Alabama Shakes [Album Details]

Alabama Shakes
Allmusic Biography : Muscle Shoals-inspired, Athens, Alabama-based quartet Alabama Shakes formed in 2009 around the talents of Brittany Howard, Zac Cockrell, Steve Johnson, and Heath Fogg. Originally simply called the Shakes, the bands blend of fiery blues-rock and hard-hitting Southern soul drew comparisons to the Black Keys, Drive-By Truckers, the Detroit Cobras, and even Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. The band released an eponymous debut EP in September 2011, with plans to record a full-length album later in the year. Released on ATO in 2012, Boys & Girls was produced and mixed by the band at the Bomb Shelter in Nashville. The album peaked at number six in the U.S., and earned three Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist and Best Rock Performance (for "Hold On") on its way to gold certification. The group took its time to record its second album, Sound & Color. Weirder and wilder than the debut, the sophomore set appeared to strong reviews -- and debuted at number one -- in April 2015.
	Album: 1 of 4 Title: Alabama Shakes Released: 2011-09-13 Tracks: 4 Duration: 14:34 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover	1 Hold On (03:48) 2 I Found You (03:00) 3 On Your Way (03:02) 4 You Aint Alone (04:44)
$Allmusic album Review : Pitched somewhere between the retro-purist vibe of Sharon Jones and the nervy revivalism of Jack White, Alabama Shakes possesses a curious character: theyre rooted in the past but its clear theyve learned their moves musicians removed some three or four generations from the source. Instead of playing like refractions from a hall of mirrors, Alabama Shakes 2012 debut Boys & Girls emphasizes how American roots music is now grounded in the 60s notion of blues & soul, all filtered through the prism of 70s classic rock. And its not just that Heath Fogg tears great, gnarled riffs out of his guitar while the rhythm section of Zac Cockrell and Steve Johnson hit the downbeat with a brutal force -- lead singer Brittany Howard phrases like a rock singer, playing up vocal affections with glee, ratcheting up the drama by laying hard into her elongated phrases. Which isnt to say Alabama Shakes ignores the straight stuff: much of Boys & Girls is anchored in a Southern soul groove spliced from Stax and Muscle Shoals, the guitars of Fogg and Howard full and bold in their cleanly chopped rhythms, echoing the work of Steve Cropper and Jimmy Johnson. But Alabama Shakes arent purists, theyre modern -- they splice familiar sounds and forms together, then reshuffle them in subtly surprising ways. Unlike White or his Great Lakes cousins the Black Keys, Alabama Shakes arent entirely enamored with what they can re-create in the studio -- theyre too attached to the power of a live performance, making them an ideal candidate for a T-Bone Burnett or Joe Henry production somewhere down the road -- but they bear no special allegiance to the didactic needs of retro-rock. Their roots are just that -- roots, not anchors, allowing the group to grow, often in unexpected and quietly thrilling ways.$	Album: 2 of 4 Title: Boys & Girls Released: 2012-04-03 Tracks: 11 Duration: 36:13 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover	1 Hold On (03:46) 2 I Found You (02:59) 3 Hang Loose (02:24) 4 Rise to the Sun (03:08) 5 You Ain’t Alone (04:44) 6 Goin’ to the Party (01:45) 7 Heartbreaker (03:47) 8 Boys & Girls (03:25) 9 Be Mine (04:14) 10 I Ain’t the Same (02:55) 11 On Your Way (03:05)
Boys & Girls : Allmusic album Review : Pitched somewhere between the retro-purist vibe of Sharon Jones and the nervy revivalism of Jack White, Alabama Shakes possesses a curious character: theyre rooted in the past but its clear theyve learned their moves musicians removed some three or four generations from the source. Instead of playing like refractions from a hall of mirrors, Alabama Shakes 2012 debut Boys & Girls emphasizes how American roots music is now grounded in the 60s notion of blues & soul, all filtered through the prism of 70s classic rock. And its not just that Heath Fogg tears great, gnarled riffs out of his guitar while the rhythm section of Zac Cockrell and Steve Johnson hit the downbeat with a brutal force -- lead singer Brittany Howard phrases like a rock singer, playing up vocal affections with glee, ratcheting up the drama by laying hard into her elongated phrases. Which isnt to say Alabama Shakes ignores the straight stuff: much of Boys & Girls is anchored in a Southern soul groove spliced from Stax and Muscle Shoals, the guitars of Fogg and Howard full and bold in their cleanly chopped rhythms, echoing the work of Steve Cropper and Jimmy Johnson. But Alabama Shakes arent purists, theyre modern -- they splice familiar sounds and forms together, then reshuffle them in subtly surprising ways. Unlike White or his Great Lakes cousins the Black Keys, Alabama Shakes arent entirely enamored with what they can re-create in the studio -- theyre too attached to the power of a live performance, making them an ideal candidate for a T-Bone Burnett or Joe Henry production somewhere down the road -- but they bear no special allegiance to the didactic needs of retro-rock. Their roots are just that -- roots, not anchors, allowing the group to grow, often in unexpected and quietly thrilling ways.
	Album: 3 of 4 Title: iTunes Session Released: 2013-02-05 Tracks: 8 Duration: 27:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover	1 Rise to the Sun (03:22) 2 I Found You (03:24) 3 Hang Loose (02:26) 4 Heartbreaker (04:12) 5 Boys & Girls (03:52) 6 Be Mine (04:21) 7 I Aint the Same (03:00) 8 Heavy Chevy (02:40)
	Album: 4 of 4 Title: Sound & Color Released: 2015-04-17 Tracks: 15 Duration: 58:35 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover	1 Sound & Color (03:03) 2 Don’t Wanna Fight (03:52) 3 Dunes (04:18) 4 Future People (03:22) 5 Gimme All Your Love (04:04) 6 This Feeling (04:29) 7 Guess Who (03:16) 8 The Greatest (03:50) 9 Shoegaze (03:00) 10 Miss You (03:47) 11 Gemini (06:36) 12 Over My Head (03:51) 1 Gimme All Your Love (Live From the Artists Den) (04:13) 2 The Greatest (Live From the Artists Den) (03:19) 3 Joe (Live From the Artists Den) (03:35)
Sound & Color : Allmusic album Review : On their 2012 debut Boys & Girls, Alabama Shakes never hid that they were creatures of the New South -- a band with old-fashioned blues, soul, gospel, and country in their blood but raised on modern rock. On their 2015 follow-up, Sound & Color, they free themselves from the vestiges of the past, let loose, and push themselves further in either direction. This couldve resulted in a disjointed record pulling itself in two opposing directions, but the mess of Sound & Color is invigorating, likely because the album uses its title as a creed. Where Boys & Girls sometimes seemed a shade austere -- the band took pains to color within the lines, almost as if to convey their good taste -- Sound & Color bursts with oversaturated hues so vivid they seem almost tangible. Such deep digressions into shade and light accentuate both the groups roots and modernity, but the very fact that they chase after such bold, elastic sounds signals theyre hardly a throwback. Plus, the groups attack is muscular here: theres a strong, boundless funk to "Dont Wanna Fight," but theres a similar power behind the slow-churning soul ballad "Gimme All Your Love." Often, Sound & Color takes flight when Alabama Shakes channel that energy into ever-shifting, liquid performances that almost feel like roots psychedelia, typified by "Future People" skipping off its tight Memphis groove with spooky harmonies and thudding fuzz. Such unaffected weird flourishes are evidence that Alabama Shakes are creatures of their time and place -- they play Southern soul-rock in an era where the past is indistinguishable from the present, and how the band interlaces the old and the new on Sound & Color feels startlingly fresh.