The reviews

Songs From the Labyrinth
Sting
Deutsche Grammophon        **

In choosing to cover the music of John Dowland (1563-1626), who is known as the “melancholy madrigalist” from his output of cheerful ditties like Flow My Tears, Police bandleader Sting has entered into a whole new realm of austere eeriness.
Originally inspired by the gift of a lute, the rock superstar and activist sings the songs, deliciously sweet and tender or spirited by turn, accompanying himself, with Edin Karamazov sitting on lute and archlute.
For listeners accustomed to hearing material of this period interpreted by rigorously trained early music stylists, especially countertenors and the like, Sting’s sometimes tight-jawed, chest-heavy vocals may seem amateurish.
It is a courageous effort, displaying heartfelt admiration for the composer and a considerable degree of earnest charm.

Sugarfoot
Michelle Malone
Vallet                    ****

Contemporary Southern rock doesn’t get smarter or dirtier than this. Seventeen years into her career this Atlanta singer-songwriter’s poetic lyric command, relentless energy, and nasty slide guitar tone make her ninth album riveting from the get-go, when her speedy Delta blues picking kicks up the sexy Tighten Up the Springs.
From there it’s a careening joyride, pinballing between the delicate imagery of acoustic guitar-based numbers like Where Is the Love and gnarly electric guitar grinds like Soul Chicken and Black Motorcycle Boots.
Everything’s united by Malone’s blues-based musical sensibility and her powerful voice, which soars sweetly on the ballads and grows hair every time she pushes her range to a snarl.
With such deep roots and talent to match, “Moanin’” Michelle Malone deserves a bigger audience.

Face the Promise
Bob Seger
Capitol                 ****

This may be his first album in over a decade, but veteran Detroit rock icon Bob Seger shows he’s lost none of his signature songwriting chops, sense of blue collar yearning or distinctive vocal prowess during his record biz sabbatical.
Rather than reinvent himself for a turbulent marketplace that’s regressed from alt.rock to teeny-pop in his absence, Seger stays largely true to his roots here. The album’s Nashville recording locale and Seger’s winning duet with Patti Loveless on The Answer’s in the Question reaffirm how much the lines between roots rock and contemporary country have blurred while he was on the sidelines, a notion that’s underscored on Seger’s raucous turn with fellow Motor City native Kid Rock on their cover of Vince Gill’s Real Mean Bottle.
All in all a compelling
musical argument for the notion that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Coming Home
Lionel Richie
Island              ****

Leave the daddy-daughter dynamics for People magazine to dissect, but one thing’s for sure: with Coming Home, Lionel Richie may divebomb the spotlight so completely that daughter Nicole ends up a shadowy speck in the celebrity haze.
Unlike virtually every other high-profile R&B record to arrive in recent years, Coming Home resists the temptation to lean back, even a little, on its dazzled-up list of collaborators, Jermaine Dupri, Raphael Saadiq, and Dallas Austin among them.
Hot beats abound, especially on the dancefloor-ready Up All Night, first single I Call it Love, and Why, but the overall vibe is pure Lionel, from the Commodores-esque What You Are to the Penny Lover-like prettiness of Coming Home, to the wavy steel-guitar-laced lament that is Outta My Head.
Here are hooks that sink in instantly and vocals that float as if grafted to a bar of Ivory soap.