Backstage Pass

Leave it to Jay-Z to create a catch phrase that summed up the country's mood.

After years of flash and hype selling as much in musical product as, you know, musical talent, 2006 was the year when the consumer demanded "show me what you got."

In music, as in politics, spin was no longer enough this year. Hype-dodging consumers wanted results, going for tried-and-true veterans such as Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan (who each had their first No. 1 album in decades this year) as opposed to buzzed-about newcomers Arctic Monkeys or gossipmongers Paris Hilton and Kevin Federline.

The album charts looked like they came from the '70s (Neil Young, Barry Manilow, Rod Stewart) or the '80s (Bruce Springsteen, Prince, Red Hot Chili Peppers), not 2006.

1. Nas, “Hip Hop Is Dead” (Def Jam). Not only does Nas call out the hip-hoppers who rap about nothing and brag for the sake of bragging, he provides an album full of examples of what they're doing wrong. It's a history lesson and a manifesto, but it's also a thrill to listen to him work, rhyming and preaching over old-school soul (“Hold Down the Block”), hot new beats (“Money over --”) or even Nat King Cole's “Unforgettable” (“Can't Forget About You.”)

2. Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins, “Rabbit Fur Coat” (Team Love). Stepping away from her band Rilo Kiley, Jenny Lewis mixes Laura Nyro soul, Lucinda Williams alt-country and Emmylou Harris sweetness for an impressive collection that provides dreamy idealism (“Happy”) one moment and studied protest (“Rise Up With Fists”) the next.

3. Dixie Chicks, “Taking the Long Way” (Open Wide/Sony). Once you get past the stunning statement of “Not Ready to Make Nice,” the sweeter, peaceful-easy-feelings come into focus - the Bonnie Raitt bluesiness of “I Like It,” the wistful “Favorite Year” and the gorgeous simplicity of “Lullaby.” Sure, the kiss-off “Bitter End” is fun (and deserved), but the Everywoman charms show The Chicks are uniters, not dividers.

4. Taking Back Sunday, “Louder Now” (Warner Bros.). Bigger, broader and deeper than ever, Taking Back Sunday makes the leap to arena rock without losing its personal touch, offering more clever rock (“Miami,” “20/20 Surgery”) that fans can sing - or scream - along with. And once radio gets a load of TBS's softer side next year (“Divine Intervention,” “My Blue Heaven”), the band will find itself with a whole new legion of supporters.

5. Bob Dylan, “Modern Times” (Columbia). Macroeconomic theory (“Workingman's Blues #2”), post-Katrina empathy (“The Levee's Gonna Break”) and an Alicia Keys shout-out (“Thunder on the Mountain”) come together for another classic from the master.

6. Joseph Arthur, “Nuclear Daydream” (Lonely Astronaut). A gorgeous, inviting album that swirls Joseph Arthur's avant garde songwriting with Rolling Stones-y blues and Neil Young folk to create irresistibly soulful rockers “Slide Away” and “Automatic Situation.” His palette of sounds is so warm and friendly that even condemnations of American excess (“Enough to Get Away”) sound upbeat.

7. Tom Waits, “Orphans” (Anti-). Unexpected, craggy beauty leaps out of the shadows and creaky nobility stands tall in the daylight as Tom Waits tours country, blues, gospel and early rock on the three-disc set, subtitled “Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards.” The “Brawlers” will show you a good time (“Lie to Me”) and the storytelling on “Bastards” will keep your mind whirring (“Nirvana”), but the “Bawlers” will break your heart (“You Can Never Hold Back Spring”) over and over again.

8. My Chemical Romance, “The Black Parade” (Warner Bros.). Fusing emo and glam rock to build an uplifting Broadway-styled musical about terminal illness never looked so easy. My Chemical Romance opens with a powerful anthem, the sprawling, ambitious “Welcome to the Black Parade,” and only gets better from there with the T. Rex-ish “Teenagers” and the dizzying “Dead!”

10. Prince, “3121” (Universal Motown). Prince brought back the synth-funk that made him rock royalty in the '80s, with squiggly dance numbers “Black Sweat,” “Lolita” and “Love,” while showing off his soul singer side on the falsetto-filled “Satisfied.”

