Madonna
Hard Candy

These older female artists need to really understand that they can make a song feel sexy without trying to place hidden innuendos like for example in Madonna’s opening song “Candy Shop,” in her new album, Hard Candy, she talks about how her “sugar is raw,” and “sticky and sweet.” Finally after four minutes about her candy shop, it goes into “4 Minutes” which gets rid of the fearful reminder about her raw sugar.
With the duet of Justin Timberlake and Madonna, it sets the tone for the rest of the CD, and stays on that level for the rest of the album, which gets old and boring, pun unintended, very fast. I will say however this album is better than her last CD Confessions On A Dance Floor.

Overall Rating: D+
Hot Download: “Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You”

Augustana
Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt

I just love the opening song “Hey Now” for Augustana’s latest album entitled Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt, it feels like you’ve entered into a dream that just washes over you, then your encountered by a guitar. It’s a great way to start off a good album, and continues to be a good album until it ends.
The CD is a great soothing piece; it’s hard to find anything wrong with the production. The music composition is beautiful and with lyrics that don’t follow to far behind this excellent album. It will take listeners on an emotional journey. For me, the album has become a top for 2008.

Overall Rating: A
Hot Download: “Twenty Years”

Amit Paul
Songs In A Key of Mine

The A*Teens were once the biggest pop group in the UK, but barely made it on the radar over in the states. A*Teens, which is short for ABBA Teens, did a lot of cover songs from the group ABBA, then slowly broke away from ABBA songs and began to write and perform other works.
The four-member group split up in 2005 and went off to fulfill their own solo musical careers. Three of them are still in the “pop” scene in the UK, but only one has gone a different direction as far as his musical career is concerned. Amit Paul recently released his first solo CD entitled Songs In A Key Of Mine, which can only be purchased on iTunes and his personal website www.amitpaul.com.
The album is simply amazing; it’s refreshing to be able to listen to an artist that almost no one knows about. Amit himself, along with the music and co-producing which gives it that personal touch, wrote the lyrics to every track. He has the style comparable to the All-American Rejects.
Listeners can preview his songs on his website as well as his MySpace page, where two of his songs are downloadable for free.

Overall Rating: A+
Hot Download: “Judge You”

Ashlee Simpson
Bittersweet World

The Simpson girls are like an undying plague that proves that they aren’t a force to be reckoned with. Ashlee Simpson seemed to have the worst run-ins with the media, with being caught lip-synching to her own music and practically being booed off stage during a performance. I felt that she tried way too hard to redeem herself on her second CD I Am Me, which came up less than an OK album.
I have to give it up for Ashlee’s PR, because two weeks before her newest CD Bittersweet World came out she announced her engagement with Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz; one week before release date, they announce that she is pregnant. Boom! CD is released.
With Bittersweet World it’s not amazing or bad; it’s just a fun album. I don’t know any other way to describe it. You can tell she just had a lot of fun making it, which some artists need to do, and some try way too hard to accomplish. It’s definitely an album that deserves the chance to be heard.

Overall Rating: B
Hot Download: “Follow You Wherever You Go”