In Brief

** 1/2 Vonda Shepard, “By 7:30,” Jacket. Like TV lawyer Ally McBeal, for whom she plays musical muse, Shepard yearns to be daring but is naturally conservative. So while co-producer Mitchell Froom helps her edge toward Tori Amos territory on parts of this follow-up to last year’s hit “McBeal” collection, she’s much more at home on straightforward singer-songwriter fare, with “Baby, Don’t You Break My Heart Slow,” a duet with Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls, the standout.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.

Hear the Music

* Excerpts from these and other recent releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: https://www. calendarlive.com/soundclips