Self-professed skate punk Avril Lavigne sings that she'd "rather be anything but ordinary" on her debut. While the fact that she had a record deal by the age of 16 separates her from the pack, too often Let Go's lyrical shortcomings drag the teenager's musically impressive recording entrée into the realm of the typical. The catchy choruses of Go are substantial, though, thanks to Lavigne's riff-driven melodies and powerful vocals, which at times adopt the unorthodox intonation quirks of fellow Canadian Alanis Morrissette. The nuanced, dynamic "Losing Grip," "My World" (which perfectly captures the ennui of suburbia), and the buoyant power-pop blast "Sk8er Boi" are the collection's highlights. But Lavigne's honest yet awkward words weigh down the likes of "Mobile," "I'm with You," and "Naked." "Nobody's Fool," which displays her Pink-like take-me-as-I-am credo, hints that someday Lavigne's lyrics will match the strength of her music. --Annie Zaleski
-from Amazon.com website
The Daredevil soundtrack provided a nice boost for this previously unknown quartet from Little Rock, Arkansas. Evanescence’s songs "My Immortal" and the imposing "Bring Me to Life" are clear standouts in the film, mainly because they work so well with the dramatic, eerie undertones of the storyline. They reappear here on the band’s debut, alongside a selection of similarly brooding tracks that evoke pensive artists like Tori Amos and the Cranberries. Vocalist Amy Lee has the kind of voice that can cause weeks of insomnia, but on songs like "Tourniquet" and "Haunted" she belies the music’s sinister mood with evenhanded spirituality, thoughtfully letting some light shine through the tempest. --Aidin Vaziri
-from Amazon.com website
Audio CD (April 22, 2003)
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Warner Brothers
Track Listings
1. American Life
2. Hollywood
3. I'm So Stupid
4. Love Profusion
5. Nobody Knows Me
6. Nothing Fails
7. Intervention
8. X-Static Process
9. Mother & Father
10. Die Another Day - from the MGM motion picture Die Another Day
11. Easy Ride
-from Amazon.com website
Some 15 years and nearly as many albums into her career, Ani DiFranco--the original girl-power prophet and folkie punk--is still as willful as ever. Her lyrics remain poetic, polemical, and yes, occasionally maudlin; her musical explorations sound more like refinement than radical revision, but it's clear that she's still, well, evolving. Always a strikingly gifted and expressive singer and guitarist who employs her voice and guitar as both rhythmic and melodic instruments, DiFranco builds this set of songs on those basics but draws generously from the wide range of styles she's sampled since her stripped-down early days. A slinky Latin guitar line snakes through "Promised Land," gutsy New Orleans brass adds swagger to "In the Way," and jazzy keys, cool clarinets, and mournful muted trumpets lend color and tone to nearly every cut. Hooks are scarce in the disc's mushy middle, but the lush, horn-laden groove of "Here for Now" recaptures the momentum, and DiFranco even drops a signature 10-minute epic in "Serpentine." Like Evolve itself, "Serpentine" is sprawling, funny, angry, compelling, and entirely unafraid. --Anders Smith Lindall
-from Amazon.com website
