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UMC.org Music Reviews: We have discontinued our weekly music reviews and are currently evaluating other options. You may still access our archived reviews at http://www.umc.org/site/lookup.asp?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=2285819 We have discontinued our weekly music reviews and are currently evaluating other options. You may still access our archived reviews at http://www.umc.org/site/lookup.asp?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=2285819 UMC.org Music Reviews: Yusuf (Cat Stevens): Roadsinger While the longtime Cat Stevens fan might wish for something more robust, we’re lucky to have his music back in any form. Roadsinger is a thoughtfully-crafted reminder of that good fortune, even if the singer himself is a lot further down the road. UMC.org Music Reviews: Raul Malo: Lucky One The absence of post-modern irony makes the retro-pop confections on Lucky One not unlike the experience of cracking open a fortune cookie—something you can look forward to even though you already know what’s inside. UMC.org Music Reviews: Madeleine Peyroux: Bare Bones On Madeleine Peyroux's latest, Bare Bones, she graduates from an interpreter to a full-fledged singer/songwriter. It’s a brave move, and one that results in a more personal listening experience, though arguably a more challenging one as well. UMC.org Music Reviews: U2: No Line on the Horizon On their first album in more than four years, U2 both accommodate and confound expectations. UMC.org Music Reviews: Ruthie Foster: The Truth According to Ruthie Foster On The Truth According to Ruthie Foster, the singer skillfully follows the big footprints of those who went ahead of her. But the truth is that Foster, whose grasp of classic soul sounds partly earned and partly learned, still has a few miles of her own left to walk. UMC.org Music Reviews: India.Aire: Testimony: Vol. 2, Love & Politics It takes effort to embrace the holistic concept she presents on Testimony: Vol 2, Love & Politics. But by binding themes of agony and ecstasy into a single strand, Arie gives her affirmations credibility and purpose. And, in her version of the story, love triumphs. UMC.org Music Reviews: The Derek Trucks Band: Already Free With his rustic title track, Trucks nearly revises musical mythology, creating a period-perfect early-1900s rural blues that substitutes joyous liberation—and a hint of salvation—for the now-infamous legends of soul-selling associated with the origin of the genre. While Trucks’ emotive improvisations and his band’s vigorous support offer plenty to satisfy the mortal appetite, it’s doubtful that the vibrant and generally wholesome music on Already Free owes any debt to the devil. UMC.org Music Reviews: Kate Campbell: Save the Day Coming from a Southern Baptist upbringing, it's interesting that Campbell addresses faith from a slant that's more philosophical than evangelical. But her good-natured and thoughtful handling of all the subjects she covers on Save the Day comprises a potent case for the ongoing existence of old-fashioned Southern grace. UMC.org Music Reviews: Bruce Springsteen: Working on a Dream Springsteen’s latest work focuses less on the strength of his songwriting than on the sheer musical power and abandon that informed his late 1970s work. But if this isn’t the labor-intensive album fans have come to expect, the awareness of human struggle that undergirds Working on a Dream proves that the Boss is still on the job. UMC.org Music Reviews: Kevin Costner & Modern West: Untold Truths Costner could have made a throwaway album that capitalized on his fame, with guest stars galore and Nashville-tailored material. Untold Truths holds no stunning revelations, but its no-frills, middle-age-appropriate country-rock is commendable for its refusal to tell any lies. UMC.org Music Reviews: Newworldson: Salvation Station Because Newworldson’s derivation of soul and gospel picks up its influences downstream from the original source, it won’t quench hard-core fans of those bedrock African-American styles. But if you’re up for a holy-rolling locomotive ride that visits a few important landmarks, Salvation Station is the place to get on board. UMC.org Music Reviews: Lindsey Buckingham: Gift of Screws For all the album’s odd turns, Gift of Screws shows that the tools from which Buckingham once fashioned multi-platinum success remain sharp and firmly in his grasp, even if the blueprints have changed. UMC.org Music Reviews: Brooke Fraser: Albertine Fraser’s recent embrace by faith-based American listeners indicates that they’re famished for music that isn’t factory-baked. And indeed, on Albertine, the bread Fraser serves, if day-old by secular standards, is a hearty multi-grain that gives the spiritually inclined something both to chew on and to savor. UMC.org Music Reviews: Grace Jones: Hurricane On Hurricane, her first album in nearly 20 years, Jones both revisits and updates the sound of her early ’80s prime. In the process, she proves that her dramatic, rhythm-driven style remains edgy enough to keep middle-of-the-road listeners at arm’s length even two decades later.

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