[Albums 11-30 on the jump]

Most of 2006 was dominated by dance singles, especially from Timbaland and collaborators Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake, and Mary J. Blige's R&B ballad "Be Without You" (Geffen), but there were still plenty of surprises in all sorts of genres. Here are some of the year's best:

1. Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy" (Downtown/Atlantic). With Cee-Lo's sweet soul vocals sliding smoothly over Danger Mouse's sleek, innovative beats, "Crazy" was simply bobbing head and brawny shoulders above the rest of the year's songs. A diverse group - from Furtado to Ray Lamontagne to Twilight Singers' Greg Dulli - was so captivated by the song that they all added it to their sets while the original still was climbing the charts, just because they wanted to sing it. Millions of music fans know exactly how they feel.

2. Twilight Singers, "Forty Dollars" (One Little Indian). No one sings about the dark end of the street better than Dulli, especially when he's got his con-man groove on, as he does here, boasting, "I've got love for sale. Come on, get some before it gets stale."

3. Dixie Chicks, "Not Ready to Make Nice" (Open Wide/Sony). It's a rallying cry for standing up for your beliefs, as well as a shot at their detractors, that is so well-crafted, it is nearly impossible to attack and almost just as impossible to resist.

4. Beyoncé, "Irreplaceable" (Columbia). We knew Beyoncé could be clever, but she's downright scheming on this song, a blunt kiss-off dolled up in acoustic guitars and sweet-sounding choruses designed to fake out casual listeners and boyfriends dumb enough to cheat on B.

5. Ghostface featuring Ne-Yo, "Back Like Dat" (Def Jam). It's "Irreplaceable" from the male perspective, with Ghostface rapping about how far is too far in a breakup over old-school R&B beats and Ne- Yo's wounded croon.

James Brown, the "Godfather of Soul," the pioneer of funk and the rhythmic backbone of hip-hop, has been swaddled in his signature bejeweled fur cape for the final time.

Brown, known for his raucous stage shows as much as his bold hits "Sex Machine," "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," died Monday morning at Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, where he had been hospitalized Sunday with pneumonia. He was 73.

"James Brown changed music," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was part of Brown's tour entourage in the 1970s. "He made soul music a world music. What James Brown was to music in terms of soul and hip-hop, rap, all of that, is what Bach was to classical music. This is a guy who literally changed the music industry. He put everybody on a different beat, a different style of music. He pioneered it."

Concerts from the self-proclaimed "Hardest working man in show business" are the stuff of legend -- from his multiple spins, his swiveling hips and constantly twitching feet to the traditional ending, where Brown swoons from exhaustion, only to bounce back again.

Legendary singer James Brown dies [Newsday]

Nas may be a little early with hip-hop's obituary, dubbing his new album "Hip-Hop Is Dead" (Def Jam). But he's not that far off.

Hip-hop isn't dead, but it is certainly under fire.

For years, many record labels have run hip-hop like strip miners, willing to promote almost anything in the name of getting paid, regardless of its effects on the music or the culture at large. But like land that has been stripped of all its resources, fan interest in hip-hop hasn't been renewed with much either, as sliding sales and diminishing influence this year show a growing been-there-done-that attitude.

Now, the music industry is inclined to fix the problem by pushing boundaries: more sex, more drugs, more violence surrounded by more Cristal drunk in larger SUVs on bigger rims by rappers with more bling backed by women in less clothing.

Nas offers a different idea. On "Hip-Hop Is Dead," he not only points out the holes in many rappers' games, he shows how his game is airtight.

"How on earth did we get so mixed up?" sings Brandon Flowers in The Killers' new holiday single "Great Big Sled" (Island). Good question - not just in terms for the world in general, but The Killers in particular. The Las Vegas band went from synth-pop underdogs to bombastic rockers in the course of one album. But "Great Big Sled" suggests a bit of rehab for The Killers' reputation. It's clever and self-deprecating ("Little boys have action toys for brains," Flowers sings. "I'm living proof it can last a long time") without giving up the big, rock-anthem feel they try to create on the "Sam's Town" album. It has that Phil Spector "wall of sound" production that rocking holiday songs always go for, while still sounding current. And, to top it off, "Great Big Sled" is a charity single, part of the (RED) campaign (http:// joinred.com) to raise money to buy medicine for Africans with AIDS. For The Killers' career, it all adds up to a giant leap back in the right direction.

