Haim, “Something to Tell You”: Can you sound too perfect? It’s a question that Haim — the sunny sisters, singer-guitarist Danielle, guitarist Alana and bassist Este Haim — must run into a lot. The harmonies on their surprising 2013 debut “Days Are Gone” were so immaculate, as they harked back to the ’70s rock of The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, that it almost felt too good to be true.
For their follow-up, “Something to Tell You” (Columbia), the Haim sisters have added a bit of an edge, with help from producers/collaborators Ariel Rechtshaid and Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij. Even the first single, “Want You Back,” where the harmonies eventually grow into a gleaming tower of stacked vocals rising skyward, Haim looks to shake the classic-rock feel by adding a modern twist, in this case, a bit of R&B phrasing.
Occasionally, it seems like all the additional instrumentation is simply there to distract from the harmonies, when the song would have been better served by removing the harmonies and letting Danielle (or another Haim) sing it alone, like in the ironically titled “Found It in the Silence,” which is overstuffed on every level. But all that inventiveness keeps “Something to Tell You” from sliding into the predictable blandness that eventually comes with consistently pretty harmonies. And it makes Haim an unfettered success.
— Glenn Gamboa, Newsday
Kim Robins, “Raining In Baltimore”: If you haven’t discovered Kim Robins yet, this is your chance. “Raining in Baltimore” is the follow-up to her recent “40 Years Late” album. That title refers to the musical career she put on hold when she became a mother at 19. Before that, the Bloomington, Indiana, native was an opening act for Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, Barbara Mandrell and The Oak Ridge Boys as a teenager.
But that was then and this is now.
And Robins, now a grandmother of two, is back with an all-star studio band — Ron Stewart, Rickey Wasson, Adam Steffey and Harold Nixon. “Raining in Baltimore” is her first major label release. And, boy, does she sound good.
“Eye For An Eye,” the opening track, is an uptempo tale of vengeance with a man out to kill the man who killed his son.
Robins wrote three tracks — the title cut about a country girl in a big city hoping to get a call from the one she loves; “She’s Just Like You,” which warns her ex that his new love is just like him and she’ll be as unfaithful as he was; and “Bitter Game,” about a woman who keeps lying to herself when she says she’s over him.
There’s a good bluegrass cover of “My Baby Thinks He’s A Train,” the 1981 Rosanne Cash country hit. And Robins shines on Dolly Parton’s “Sacred Memories.”
— Keith Lawrence, Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer
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