D10

Wilfred Langmaid
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Newton Faulkner : Hand Built By Robots - Sony BMG

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British "next big thing" Newton Faulkner has landed opening slots for Paulo Nutini and James Morrison, and he burst on the world scene in a big way with two slots at the 2007 Glastonbury Festival. He is only 23, but his quirky debut Hand Built By Robots is an aptly named fusion that would suggest he has lots more experience.

His guitar work veers from Pat Metheny's types of fusion to full-out pop. As a composer, his grooves recall everyone from the Dave Matthews Band and Extreme to Paul Simon and later Crosby, Stills and Nash.

As a vocalist, he is evocative and wide-ranging. The more radio-ready stuff begins the album, but the balance of the CD is the most interesting material on this promising debut.

Dr. John: City That Care

Forgot - 429/Koch

Legendary New Orleans artist Dr. John made a wonderful commercial and comeback this decade as a crooner of standards, but the new stuff that he laid on Fredericton last September at the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival gets fleshed out on this stunning new CD.

His muse is the inertia of the U.S. government towards his beloved city since Hurricane Katrina. As he sees it, the powers that be are more concerned with a war in Iraq that is based on greed than they are with helping out Americans who happen to be on somebody's wrong side of the tracks.

The lyrics are direct, but the best news artistically is that this is the most consistently funky bit of his unique spooky voodoo in years. Lest anyone miss the point, he calls his backing band The Lower 911.

Cameos by such luminaries as Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Ani DiFranco and Terence Blanchard are icing on the cake.

Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything - Nonesuch / Warner

If you expected a big switch in Sam Phillips's style after her divorce from husband T-Bone Burnett, who produced all of her albums for the past 20 years, think again.

However, that is good news. Don't Do Anything is tuneful but tasteful in every sense of the word, and it is instantly recognizable for people who enjoyed the unique art of her previous half dozen albums since leaving the contemporary Christian market and changing her moniker from Leslie Phillips to Sam Phillips in 1987.

There are a couple of references to betrayal and relationship loss that would seem to be autobiographical, but they are rare. Regardless, one of Phillips' great gifts is her ability to write lyrics that work on many levels, and that is just as true here as always.

Fredericton-based freelance writer Wilfred Langmaid has reviewed albums in The Daily Gleaner since 1981, and is a past judge for both the Junos and the East Coast Music Awards.