New Reviews: One Direction is 'One Dimensional'

One Direction performs at Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards at Galen Center in Los Angeles.

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Jody Rosen pans the debut by U.K. boy band One Direction as being one dimensional, saying that they are "simply five pretty guys with a few decent songs and not much personality." Also, Will Hermes praises the "tweaked, tortured metal-esque garage rock" of Jack White's new single "Sixteen Saltines" and says that Dr. John's new album Locked Down is "a retro exercise that looks forward."

ALBUMS

One Direction - Up All Night

Wiz Khalifa - Taylor Allderice

Dr. John - Locked Down

Miniature Tigers - Mia Pharaoh

Robert Glasper Experiment - Black Radio

Burial - Kindred EP

Homeboy Sandman - Subject Matter

Tanlines - Mixed Emotions

SONGS

Katy Perry "Wide Awake"

Jack White "Sixteen Saltines"

Bobby Womack "Please Forgive My Heart"

The Hives "Go Right Ahead"

Hot Chip "Flutes"

Nas "The Don"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

New Reviews: One Direction is 'One Dimensional'

One Direction performs at Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards at Galen Center in Los Angeles.

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Jody Rosen pans the debut by U.K. boy band One Direction as being one dimensional, saying that they are "simply five pretty guys with a few decent songs and not much personality." Also, Will Hermes praises the "tweaked, tortured metal-esque garage rock" of Jack White's new single "Sixteen Saltines" and says that Dr. John's new album Locked Down is "a retro exercise that looks forward."

ALBUMS

One Direction - Up All Night

Wiz Khalifa - Taylor Allderice

Dr. John - Locked Down

Miniature Tigers - Mia Pharaoh

Robert Glasper Experiment - Black Radio

Burial - Kindred EP

Homeboy Sandman - Subject Matter

Tanlines - Mixed Emotions

SONGS

Katy Perry "Wide Awake"

Jack White "Sixteen Saltines"

Bobby Womack "Please Forgive My Heart"

The Hives "Go Right Ahead"

Hot Chip "Flutes"

Nas "The Don"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

New Reviews: Madonna's Explicitly Emotional 'MDNA'

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Joe Levy praises Madonna's new album MDNA, in which the pop queen gets emotionally explicit as she deals with the fallout of her divorce from Guy Ritchie. Also, Jody Rosen says Odd Future's latest is a mesmerizing set of tunes in which the controversial rap crew rise above their limitations, and Anthony DeCurtis digs the "rough-hewn elegance" of Justin Townes Earles' latest Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now.

ALBUMS

Madonna - MDNA

Justin Townes Earle - Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now

Miike Snow - Happy to You

The Mars Volta - Noctourniquet

Odd Future - The O.F. Tape Volume 2

All-American Rejects - Kids in the Street

Dev - The Night the Sun Came Up

Lionel Richie - Tuskegee

Mouse on Mars - Parastrophics

Rusko - Songs

Shinedown - Amaryllis

Various Artists - In the Mix: Dancepop Anthems

Spoek Mathambo - Father Creeper

SONGS

Justin Bieber "Boyfriend"

Nicki Minaj featuring Lil Wayne "Roman Reloaded"

Titus Andronicus "Upon Viewing Oregon's Landscape with the Flood of Detritus"

Dr. John "Revolution"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

New Reviews: Madonna's Explicitly Emotional 'MDNA'

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Joe Levy praises Madonna's new album MDNA, in which the pop queen gets emotionally explicit as she deals with the fallout of her divorce from Guy Ritchie. Also, Jody Rosen says Odd Future's latest is a mesmerizing set of tunes in which the controversial rap crew rise above their limitations, and Anthony DeCurtis digs the "rough-hewn elegance" of Justin Townes Earles' latest Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now.

