica” is a lush and classy-sounding affair finds Michael performing his songs alongside classic standards. The result is more of a Sunday-afternoon album than Saturday night. And that isn’t a bad thing. We weren’t looking for a symphonic version of “I Want Your Sex.”
Michael always had some jazz and swing leanings early on in his career and they get a chance to shine brightly on this album. Longtime fans will enjoy refined renditions of songs dating back to the 1980s, like “A Different Corner,” “Praying For Time” and “One More Try,” which lend themselves well to this kind of performance.
Still, part of you is going to wish that Michael pushed the envelope a bit and raised the roof with a bigger helping of megahits. The absence of songs like “Father Figure” and “Kissing a Fool” is frustrating at best.
If you want something to set the mood for a laid-back wine-and-candlelight kind of evening, “Symphonica” is definitely worth picking up.
Combichrist “We Love You” Metropolis Records
Goth/industrial dance-floor instigators Combichrist veer in a darker, angrier direction with its latest effort. And that is saying something.
Combichrist has never been what you would call a subtle band. It always had an air of mechanized relentlessness to its brash brand of cybernetic electronic-body music. But this album takes the music further into the twisted heart of punk, metal and industrial rock than previous efforts.
The cold, sexy synthetic sounds are still there on tracks like “Fuck Unicorns” and “From My Cold Dead Hands.” Infectious and pulsating beats still make you want to shake your ass on songs like “We Rule The World Motherfuckers,” “Can’t Control” and “Satan’s Propaganda.” But on other songs like “Love is a Razor Blade” and “We Were Made to Love You,” they are all but swept aside by buzz-saw guitars, ferocious distorted vocals and aggressive drumming.
There is a slight reprieve from the snarling aggression on tracks like “The Evil In Me” and “Retreat Hell Part 2,” both driven by either piano or acoustic guitar and showing some depth outside of the mechanized sonic onslaught before escalating into gothic grandeur.
If you like to dance beats loud, fast and dripping with venomous aggression, make a love connection with Combichrist.
Lea Michele “Louder” Columbia
It’s always a thorny proposition when a TV star from a hit show tries to branch out to find success in the world of pop music. Usually actors either stick too close to the demographic of the show on which they perform and play it too safe, or they try to distance themselves from their TV image and try too hard to be edgy.
If anything, the debut album from the “Glee” star is solid production. Michelle strikes a good balance of retaining the musical-theater chops showcased on “Glee” and the pop-star posturing … uh … showcased on “Glee.” The ballads like “Battlefield” and “Thousand Needles” are intense and soaring. The pop songs like “Cannonball” and the title track have just enough of an electro-pop gloss and edge to make her competitive with the young pop divas, and at the same time not be anything close to controversial.
If Michelle plays her cards right, she won’t have to depend on “Glee” too much longer.