Ringo Starr, Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Prophets of Rage music reviews

— -- This week Ringo Starr releases a brand new record with some key guests, Yusuf (Cat Stevens) revisits and reimagines some early compositions, three-fourths of Rage Against the Machine join Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Cypress Hill’s B-Real as Prophets of Rage, Metric’s Emily Haines releases her first “Soft Skeleton” collection in a decade and Seth MacFarlane explores some big-band and swing standards.

Ringo Starr’s “Give More Love”

***1/2

Ringo Starr has kept a rather busy release schedule in recent years but “Give More Love” is his most solid offering since 2008’s “Liverpool 8.” Sure, his voice seems to be mixed sometimes a little too far in the background and his lyrics can be a little obvious sometimes (he rhymes “wake up” with “make up” at the beginning of “Standing Still”) but lyrics have never been Ringo’s strong-suit. He’s always been about brightening the world with his sprite disposition. At 77, that hasn’t changed.

There are political undertones to “Give More Love.” The title-track and “Laughable” are both reactions to the world’s currently harsh climate, post-Brexit and post-Trump. “Laughable” is perhaps the album’s defining moment as Starr sings, “Let’s all be honest. / It’s going to hell. / But not forever.”

Curiously, the album closes with four new versions of old classics. He re-imagines the “White Album” standout, “Don’t Pass Me By” with more of a country twang while incorporating elements of “Octopus’ Garden” towards the end of the track. The other songs he updates are “Photograph,” which he does with assistance from Vandaveer, “You Can’t Fight Lightning,” which he does with Alberta Cross and “Back Off Boogaloo.” Speaking of Beatle-mania, “On the Road Again” finds Starr re-teaming with Paul McCartney with some exciting results.

Throughout the set on the new originals, Starr also has an interesting list of collaborators, too, with songs co-written with people like the Eagles’ Timothy B. Schmidt, producer Glen Ballard, Eurthmics’ Dave Stewart, the legendary Van Dyke Parks, eighties-balladeer, Richard Marx and others.

In the end, “Give More Love” is a reminder of Starr’s pure likability. After all these years, he has remained the same without selling out his ideals. This isn’t a masterpiece. It’s merely good, but it will do.

Focus Tracks:

“Laughable” This is a musical pep-talk from Starr about the state of the world and it resonates as he urges listeners not to lose hope about how the worldviews have shifted.

“Give More Love” This is a winning ballad and a winning single from Starr. It’s a tad cheesy in places, but it might be the kind of cheese we need right now as Starr sings about the importance of love, understanding, compassion and empathy.

“We’re on the Road Again” Hearing McCartney’s bass and yelled background vocals on this opening rocker provides a stand-out moment historically speaking. The two of them saw so much of the world together and shared such a unique experience. Hearing them together again after all these years is rather heartwarming and significant.

Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ “The Laughing Apple”
****

If you are a fan of the singer’s Cat Stevens-era work, “The Laughing Apple” is a return to form, providing his most consistent set of songs in some time. His voice also hasn’t changed much, so when you hear songs like “Blackness of the Night” or the title-track, it sounds like revisiting an old friend. It’s interesting that the title-track sonically seems to combine Middle Eastern and Celtic influences into its core.

Those who know the Stevens discography intimately know that most of these songs are either re-recorded versions or finished leftovers from his earliest period. Most of these songs can be found in their original forms on the 1967 collection, “New Masters.” Even if many of these songs are 50 years old, it’s still comforting that Yusuf can still give them fitting new life within a new context. It helps that here he’s working with many of his original collaborators.

Yusuf’s Islamic faith does serve as an occasional touchstone but not in a direct or overt way. There are lines about a prophet and prayer in “Olive Hill,” but if you look through his Stevens-era back-catalog, it is hard to argue that classics like “Morning Has Broken” and “The Wind” don’t have some spiritual or religious backbone.