ALBUMS

Madonna - MDNA

Justin Townes Earle - Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now

Miike Snow - Happy to You

The Mars Volta - Noctourniquet

Odd Future - The O.F. Tape Volume 2

All-American Rejects - Kids in the Street

Dev - The Night the Sun Came Up

Lionel Richie - Tuskegee

Mouse on Mars - Parastrophics

Rusko - Songs

Shinedown - Amaryllis

Various Artists - In the Mix: Dancepop Anthems

Spoek Mathambo - Father Creeper

SONGS

Justin Bieber "Boyfriend"

Nicki Minaj featuring Lil Wayne "Roman Reloaded"

Titus Andronicus "Upon Viewing Oregon's Landscape with the Flood of Detritus"

Dr. John "Revolution"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

New Reviews: The Decemberists Strip Down on Live Album

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Jon Dolan ponders how the Decemberists' new double live album, which features a 16-minute folk- rock opus, a yodeling drummer and nautical themed audience participation, is somehow relatively "stripped-down" for the "overweeningly theatrical" band. Also, Rob Sheffield describes Vince Clarke and Martin Gore's new techno album as VCMG as the "New Wave equivalent of the Rocky/Apollo rematch at the end of Rocky III," Jeff Rosenthal slams the new single by shock-rap crew Odd Future and Monica Herrera praises Big K.R.I.T.'s new self-produced mixture.

ALBUMS

The Decemberists - We All Raise Our Voices to the Air (Live Songs 04-11-08-11)

VCMG - Ssss

The Ting Tings - Sounds From Nowheresville

The Jezabels - Prisoner

The Men - Open Your Heart

White Rabbits - Milk Famous

Band of Skulls - Sweet Sour

Delta Spirit - Delta Spirit

Big K.R.I.T. - 4evaNaDay

WZRD - WZRD

SONGS

Arcade Fire "Abraham's Daughter"

Odd Future "Rella"

Beach House "Myth"

Debo Band "Asha Gedawo"

Blur "Under the Westway"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

New Reviews: John Mayer Takes the High Road on 'Shadow Days'

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Jon Dolan praises "Shadow Days," the new country-tinged single by John Mayer, who has returned after throat issues and some truly embarassing public comments about his "David Duke cock." "You've got to admire a man who takes the high road, and as Mayer's George Harrison-inscribed guitar melts into the sunset, his contrition is sympathetic," writes Dolan. Also, Jody Rosen hails Nate Ruess, the lead singer of the NYC indie-pop trio fun., as "the Platonic ideal of a 21st-century rock star," and Will Hermes raves about Perfume Genius' haunting, gorgeous new album Put Your Back N 2 It.

ALBUMS

fun. - Some Nights

Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It

Alex Chilton - Free Again: The '1970' Sessions

John Mulaney - New In Town

The Unthanks - The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony and the Johnsons

SONGS

John Mayer "Shadow Days"

Norah Jones "Happy Pills"

Madonna "Girl Gone Wild"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

New Reviews: John Mayer Takes the High Road on 'Shadow Days'

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Jon Dolan praises "Shadow Days," the new country-tinged single by John Mayer, who has returned after throat issues and some truly embarassing public comments about his "David Duke cock." "You've got to admire a man who takes the high road, and as Mayer's George Harrison-inscribed guitar melts into the sunset, his contrition is sympathetic," writes Dolan. Also, Jody Rosen hails Nate Ruess, the lead singer of the NYC indie-pop trio fun., as "the Platonic ideal of a 21st-century rock star," and Will Hermes raves about Perfume Genius' haunting, gorgeous new album Put Your Back N 2 It.

ALBUMS

fun. - Some Nights

Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It

Alex Chilton - Free Again: The '1970' Sessions

John Mulaney - New In Town

The Unthanks - The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony and the Johnsons

SONGS

John Mayer "Shadow Days"

Norah Jones "Happy Pills"

Madonna "Girl Gone Wild"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

New Reviews: Pink Floyd Expand 'The Wall'

Pink Floyd, 'The Wall: Immersion Edition'

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, David Fricke raves about the "Immersion Edition" of Pink Floyd's landmark album The Wall, noting that "immersion" is "a good way to characterize the grip and whirl of construction recounted on the two CDs of demos in this seven-disc box." Also, Jon Dolan praises the "cardigan-cozy jangle" of the Cranberries' comeback record Roses, Chuck Eddy pans Chiddy Bang's "self-consciously cute" debut and Jody Rosen hails the sci-fi quiet storm of Usher's new single "Climax."

