Susan Boyle's grand unveiling on Britain's Got Talent was with a song from Les Miserables - the very song that lends this album its title -- and if she could become an international sensation based on a show tune standard, there's no reason for her to change her approach on her debut, since that's the sound that made her a star. Plus, a large part of Boyle's appeal is that she's a middle-aged woman recalling a bygone era when there were singers that appealed to an adult audience by offering soft, stately versions of pop hits and standards. That time was the late `60s and early `70s, and apart from a rather faithful version of Madonna's "You'll See," I Dreamed a Dream could very well have been released all those years ago, as it mixes up the show tunes, gospel, and Christmas carols with covers of Skeeter Davis' "The End of the World," the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses," and a version of "Daydream Believer" that is easily the slowest on record. Boyle sings beautifully throughout, delivering more of the same of what she did in her moment in the sun on television. Those won over by Boyle, either her voice or story, will surely be satisfied.

There's no question that Susan Boyle's story is inspiring, but the same adjective can't quite apply to her debut, I Dreamed a Dream. This is almost a willful antonym of "inspiring" -- it is not stirring, rousing, or stimulating, it is sleepy, reserved, and placid, but is that a surprise? Boyle's grand unveiling on Britain's Got Talent was with a song from Les Miserables -- the very song that lends this album its title -- and if she could become an international sensation based on a show tune standard, there's no reason for her to change her approach on her debut, since that's the sound that made her a star. Plus, a large part of Boyle's appeal is that she's a middleaged woman singing middlebrow material, recalling a bygone era when there were singers that appealed to an adult audience by offering soft, stately versions of pop hits and standards. That time was the late `60s and early `70s, and apart from a rather faithful version of Madonna's "You'll See," I Dreamed a Dream could very well have been released all those years ago, as it mixes up the show tunes, gospel, and Christmas carols with covers of Skeeter Davis' "The End of the World," the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses," and a version of "Daydream Believer" that is easily the most lugubrious on record.

Boyle never digs into the intent of the lyrics, but she sings beautifully throughout, delivering more of the same of what she did in her moment in the sun on television. And, frankly, that's all she needs to do: those won over by Boyle, either her voice or story, will surely be satisfied, and those expecting more were never likely to listen to I Dreamed a Dream in the first place.


  Fame Monster CD
  by Lady Gaga
Our Price: $16.44 CD
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Initially planned solely as a standard double-disc reissue in the wake of the blockbuster success of The Fame, Lady Gaga decided to release the new material as a separate EP called The Fame Monster in addition to the standard two-CD set, where it's tacked onto a now standardized version of her debut. It's a nice move for fans, plus it helps emphasize the new material, which does act as a bridge from the debut to a forthcoming full-length. Everything on The Fame Monster bears a galvanized Eurotrash finish, as evident on the heavy steel synths of "Bad Romance" and the updated ABBA revision "Alejandro," as it is on the rock & roll ballad "Speechless" -- its big guitars lifted from Noel Gallagher -- and the wonderful, perverse march "Teeth." Even the stuttering splices on "Telephone," a duet with Beyoncé, leans to the other side of the Atlantic, which just emphasizes the otherness that's become Gaga's calling card. And even as she's becoming omnipresent, with her songs mingling with those who co-opt her on the radio, she still is slightly skewed, willing to go so far over the top she goes beyond camp, yet still channeling it through songs that are written, not just hooks.

The Fame Monster builds upon those strengths exhibited on The Fame, offering a credible expansion of the debut and suggesting she's not just a fleeting pop phenomenon. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine


  For Your Entertainment CD
  by Adam Lambert
Our Price: $11.18 CD / $10.99 MP3
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With Adam Lambert, American Idol finally got a finalist who was completely, utterly contemporary, aware of what's hip in music and culture and aware of how music is made and consumed in 2009, never seeming to try to follow fads or set trends, just embodying the time. Mercifully, he came in second to Kris Allen, for if he came in first he may have had to tame his self-styled glamazon ways. A second place finish allowed Lambert to come out of the closet and indulge in his penchant for theater on his debut, For Your Entertainment -- which isn't quite the same thing as camp, for if Adam Lambert is anything, he's earnest about his dress-up, never winking at the audience because he doesn't think there's much funny about his glitter and mascara: that's just what pop stars are supposed to do. He's learned that by listening to his stacks of Queen and Bowie records, from watching old MTV videos on YouTube, from living in a present that always competes with the ever-present past, so he takes it all at face value, mixing up arena rock guitars, new wave, disco, operatic overdubs with a constant electro pulse, glassy modern R&B, and the vague Euro strains of new millennium teen pop.

Lambert sounds larger than life on these, just like he wants to be, and if there's no sense of danger here -- whenever he dons his leather and his girlfriends put on their stripper heels, it's playacting drama club kids getting a kick out of their adopted roles -- at least there's a lot of pure pop pleasure here, more than any immediate post-Idol album has ever delivered.

With Adam Lambert, American Idol finally got a finalist who was completely, utterly contemporary, aware of what's hip in music and culture, aware of how music is made and consumed in 2009, never seeming to try to follow fads or set trends, just embodying the time. Mercifully, he came in second to Kris Allen, for if he came in first he may have had to tame his self-styled glamazon ways.


  Live Anthology CD
  by Tom Petty
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It's a commonly held opinion among fans and band alike that Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' lone live album, 1986's Pack Up the Plantation, didn't quite capture the group at its peak, so there has been a long-standing need for another live set, which 2009's Live Anthology finally provides. Like its closest cousin, Bruce Springsteen's Live 1975-1985, Live Anthology almost overcompensates for the long wait by offering almost too much music, cherrypicking highlights from 1978 to 2007. In its simplest incarnation, Live Anthology is a super-affordable, four-disc box set running 48 tracks, which is eight cuts longer than Springsteen's box, plenty long enough for most fans, but in its deluxe version, available only through Best Buy, there's an additional CD, plus two previously unreleased DVDs -- a 1978 New Years Eve concert from Santa Monica, a documentary called 400 Days shot during the Wildflowers tour -- a Blu-Ray edition of all 62 tracks on the five-CD version, a vinyl copy of the 1976 Official Live 'Leg LP, plus a book and lithograph, along with other assorted bonuses. Certainly, the deluxe edition lives up to its billing, offering enough extras to justify its price tag, but the standard edition is plenty generous as it is, serving up enough consistently strong music from throughout the decades, ranging from expert covers of Willie Dixon and the Grateful Dead to deep treasures from the Heartbreakers catalog.

Apart from the tendency to favor performances that stretch on a little too long with jamming -- something that is a matter of taste, as some prefer energy to improvisations -- if there's any flaw to the set, it's how it goes out of its way to prove the band's consistency by skipping through the decades, letting a version of "Louisiana Rain" from 1972 sit next to a 1997 cover of "Green Onions" and "Melinda" from 2003. This certainly goes a long way to illustrating that Petty & the Heartbreakers always delivered the goods, but it's somewhat at the expense of forward momentum; it's hard not to wish that it was arranged chronologically, to be able to hear the raw energy give way to easy skill, but that's just nitpicking.

Any way you look at it this Live Anthology offers an overdose of prime rock & roll. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine


  Soulbook CD
  by Rod Stewart
Our Price: $13.79 CD / $10.99 MP3
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! Continuing his stroll through pop's backpages, Rod Stewart moves on from "The Great Rock Classics of Our Time" and dives into the SOULBOOK, shorthand for all the great Motown and soul songs that still are in heavy rotation on oldies radio well into the new millennium. Rod doesn't spend much time with the soul and blues singers so influential on him, choosing instead to run through a bunch of Motown hits - a full six of the 13 songs here are from the Motor City - adding a couple of smooth soul hits from the early '70s, plus Chuck Jackson & Maxine Brown's "Let It Be Me" which gives him an opportunity to duet with Jennifer Hudson.

Personnel: Anatoly Rosinsky, Searmi Park, Julie Gigante, Phillipe Levy, Roger Wilkie, Roy Brewer (violin); Marlo Fisher, Rob Brophy, Karen Elaine, David F. Walther (viola); New Memphis Strings (strings).


  Good Evening New York City CD
  by Paul McCartney
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Unlike its 2002 predecessor Back in the U.S., Good Evening New York City doesn't cherrypick highlights from a tour, it commemorates a specific event: the inauguration of Citi Field -- the replacement for the now-defunct Shea Stadium, where the Beatles played a legendary show in 1965 -- in the summer of 2009. The circumstances may be different -- different enough to lead to a Billy Joel cameo on "I Saw Her Standing There," the piano man returning a favor from Paul, who played at Billy's Shea-closing shows in 2008 -- and McCartney might have two strong albums of new material to draw upon, but as an album, Good Evening New York City plays a lot like Back in the U.S. with a whopping 17 of its 35 tracks shared between the two titles. More importantly, the vibe is the same, with Macca delivering an expertly balanced and sequenced set with all the skill of the old pro that he is. Apart from the inclusion of "Mrs. Vanderbilt" and "I'm Down," there are no surprises, either in song selection or performance, but no surprises doesn't mean no satisfaction, and this is plenty entertaining Unlike its 2002 predecessor, Back in the U.S./Back in the World, Good Evening New York City doesn't cherrypick highlights from a tour, it commemorates a specific event: the inauguration of Citi Field -- the replacement for the now-defunct Shea Stadium, where the Beatles played a legendary show in 1965 -- in the summer of 2009. The circumstances may be different -- different enough to lead to a Billy Joel cameo on "I Saw Her Standing There," the piano man returning a favor from Paul, who played at Billy's Shea-closing shows in 2008 -- and McCartney might have two strong albums of new material to draw upon, but as an album, Good Evening New York City plays a lot like Back in the U.S. with a whopping 17 of its 35 tracks shared between the two titles. More importantly, the vibe is the same, with Macca delivering an expertly balanced and sequenced set with all the skill of the old pro that he is.

Apart from the inclusion of "Mrs. Vanderbilt" and "I'm Down," there are no surprises, either in song selection or performance, but no surprises doesn't mean no satisfaction, and this is plenty entertaining.


  Glitter And Doom Live CD
  by Tom Waits
Our Price: $13.84 CD
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Glitter and Doom Live, a double-disc set, marks Tom Waits' third live effort in his nearly 40-year career, each one summing up his career to the point of its release. The first, Nighthawks at the Diner issued in 1975 on Asylum, is regarded by many as one of the greatest live albums of all time. The second was Big Time, released during his tenure at Island in 1986. The musical performances on disc one of Glitter and Doom Live were culled from Waits' historic sold-out tour of the U.S. and Europe. He compiled and sequenced the set himself, intending to make them sound like a single show. The material leans, understandably, on his recordings with the Anti label. There are stellar performances here, such as "Get Behind the Mule" from The Mule Variations, "Trampled Rose" from Real Gone, and a haunting version of Leadbelly's "Fannin Street" from Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, to mention just three of the 17 cuts here. But he goes back to his Island albums too. For instance, there are completely re-visioned readings of "Lucky Day" and "I'll Shoot the Moon" from 1993's Black Rider, and a killer -- though equally revamped -- version of "Singapore" from 1985's Rain Dogs. Musically, the performances are flawless, as is the sound on this set.

The killer stage band includes Vincent Henry on woodwinds and harmonica, guitarist Omar Torres, Patrick Warren on piano and keyboards, Casey Waits on drums/percussion, and Seth Ford Young on bass. There is also a guest appearance by Sullivan Waits on sax and clarinet; Tom plays piano and guitar. Waits decided to ax most of the stage banter from disc one, and instead created a bonus disc in this deluxe package. It is a single 35-plus-minute track called "Tom's Tales," which splices stories and dialogue, reminiscences and spontaneous comedy. ~ Thom Jurek

This double-disc set marks his third live effort in his nearly 40-year career, each one summing up his career to the point of its release. The first, Nighthawks at the Diner, issued in 1975 on Asylum, is regarded by many as one of the greatest live albums of all time.


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