New on the shelves

New releases have made their marks on the US and UK album charts. They’re available here and they all showcase what makes the grade in the world of mainstream music. These artists all stick to their guns in terms of vision and execution, and while coming from different musical genres, they’ve all found a ready audience.

All The Plans — Starsailor (Virgin/EMI). From the same music school that hatched Coldplay, Keane, and Snow Patrol, Starsailor has been around for some time now, first making us take notice of them some six years ago. A band from Wigan; and then a young 19, James Walsh and his band had the unfortunate press coverage of getting into a running feud with then uber-band Oasis. Propelled by simple melodies and piano/guitar driven arrangements, this is something of a coming of age CD for Starsailor, and tracks like Tell Me It’s Not Over, Neon Sky and You Never Get What You Deserve prove that there’s room for the band in today’s music pantheon. My only complaint would be that there could have been more uptempo numbers, but this is a strong set of songs.

Fearless — Taylor Swift (MCA Music). It’s hard to ignore Taylor Swift when out of the blue, her CD, that could be classified as country, makes it to the top of the album charts in the US. This is crossover pop country at its smartest. Taking its cue from such sensations as Faith Hill, Shania Twain and Carrie Underwood. Taylor co-writes most of the songs and there is teenage drama and romance written all over them. It’s like she’s directly taken pages from her diary and turned them into tunes, something I’m sure so many teenage girls out there will readily empathize with. While Love Story is the hit single and had me gnashing my teeth, songs like Hey Stephen, and the title track showcase real potential for songwriting, and I can understand why she’s so popular.

No Line On The Horizon — U2 (MCA Music). There’s not much left to say about Irish band U2, and so when a new studio album comes out. It’s only a matter of deciding if this will be one for posterity or end up as one of the band’s lesser efforts. For the first five tracks of the CD, the band is in top form — Edge’s guitar playing is nothing short of superb, and Bono keeps up with this high standard. The title track rocks, and songs like Moment of Surrender and I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight are among the best; but things slack off with the first single off the CD, Get Off Your Boots. I will say this for U2, this is not a commercial album and the members have stuck to their musical vision, record sales be damned. Atmospheric and moody, I’d still get the CD for those first five songs!