Billboard CD reviews: Massive Attack, Allison Moorer

ARTIST: MASSIVE ATTACK

ALBUM: HELIGOLAND

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Throughout the '90s, "trip-hop" was the best anyone could do to describe Massive Attack and the head-nodding family of talents it inspired, like Portishead and Tricky. But following the recent paths of those acts, Massive Attack's first effort in seven years pushes farther beyond its comfort zone. "Heligoland" pulls in guitars, pianos and more singers than MCs, often settling into a sound that's purposefully lo-fi. But the production duo of Robert Del Naja (3D) and Grand Marshall (Daddy G) hasn't lost its cinematic scope. "Paradise Circus" (featuring '90s ingenue Hope Sandoval) builds from hand claps and keyboards into a swell of sampled strings, and the shuffling drum pads on "Pray for Rain" (with TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe) provide the tense background for a down-the-rabbit-hole bridge with club-trance keys. It warms the blood to hear those trip-hop synths roll on the slow-burning "Flat of the Blade" (with acid loops thrown in for good measure), but Massive Attack's arsenal has expanded, and the resulting onslaught is nothing short of brilliant.

ARTIST: ALLISON MOORER

ALBUM: CROWS (Ryko)

Trying to pigeonhole the restlessly creative Allison Moorer remains as gratifyingly fruitless as ever. Her latest release (and Ryko debut), "Crows," finds the erstwhile Nashville fixture moving further away from country music and the roots rock she explored on her two albums for Sugar Hill Records. Embracing an approach presaged on "Mockingbird," her 2008 covers album, "Crows" opts for a mostly stripped-down acoustic sound that provides the perfect setting for Moorer's marvelous, R&B-inflected voice. With the compositions on "Crows" alternating in tone between hopeful and foreboding, she explores themes of regret, loss and new beginnings with a deft hand and some of the best singing of her career. Highlights include "It's Gonna Feel Good (When It Stops Hurting)," the lovely title track and the affecting piano ballad "Easy in the Summertime," a reflection on her Alabama childhood.

ARTIST: DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER

ALBUM: ELEANORA FAGAN (1915-1959): TO BILLIE WITH LOVE FROM DEE DEE (DDB Records/Emarcy)

No stranger to musical experimentation, Dee Dee Bridgewater mixed jazz with West African rhythms on her 2007 multicultural expedition "Red Earth: A Malian Journey." She brings the same no-holds-barred approach to her latest project, "Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee," a tribute to jazz pioneer Billie Holiday. But this is more than just a covers album. Bridgewater digs beneath the darkness and pain associated with Holiday's music, delivering a joyful take on -- and deep respect for -- her predecessor's strengths as a vocalist and songwriter. The usual and not-so-usual suspects from Holiday's legacy are here (including "Good Morning Heartache" and "God Bless the Child"). But they're infused with new arrangements (courtesy of Bridgewater's longtime bandmate Edsel Gomez) that shed a modern light on Holiday's work. "Lady Sings the Blues" swings to life through its fusion of African polyrhythms; "Lover Man" shines with a sexy, sassy sheen; and "Miss Brown to You" gets a feisty makeover. Pulling it all together are Bridgewater's expressive, unrestricted vocals -- especially riveting on the sparsely arranged "Strange Fruit."

ARTIST: JOSH TURNER

ALBUM: HAYWIRE (MCA Nashville)

Josh Turner's 2004 breakthrough hit, "Long Black Train," reminded country fans how rare and celebrated such thrilling, deep-baritone voices have been throughout the genre's history. And while Turner is a worthy heir to such barrel-chested baritones as Don Williams, Randy Travis and Trace Adkins, his fourth album, "Haywire," is a study in inconsistent use of his vocal gift. On the single "Why Don't We Just Dance," Turner avoids oversinging, instead letting his voice communicate through the song's message, resulting in one of the album's best tracks. Conversely, on the remake of Williams' 1987 hit ballad "I Wouldn't Be a Man," Turner overuses his low register, when a more restrained approach would've improved the take. Trite and sometimes awkward lyrics diminish some tracks that contain great instrumentals. The album's finest moment is the choir-backed spiritual "The Answer," where Turner sings, "If you're lookin' for somebody you can talk to/When the heartache and the troubles overcome you/There's a man you can count on."

