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This week in New Reviews, we look at the latest acoustic live album from Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds. Live in Las Vegas, the duo’s third concert album together. “The playing is impressive, and there are plenty of tender moments you won’t see at full Matthews Band gigs. The best are simple, bluesy mourners like ‘Grace Is Gone,” Mark Kemp writes in his three-star Rolling Stone review. “Having said that, these records are only of lasting interest to hardcore DMB heads — the rest of us can probably skip the extended acoustic jam on Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir.’ ”
Never Shout Never’s debut album What Is Love? is also out now. The brainchild of 19-year-old Missouri pop-phenom Christofer Drew, What Is Love? scored a two-and-a-half star review review from Rolling Stone. While Drew showcases his melody skills, “Drew took some bad lessons from emo and his dad’s folk records: The vocals are often pained and piercing, and his manner can be gratingly precious,” Christian Hoard writes in his review.
Philly rapper Freeway returns with G-Unit producer Jake One on their new album The Stimulus Package, which scored a three-and-a-half star review from RS thanks to its “excellent beats” and “Freeway’s tricky rhyme schemes and his gravelly full-bore attack.” For more on The Stimulus Package and the rest of the biggest new releases, check out our Album Reviews section now.
...Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily