Affability but no heartache from Lines

Aaron Lines

“Living Out Loud” (RCA)

**

This 24-year-old Canadian has quickly become a hot property in country circles with his first single, “You Can’t Hide Beautiful,” this year’s ultra-romantic ballad a la John Michael Montgomery’s “I Swear” and Lonestar’s “Your Love Amazes Me.”

He’s got several more in the same vein on his debut album, in stores Tuesday, creating a textbook exercise in what could be labeled PC music-making. That’s Painless Country, not politically correct, but in fact it’s both, exhibiting nary a shred of the pain or human struggle that’s characterized the most moving country music.

Lines’ likable tenor recalls Glenn Frey in its affability, and as co-writer of eight of the album’s 11 songs, he’s equally eager to please his women listeners. He pledges fidelity (“I Will Be There”), emotional intimacy (“Close”), a little good-natured vulnerability (“Knock on Wood”) and just a hint of an inner bad boy (“You Get the Picture”).

“Love Changes Everything” has a bit of the illuminating detail that separates the artist from the craftsman, but mostly Lines comes across like a guy on a first date: He’s so intent on making a good impression he’ll hold off revealing anything too close to his heart until he’s sure she’ll go out with him again.

-- Randy Lewis

Quick spins

Alejandro Fernandez

“Un Canto de Mexico” (Sony)

***

This two-CD set, recorded live at Mexico City’s Palace of Fine Arts, is aptly subtitled “A Tribute to Mexican Music of the 20th Century.” But don’t expect “La Bamba” or “Cielito Lindo.” Backed by mariachi and symphony orchestras, the handsome young singer offers a classy review of pop music with medleys of tunes by great composers, such as Agustin Lara and Jose Alfredo Jimenez, and of hits by his father, mariachi king Vicente Fernandez. This show would be a hit at the Hollywood Bowl.

-- Agustin Gurza

Richard X. Heyman

“Basic Glee” (Turn-Up)

** 1/2

From the first buttery harmony to the last flutter of his Rickenbacker and Stratocaster, Heyman harks back to the day pop was all scrubbed and rosy-cheeked. His loving spoonfuls of melody, dished up mostly from the living room of his New York apartment, jangle naively until they are almost too precious for their own good. At that point, you wonder: Was it the songs that comforted, or merely the knowledge that the ‘60s and ‘70s could still sound fresh?

-- Kevin Bronson

Joaquin Sabina

“Dimelo en la Calle” (BMG US Latin)

*** 1/2

Spain, the cradle of Castilian, has produced superb singer-songwriters, but none as delightfully off-kilter and bohemian as this perennially lost soul and godfather of alt-Latino. Sabina’s gravelly, sangria-soaked voice is more shaky in his 50s, but still drenched in character. With musical strains running from flamenco to salsa and rock, his engrossing song/stories are a series of Dylan-esque images, satirical personalities and midnight observations, dark and sly a la Tom Waits.

-- A.G.

Menthol

“Danger: Rock Science!” (Hidden Agenda)

** 1/2

When this album was first recorded three years ago for Capitol, according to the band, executives buried it in an unmarked grave, a fate they thought deserving for work that shouted “Devo!” So the Midwestern outfit rerecorded the album (at less than 1% of the original cost, they point out) and released it on an Illinois indie label. And it still shouts “Devo!” Crackling with irreverence and New Wave sounds that are being mined two decades later by electroclash artists, Menthol rocks like it’s 1980 -- which is fine until you remember where the bar was set two decades ago. Measured thusly, “Science!” manages only a passing grade.

-- K.B.

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.