Listen Up!: Kelly Clarkson, Jessie Ware, Elizabeth & The Catapult, Lindstrom, The Smiths

American singer/songwriter Kelly Clarkson, who entered our heart back in 2002 via "American Idol," releases her eighth studio album this month, 14 soul-influenced pop tracks. English singer/songwriter Jessie Ware delivers her third studio album, "Glasshouse," a collection of 12 soulful pop songs. Brooklyn indie folk outfit Elizabeth & The Catapult, aka classically trained pianist Elizabeth Ziman, drops her fourth full-length studio album, 11 songs that mostly came to her in a dream. Hans-Peter Lindstr�m ditches his "space disco" sound for his fourth solo album. And the iconic Manchester band The Smiths release a Super Deluxe Edition of their iconic album "The Queen Is Dead."

"Meaning of Life" (Kelly Clarkson)

American singer/songwriter Kelly Clarkson, who entered our heart back in 2002 via "American Idol," releases her eighth studio album this month, a collection of 14 soul-influenced pop tracks. After a short intro, she launches into her hit single, the doo-wop influenced track "Love So Soft," singing, "let me in, I wanna be closer to you under your skin." If you want this love, you gotta hold it tight, sings Clarkson. She moves quickly through "Heat," a tune that has her remarking that you used to treat her like a diamond, but now you're not even trying. She slows things down in her title track "Meaning of Life" has booming vocals as she recalls an estranged lover, singing, "All I do is think of you and I/ Suddenly the wrongs they start to feel so right." "'Meaning of Life' is the song that started this entire project," Clarkson explained in a statement.�"The vibe, soul, and message of this song was very critical to show other writers and producers of the new direction we were taking." Like a sunrise on a mountain, she wants to "Move You" like that, in one drum-fueled tune; in the next sassy cut, she's a "Whole Lotta Woman" warning you in no uncertain terms that Texas women do it bigger. Don't worry, you'll still love her, "like a warm biscuit on a Sunday morning." Her funky "Medicine" uses lots of bass to get that warm feel, channeling that no-nonsense Mary J. Blige vibe as she asks, "how does it feel to know that I'm better off without you playing games in my head?" Clarkson shows off those internationally famous pipes of hers by hitting all the high notes in her swinging pop ballad "Cruel." He has her head spinning as he treats her good, then bad, while she wonders, "Didn't I" give you everything? She keeps this theme, looking back at a bad relationship and wondering, "Would You Call That Love?" He turned her strengths into weaknesses, but honestly, she'd do it all again just because his bullshit made her strong, sings Clarkson in "I Don't Think About You," a satisfying end-of-the-relationship song in the vein of her breakthrough hit, "Since U Been Gone." She goes lo-fi in her intro of "Slow Dance," about a "tall, dark and handsome" guy that knows how to romance. Spoiler alert: she's onto you, and sees through it all. Clarkson attaches a deep soul vibe to "Don't You Pretend," and ends a very strong album with "Go High," paraphrasing Michelle Obama's famous quip that, "when you go low, I go high... sometimes I don't wanna be nice -- but I try." Clarkson's been performing songs from the album in Nashville's War Memorial Auditorium in a series called her "Nashville Sessions."�Check out those videos online.
(Atlantic Records)

"Glasshouse" (Jessie Ware)

English singer/songwriter Jessie Ware unveils her third studio album, "Glasshouse," a collection of 12 soulful pop songs. It features collaborations with Ed Sheeran, Cashmere Cats, Julia Michaels and Francis and the Lights. She kicks things off with her R&B single, "Midnight," released in July. It's a soulful promise to meet up, because maybe she loves you. She's "Thinking of You," and dying to spend just a little more time with you. Her "Stay Awake For Me" employs the current popular style of four-measure strings of rap verse, interspersed with Ware's ballad style. "Your Domino" is a fast-moving percussive-fueled electro cut, and the pop ballad "Alone" has her hoping you'll be the one taking her home. A flourish of classical guitar opens "Selfish Love," with its sultry Spanish feel. She gets coy in "First Time," begging him to pretend like they've just fallen in love, singing, "how can we be so close but miles apart?" She sings her heart out in "Hearts," bemoaning the pain and saying, "if I could ask a smoking gun how it feels to hurt someone, I would just ask you." Deep organ tones and the rap of snare drum add a gospel feel to the track "Slow Me Down." She'll take it slow, if only you promise that it will never stop. In "Finish What We Started," she wants to know the door is not closed and this good love will keep on flowing. "If we escape the city no one has to care, that's when I know I'd follow you anywhere/ let's be alone together," sings Ware in the soft pop cut "The Last of the True Believers," featuring Paul Buchanan. She ends a strong album with the acoustic guitar "Sam," a collaboration with Sheeran and others. It has her wondering what kind of mother she'll be, and holding an imaginary conversation with her own mother about the good man she's found. Ware will play select dates in New York, San Francisco, and LA in November.
(Island/PMR)

"Keepsake" (Elizabeth & The Catapult)

Brooklyn indie folk outfit Elizabeth & The Catapult, aka classically trained pianist Elizabeth Ziman, releases her fourth full-length studio album, a collection of 11 songs that mostly came to her in a dream. Producers Dan Molad and Peter Lalish helped put together this cohesive album, with performances by Rob Moose and Richard Swift. Ziman is skilled at quick shifts in meter, unexpected chord professions and song structures that don't hew closely to the verse/chorus/bridge format. She kicks things off with "We Can Pretend" with its Brooklyn busker sound, and moves to "Underwater" with its '60s surf rock sound, in which even the tinny synthesizer sounds perfect. Her slow cut "Something More," has her singing, "there's no ever-after; drape yourself in flowers." Her story-song "Ambrosia" is about a girl who takes care of her mother, who "won't go to bed until I know she's alright." The sprightly instrumentation underscores the advice from her mother to "live every day like it's the best day of your life." It's almost enough to make you cry, just listening. She can still feel the muse flourishing inside her in the piano ballad "Magic Chaser," and her fingers fly over the keys like lightning in "Mea Culpa," singing, "more bad mistakes for us to make before we fuck it all up." She sings about "little white lies, maybe they're not so little" in "Method Acting," and her dark track "Better Days" reminisces about her father. She gets that surf rock vibe again in the fast-moving "Less Than You Think," with its whistle break. The snare drum proves very suitable to the walking-on-eggshells effect in "Tread Carefully." Ziman wraps up a very stylistically proficient album with "Land of Lost Things," a slow dirge. Nostalgia runs in deep currents on "Keepsake."
(Compass Records)

"The Queen Is Dead (Super Deluxe Edition)" (The Smiths)