ARTIST: YEASAYER

ALBUM: ODD BLOOD (Secretly Canadian)

Brooklyn-based rock act Yeasayer gained acclaim with its 2007 debut, "All Hour Cymbals," by achieving an impressive balance between world-influenced, experimental noise and disciplined, memorable pop-rock. For its sophomore effort, "Odd Blood," Yeasayer has maintained its standards of hybrid artistry. But like a number of its indie-rock contemporaries, the outfit has turned to synthesizers for soundscape inspiration. The single "Ambling Alp" is a dynamically percussive new wave self-respect anthem, while "I Remember" has all the melodic flourish and vocal loveliness of an early Erasure aria. Modified African rhythms visit in dance-friendly tracks "Madder Red" and "O.N.E.," and "Rome" is a steadily building strut with drum and vocal effects that reach out and grab from dark alleys. Between the folds of intricate sound on "Odd Blood" float Yeasayer members Anand Wilder's and Chris Keating's expressive vocal harmonies, giving this seemingly disparate, indefinable music a clear identity.

ARTIST: THE MAGNETIC FIELDS

ALBUM: REALISM (Nonesuch Records)

The Magnetic Fields' latest studio album, "Realism," is the final -- and most convincing -- installment of the band's "no synth" trilogy, which began in 2004 with "i." On the new set, Magnetic Fields founder Stephin Merritt continues to move away from the band's usual dependence on effects to explore the innards of folk without using electric instruments. Merritt and his troupe mostly succeed in achieving a natural sound on "Realism," but the results are sometimes shaky. With lyrics like "Do-si-do down/To our hoedown/Our rootin'-tootin' hootenanny," the song "We Are Having a Hootenanny" straddles the line between playful and ridiculous. But the alluring "I Don't Know What to Say" and "Better Things" find the band inching back toward its comfort zone -- Merritt's songwriting thrives, and nontraditional percussion like the tabla and tree leaves satiate the need for unusual sounds. Ultimately, the electronic-free approach on the closer of the trilogy results in the Magnetic Fields' most organic effort to date -- and it doesn't stray too far from Merritt's pop-leaning background, making it the most successful of its synth-free siblings.

ARTIST: RECKLESS KELLY

ALBUM: SOMEWHERE IN TIME (Yep Roc Records)

It takes a certain amount of belief in one's abilities to attempt an album of covers, let alone a tribute to a musical hero. And it takes talent to actually pull it off. Meet Austin-based country-rock band Reckless Kelly -- a group that has the chutzpah and chops to properly honor Idaho singer-songwriter Pinto Bennett, who with his band Famous Motel Cowboys influenced a generation of Northwestern musicians. Reckless Kelly's latest album, "Somewhere in Time," is made up of Bennett-penned tunes. (Bennett himself guests on two tracks.) Among the highlights is "The Ballad of Elano De Leon," with a guest appearance by Joe Ely. The rollicking "Bird on a Wire" is perhaps the album's best cut, mixing smart lyrics and sizzling guitar work, while honky-tonk "I've Done Everything I Could Do Wrong" will probably fill the floors in dance halls all across Texas.

ARTIST: MIDLAKE

ALBUM: THE COURAGE OF OTHERS (Bella Union Records)

With its layered melodies and gentle guitar progressions, Midlake's 2006 breakout album, "The Trials of Van Occupanther," was a hypnotizing riff on classic-rock conventions. For third album "The Courage of Others," the Texas-based band draws upon its strength while delving more deeply into the lush sounds of British folk music. Themes of self-discovery and natural beauty swirl around tracks like the midtempo jam "Small Mountain" and the gorgeous ballad "Fortune." "The Courage of Others" doesn't offer anything as immediately captivating as "Van Occupanther" gems like "Roscoe" and "Young Bride," but the new songs slowly take shape and are unafraid to choose interesting detours. Singer/guitarist Tim Smith's saccharine voice still commands the spotlight, but the band's blossoming vocal harmonies elevate the album and give such tracks as "Acts of Man" and "Children of the Grounds" their swelling climaxes. Midlake has moved into more complex territory with "The Courage of Others," making forward-thinking folk music that is at once both universal and privately felt.