ALBUMS

Pink Floyd - The Wall: Immersion Edition

Chiddy Bang - Breakfast

Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker and Yim Yames - New Multitudes

The Cranberries - Roses

Estelle - All of Me

Tyga - Careless World: Rise of the Last King

Carolina Chocolate Drops - Leaving Eden

Frankie Rose - Interstellar

Mark Lanegan Band - Blues Funeral

Metallica - Beyond Magnetic

Lamb of God - Resolution

Air - Le Voyage Dans La Lune

SONGS

Usher "Climax"

M. Ward "The First Time I Ran Away"

Alabama Shakes "How Many More Times"

Paris Hilton "Drunk Text"

Rita Ora "Party & Bullshit"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

New Reviews: Pink Floyd Expand 'The Wall'

Pink Floyd, 'The Wall: Immersion Edition'

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, David Fricke raves about the "Immersion Edition" of Pink Floyd's landmark album The Wall, noting that "immersion" is "a good way to characterize the grip and whirl of construction recounted on the two CDs of demos in this seven-disc box." Also, Jon Dolan praises the "cardigan-cozy jangle" of the Cranberries' comeback record Roses, Chuck Eddy pans Chiddy Bang's "self-consciously cute" debut and Jody Rosen hails the sci-fi quiet storm of Usher's new single "Climax."

ALBUMS

Pink Floyd - The Wall: Immersion Edition

Chiddy Bang - Breakfast

Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker and Yim Yames - New Multitudes

The Cranberries - Roses

Estelle - All of Me

Tyga - Careless World: Rise of the Last King

Carolina Chocolate Drops - Leaving Eden

Frankie Rose - Interstellar

Mark Lanegan Band - Blues Funeral

Metallica - Beyond Magnetic

Lamb of God - Resolution

Air - Le Voyage Dans La Lune

SONGS

Usher "Climax"

M. Ward "The First Time I Ran Away"

Alabama Shakes "How Many More Times"

Paris Hilton "Drunk Text"

Rita Ora "Party & Bullshit"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

New Reviews: Sleigh Bells Get Noisier on 'Reign of Terror'

Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells performs at Terminal 5 in New York.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.com

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Rob Sheffield hails Sleigh Bells' second album, Reign of Terror, which "flattens you with its cartoonishly over-modulated, into-the-red guitar sound." Also, Jon Dolan says that Gorillaz, Andre 3000 and James Murphy's "DoYaThing" is a "zippy future-freak soul summit," and Jody Rosen dismisses Katy Perry's divorce anthem "Part of Me" as a "predictably effective piece of angsty dance-pop."

ALBUMS

Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror

Sinead O'Connor - How About I Be Me (and You Be You)?

The Chieftains - Voice of Ages

The Move - Live at the Fillmore 1969

Prinzhorn Dance School - Clay Class

Elle Varner - Conversational Lush

Jessie Baylin - Little Spark

Gotye - Making Mirrors

SONGS

Gorillaz featuring Andre 3000 and James Murphy "DoYaThing"

Santigold "Disparate Youth"

One Direction "What Makes You Beautiful"

Nicki Minaj "Starships"

The Mars Volta "The Malkin Jewel"

The Decemberists "One Engine"

Katy Perry "Part of Me"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

New Reviews: Sleigh Bells Get Noisier on 'Reign of Terror'

Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells performs at Terminal 5 in New York.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.com

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Rob Sheffield hails Sleigh Bells' second album, Reign of Terror, which "flattens you with its cartoonishly over-modulated, into-the-red guitar sound." Also, Jon Dolan says that Gorillaz, Andre 3000 and James Murphy's "DoYaThing" is a "zippy future-freak soul summit," and Jody Rosen dismisses Katy Perry's divorce anthem "Part of Me" as a "predictably effective piece of angsty dance-pop."