Other songs, like “Grandsons,” “I’m So Sleepy” or the slightly bizarre/interesting rewrite of “Mary and the Little Lamb,” make this seem almost like a children’s record. The cover art and the liner notes keep that notion intact, but this is really a useful album for audiences of any age. Right from the beginning of his career with hits like “Matthew & Son” and “Father and Son,” Yusuf has sung from a position as if he was passing down wisdom. Now as a grandfather, that hasn’t changed. Inspiration rings out in the uplifting “You Can Do (Whatever)!” or the softer “Don’t Blame Them.”

“The Laughing Apple” shows Yusuf/Cat Stevens stripping his sound down to his essence and making some tracks that really resonate. All these years have passed since his early-seventies peak. Given its backstory, it makes sense that this record would work so well.

Focus Tracks:

“You Can Do (Whatever)!” This is vintage Cat Stevens. This is the kind of composition that earned him legions of international fans. In the long list of things one can do, he adds the qualifier, “You can take whatever comes around / But please don’t take what’s mine" -- a concept of freedom that is also built on understanding and respect for others.

“See What Love Did to Me” As immediate a song as he ever penned, this song is gentle and welcoming and this version is full of love. At about the 1:40 mark, the song takes on a surprisingly heavy, chugging quality.

“The Laughing Apple” This begins as a lullaby and it then becomes an internationally-flavored folk song of sorts. A peculiar song to say the least, but Yusuf manages to make this song about chuckling fruit vaguely plausible.

Prophets of Rage’s “Prophets of Rage”
**1/2

On paper, Prophets of Rage should really work. The core of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave being fronted by Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Cypress Hill’s B-Real should, in theory, be a slam-dunk. It ends up sounding like a bit of a disappointment.

Much like their EP last year, “The Party’s Over”, their self-titled full-length feels like a missed opportunity. You miss Zack de la Rocha’s rapid-fire rhymes that were loaded with political bile. You’d expect Chuck D to be able to fill the void, but he and B-Real give us mood-setters with very little substance like “Unf--- the World” or the marijuana-centric “Legalize Me.”

A lot of the elements are there for this to work. Tom Morello’s guitar-work is on point as always and the band members are trying their best to summon the spirit, but the dead-serious, earnest approach that de la Rocha used to take just isn’t present. Granted, there are a couple times when Chuck and B-Real come close. “Hail to the Chief” has the bones something visceral, but it still needs a bit more meat. “Radical Eyes” at least makes good use of the pun in its title while “Strength in Numbers” has some sonic muscle, but too often both rappers seem to be grasping at de la Rocha’s essence. Considering his legacy in Public Enemy, the fact that Chuck D has trouble here is really surprising, when you consider “Fight the Power” was unquestionably a huge Rage influence.

This record has a rebellious spirit without the substance to make it stick. On “Fired a Shot,” when they repeat, “We fired the shot. / Look who fired the shot. / I just fired the shot” and say little else, you are left wondering where the political unrest lies. Given what an intense political time this is, this seems like a crucially missed opportunity. Then again, they get it right on the fiery “Who Owns Who” a song later. Elsewhere, “Take Me Higher” rattles aimlessly about drones and doesn’t go as far as it should.

This album deserved to be the kind of angry, thought-provoking record that have become both Rage Against the Machine’s and Chuck D’s calling cards. Instead, this album feels a little toothless. Everyone involved can definitely do better than this record shows.

Focus Tracks:

“Hail to the Chief” The only song here that comes close to summoning the kind of palpable anger you’d expect. This is just about the only track that feels like it lives up to the combo’s potential.

“Who Owns Who” With hints of a discussion about refugees, racism, sexism and a variety of other issues, this comes in a close second. When you hear Chuck declare, “We F----in’ Matter!” he does so with driving command in his voice. He’s definitely aiming to rally the base who are frustrated with the new political climate.

“Living on the 110” Definitely trying to summon some RATM-style energy, this song also almost succeeds, even though it is nowhere near the quality of the music the band made with de la Rocha.

Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton’s “Choir of the Mind”
****

Metric’s Emily Haines’ second full-length album under her “Soft Skeleton” moniker comes 11 years after her first one and a decade she released a quick, follow-up EP. "Choir of the Mind” is on the whole, brighter and bigger in its sweeping approach. Haines sticks in some clever, winking observational lyrics from time to time, as she sings on “Irish Exit,” “You’re the guy that always brings the drugs when nobody wants drugs.” She plays with language well. That has always been one of her greatest gifts.

There’s a hushed vulnerability on this collection’s “Nihilist Abyss” and a quiet, catchy beauty in “Legend of a Wild Horse.” You can imagine many of these tracks getting a more upbeat treatment on Metric records, but one gets the feeling that Haines has specially picked these songs for this more intimate approach.

While Metric hit a definite peak in 2008 with their masterpiece, “Fantasies” and have been trying to repeat that success ever since, this album shows Haines bringing her ace game with these slow-burning, down-trodden piano ballads. This is the kind of record that will definitely take quite a few spins to really sink in, but Haines captures something dark, ominous and haunting here, while making the most of mood and texture. Even at its most upbeat, this record has an orchestral, unsettled undercurrent just beneath the surface.

While her work with Metric and others may have earned her some level of international fame, songs like “Fatal Gift” and the strangely affecting, half-spoken title-track, indicate that Haines deserves just as much to be a known entity on her own.

Focus Tracks:

“Legend of the Wild Horse” A ballad about a runaway horse, with a soaring melody and tightly-wound vocal harmonies, this is a clear standout.

“Fatal Gift” In another time, this ethereal ballad would have potentially been a dark radio hit.

“Nihilist Abyss” Another winner, this has an immediately sticky melody. As Haines sings “I’m dancing. / I’m dying with you,” you might not be sure what she means, but she definitely has your attention.

Seth MacFarlane’s “In Full Swing”
****

It may come as a huge surprise to some that Seth MacFarlane, known as the creative force behind “Family Guy” has a second career as a schooled crooner of standards. Doubters will be surprised to hear his Broadway-ready renditions of classics by the likes of the Gershwins, Rogers & Hart, Joe Raposo, Irving Berlin and more, but that’s exactly what you get on “In Full Swing.” This is MacFarlane doing his best Sinatra and adding his own spin.

This is an impossibly smooth record and on tracks like “Almost Like Being in Love” “For You, For Me, For Evermore” and others MacFarlane seems more than up to paying tribute to the a lost musical age. If he was just a singer and didn’t have such a multi-faceted career, in the jazz and standards circles, he’d definitely be taken more seriously and would be seen as a musical star. The fact that he’s signed to Verve, means something. There’s history there.

He does a tremendous version of “That Face” and does a stellar job duet-ing with Norah Jones on “If I Had a Talking Picture of You.” Jones and MacFarlane might be friends, considering she was also in “Ted,” and they sound like a perfect match on record.

Sinatra does stand as a key point of influence but MacFarlane is skilled on his own. He possesses a rich, textured, vocal instrument with a classic crooner’s tone. On the slower, “I’m Glad There is You,” he takes some softer vocal turns that are definitely not Sinatra-esque.

MacFarlane deserves a fair shake because he is unflinchingly approaching timeless material and giving it the care it deserves. He is multi-faceted, indeed.

Focus Tracks:

“If I Had a Talking Picture of You" (featuring Norah Jones) This might be an ideal starting point for people who have never heard MacFarlane’s other albums of this sort.

“Like Someone in Love” This begins like a cabaret ballad and then morphs into something jazzier. The arrangements aren’t unlike the work of Nelson Riddle.

“You Couldn’t Be Cuter” Very little about this recording outwardly says it was released in 2017 as MacFarlane captures the composition’s vintage charm.

Coming Up: New music from Fergie and more.

Missed the last installment? Get the latest about the new Foo Fighters album here.