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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 12, 2007

ANGELS OF LIGHT:

WE ARE HIM

(YOUNG GOD) ***

If Angels of Light has done nothing else over the course of its last four albums, it's proven that ex-Swans leader Michael Gira doesn't need the industrial-goth barrage of his old band to make frighteningly intense music.

Fortunately, it's done a lot more than that, and 'We Are Him' offers satisfying proof. It's not just that Gira incorporates country, folk and something close to regular rock into his music now. It's the broadening of his emotional palette, the way he's willing to part the curtains to let in some light.

Not that sweetness always follows. 'My Brother's Man,' for example, sounds like Nick Cave getting mugged. But by acknowledging the joy as well as sorrow, Gira gives his music that much more resonance.

Download this: 'The Man We Left Behind'
Curtis Ross LYLE LOVETT AND HIS LARGE BAND:

IT'S NOT BIG IT'S LARGE

(LOST HIGHWAY) ***

When the words 'Large Band' appear on a Lyle Lovett album, fans have every reason to get excited. Lovett's outstanding mini-orchestra hasn't recorded with him by name since 1989.

This time out, though, Lovett squanders the group's immense country, jazz, blues and swing music versatility. The rousing instrumental 'Tickle Toe' starts things off well, but the Large Band virtually disappears on such sparse tunes as 'The Alley Song' and 'This Traveling Around.'

Lovett's songs are still entertaining and well-crafted, but if you want a real Large Band experience, go back to 1999's 'Live in Texas.'

Download this: 'I Will Rise Up/Ain't No More Cane'
Jeff Houck
JAMES BLUNT:

ALL THE LOST SOULS

(WEA) ***½

Everyone has heard James Blunt, but has anyone listened to him?

'You're Beautiful,' the breakthrough hit from Blunt's first album, 2005's 'Back to Bedlam,' received so much exposure and airplay that it lost its meaning - it was transformed from a creepy song about unrequited lust into just another love song.

American audiences, it seemed, loved Blunt's melodies but weren't ready for his witty, wicked lyrics.

Will they be this time? Blunt's sophomore album, 'All the Lost Souls,' is a richer, more rewarding disc. Again, clever melodies conceal fairly brutal lyrics, directed at a woman on 'Annie' and at himself on 'Same Mistake.'

The album sounds harmless on the surface, but Blunt rewards careful listeners with his frank and sometimes uncomfortable earnestness.

Download this: '1973'

Dave Simanoff

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