ALBUMS

Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror

Sinead O'Connor - How About I Be Me (and You Be You)?

The Chieftains - Voice of Ages

The Move - Live at the Fillmore 1969

Prinzhorn Dance School - Clay Class

Elle Varner - Conversational Lush

Jessie Baylin - Little Spark

Gotye - Making Mirrors

SONGS

Gorillaz featuring Andre 3000 and James Murphy "DoYaThing"

Santigold "Disparate Youth"

One Direction "What Makes You Beautiful"

Nicki Minaj "Starships"

The Mars Volta "The Malkin Jewel"

The Decemberists "One Engine"

Katy Perry "Part of Me"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

New Reviews: Van Halen Return to Form on 'A Different Kind of Truth'

Van Halen, 'A Different Kind of Truth'

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Rob Sheffield praises A Different Kind of Truth, Van Halen's first album with David Lee Roth in nearly three decades. "As for Diamond Dave, the gods only made one of him, because they couldn't take the competition," says Sheffield. "Now this is a rock star, except no other rock star would try to get away with this many cornball one-liners."  Also, Monica Herrera digs the new mixtape from Das Racist emcee Himanshu, James Hunter endorses the giant soul hooks of the latest Marvelettes anthology and Jon Dolan says that the Black Keys' Patrick Carney's production on the new Tennis album improves on the sound of their debut.

ALBUMS

Van Halen - A Different Kind of Truth

Himanshu - Nehru Jackets

Tennis - Young & Old

Howlin Rain - The Russian Wilds

Heartless Bastards - Arrow

Punch Brothers - Who's Feeling Young Now?

Polica - Give You the Ghost

The Marvelettes - Forever More: The Complete Motown Albums, Volume 2

SONGS

Ane Brun – "Do You Remember"

Chieftains featuring Bon Iver – "Down in the Willow"

Amadou and Mariam – "Dougou Badia"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

New Reviews: Madonna's New Single Is 'Dashed Off'

Madonna, 'Give Me All You Luvin''

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Jody Rosen pans Madonna's "dashed off" new single "Give Me All Your Luvin'," on which the pop icon comes off like "a stressed-out party host" desperate to show her guests, M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj, a good time. Also, Will Hermes says that Paul McCartney's new covers album finds the former Beatle "transforming influences rather than mirroring them," and Joe Gross raves about Sharon Van Etten's breakthrough record Tramp, which he says "plays like a female version of Beck's Sea Change."

ALBUMS

Paul McCartney - Kisses on the Bottom

Sharon Van Etten - Tramp

Of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks

Die Antwoord - Ten$ion

Ben Kweller - Go Fly A Kite

Lindstrøm - Six Cups of Rebel

The Fray - Scars and Stories

Dierks Bentley - Home

The Doors - L.A. Woman (40th Anniversary Edition)

SONGS

Madonna featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. "Give Me All Your Luvin'"

M.I.A. "Bad Girls"

Jack White "Love Interruption"

Willis Earl Beal "Evening's Kiss"

Screaming Females "It All Means Nothing"

K'naan featuring Nelly Furtado "Is Anybody Out There"

Bonnie Raitt "Right Down the Line"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

New Reviews: Lana Del Rey's Voice Is 'Pinched and Prim'

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Rob Sheffield pans internet star Lana Del Rey's first album, Born to Die: "Her voice is pinched and prim, and her song doctors need to go the fuck back to med school." Also, Joe Levy raves about Leonard Cohen's latest record, Old Ideas, in which the legendary songwriter "has shorn the ornament from his language to move from the personal to the universal," and Simon Vozick-Levinson praises the "aggressively adorable debut" of the New York band Hospitality.

