Chesney’s ‘Cosmic’ rich – Escovedo rocks out on ‘Burn’

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LOS ANGELES, Oct 28, (AP): Kenny Chesney, “Cosmic Hallelujah” (Blue Chair/Sony)

Kenny Chesney’s new CD is his 17th studio album and it finds the country superstar sounding a little like a 17-year-old — caught between wild abandonment and moodiness.

The 11-song “Cosmic Hallelujah” is mature and also a little goofy. It pushes the boundaries of country and yet makes sure to come home for a comforting twang. It worries about the world and yet also blows it off. “I’s overexistentializin’ my redneck,” he sings happily.

“Cosmic Hallelujah” was supposed to come out last summer and it was going to be called something else. A new duet with Pink, “Setting the World on Fire” — an up-tempo party tune in the vein of Sheryl Crow “All I Wanna Do” — forced Chesney to re-evaluate.

After some frantic recording, the album that emerged is rich and varied, looking outward and also holed up at a bar. Beer is mentioned in five songs, whiskey in another and both are probably part of a toast on the last song, the respectful “Coach”.

Most intriguing are a pair of strong songs in which Chesney worries about society. “In the streets, in the crowds, it ain’t nothing but noise/Drowning out all the dreams of this Tennessee boy,” he sings on “Noise”.

On “Rich and Miserable”, his target is consumption: “We don’t know what we want, but we want it/And we want it all right now.”

“Cosmic Hallelujah” finds a nice balance between preachy and summer fun. As Chesney sings on “Bucket”: “I quit worryin’ ‘bout people’s expectations/And ordered up a six pack of chillaxification.”

Alejandro Escovedo, “Burn Something Beautiful” (Fantasy Records)

Alejandro Escovedo may not be a household name, but he should be.

The 65-year-old singer-songwriter emerged in the 1970s as a punk rocker, gained acclaim as a soulful Texas-based alt-country star and has been holding down the roots rock mantle for years. The styles all co-exist wonderfully on his new release “Burn Something Beautiful”, his first in four years.

Escovedo co-wrote the 13 songs and produced it with former R.E.M. member Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey of The Minus 5.

The record comes as Escovedo has battled hepatitis-C and survived a hurricane while on his honeymoon in Mexico. That experience left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.

So maybe it’s no surprise on “Burn Something Beautiful” he sings of loss, the healing power of love and his own mortality.

Tove Lo, “Lady Wood” (Island Records)

Pop singer Tove Lo warns us at the very top of her strong sophomore album that maybe we shouldn’t always believe her. “You know I’m under the influence/So don’t trust every word I say,” she sings.

And, after that warning, we’re off on a deliciously murky trip into dark club music led by a Swede who clearly likes to get high, be real and swear effortlessly. “Lady Wood” is as close to a punk EDM album as possible.

Lo has been making a name for herself for her chill synth pop and honest lyrics. Her 2014 debut, “Queen of the Clouds”, gave us the hits “Habits (Stay High)” and “Talking Body”. She also gained attention as the co-writer of Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me Like You Do”, earning herself Grammy and Golden Globe nominations.

Her new CD, which she co-wrote, is broken into two, five-track songs that start at the party and end in a hangover.

The album kicks off with the Britney Spears-sounding “Influence”, which gets a welcome assist from Wiz Khalifa, and then it’s all about glow sticks and doomed hookups, including the title song that embraces her libido and the hypnotic “Cool Girl”.

The crash comes with the last five songs, all more mature and weary. Being high hasn’t necessarily made Lo any happier — and reality is worse. “Know you’re loving the highs you get in between the lines of a life you don’t need,” she sings on “Don’t Talk About It”.

The album might be the worst advertisement ever for drugs, but it’s the best for a singer we have to watch.

But it’s no maudlin affair.

Guitars wail on the opener, “Horizontal,” setting the tone for what’s to come. He may be 65, but Escovedo seems determined to prove advancing age isn’t an inhibitor to showing the youngsters how to rock.

Still, musings on the inevitable end are never far away, like on “I Don’t Want to Play Guitar Anymore”.

“When there’s no stories left to sing,” Escovedo sings, “say goodbye to everything.”

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