Billboard CD reviews: Britney Spears, Delta Bluesmen

ARTIST: BRITNEY SPEARS

ALBUM: CIRCUS

NEW YORK (Billboard) - From the synthy open of "Womanizer" to the regretful ache spurring "Blur," "Circus" gives Brit pop a whole new meaning, as the singer does double duty as a dance diva and brokenhearted balladeer. It's no easy feat, but when Spears shoves aside the tabloid trauma and hooks up with the right producers, she's in a class of her own. The iPods of the dumped will have "Out From Under" on repeat, and if censors turn a deaf ear to the racy wordplay of the chorus to "If U Seek Amy," it could move beyond the club to radio. One quibble: On beat-blasting tracks like "Circus" and "Kill the Lights" the lyrics rehash the "it's deeply weird to be famous" themes Spears already locked down on "Lucky" and "Piece of Me." Here's to moving on.

ARTIST: VARIOUS ARTISTS

ALBUM: LAST OF THE GREAT MISSISSIPPI DELTA BLUESMEN: LIVE IN DALLAS (The Blue Shoe Project)

This epic gathering of blues legends finds David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Robert Lockwood Jr., Henry James Townsend and Pinetop Perkins having a hell of a night for a quartet with an average age of 91. The 18 tunes, taped in 2004 in Dallas, range from the elemental country blues of Muddy Waters' "Country Boy," performed by Edwards, to an uptempo arrangement of "Hangin' On," complete with a horn section, featuring Lockwood on vocals. Perkins knocks down a very hip cover of "Kansas City" and then tears it up again on "Got My Mojo Working." Townsend works his way through a low-down blues shuffle on "If You Don't Want Me," and the album concludes with Lockwood's wonderful cover of "See See Rider Blues."

ARTIST: AKON

ALBUM: FREEDOM (Konvict/Upfront/SRC/Universal)

Last month, Akon told Billboard he was leaning toward a Euro-club sound for his new album, and he does just that on the techno-driven "We Don't Care," with its thumping bassline and organ-like riffs, and the dance track "Keep You Much Longer," which takes its cues from Haddaway's "What Is Love?" But there's no shortage of Akon's traditional boom-bap. And while "Troublemaker" and "Holla Holla" each sound a lot like earlier Akon songs, ultimately they're highlights for that very reason.

ARTIST: LUDACRIS

ALBUM: THEATER OF THE MIND (DTP/Def Jam)

Ludacris' 2006 album "Release Therapy" was supposed to illustrate some degree of personal growth, but "Theater" has no time for troublesome goal-setting. This one's stuffed with massive, flamboyant beats, overloud dirty-comic vocals and all the usual lyrical stops: the streets, women-slash-liquor and money, which is apparently important to him. Throughout, Ludacris brings the funny, gets off two or three killer lines per song (check out "Everybody Hates Chris," featuring Chris Rock, happily), seems to enjoy his cars and sex, takes shots at Bill O'Reilly and obtains cameos by every rapper you've ever heard of (and, of course, Ving Rhames).

ARTIST: NEIL YOUNG

ALBUM: LIVE AT CANTERBURY HOUSE 1968 (Reprise Records)

Neil Young's "Archives" project is poised to become the new "Chinese Democracy," but the wait helps get gems like this out of his vault. This album captures Young fresh out of Buffalo Springfield and five days shy of his 23rd birthday on the weekend before the release of his solo debut. It's an intimate performance in which the songs -- including winning takes of "On the Way Home," "Mr. Soul," "The Loner," "Trip to Tulsa" and, of course, "Sugar Mountain" -- aren't necessarily the stars of the show. That spot is reserved for a chatty and cheerful Young and his between-song raps about everything from the length of his hair to songwriting (he decides he needs more "happy" material) and using his first royalty check to buy a 1934 Bentley "with big lights and everything." It's the kind of recording that makes you wish you were there -- but also makes you feel like you are.

ARTIST: VARIOUS ARTISTS

ALBUM: MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE CADILLAC RECORDS (Columbia Records)

The soundtrack to the film history of Chess Records falls somewhere between a dawn-of-rock 'n' roll tribute album and a new Beyonce album, either of which should give it pretty decent sales for a few weeks (the single-disc version features three new Beyonce tracks; the two-disc deluxe edition adds two more). The songs are performed in "Walk the Line" fashion by the actors: Mos Def does Chuck Berry ("No Particular Place to Go"), actor Jeffrey Wright channels Muddy Waters ("I'm a Man") and, most notably, Beyonce leaves Sasha Fierce at the club door for a reverent turn as Etta James. Ms. Knowles sounds wonderful, and Mos Def acquits himself nicely, but "Cadillac Records" will truly succeed if fans are moved to check out the originals.

ARTIST: TOUBAB KREWE

ALBUM: LIVE AT THE ORANGE PEEL (Upstream Records)

This quintet, based in Asheville, N.C., has essentially created the intersection of West African traditional music and American rock. This remarkable, distinctive fusion is captured here in a December 30-31, 2007, show at Asheville's Orange Peel. Opener "Autorail" tells the Toubab story. The song rocks, but Justin Perkins' kora, the tuning of Drew Heller's guitar and the circularity of the rhythm add a notable Senegalese-Malian vibe. "Roy Forester" also features a driving West African rhythm, keyed by Perkins on the kamel ngoni and the voice of spoken-word artist Umar Bin Hassan. Closer "Buncombe to Badala" is probably the first time many listeners will be exposed to surf rock performed by players who are clearly under the grand influence of Ali Farka Toure.

ARTIST: FEMI KUTI

ALBUM: DAY BY DAY (Mercer Street/Downtown Records)

Man does not live by polyrhythms alone -- although Femi Kuti and his 17-piece Positive Force sure make it sound like a pleasing proposition. In the past few years, Kuti studied piano and revisited the trumpet, his original instrument, resulting in a more textured and jazz-influenced approach this time out. The Afro-centric "You Better Ask Yourself" and the airy "They Will Run" are, in fact, a pair of the jazziest tracks Kuti and company have ever crafted, while "Demo Crazy" is a long, lively workout with a dynamic call-and-response interplay between the horns and organ. The title track is a melodically pretty prayer for peace, while other songs play out in a way that should be to the liking of world music and jam band aficionados.

ARTIST: DIR EN GREY

ALBUM: UROBOROS (The End Records)

Seven albums on, this Japanese alternative metal quintet keeps pitting the psyche's primordial ooze against alluring melodies, demonstrating man's internal conflict between dark and light. The band is at the height of its creative powers on "Uroboros," a lengthy collection that grows more nuanced and stimulating with each listen. Every rousing track, from throbbing stunner "Glass Skin" to turbulent journey song "Vinushka," shows the fivesome in superb command of its creative instincts. Lead single "Dozing Green" is a proper contender for airplay, while "Red Soil" and funky jam "Stuck Man" are primal fury gone berserk. But Dir en grey also exposes a quieter side, infusing "Uroboros" with a determined grace.

Reuters/Billboard