ALBUMS

Lana Del Rey - Born to Die (stream one song)

Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas (stream one song)

Hospitality - Hospitality (stream one song)

Imperial Teen - Feel the Sound (stream one song)

Ringo Starr - Ringo 2012 (stream one song)

Underworld - A Collection (stream one song)

Escort - Escort (stream one song)

The Internet - Purple Naked Ladies (stream one song)

Wilco - iTunes Session (stream one song)

Schoolboy Q - Habits and Contradictions (stream one song)

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

New Reviews: Lana Del Rey's Voice Is 'Pinched and Prim'

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Rob Sheffield pans internet star Lana Del Rey's first album, Born to Die: "Her voice is pinched and prim, and her song doctors need to go the fuck back to med school." Also, Joe Levy raves about Leonard Cohen's latest record, Old Ideas, in which the legendary songwriter "has shorn the ornament from his language to move from the personal to the universal," and Simon Vozick-Levinson praises the "aggressively adorable debut" of the New York band Hospitality.

ALBUMS

Lana Del Rey - Born to Die (stream one song)

Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas (stream one song)

Hospitality - Hospitality (stream one song)

Imperial Teen - Feel the Sound (stream one song)

Ringo Starr - Ringo 2012 (stream one song)

Underworld - A Collection (stream one song)

Escort - Escort (stream one song)

The Internet - Purple Naked Ladies (stream one song)

Wilco - iTunes Session (stream one song)

Schoolboy Q - Habits and Contradictions (stream one song)

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

New Reviews: 'Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan' Is Sprawling and Inconsistent

'Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan'

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Joe Levy assesses Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan, a sprawling and inconsistent 80 track collection of Dylan covers for Amnesty International with artists ranging from "Pete Seeger (folk-music deity, b. 1919) to Miley Cyrus (hot mess, b. 1992)." Also, Rob Sheffield praises Craig Finn's "ear for the way American losers talk" on his debut solo album and David Fricke raves about Bruce Springsteen's new single "We Take Care of Our Own," which he says is a "precise, devastating assessment of a nation exhausted by economic straits and locked in an uncivil war of values stoked by selfish Washington gridlock."

ALBUMS

Various Artists - Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan (stream one song)

Craig Finn - Clear Heart Full Eyes (stream one song)

Tim McGraw - Emotional Traffic (stream one song)

First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar (stream one song)

Big Deal - Lights Out (stream one song)

The Little Willies - For the Good Times (stream one song)

Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory (stream one song)

Chairlift - Something (stream one song)

Ani DiFranco - Which Side Are You On? (stream one song)

Kathleen Edwards - Voyageur (stream one song)

SONGS

Bruce Springsteen "We Take Care of Our Own" (stream)

Scissor Sisters "Shady Love" (stream)

Delta Spirit "California" (stream)

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

New Reviews: 'Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan' Is Sprawling and Inconsistent

'Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan'

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Joe Levy assesses Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan, a sprawling and inconsistent 80 track collection of Dylan covers for Amnesty International with artists ranging from "Pete Seeger (folk-music deity, b. 1919) to Miley Cyrus (hot mess, b. 1992)." Also, Rob Sheffield praises Craig Finn's "ear for the way American losers talk" on his debut solo album and David Fricke raves about Bruce Springsteen's new single "We Take Care of Our Own," which he says is a "precise, devastating assessment of a nation exhausted by economic straits and locked in an uncivil war of values stoked by selfish Washington gridlock."

ALBUMS

Various Artists - Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan (stream one song)

Craig Finn - Clear Heart Full Eyes (stream one song)

Tim McGraw - Emotional Traffic (stream one song)

First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar (stream one song)

Big Deal - Lights Out (stream one song)

The Little Willies - For the Good Times (stream one song)

Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory (stream one song)

Chairlift - Something (stream one song)

Ani DiFranco - Which Side Are You On? (stream one song)

Kathleen Edwards - Voyageur (stream one song)

SONGS

Bruce Springsteen "We Take Care of Our Own" (stream)

Scissor Sisters "Shady Love" (stream)

Delta Spirit "California" (stream)

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »