New On Disc: Phil Vassar, Flight Of The Conchords

Hartford Courant

April 22, 2008

PHIL VASSAR Prayer of a Common Man Universal South Around the turn of the century Phil Vassar graduated from writing hits for others to making them himself, thanks to such jaunty slices of life as 'Just Another Day in Paradise.' The 43-year-old Virginian maintains a steadfast commitment to formula on his fourth album, a set well-stocked with slick hooks that offers little beneath its manicured surfaces.

Vassar's tunes are clean and direct in the mold of the springy anthem 'This is My Life,' simple reminiscences with extra helpings of gloss. Taken in small doses such as the title track, his songs are driven by an abundance of catchy confidence, but there is little depth or personality in an array of obvious lyrics and a vocal delivery more suited to polishing lyrics than shaping them.

An appearance by Los Lonely Boys on the southern-fried 'Why Don't Ya' juices an otherwise too-steady method, but more often antiseptic material goes through the motions of worn platitudes and insight-free bromides like those on the trite contemplation 'Crazy Life.' There are hits to be found amid the dross, but the going is generally bland, stories of the everyman too often told in the most ordinary language available.

Essential download: 'Why Don't Ya'

- Thomas Kintner FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS Flight of the Conchords Sub Pop/HBO With the second season of 'Flight of the Conchords' delayed by the recent writers' strike until 2009, this compilation of songs from the first season will have to tide us over. Fair enough.

The show chronicles the misadventures in love and the music business of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, billed as New Zealand's fourth-best folk-parody duo. Their self-titled full-length debut collects 15 tunes from last year's episodes, sweeping through a variety of musical styles on deadpan songs that expertly straddle the line between dumb and sublime.

It helps, but is not essential, to have passing familiarity with the sound of French pop, hip-hop gimmickry and the catalog of David Bowie, all of which are ably represented here.

'Foux du Fafa,' a Serge Gainsbourg send-up, features sultry vocals comprising beginner-level en francais vocab over cheesy acoustic guitar lines. Clement and McKenzie roll through Pet Shop Boys-style techno on 'Inner City Pressure' and dabble in gangsta rap (sort of) on the strategically edited 'Muthu'uckas.' The duo tackles lover-man soul via Barry White on 'Ladies of the World,' sex-funk on 'Business Time' and Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie on 'Bowie,' a song about, well, Bowie.

The only thing missing, really, is the visual context. That's a big piece of some of these songs -- it is a TV show, after all -- but even so, 'Flight of the Conchords' the album is a thorough, and thoroughly entertaining, overview of Flight of the Conchords the band.

Essential download: 'Business Time'

-- Eric R. Danton DONNY OSMOND Love Songs of the '70s Decca Legend has it that Capitol Records execs pulled the plug on promoting 'Paul's Boutique,' the Beastie Boys' (and Dust Brothers') sample-happy homage to the '70s, because they had a new Donny Osmond album to sell instead. Nearly two decades and a successful Broadway career later, the man himself has finally unleashed his own tribute to the Me Decade -- specifically, to its balladry.

But although he's a familiar '70s icon himself, the target of 'Love Songs' is slightly unclear. It's hard to imagine why, when the original versions of these dozen songs are just a mouse click (or at least, a budget-priced nostalgia collection) away, someone would need newly-recorded, faithful takes on prom faves like 'How Deep Is Your Love' or 'Sometimes When We Touch.'

However, at a time where '70s neo-standards are dismembered almost weekly on ' American Idol,' there's something admirable about Osmond's professionalism and taste. He isn't going to outdo Al Green, but he manages to turn in convincing appropriations of a variety of vocal styles, easily handling both the boyishly bright 'When I Need You' and husky intimacy on 'You Are So Beautiful.' Ultimately, 'Love Songs' proves as impossible to dislike as its perpetually grinning creator.

Essential download: 'You Are So Beautiful'

-Dan LeRoy STORY OF THE YEAR The Black Swan Epitaph Punk has changed a lot over the years, which means that no matter how fondly old-school punk fans regard California's stalwart Epitaph Records, many of the young bands signed to the label now are a world apart from the gritty rebellion of yore. Story of the Year has been around since 1995, but on the group on its Epitaph debut sounds as glossy and expansive as any band of the emo generation.

Singer Dan Marsala's vocals are so artificially treated that it often sounds like he's singing through a vocoder (it's probably just an auto-tuner). Following the band's brush with mainstream success with 2005's 'In The Wake of Determination,' their third album

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