Review: Jewel – Perfectly Clear
Album: Perfectly Clear
Artist: Jewel
Rating:
Jewel has been a pop chart fixture since 1995, but ever organically rooted to make her move to country a convincing transition, and the format has already embraced top 15 single “Stronger Woman.” Her seventh album and first full-length country project, “Perfectly Clear,” is not only persuasive, but down-home, old-school country. It’s not just the addition of steel guitar that sells Jewel’s passage, but the whole of her delivery and lyrical themes. Potential hits abound: Best are the searching, chug-along “I Do”; remorseful ballad “Everything Reminds Me of You”; the uptempo, playful “Rosey and Mick,” about a long-term imperfect relationship; and the mannered “Anyone but You,” which sounds like a Tammy Wynette classic. Jewel continues to surprise and inspire, and “Clear” is an ideal transition for the 34-year-old Texas dweller.
Review: Opeth – Watershed
Album: Watershed
Artist: Opeth
Rating:
Opeth’s U.S. profile is at a tipping point, as the Swedish progressive band is ready to break into the metal mainstream if it keeps playing its cards right. “Watershed” reaffirms the quintet’s style of transposing driving black metal with interludes tender enough for children’s ears. The flute-tinged opener “Coil” is positively rustic, with frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt dueting with Natalie Lorichs. Yet, even when pushing its heavier alter ego, the boundaries are blurring into each other. The determined riffs of “Heir Apparent” dissolve into lightly skipping guitar notes, and companion track “The Lotus Eater” winds through several jam incarnations that bring Opeth’s psychedelic ’60s influences to the fore. Then, sighing lament “Burden” picks up for the next decade, following traditional prog patterns from the ’70s. A substantial addition to the band’s catalog.
