Seattle Ave Music Reviews Aug 2009

Mariah Carey
"Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel"
August 25, 2009

Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel is Mariah Carey's 12th studio album, and if you believe Mariah Carey's insistence that she's eternally 12-years-old, then this means that she has a record for every year she's been alive. But more important than Mariah's quantity of output, is Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel's content. For the album Mariah worked with Timbaland, longtime collaborators Jermaine Dupri and Walter Afanasieff, but the lion's share of the album's tracks were co-written by The-Dream and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, who, in addition to writing E=MC2 lead single "Touch My Body," are responsible for some of the best pop songs on the radio in the last few years. But that presence on the album is unlikely to supplant Mariah Carey's own, very distinctive personality. Producer The Dream wrote about the process, "I think it's about just writing an album that includes the focus of all the hits that she's had. She can't take a loss; she has to do everything to the T. So it's basically like we're trying to make a greatest hits album without using the greatest hits." A tall order for anyone, but when you have the most number one singles of any solo artist in American history, then it seems a little easier to fill. -- Matthew Richardson

Third Eye Blind
"Ursa Major"
August 18, 2009

Fans attached themselves to songs like Slow Motion and Motorcycle Drive By, the former of which was censored by their record company but began appearing on file-sharing sites with full lyrics, and is now hailed as a masterpiece being covered by countless other bands. Emotional, reflective, aggressive, and sometimes outwardly political, Ursa Major features some of the most intense music of Third Eye Blind's career.

Trey Songz
"Ready"
August 25, 2009

"Ready," Songz's first full length album since the well received sophomore effort "Trey Day," which included the massive singles "Last Time" and "Can't Help But Wait," features not only collaborative efforts with Soundz (Brandy,Usher), but Grammy Award winning team Stargate (Ne-Yo, Beyonce). Hailed by the late, great Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun as "among the most promising R&B artists we have had on Atlantic since we started the company 60 years ago," Trey Songz is expected to pick up where he left off on "Ready" after two successful albums including the debut "I Gotta Maket It"

Collective Soul
"Rabbit"
August 25, 2009

"Collective Soul (Rabbit)" is the band's eighth studio album. One of rock's most enduring acts, they have amassed nineteen hit singles in their 16 year career, seven of those reaching the #1 spot on Billboard magazine's radio charts. Most recently, Collective Soul were featured on the multi-platinum selling "Twilight" soundtrack and their song, "Hollywood" (from their 2007 Top 25 album "Afterwords"), was featured prominently in "American Idol's" Fall 2008 season for several weeks. Collective Soul frontman, Ed Roland, later collaborated with winner and longtime fan David Cook on his debut album.