This Time, Lynne Lightens Up

* * * SHELBY LYNNE, “Love, Shelby”, Island

The Shelby Lynne chat rooms are going to be blazing as soon as this album hits the stores Tuesday, with fans debating the shift from the dark, tormented sound of last year’s “I Am Shelby Lynne” to the lighter, far more radio-friendly tone of this one.

Much of the credit--or blame--for the difference will go to songwriter-producer Glen Ballard, who is best known for his work with Alanis Morissette. But the strong-willed Lynne has said in interviews that she had no interest in repeating the anguish that she poured into “I Am Shelby Lynne.”

In that collaboration with producer Bill Bottrell, she sang about being so wounded by a relationship that she was “lookin’ up for the next thing that brings me down.” It was such a forceful, uncompromising slice of Southern country-rock-soul that it was widely compared to Dusty Springfield’s 1969 classic “Dusty in Memphis” album.

Actually, this album is closer in many ways to the wider emotional range of the latter, and Lynne’s soulful singing remains its alluring anchor.

Unlike the desperate feel of music made by someone who has spent months in isolation, this music opens the drapes. “Trust Me” and the especially wistful “Wall in Your Heart” are expressions of comfort and support.

That doesn’t mean everything is sunny. “Jesus on a Greyhound” is a stirring tale of a mystical encounter that showcases Nashville-style storytelling (“He told me some stories/I told him some lies”). There’s also considerable longing and ache in “I Can’t Wait” and especially in the bold remake of John Lennon’s “Mother,” which has been a highlight of Lynne’s live shows.

“Love, Shelby” would be a less jarring--and perhaps more compelling--follow-up to “I Am Shelby Lynne” if the musical framing were edgier, accentuating more of the underlying tension in her singing. Still, it leaves no doubt that the Grammy voters were right in naming her the best new artist last year. She remains a singer-songwriter of outstanding command.

Robert Hilburn

*1/2, JEWEL, “This Way”, Atlantic

On her third album, Jewel rummages through vocal affectations the way one of her young fans might tear through a rack of outfits in a boutique. Crystalline, high and pure one moment, slurry and earthy the next. Now little-girl breathy, then raspy and semi-spoken. Abrupt falsettos and syllable-splitting, Springsteen clenches and Shania twangs strafe the album.

Rather than versatility and range, this motley wardrobe represents the artistic cluelessness that has drawn critical barbs ever since the singer’s debut album, “Pieces of You,” made her the pin-up poet of the high school set. “This Way” marks small advances over that and 1998’s “Vision,” but mainly it’s like being stuck at an endless coffeehouse open-mike night.

Given her limitations, which also prominently include the thinness of her timbre and the wanness of her warble, Jewel is best off when she’s over the top, as on the rock-riffing, finger-cymbal-ringing exotica hodgepodge “Serve the Ego,” or the Janis Joplin-channeling “Love Me, Just Leave Me Alone.”

A little-engine-that-could spunk keeps the surface in motion, things moving, but it’s inert underneath.

Richard Cromelin

* * 1/2, SHAKIRA, “Laundry Service”, Epic

With the crossover hopes of the entire Latin pop world apparently hanging on her first English-language album (in stores Tuesday), the 24-year-old Colombian star can’t be blamed for taking her time in making the 13-track collection, which features eight tunes in English. After all, she had to learn to write and sing her own lyrics in a foreign tongue. But there are other pitfalls in this nevertheless compelling introduction to the U.S. mainstream.

Shakira’s musical persona melds a feisty-yet-feminine demeanor and quirky pop-rock songs with a wide range of familiar influences. Although polished, the production is rarely overly slick. The songs convey love’s bliss, demands, insecurities, endurance, heartbreak, etc. Yet she and various co-writers and co-producers are so intent on providing something for everyone that you can’t clearly hear what she’s about.

Only the anti-drug “Poem to a Horse” sounds vaguely like Alanis Morissette, to whom Shakira is often compared. The rest is a lightweight mix of angular, new-wave-pop such as “Objection (Tango),” offbeat amalgams of ‘80s-era Madonna-style dance and U2-esque guitar rock (“Ready for the Good Times”); and Beatles-flavored ballads such as “The One.” Various Arabic and Latin touches, as well as bits of R&B; and strings and things, add unique flavor.

Her distinctive voice is alternately Britney-breathy and tough, like a sweeter Janis Joplin. Although her English singing isn’t stilted, the occasional lyrical clunker raises the question of just how unyielding this self-described control freak was while writing. Indeed, when she reprises such selections as the pulsing “Whenever, Wherever” en espanol , even a listener who doesn’t speak the language may find they flow better.

Natalie Nichols

* * * *, RAUL MALO, “Today”, Higher Octave

“Today,” as celebrated by the former Mavericks frontman in the title track of his debut solo album, is a day on which the sky is its purest, deepest shade of blue and no cloud dares block the sun from showering illumination and warmth on anyone lucky enough to be alive.

The life force is palpable in that track, as it is in Malo’s explosive paean to newfound love, “I Said I Love You,” in the more philosophically minded “Ocho Versos”--one of four Spanish-language tunes--and in his playfully sensual duet with Shelby Lynne on the pop standard “It Takes Two to Tango.”

In place of the Mavericks’ country-rock base, Malo’s foundation here is his Cuban/Latin roots. He displays no trace of hesitancy or self-indulgence in exploring them, with the help of a group of exceptional musicians fluent in Afro-Cuban, Caribbean, South American and Mexican music.

Affairs of the heart dominate, and Malo (who plays the Troubadour Dec. 12) knows that the full measure of joy is felt only as the flip side of despair, which comes out in the heartbreakingly poetic “De Ti Me Olvidare” (I Will Forget You). Even then, Malo suggests, pain is part of life, and life is always good.

Randy Lewis

* * *, PETEY PABLO, “Diary of a Sinner: 1st Entry”, Jive

Despite this standout debut album’s heavy title, this scratchy-voiced rapper spends much of his time skillfully updating braggadocio themes. It’s Pablo’s likeable, sometimes goofy vibe that makes him magnetic, with feel-good gangsterisms on nearly every song.

Produced by Timbaland, the ultra-kinetic single “Raise Up” is one of the strongest hip-hop cuts of the year, while another Timbaland cut, “Funroom,” emits the type of cartoonish feel absent from hip-hop since the days of Biz Markie and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. The North Carolinian also excels because of his willingness to experiment with delivery styles. His off-key singing on “I,” for example, illustrates how harder-edged acts can loosen up and still deliver knockout songs.

When Pablo deals with the darker part of his persona, he ditches much of his unbridled energy in exchange for gravity. The music also slows down, drawing attention to Pablo’s ruminations on his less than angelic past. Rather than glorify it, Pablo offers repentance on “Diary of a Sinner” and “Truth About Me,” showing a depth rare among today’s hip-hop acts.

Soren Baker

In Brief

* * * Various artists, “The Wash” soundtrack, Aftermath/Doggystyle/Interscope. Sure, the songs on this soundtrack (in stores Tuesday) have little to do with the car wash central to the movie. But with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg delivering strong work, who cares? The West Coast torchbearers ride menace to a crescendo on the pulsating “On the Blvd.” and turn chillingly cautionary on “The Wash.” Busta Rhymes, Shaunta and Joe Beast also make stellar appearances.

S.B .

* * 1/2 George Strait, “The Road Less Traveled,” MCA Nashville. The Dean Dillon-Buddy Brock title track ruminates on Robert Frost’s famous trail that diverges from the mainstream, but by now we know Strait will never wander too far out of his comfort zone. That’s good for consistency and reliability, but not so good if the material doesn’t hold at least a few surprises. Strait is fine on Rodney Crowell’s “Stars on the Water,” though he doesn’t improve on the original, and at his best on the gently persuasive Merle Haggard-Terry Gordon number “My Life’s Been Grand.” Otherwise, the road less traveled doesn’t seem a heck of a lot different than the one Strait’s been down in 27 previous albums.

R.L.

* * * The (International) Noise Conspiracy, “A New Morning, Changing Weather,” Burning Heart/Epitaph. “Property is theft,” screamed TSOL’s Jack Grisham some 20 years ago, and this Swedish quintet’s latest album musters similar righteous fury, addressing global capitalism, fearful workers, gender politics and lifestyle expectations. Such cathartic, varied tunes as “Up for Sale” and “Born Into a Mess” are more in a ‘60s garage/’70s proto-punk vein, but T(I)NC’s lengthy manifesto and its lyric sheet, quoting the likes of Simone de Beauvoir, Karl Marx and Bikini Kill, recall the hardcore edutainment of the Dead Kennedys. These metaphorical calls to arms are raw and compelling, if unfashionable, what with the war on terrorism. Still, “New Morning” conveys the urgency behind a growing worldwide discontent. The band plays the Roxy in West Hollywood on Dec. 1 and the Glass House in Pomona on Dec. 2.

N.N .

* * * Death Cab for Cutie, “The Photo Album,” Barsuk. Benjamin Gibbard’s images have punch lines. On the Seattle foursome’s third album, those guitar-spattered snapshots elevate his storytelling far above the occasionally fetching but frequently fleeting indie-pop cumulus. “Why You’d Want to Live Here” might be the best song about Los Angeles since John and Exene grabbed a pen, and “Styrofoam Plates” shakes with fury, a post-mortem invective to a deadbeat dad. These are songs you probably won’t hum but possibly will quote, and definitely remember. The band performs Thursday at the Glass House and Friday at L.A.’s El Rey Theatre.

Kevin Bronson

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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.