McKee’s voice is a terrible thing to waste

Memo to Maria McKee: consider a day job.

That’s not to suggest the singer-songwriter doesn’t have what it takes to reclaim a place of honor in the pop music world as she returns to the spotlight with her first new album in seven years.

The remarkable voice that helped make alt-country group Lone Justice such a wondrous addition to the pop landscape in the ‘80s was fully intact Thursday at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, the first night of a tour that reaches the Roxy on Thursday and Friday.

But that album, “High Dive” (in stores Tuesday), suggests that her music might pick up some sorely lacking focus were she to keep at least one foot planted in the workaday world.

The first idea this sprawling, hit-and-miss affair sparks is that she should just have done with it and hire on with a touring production of “Les Miserables.” Her new songs continue the love for high drama (and melodrama) she’s demonstrated since launching a solo career more than a decade ago.

But the title track, “Non Religious Building,” “Something Similar” and “From Our T.V. Teens to the Tomb” betray a hyper-dramatic musical theater streak, one that smacks of Lloyd Webber bombast rather than Sondheim precision craftsmanship.

She even augmented her hard-working four-piece band with recorded string and horn backing tracks that shout “Important Music Under Way.”

At one point she gamely sang Bruce Springsteen’s “Candy’s Room,” raising another intriguing thought: Why not apply that nonpareil voice to an album of songs from Springsteen, Dylan, Costello, Waits, Cash, Haggard -- any of whom could supply something worth wrapping itself around?

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Maria McKee

Where: The Roxy, 9009 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood

When: Thursday and Friday, 8 p.m.

Price: $25

Info: (310) 276-2222