Nashville Outlaws: A Tribute To Motley Crue
Various artists
Country artists have long paid tribute to rock acts compatible with country music, from the Eagles to Buddy Holly to country-loving British acts the Beatles and Rolling Stones. But a heavy metal act like Motley Crue? For anyone listening to the arena-rock crunch in country music in recent years, country covering the Crue isn’t a surprise at all.
What may be surprise, though, is how ferociously some of country’s more mild-mannered acts rise to the occasion. Rascal Flatts has never come close to rocking as hard as on its version of Kickstart My Heart, which rightly opens the album and sets the bar for others to match.
Florida Georgia Line pales in comparison with the formulaic If I Die Tomorrow. The same goes for Cassadee Pope, who went from rock to country after winning the third season of The Voice, but lacks authority on The Animal In Me, even with Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander as a duet partner.
Highlights include Justin Moore’s Home Sweet Home, with its Lynyrd Skynyrd-guitar tone and soulful vocals, The Mavericks using a Latin rhythm on Dr. Feelgood to bring out its dramatic story line, Eli Young Band’s sweetly melodic Don’t Go Away Mad and LeAnn Rimes’ singing Smoking In The Boys Room.
— Michael McCall
Associated Press
The 6th Extinction
James Rollins
The Sigma Force discovers a threat that could destroy the human race in James Rollins’ 10th book to feature his team of elite scientists and soldiers.
In The 6th Extinction, a military research station located near Yosemite National Park experiences a breach. When help arrives, every living thing within 50 square miles is dead, including the bacteria in the dirt. And this blight appears to be spreading. Trying to resolve the crisis, Sigma Force deciphers a clue that leads some of the group to Antarctica.
Readers who love over-the-top action mixed with fascinating characters, science and history will find joy in the treasure that Rollins delivers.
— Jeff Ayers
Associated Press
Smokey & Friends
Smokey Robinson, various artists
Gather your hits and divvy them up among your pals: It’s a go-to move for musicians of a certain age, including Tony Bennett and Lionel Richie, who scored a No. 1 album in 2012 with Tuskegee.
So it was only a matter of time until Smokey Robinson got into the act. But if the duets record is beginning to feel like a legacy-burnishing obligation, Robinson, 74, sidesteps that vibe on Smokey & Friends, a would-be museum piece with some real air in it.
That’s partly because Robinson still sounds like a singer on active duty. He harmonizes beautifully with Mary J. Blige on Being With You and floats so effortlessly through Quiet Storm that John Legend comes off like an overachiever.
Yet Smokey & Friends works too because Robinson appears to have given his guests carte blanche, gamely accompanying Elton John as the latter growls through The Tracks of My Tears, and ad-libbing over James Taylor’s country-funk groove in Ain’t That Peculiar.
Are we in need of a You Really Got a Hold on Me streaked with Steven Tyler’s screech? We are not. But Robinson’s song is strong — it can withstand the abuse.
— Mikael Wood
Los Angeles Times