Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

A band’s image can be a blessing and a curse. While it helps a group stand out from the pack, it can also linger on for far too long. Billy Talent knows all about that. After its first, self-titled album, the group was pegged as a one-dimensional pop-punk band, as famous for singer Ben Kowalewicz’s siren vocals as guitarist Ian D’Sa’s big, sculpted hair. Ben toned down his shrieking—“I don’t want to be known as the Scream Guy,” he said—and sang less explicitly angry songs on Billy Talent II. But the stereotype persisted. Now, with its third CD, the award-winning, top-selling Toronto quartet should have no trouble shattering that image. Naturally titled Billy Talent III, the new album, produc...

Canada’s Our Lady Peace has been admired for its grungy, Pearl Jam-style guitars and epic, U2-like songs. The band’s passionate stance even earned kudos from rock bible Rolling Stone, which cited its “likable earnestness,” calling Our Lady Peace “the sincerest modern rockers unleashed yet by our northern neighbors.” At home the group, led by singer Raine Maida, has long enjoyed superstar status, selling five million copies of its six studio albums—including one million for Clumsy alone—and winning four Juno Awards. But trouble erupted in paradise while OLP was making its last album, 2005’s Healthy in Paranoid Times, in Hawaii with producer Bob Rock. The band very nearly broke up, recalled Ma...

There may be a recession going on, but Jack White’s never been busier. The American singer-guitarist performs in three bands, including the best-selling White Stripes and the critically acclaimed Raconteurs. He also produces records and has won a pair of Grammy Awards for his work on country legend Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose album. Married to former model Karen Elson, with whom he has two children, the occasional actor co-starred in the movie Cold Mountain and will soon appear in It Might Get Loud, a film with Jimmy Page and U2’s the Edge, and White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights, a documentary about his 2007 tour of Canada. Earlier this year, Jack opened an office in Nashville...

When Canada’s Jeff Healey succumbed to cancer last year, the music world lost one of its most unique talents. Blind from shortly after birth, due to a rare form of cancer called retinoblastoma, Jeff taught himself to play guitar with the instrument lying flat on his lap while still an adolescent. By the time he was in his teens, he was hailed as a virtuoso electric guitarist with fans like bluesman Albert Collins and Stevie Ray Vaughan. With his band, Jeff made a series of blues-rock albums, including his Grammy-nominated, million-selling debut See the Light, which included the Top 5 single “Angel Eyes.” He also made a cameo performance in the Hollywood movie Road House, starring Patrick Swa...

Those who find most contemporary r&b too ephemeral and bling obsessed will welcome the return of this Brooklyn-born singer. His Afro may be gone, but Maxwell, best known for his high falsetto and bedroom ballads, has lost none of his classic deep-soul moves. Like his hero Al Green, Maxwell mixes elements that sound at once sacred and profane, especially on yearning numbers like “Stop the World” and “Fistful of Tears.” But, with irresistible songs such as “Pretty Wings,” this is sweet soul music of the sexiest kind. August 2009  

American Idol has produced many pop hopefuls, but only a few genuine talents of Kelly Clarkson’s caliber. Jordin, 2007’s winning contestant, possesses plenty of pop savvy and no shortage of ambition. The 19-year-old’s sophomore album borrows liberally from Kelly, Beyoncé and even Lady Gaga on songs like “Let it Rain,” the title track and the club thumping “S.O.S. (Let the Music Play).” More promisingly, Jordin co-wrote four numbers here, the best of which—hands down—is the inspirational anthem “Faith.” August 2009

Sometimes the greatest talents are faceless practitioners, blessed with accolades but cursed by anonymity. Richard Thompson is one such artist. For 40 years, the English musician has earned a reputation as a guitarist and songwriter of distinction, from his work with pioneering folk-rockers Fairport Convention to his stellar duo albums with then-wife Linda Thompson and his prolific output as a solo act. Rolling Stone cited Richard as one of the world’s top 20 guitarists and recently rated Shoot Out the Lights, his 1982 album with Linda, one of the Greatest Albums of All Time. Still, popularity eluded him. With the release of Walking On a Wire 1968-2009, Richard may finally attract wider reco...

With his witty observations on English culture, Ray Davies is revered as Brit-rock’s poet laureate. In fact, Ray’s contributions recently led to him being named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Now the former Kinks leader is getting the choral treatment, as London’s Crouch End Festival Chorus join him on many of his best songs. Adorned by 55 soaring voices, “Waterloo Sunset” is transformed into a moving rock opera, while classic rockers like “You Really Got Me” become surprisingly hymn-like. August 2009

Sounding like the rowdy offspring of fellow Aussies AC/DC crossed with Paul McCartney’s Wings, whose song “Jet” gave the band its name, this Melbourne quartet, led by brothers Nic and Chris Cester, favors fat riffs and melodic hooks. Jet’s third album has plenty of both, especially on the lead-off single “K.I.A. (Killed in Action),” the rugged “She’s a Genius” and sweet, piano-driven “Seventeen.” Joyfully steeped in classic rock ’n’ roll that belies their youthful age, Jet is soaring up from Down Under once again. August 2009  

Hailing from the northern steeltown of Sheffield, England’s Arctic Monkeys quickly became the darlings of the alternative rock scene, although its members are just in their early 20s. In fact, the quartet has received the kind of praise reserved for rock gods. One English publication called them “Our Generation’s Most Important Band” and declared the Monkeys’ debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, “the fifth-greatest Brit album ever”—the same week it was released. Much of the hyperbole is due to singer-guitarist Alex Turner, whose literate lyrics offer a sardonic view of working-class nightlife in songs like “A Certain Romance,” “When the Sun Goes Down” and the Monkeys’ propul...