The eight musicians who compose Newpoli take on a host of southern Italian folk songs on this project, playing traditional instruments. Recorded live at a Massachusetts church, Tempo Antico makes for lively listening, as evidenced on the 16th-century song “Catalina—Moresca Prima” and the delightful, flute-driven tarantella “Pizzicarella.” On the softer side, the 1930 ballad “Dicitencello Vuje” could melt the hardest heart in Naples, where the tune originates:
You probably won’t hear Greg Laswell's songs in church. You’re more likely to catch them on the radio or in the background of a particularly intense moment of shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Glee, or The Carrie Diaries. Yet his songs animate the highs and lows of my spiritual journeys. I’ve also started using them in my U.S. religious history courses.
Fresh off her successful solo debut at Carnegie Hall, soprano Natalie Mann tackles an ambitious project—the songs of Lori Laitman and Richard Pearson Thomas—with palpable confidence and a thrilling balance of vocal strength and sensitivity. Ably accompanied by pianist Jeffrey Panko, Mann has never sounded better, her round tone and emotional range sublime or thunderous as the material demands. Mann makes Emily Dickinson’s meditations on God (which Thomas quotes from “I Never Saw a Moor”) ring with dewdrop tenderness and poignancy. Highly recommended.
These 17 songs are inspired by the psalms, and the musical settings recall Michael W. Smith and Phil Keaggy. Equally appropriate for worship or solitary prayer, these acoustic tracks promise and deliver comfort: humble, unassuming, and stripped of any varnish, with Bruxvoort Colligan’s gossamer tenor leading the way. Highlights include the title track, based on Psalm 87 and built on a round of voices singing sweet, intersecting melodies:
Though Andy Paley later enjoyed acclaim as a producer, the power-pop group he led with his brother Jonathan faded, as so many of them do. But this collection makes a joyful case for revisiting the Paleys’ catalog. The collection features the group’s entire output on Sire Records, including the bluesy, infectious “Hide and Seek” from the group’s first EP. Also included are 11 unreleased tracks, including “Baby, Let’s Stick Together,” recorded in 1978 with producer Phil Spector and the Wrecking Crew.
In the digital age, music albums are often seen as quaint, obsolete. Yet a well-crafted collection of songs often carries with it a narrative arc, even when the compositions lack words.