Chrissie Hynde came up the hard way. She was a student at Kent State during the tragic 1970 shootings and followed her musical dreams to London a few years later. Shuttling around Europe and back to Ohio, she tried in vain to join several groups and ended up forming her own, the Pretenders, in 1978. After two successful albums, the original band disintegrated with the untimely deaths of two members and departure of the third in the mid-80s.

 After the death of guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, the surviving band recorded "Back on the Chain Gang," a song that remains a powerful expression of loss and rebirth. That spirit propelled Chrissie Hynde forward, and she's been working hard with the loose band of musicians who have been the Pretenders ever since. 

The group's ninth studio album, Break Up the Concrete, brings everything full circle, back to harder rock and her Ohio roots with a touch of rockabilly. It's actually their best effort since 1984's "Learning to Crawl"...and Chrissie Hynde continues to break down barriers (as well as concrete) on this brand-new release. A smashing success!

John Legend is one of those artists who has seemingly been around forever...yet he hasn't even reached his 30th birthday. Starting as a child prodigy, he played as a session musician and soloist through his teens and college years, building up a following and eventually catching the ears of Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, and Janet Jackson. After playing on their albums he finally released his own, starting with Get Lifted in 2004.

Evolver is a sideways step from his previous two studio albums. The good news: he really is a special talent, with the Grammys to prove it! The bad news: this new album comes across as a poor man's version of Get Lifted and Once Again. The reason Evolver is a slight letdown is because he's shown so much more before. It's still a pretty good collection of soul-inflected contemporary music and an easy way to spend 45 minutes or so. Let's hope his "evolution" is only just beginning!

His first album came out 40 years ago in December, so long ago that it was on the Beatles' Apple label. Sweet Baby James is now an American legend, the archetypal singer-songwriter, and this new collection of 12 cover songs already seems like an American classic, with artists from Buddy Holly to the Dixie Chicks represented.

Recorded over 10 snowy days last winter in his converted barn studio in western Massachusetts, James Taylor and his band chose favorite songs and worked them out together, whittling the tracks down to 12 that include Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman," Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne," "Summertime Blues," "(I'm A) Road Runner," "Hound Dog," and "On Broadway." These are all songs that he has performed in concert over the years, but never recorded in a studio. With his warm, familiar voice, the sometimes-unorthodox song choices work consistently to make Covers a smooth, easy listen. Perfect for a cool fall evening -- indoors!

A study out of the University of Illinois medical school says that the Bee Gees' classic hit "Staying Alive" (from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack) can be taken literally: according to researchers, doctors and students have found the song ideal in helping to track chest compressions during CPR. With 103 beats per minute (and a recommendation of 100 chest ompressions during that same time), students who timed their compressions to "Staying Alive" kept more steady and persistent rhythms, resulting in better outcomes using mannequins.

This theory hasn't been tested on human patients yet, but maybe they'll be packing iPods in defibrillators before too long. Meanwhile, let's all be grateful that another song that shares a pounding beat and similar rhythms wasn't the one picked as top choice. According to Dr. Matthew Gilbert, one of the research participants, Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" works as just well...

Is it a coincidence that we've had several requests for "relaxing" and "soothing" music in recent weeks? Apart from meditation and classical recordings, a fresh alternative is chants. They are actually the oldest form of music that can be documented, all the way back to the 10th century. Our selection of chants here at the Darien Library includes recordings from the Pope's Mass, Saint Hildegard, the Gyuto Monks, and of course, the surprise hit CD from 1994 by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos. 

A new addition is Chant: Music for the Soul, performed by monks at the Cistercian Abbey in Austria. This CD has the ability to calm and transport...and perhaps bring us back from the journey feeling refreshed and renewed. Spacious, deep, sacred yet not daunting, this is a welcoming, warming choice for those looking to unplug and unwind, especially as the days get shorter and temperatures begin to drop. Try this new release, or any of our older titles, and give peace a chant.

Produced by the legendary Phil Ramone, this new release from saxophonist David Sanborn gathers an All-Star team of musicians -- Sanborn himself, Derek Trucks, Joss Stone, and Eric Clapton, to name a few -- in tribute to the late Ray Charles and a host of Chicago blues legends.

One of the strongest themes is Sanborn's exploration of saxophonist Hank Crawford's relationship with Ray Charles. Around the time Crawford and Charles were recording classic albums in the 50s and early 60s, David Sanborn was getting ready to join up with the Butterfield Blues Band. From there, he started a successful solo recording career in the 70s (yes, that's his distinctive sax on David Bowie's "Young Americans"!) and he has steadily released outstanding albums ever two or years since then.