The iconic Manchester band The Smiths release a Super Deluxe Edition of their iconic album "The Queen Is Dead" this month. The first disc features a fully-restored version of their 10-song album. The second disc features a collection of 13 B-side and rarities, including demo cuts of the songs. And a bonus third disc features "Live in Boston," recorded at the Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts on August 5, 1986. There's even a DVD fear featuring the 2017 master of the album in 96kHz / 24-bit PCM stereo as well as�"The Queen Is Dead - A Film By Derek Jarman." Everyone's favorite gloomy gay, Morrissey's voice sounds full and strong as he sings about love and war in the digitally remastered six-plus minute title track. "You cannot continue to record and simply hope that your audience will approve, or that average critics will approve, or that radio will approve," says Morrissey. "You progress only when you wonder if an abnormally scientific genius would approve -- and this is the leap The Smiths took with�'The Queen Is Dead.'" He's trying to leave the job that "corrodes my soul" in the comic cut "Frankly Mr. Shankly." You'll forgive him, but he's got to move fast; he's got the 20th century breathing down his neck. "Loud, loutish lover treat her kindly/ though she needs you more than she loves you," sings Morrissey in the slow track "I Know It's Over." Witness the birth of Morrissey's depression when you listen to the bleak track, "Never Had No One Ever," as he sings, "Now I'm outside your house, I'm alone... I hate to intrude." In the slightly more upbeat "Cemetry Gates," he's meeting a friend at the cemetery on a "dreaded sunny day," and sings, "Keats and Yeats are on your side/ While Wilde is on mine." All those people, all those lives -- where are they now, he asks. It's followed by what this critic believes is The Smiths' best cut, "Bigmouth Strikes Again," the fast-moving guitar cut with the lyrics, "Sweetness, I was only joking when I said I'd like to smash every tooth in your head." As he sings in the (now dated) bridge, "Now I know how Joan of Arc felt/ As the flames rose to her Roman nose and her Walkman started to melt." The double-time guitar strumming is excellent in "The Boy With the Thorn In His Side," with Morrissey crooning, "behind the hatred there lies a plundering desire for love/ How can they see the love in our eyes, and still they don't believe us?" The smash of tambourine keeps "Vicar in a Tutu" moving fast. Oddly, it's got an underlying country/rockabilly vibe that belies the humorous message of tolerance that, "He's not strange/ He just wants to live his life this way." Morrissey touches the heart of every gay who's ever loved in "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," singing about wanting to go to where there's music and people, begging to not be taken home yet, because "it's not my home, it's their home, and I'm welcome no more." After parental rejection, he dreams that if he died tonight, run over by a double-decker bus or ten-ton truck, "to die by your side, well the pleasure, the privilege is mine." The first album ends with "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" which moves up and down in its intensity. Disc Two kicks off with an even longer full version of "The Queen is Dead," followed by demo cuts of all the other tracks, and a Take-one cut of "There Is a Light." There's also B-side cuts including "Rubber Ring, "Asleep," and the instrumental track, "Money Changes Everything." The B-side single "Unloveable" is one to listen for. The Live in Boston set, complete with the wild cheering from the audience, will also be a thrill for diehard Smiths/Morrissey fans. Especially the unbridled track, "I Want The One I Can't Have," and the surprisingly upbeat cut "Is It Really So Strange," that has Morrissey singing, "Oh yes, you can kick me and you can punch me and you can break my face/ but you won't change the way I feel, 'cause I love you." With its impressive packaging, this is a superb gift idea for that morbidly depressed gay anglophile in your life.
(Warner Bros Records)

"It's Alright Between Us As It Is" (Hans-Peter Lindstrøm)

Norwegian producer and DJ Hans-Peter Lindstr�m mostly ditches his "space disco" sound with his fifth solo album, his first one in five years. He kicks things off with the title track, a short and spacy electronica intro, and then moves quickly into the instrumental cut "Spire," with its snappy snare intro and slowly-building crescendo. The album is split into nine tracks, but flows as one continuous song. The anxiety level gets ramped up with some fast keyboards in the nearly seven-minute track "Tensions," and then moves up and down the scales. Guest vocalist Frida Sundemo sings in "But Isn't It," which opens with the instrumental arrangement recalling Blondie's "Heart of Glass," before moving into rolling bass and electronica. The clave strikes in the interlude "Versatile Dreams" moves the short piece of music along until it smacks into "Shinin," featuring longtime collaborator Grace Hall. Her soulful, high voice weaves throughout the music, singing, "shinin' like we're number one, just another day in the sun... ain't nobody feels your soul like I do. And nobody loves you better, babe, than I do." This track moves into the psychedelic, trippy cut "Drift," with its infectious upbeat. At nearly seven and a half minutes, it really does give your mind time to drift... right into "Bungl (Like a Ghost)," another seven-minute masterpiece featuring Jenny Havl. "I look into the camera, I feel black matter bulging behind blue eyes./ I chose the other path, to be dead, so when I held her she would feel me like a ghost," Havl intones in her spoken word intro. This creepy-cool track employs echo to good effect, as Havl repeats, "this is my inscription, this is my handwriting." Toward the end, the screeching insectoid sounds yield to thumping bass for the final track, "Under Trees," with its strong piano presence. Lindstr�m makes his way through November with tour dates in Brooklyn, Texas, and Chicago.
(Smalltown Supersound)