Ricky Martin, Alicia Keys, Duran Duran and Angels & Airwaves.

tue 11/20/2007

According to the NY Daily News, Ricky Martin “gets his mojo back” on Ricky Martin Live: Black and White Tour, a new album recorded during his recent sold-out world tour. Billboard.com insists that “the sheer energy is radically different from the spiritual uplift” of his recent unplugged album.
Alicia Keys' third studio album, As I Am, "envisions a hip-hop generation ready for its own Roberta Flack,” says Rolling Stone. Webzine Slant Magazine gives the album four out of five stars: “Keys isn't quite a superwoman come to save R&B from itself, but the timeless quality of As I Am is right on time.”
Veteran new romantics Duran Duran deliver their 12th studio album, the Justin Timberlake and Timbaland-assisted Red Carpet Massacre. Hollywood heavyweight Entertainment Weekly acknowledges that the Brits have "updated their sound just enough to feel relevant, without embarrassing themselves in the process.” Popmatters thinks it's one of their best, but “the bad news" is that "[i]t’s not really a Duran Duran album at all.”
Former blink-182 singer and guitarist Tom DeLonge returns with his second Angels & Airwaves album, I-Empire. All Music sneers: “Angels & Airwaves is more adult than blink-182, but just because this isn't snotty punk doesn't meant that it's mature.” Blender asks: “What happens when an emo dude gets happy? In the case of Tom DeLonge ... he becomes one kooky-ass hippie.”