Spin Control: CD reviews and samples
Taylor Swift, “Fearless” (Big Machine) 
Composition instructors often say, “Write what you know.” That approach has been essential to the meteoric success of country star Taylor Swift. For her second full-length album, country star Taylor Swift once again speaks to the concerns of her youthful demographic. If your autobiographical details mirror those found on this album, then it could become the soundtrack to your first date, your first day at high school, the thrill of dating a popular student, and the pain generated by a series of romances that end bitterly.
The annals of popular music are filled with tunes about being 16 years old, but Swift has turned back the diary pages to offer an insightful look at being 15. Now three years removed from that tumultuous time, a wiser Swift offers “Fifteen,” a mandolin-spiced song in which she advises, “I’ve found time can heal most anything / And you just might find who you’re supposed to be.”
Swift’s primary strength is her talent as a composer, not as a vocalist. She wrote or co-wrote all 13 tracks here, but she’s saddled with a thin voice and two ineffective vocal techniques. The first is the regrettable crutch of humming, and the second is the habit of excessively elongating words so that a term like “myself” can be stretched into eight annoying syllables. Still, Swift knows how to craft a hook, and her songs “Tell Me Why” and “You’re Not Sorry” deliver teenage angst with a flavorful coating of succulent country-pop. The one thematic misstep here is “The Way I Loved You,” a song co-written by the most ubiquitous fellow in Nashville, John Rich. This tune examines a sensible yet passionless relationship that sparks envy among all of the narrator’s “single friends.” It sounds like a weak tale from a heart-scarred thirtysomething, rather than a frustrated lament from a kid who will turn 19 in December.
Bobby Reed
Mavis Staples, “Live: Hope at the Hideout” (Anti-)
What seemed like a great fit — soul-stirring Chicago vocalist Mavis Staples on her hometown blues label Alligator — has gone by the wayside despite her remarkable late-career resurgence. But the 69-year-old R&B-gospel belter, who learned at Pop Staples’ knee, nods to the Windy City with this her first live solo album, recorded at the popular North Side club.
Released on Election Day as a pre-celebration of Barack Obama’s victory, “Hope at the Hideout” is a stripped-down project (three-piece band in a small room) designed to showcase Staples’ spontaneous side. But it sounds as if she invited 10 people over for a hastily miked basement jam session. Her asides and song introductions are often washed out, perhaps because she seldom stands still.
The band is competent, but the versatile guitarist Rick Holmstrom (ex-Rod Piazza) is kept under wraps. And the material is boiler-plate Mavis. It draws largely from last year’s Anti- debut, “We’ll Never Turn Back,” including “Down in Mississippi,” “This Little Light” and “We Shall Not Be Moved.” “I’ll Take You There,” the final encore, is the one time artist and audience seem totally in sync, but the highlight is a funky, gospel-drenched version of “Wade in the Water.”
Jeff Johnson