Spin Control: CD reviews
Weezer, "Raditude" (Geffen) 
As is perhaps inevitable with any band that's built a 15-year career and an eight-album discography, fans have been grousing that "Weezer should go back to being Weezer" for years now. With its last release in 2008, its third self-titled disc or "the Red Album," the alt-era survivors and emo progenitors made a partial detour from the arena rock of recent years to return to the willfully naοve, exuberantly bouncy, heart-on-sleeve pop of their first self-titled disc and 1994 debut -- though even gems such as "Heart Songs" weren't enough to please the grousers.
The only thing that could make them happy, it seems, would be "Pinkerton, Part 2." But bandleader and primary songwriter River Cuomo would be the first to tell you he could never really return to the troubled period of his life that produced that uniquely soul-baring epic, even if he wanted to.
With the wonderfully titled "Raditude," Cuomo appears to have stopped worrying about his history and fan base and begun to simply indulge his love for and mastery of pop song craft, in particular as it's practiced on the pop charts circa 2009. Though his nasal voice and the band's essential guitar-bass-drums attack will always mark his latest collection of songs as Weezer product, Cuomo could well have sold some of this material to, say, Lady Gaga (the band has been covering her "Poker Face" live of late) or any number of current hip-hop, R&B or pop chart-toppers (Cuomo also wrote a tune for Katy Perry). Weezer has fleshed out and glossed up the poignant and brilliant "Can't Stop Partying," a collaboration with Jermaine Dupri first heard on a 2008 demos collection, with a much snazzier groove and a cameo by Lil Wayne (Weezer and Weezy, side by side!), and "I'm Your Daddy" is the best R. Kelly song that Kelly never wrote.
Of course, Weezer being Weezer, there also are some songs that couldn't have been done anyone else, in particular "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" and "Put Me Back Together," as well as a mind-boggling detour or two, including the sitar-powered Bollywood jam, "Love Is the Answer." It all combines to make what may be the most uneven and inconsistent album of the group's career, yet it also is one of its most entertaining and just plain fun.
Jim DeRogatis
Jack Bruce & Robin Trower, "Seven Moons Live" (Ruf) 
Scottish-born bassist-vocalist Jack Bruce has repeatedly challenged himself by working with some of the greatest six-string artists in rock history, including Eric Clapton, his cohort in the seminal power trio Cream. He revisits a commercially less successful but nonetheless creative collaboration with Procol Harum guitarist Robin Trower on "Seven Moons Live."
Recorded in February in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, "Seven Moons Live" features eight numbers that appeared on last year's "Seven Moons" album, plus a song recorded by Bruce and Trower as BLT in 1981 ("Carmen") and three Cream favorites: "Sunshine of Your Love," "White Room" and "Politician." You'd think the familiarity of the Cream songs provides relief to some fans from the relentless "Songs for a Tailor"-like jazz-rock that Bruce has been playing for most of the last 40 years. But except for "Politician," these aren't the Cream of the crop, just obligatory hits.
The trio here is completed by drummer Gary Husband, but it's Bruce's show from start to finish. One of rock's finest bassists, vocalists and composers, Bruce has struggled through years of declining health, and his once-robust tenor sounds strained at times on "Seven Moons Live." Still, his bass is clearly the lead instrument in the trio, with Trower playing tasteful fills and runs, but otherwise sensibly deferring to the master.
Jeff Johnson
Michael Buble, "Crazy Love" (Reprise)
For his followup to the hugely successful "Call Me Irresponsible" (2007), the adorable big band crooner with the velvety vocals turns to heady pop and jazz for a coo-coo kinda crazy outing. Eleven standards greet the listener, from the hauntingly arranged "Cry Me A River" to the smart 1940s a cappella take on "Stardust" (Naturally 7 provides Buble with the necessary harmonies to make this cut work beautifully).
Produced by longtime Buble collaborator David Foster, the dynamic duo took deliberate big chances here with arrangements and vocals that are not technically perfect but emotionally raw. If there's one thing Buble has always brought to his vocals it's emotion, and this album reflects the heartache of his very public private life over the past two years (his breakup with actress Emily Blunt, who's now engaged to actor John Krasinski). The album's first chart-topping single, "Haven't Met You Yet," co-written by Buble and Amy Foster (David's daughter) is pure pop, its upbeat rhythm and message the most direct contrast to the rest of the disc's almost somber undertow. (Check out Buble's new love, Argentinian actress Luisana Lopilato in the single's music video).
This is not classic Buble, so some fans might be a bit perplexed, but it's refreshing to see an artist take a leap of faith musically and land on top.
Miriam Di Nunzio
Chris Smither, "Time Stands Still" (Signature Sounds)
If you needed a soundtrack for one of those "Red Rock West"-style modern Westerns with tumblin' tumbleweeds and triple-crossing women and a woebegone loner passing through, "Don't Call Me Stranger," the leadoff track on Chris Smither's "Time Stands Still," would set the perfect mood. The New Orleans-bred, Boston-based singer-songwriter who went to school with the blues says he worked up that song to appease his wife, who complained that he doesn't do "bad boy" songs anymore.
Smither would have done well to listen to the woman who inspired the best of the 11 songs that make up his 11th studio album. The album has a spartan, unadorned sound that shines a spotlight on the writing, always clever and insightful, but with a gentle spirit that somehow seems antithetical to the dirty old country blues.
Two of the three covers on "Time Stands Still," Mark Knopfler's "Madame Geneva's" and Bob Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry," encourage favorable comparisons with artists who, like Smither, have held true to the great traditions of American music while moving in new directions. And with "Old Man Down," Smither perfectly summarizes the ambiguities of the father-son relationship when it reaches the end.
Jeff Johnson