Listen to "Great Big Sled" here

Ahmet Ertegun, the music executive who brought rhythm and blues to the mainstream and pushed the artistic boundaries of soul and rock as the founding chairman of Atlantic Records, died yesterday at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. He was 83.

Ertegun had been hospitalized since Oct. 29, when he fell backstage at the Beacon Theatre during a Rolling Stones concert. "He was in a coma and passed away today with his family at his bedside," Dr. Howard A. Riina, Ertegun's neurosurgeon at Weill Cornell Medical Center, said yesterday in a statement.

In a career that spanned nearly six decades, Ertegun was instrumental in building the careers of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, signing them to Atlantic and producing their records. Later, he would sign Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Cream, Bette Midler and Sonny & Cher.

"The music community has lost a pioneer and an icon, and we have lost our father," Atlantic Records chairman and chief executive Craig Kallman said yesterday. "Ahmet changed the course of modern music and culture and he will live on through the timeless legacy of work that was created under his direction and care. Musicians loved him, because he truly loved them and spoke their language."

PHOTO: Ahmet Ertegun by Norman Jean Roy / Atlantic Records

There was a moment in Corinne Bailey Rae's "Put Your Records On" where the band stopped and the British singer-songwriter paused, looked up and let a smile spread across her face before belting out, "Girl, put your records on."

Bailey Rae sold the line with such force that she makes you buy the song's self-empowerment premise and such joy that she offers a slice of the same musical healing power she's singing about.

Yeah, that's right. Don't let her fresh-faced beauty or her best new artist Grammy nomination fool you.

This Corinne Bailey Rae, she is a ringer.

The laid-back neo-soul from her "Corinne Bailey Rae" (EMI) debut may lean toward the quiet and pretty, but she is no shrinking violet. She may be Norah-adorable, like that Jones singer she is so often compared to, but there is a fire beneath Bailey Rae's cool exterior. [More...]

SETLIST: Call Me When You Get This / Trouble Sleeping / Breathless / Enchantment / Till It Happens to You / Since I've Been Loving You / Like a Star / Put Your Records On / Butterfly / I'd Like To // ENCORE: Choux Pastry Heart / Seasons Change

The animated version of Taking Back Sunday's "12 Days of Christmas" is kinda hilarious.

Watch the non-animated version here

One of my favorite concert moments of the year came last night at Damien Rice's first show at the Beacon Theatre.

FAN: "DAMIEN!!!!!"
DAMIEN: "PETER!!!!!"
[Much laughter]
DAMIEN: "Is there something you needed?"
FAN: "I'm Dan from Long Island and a little bit of 'Elephant' would be nice."
DAMIEN: "Your wish is my command"
[Rice then launches into "Elephant," which morphs into "The Blower's Daughter."]

Full review

SETLIST: Women like a Man / Insane / I Remember / 9 Crimes / Elephant -> The Blower's Daughter / Cannonball / The Professor and La Fille Danse / The Animals Were Gone / Coconut Skins / Amie / Eskimo / Volcano // ENCORE: Rootless Tree / Me, My Yoke and I / Accidental Babies

Ciara laid out her real "Evolution" theory plan, her growth from one of pop's hottest singers to a bona fide performer. She's not quite there, but she's on her way,

SETLIST: Goodies / Oh / Make It Last Forever / Thug Style / So What / Like U / Lose Control / Like a Boy / Hotline / I'm Just Me / Promises / That's Right / 1,2, Step / Get Up

Full review here.

Watch the concert here

When Taylor Hicks become the fifth "American Idol" champion in May, he was the TV juggernaut's most unusual winner yet.

Not because he was a prematurely graying 30-year-old with frantic dance moves and an odd habit of punctuating his sentences with "Soul Patrol!" but because he was a fully formed singer with a style developed from years of performing on the road.

If any "Idol" champ could hold his own against that daunting task of building a post-"Idol" debut album, it would be Hicks, right? Well, apparently not.

"Taylor Hicks" (RCA) doesn't give him much of a chance to show off his strong voice or his unique soul-patrol personality. It's choked with bland leftovers and ill-fitting covers that make it the latest in a line of "American Idol" alumni debut albums that are almost always disappointing.

The first single, "The Runaround," sounds like it was written for someone much younger, with its bridge of "I'm getting an A in Broken Hearts, I got my degree in Crying." They try to Taylor it up with horn flourishes and soulful back-up singers, but it really isn't worth the bother.

On "Dream Myself Awake," written by Rob Thomas, Hicks follows what must have been Thomas' guide vocals so closely that it sounds like he's doing an impersonation rather than a song. His cover of Marvin Gaye's "Wherever I Lay My Hat" sounds like it was recorded the first time he ever heard the song, with sloppy, uncomfortable phrasing and unsure vocals.

Part of the problem with "Taylor Hicks" is clearly the time crunch of finishing an album in less than six months while out on tour and maintaining an extremely busy public schedule. But the other part of the problem is that Hicks' keepers seem to have been trying to mold him into something he's not.

The best songs on the album are the ones Hicks wrote himself - the retro, bar-band soul of "Soul Thing" and the Bonnie Raitt-ish blues of "The Deal" - from his pre-"Idol" albums, along with "The Right Place," a soul ballad Bryan Adams co-wrote for the late Ray Charles.

With those promising songs, it's clear Hicks could rebound. And he doesn't have to look any further than the new album from season three winner Fantasia to find some inspiration.

On her hit-and-miss debut, "Free Yourself" (J), Fantasia seemed like she was searching for the right R&B style for her voice. On her new album, "Fantasia," she simply builds her own. [More...]

Listen to "Taylor Hicks" here
Listen to "Fantasia" here

SHAMELESS PLUG: USA Today's Edna Gundersen interviewed me about Hicks and the "American Idol" Season Five finalists. It's in USA Today today and online here

It's easy to see how Young Jeezy has charmed and clawed his way into hip-hop's elite with his nimble flow and pull-no-punches rhymes. On "The Inspiration" (Def Jam), he shows how he continues to improve, crafting songs that are distinctive and memorable. That's no easy feat considering the fact that Jeezy continues to stick to the well-worn topics of rims, clothes and clubbing.

Yet somehow the self-obsessed "Child of God," with its gospel snippets and ominous organ, manages to sound fresh. His new synth-drenched single "I Luv It" is a winner and his hypnotic duet with R. Kelly, "Go Getta" is a sure-fired hit. Jeezy also bounces easily between Timbaland's patented synth squiggles ("3 a.m.") and the crafty tracks built around a slowed-down sample from Hall and Oates' "Out of Touch" ("Streets on Lock") or Diana Ross' "Muscles" ("The Inspiration").

All the naysayers talking about hip-hop's slump need to update their arguments because Young Jeezy is swinging for the fences. ("The Inspiration," in stores Tuesday; grade: B+)

Listen to "The Inspiration" here

Mary J. Blige's new single "We Ride (I See the Future)" (Geffen) opens with the interesting disclaimer: "Everybody asking why Mary ain't mad no more/Seems like a question that I've already answered, like, too many times before." But the answers have been so good - the smashes "No More Drama" and "Be Without You" - that Mary should keep going. "We Ride," one of four new songs from her "Reflections: A Retrospective" album out Tuesday, features the same pretty piano tinkling of "Be Without You" and yet another grand vocal workout. Happiness apparently suits Blige quite well, emotionally and artistically.

Listen to "We Ride" here

For those of you who can't get enough of me being wrong (keep those cards and letters coming, Brand New kids!), I'll be on WNYC today talking about The Grammys and how Bob Dylan was inexplicably robbed at the nominations yesterday with the great John Schaefer for "Soundcheck."

Missed the program? It is (or soon will be) archived here.

I've also been tapped by the folks at The Envelope to guess Grammy winners and losers throughout this upcoming Grammy season on their Buzzmeter site.

Don't worry, Newsday-loving folks, my flawed theories will still run here first.

Though Jay-Z’s hefty 79% fall off from his opening week sales has some worried, H.O.V.A. still has the area locked down, as “Kingdom Come” holds down a second week atop the Newsday charts. The Beatles hang tough too, along with Tony Bennett. They all beat the national No. 1 Incubus’ “Light Grenades,” which sold 165,000 copies in its opening week.

Full Billboard report
Newsday's Top Albums and Singles (compiled by Billboard) on the jump

Mary J. Blige’s album lived up to its name Thursday, as "The Breakthrough" landed the Yonkers native a leading eight nominations in the 49th annual Grammy Awards.

Though Blige has been a major force in music since her 1992 debut, The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul has only managed three Grammys and none in the major categories. This year, however, her blockbuster hit "Be Without You" is up for record and song of the year, as well as best R&B song, best female R&B vocal performance and best remixed recording.

"That's a beautiful thing -- that I'm still going," Blige told The Associated Press. "'The Breakthrough' is about triumph, about not being a victim, but being a victor."

The Grammy nominations reflected the banner year 2006 has been for veteran artists. Rockers The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who have only one Grammy in their 23-year history, also took a major leap forward, as the ambitious "Stadium Arcadium" double album received six nominations, including album of the year. Prince also scored a comeback of sorts, getting five nominations for his "3121" album.

The Dixie Chicks, who rebounded from being banned from country radio after controversial comments made about President George W. Bush, also received five nods and were the only artists to be nominated in all of the top three categories. The trio's "Not Ready to Make Nice" will compete in the record and song of the year categories, while its "Taking the Long Way" is up for album of the year against "Stadium Arcadium," Gnarls Barkley's "St. Elsewhere," Justin Timberlake's "FutureSex/LoveSounds" and "Continuum" from John Mayer.

Full list of nominees is here

There's a whole cavalcade of boxed set reviews over on the Newsday site.

But here's a few you shouldn't miss:

ORPHANS: BRAWLERS, BAWLERS AND BASTARDS. So much brilliant new Tom Waits material, it will keep even the biggest fan happy for months. Three CDs, Anti-, $49.98. Unlike most boxed sets, "Orphans" is all new, a way for Tom Waits (and his wife and longtime collaborator, Kathleen Brennan) to organize the sprawling creativity that bursts from his head. The "Brawlers" CD is the most contemporary, as Waits stretches his meticulous, detailed stories over an equally inventive array of beats - from the clomping beatbox of "Lucinda" to the jumpy, surf-guitar-augmented "Lie to Me" and the moody, churning version of "Sea of Love." The "Bawlers" CD is more cinematic, with the aching country guitars that make "Young at Heart" a bit more hopeful or the Celtic lilt that makes "Widow's Grove" a bit sweeter. The "Bastards" CD is filled with musical experiments and spoken word performances. Any one of these CDs would be plenty to be proud of. Together, they show the breadth and depth of Waits' singular talent.

Listen to "You Can Never Hold Back Spring" here.

PIRATE RADIO. Indisputable proof the Pretenders were, are and will always be the real thing. Four CDs, one DVD, Rhino, $74.98. All the complexities of the great Chrissie Hynde are on display in this set - the tough rocker ("Precious") with the tender side ("I'll Stand by You") who balances family ("Thumbelina") with fame ("Talk of the Town") and still manages to keep her soul intact. Never mind that she's a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who's endured two of rock's most tragic deaths - the losses of Pretenders guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon, felt even more deeply after seeing them on the set's DVD of TV performances - or that she was essentially the template for women in rock, from the hem of her leather pants to the bangs in her eyes. Hynde is one of rock's most sure-footed lyricists and distinctive vocalists. (Listen to what she does with Radiohead's "Creep" or Morrissey's "Everyday Is Like Sunday" or the Beatles' "Not a Second Time.") "Pirate Radio" collects all of the band's greatest work - including songs from the underrated "Loose Screw" album - in one place for the first time, along with 15 demos and B-sides that often show Hynde's lighter side.

Listen to samples from "Pirate Radio" here

Wrapping up a gorgeous, slowed-down, countrified version of "New York, New York," Ryan Adams took one of his many breaks to explain himself. Or something.

"Geographically speaking, that song was about this very place," he said, before joking, "Not that it could have been a metaphor or something. Not possible; I was so drunk back then."

Adams likes his metaphors -- and, in these days of his relatively new sobriety, his Diet Coke, apparently. He likes metaphors so much, in fact, that on the first of his three sold-out shows at Town Hall, he dressed up as one, keeping his mop of unkempt hair, thrift-store blazer, school-boy tie and ripped jeans and adding the flashy, silver-spangled platform boots that not only made him look like a wobbly giant, but a '70s glam rocker from the knees down.

The outfit kind of describes what he and his band The Cardinals sound like these days, especially in the still-unreleased song "Arkham Asylum" and the way he has redefined his early songs, especially "To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High.)" Adams still is an alt-country singer at heart, with plenty of things to say and lots of melancholy ways to say them. But his new music has a glam-rock kick, thanks to some slow, churning guitar riffs and the use of the more rock-oriented register of his voice. [More...]

SETLIST: Magnolia Mountain / Please Do Not Let Me Go / Dear Chicago / Peaceful Valley / Mockingbird / Tears of Gold / Nightbirds / Cold Roses / New York, New York / Arkham Asylum / Kiss Before I Go / Let it Ride / Bartering Lines / To Be Young / Blue Hotel / Beautiful Sorta / The End / Expressway to Yr Skull / Wharf Rat / Shakedown on 9th Street / I See Monsters

PHOTO: Ryan Adams at Town Hall by Ari Mintz/Newsday

The questions about Gwen Stefani's musical chops have been around for years, along with the hushed talk about how little influence she actually exerted in No Doubt or on her solo debut, the multiplatinum "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." (Interscope).

Her latest album, "The Sweet Escape" (Interscope), should put all those doubts to rest. Stefani, like Madonna, is the real deal -- a master at staying one (and only one) step ahead of pop culture, giving her fans something different, but not too different, from everything else. And this time out, she proves it by crafting an album that closely sticks to her quirky pop view that swirls together '80s new wave, hip-hop and happy funk.

The title track is a pretty good map of how Stefani's mind works. "The Sweet Escape" jumps off Madonna's "Cherish," taking the playful, faux-'50s-innocence for inspiration, then, with Akon's help, twisting it into a shiny hip- hop hit.

Producer Nellee Hooper helps Stefani mine the lush '80s atmospherics of Talk Talk on the mournful ballad "Early Winter," which was co-written with Keane's Tim Oxley-Smith. And Hooper helps re-create the Pet Shop Boys' synthesized stylings in "Wonderful Life."

Stefani's work with No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal is much warmer, especially on the delightfully retro "4 in the Morning," which sounds like it was built in 1986 for Sheena Easton or Sheila E.

However, it's her collaborations with The Neptunes -- who, let's face it, have been in a bit of a slump lately -- that really showcase her creativity. The first single, "Wind It Up," the odd pairing of the yodel-filled "The Lonely Goatherd" from "The Sound of Music" and a hip-hop groove, is wildly unconventional, yet Stefani somehow makes it work. That goes double for the hit-bound "Yummy," whose beat Stefani describes as "disco Tetris."

And on "Orange County Girl," Stefani plays the "Just a Girl" card again, but instead of bouncing into a ska-fueled rage, she surrounds herself in slow-rolling hip-hop luxury, offering shout-outs and staccato, double-time rhymes.

That song also shows the more serious side Stefani unleashes on "The Sweet Escape." It's less fizzy than its predecessor but packs just as much pop. (Grade: A-)

Listen to "The Great Escape" here

PHOTO: Gwen Stefani by Jill Greenberg/Interscope Records

OK, as far as evolutions go, Ciara's is remarkably short. The difference between "Ciara: The Evolution" (LaFace/Zomba) and her multiplatinum, hit-filled debut "Goodies" isn't even like day and night -- it's day and later-that-day. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Like "Goodies," "The Evolution" is heavy on the lightweight dance pop, built around Ciara's breathy vocals and the chance for her to show off her dance moves. She knocks out one potential hit after another, from the Prince-ly ballad "Promise" to the cooing "Can't Leave Him Alone" with a surprisingly playful 50 Cent, and back to the crunk-lite of "That's Right" with Lil' Jon and the sped-up, British two-step-influenced "Get In, Fit In" produced by will.i.am.

"The Evolution" bogs down at the end with a trio of similar empowerment ballads, but considering the dance workout of the earlier tracks, the cool-down period may be in order. ("Ciara: The Evolution," in stores today; grade: B)

Listen to "The Evolution" here

Will the real Avril Lavigne please stand up? One minute, she's all "punk," out with her "sk8rboi" hubby spitting at the paparazzi and swearing like a sailor. The next minute, she's putting out boring ballads such as "Keep Holding On" (RCA), where she recycles bits of "I'm With You" and mixes them with whatever greeting-card sentiments she gets handed. Toward the end, she gets so bored she sings, "Whatever's meant to be will work out perfectly/Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!/La dee da da, La dee da dum." Of course, you may have switched stations by the time she gets there.

Listen to "Keep Holding On" here