Friendly Fire (CD+DVD)

Nowadays, no one anywhere is expecting the Beatles progeny to produce material approaching the greatness of their pops. This means they can finally relax and just make some music, which would seem to suit the younger Lennon boy just fine. Fire is a piano- and guitar-driven collection of likeable, melancholic, Elliott Smith-y, Rufus Wainwright-ish pop music. The brief, sing-songy, Clapton-by-numbers guitar solos are a bit of a puzzler, but it\'s not like they\'re bad by any means. The guest appearances are a strange lot. His mother\'s here, longtime collaborator Yuka Honda as well, and Beastie Boy DJ Money Mark, too (which makes sense as Sean used to be on Grand Royal and the whole album has a mid \'90s vibe to it). All these sleazy Hollywood types creep in here, too: Vincent Gallo, Lindsay Lohan, \"superstar\" DJ Steve Aoki. Thankfully, it sounds a lot better than any MisShapes party. Lennon sings \"Let\'s hide the diamonds and cocaine for another day/But don\'t forget to pray,\" so maybe the dude isn\'t the best lyricist around. But Friendly Fire is really very good throughout. It\'s easily the finest music made by a Lennon since, well, you know. --Mike McGonigal (Amazon)