Here and Gone brings together a stellar mix of musicians and a world of tempos and twists to play with: searing blues, slow and swinging instrumentals, jazzy horns and sleek guitars, and it all manages to stay not only cohesive, but actually sound like a real band instead of a gathering of strangers. Another winner from David Sanborn and crew!

Add one All-Universe violinist, the musicians of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and Vivaldi's masterpiece, and this sparkling new recording is the result. We've all heard The Four Seasons so much that the music is dangerously close to being over-exposed. But this new CD may one day stand as the definitive recording of Vivaldi's work. Yes, it's that remarkable!

At the age of five, Joshua Bell was stretching rubber bands across the handles of his dresser and plucking them to accompany his mother's piano playing. By his early teens, he was accompanying orchestras across the country on his violin, all while managing to graduate from his Indiana high school two years ahead of schedule. Today, he plays a 300-year-old Stradivarius all around the world, and is widely regarded as the pre-eminent violinist of his time.

 Throughout the music on this disk, Bell's virtuosity -- not just his playing, but his ability to feel and react to the music he's playing -- is at its peak. Bell reclaims the melodies from countless media and commercial associations and brings the music back where it belongs: as a bridge between composer and listener. One of 2008's best classical releases!

There are few who have survived more, and achieved more, in popular music than Brian Wilson. The Beach Boys are American icons, right up there with apple pie and baseball, and Wilson is the acknowledged genius behind the sunny smiles, striped shirts, and classic songs.

Yet, not many of us would choose to be in his shoes. He's suffered tragic losses, serious personal problems, and had to face the unenviable task of living up to his early successes. Just a few years ago, he released Smile, 37 years after its original conception, and received a warm welcome back to the fold. Now, That Lucky Old Sun adds to the canon...but how does this measure up to Smile and everything that came before?

 From most other artists, this might have been a pretty good album. For Brian Wilson, the bar is too high. The new songs lean on heavy-handed, dated production and lyrics that could have used a little more polishing. Without a strong collaborator or partners in the studio to challenge him, the end result is just good, no more or less. If you're a die-hard Beach Boys or Brian Wilson fan, this album is full of insight and trademark harmonies that will keep it in high rotation for a long time. For others, revisiting the timeless classics like Pet Sounds and yes, even Smile will suffice. A day at the beach, either way!

I have been putting off writing this, lest it sound like an obituary.   But the 2008-2009 opera season opens next month, and it won't be the same. Kirk Browning has died.                          

You know Kirk. You sure know his work. For decades he developed  new camera techniques that enhanced the broadcasts of Live From Lincoln Center. He directed such televised treasures as You Can't Take It With You, Death of a Salesman, and Our Town.  He was a true television pioneer, having won multiple Emmy Awards, two Christopher Awards, a CITA Award, and a George Foster Peabody Award.  He was also an artist, a scientist and a remarkable person.

I first met Kirk and his wife, Barbara, in Tarrytown, NY when I was a child. She, in a black turban, had the beautifully defined features of a model. He had deep, twinkling eyes and a glint of silver in his hair. With their classy good looks and warm bearing, they seemed like royalty to me.  They were a singular and absolutely delightful combination. We were so convinced of their blue blood, that when my cousin and I (two adolescent girls at the time) saw the brass bathroom fixtures during a dinner party, we were absolutely convinced they were solid gold! Versailles? Bah! We had the Brownings!

The Brownings had a profound influence on my life. They modeled goodness, virtue, generosity and possibility.  Those of us who were touched by them learned. In style.

But, it seems there was always a literary component to knowing them, too. Kirk directed the groundbreaking  Amahl and the Night Visitors and invited our families to watch it right there in the Browning living room!   When Love Story was published, we lunched on a rice salad recipe that Erich Segal had given Barbara. And when I discovered the musical Mame, Kirk shared stories of his early career-when Patrick Dennis was his roommate!  It seemed literature and music always took on a new dimension with Kirk and Barbara. It became more alive. More relevant.  What a great thing to do with your life!

Lincoln Center  and the Metropolitan Opera will not be the same.  And, thank goodness, none of us will be the same. Thank you to Kirk (and Barbara) for living life with verve, confidence, imagination!  Thank you showing us how!

Recorded live in January 2007 at Lincoln Center, this new release pairs country legend Willie Nelson with jazz master Wynton Marsalis to create a seamless hybrid of styles that truly works. Not only that, but they sound like they are really having fun!

Where do we put an album that crosses so many boundaries? At the Darien Library, it's classified in the jazz section, but it could have easily ended up with a country designation. Or with the vocal recordings, next to a number of artists who cross boundaries in their recordings. There is so much going on here that this CD defies easy description, but in the end, it's simply two men who are sharing common ground: their love for the blues. A winning combination!