CD reviews

Ludacris
‘Chicken -N- Beer’

After skyrocketing to fame on a trio of his own albums and multiple guest appearances on those of others, Atlanta rapper Ludacris became the face of the burgeoning Dirty South movement in hip-hop. Added to all that work, accomplished in just a few short years, was his media battle with Fox News’ Bill O'Reilly over the commentator's view that Ludacris was not a fit role model to shill Pepsi. Maybe Luda was distracted, but the last thing you'd expect from such a busy guy is an album as lazy as “Chicken -N- Beer.”

The rapper's delivery is still sharp, but his once-defining sense of fun is missing in action. Retorts to haters are no more clever than “blow it out your ass” and “(expletive) you” repeated ad nauseam. Meanwhile, his bread-and-butter lewdness is just crass in “P-Poppin’ ” and “Hoes in My Room,” the latter a song so charmless not even a guest spot by Snoop Dogg can save it. Worse than that, the underlying music on the disc just lies there as lifeless as a dead body, and as executive producer, Ludacris can blame no one but himself for that. The nadir of the album is the various skits that are simply not funny, they're painfully unfunny. (Memo to rappers everywhere — the whole between-tracks skit-thing is played out! Even when they are humorous, no one wants to hear the same joke more than once.) “Chicken -N- Beer” is almost wholly unappetizing because it's surprisingly stale. D+

— by Thomas Bond, Get Out

Elvis Presley
‘2nd to None’

The companion volume to last year's successful “30 #1 Hits,” the new compilation “2nd to None” suffers the same problem that plagued its predecessor: Elvis Presley's career was simply too long and varied to compile the breadth of it on one CD, or even two, for that matter. “2nd to None,” like “30 #1 Hits,” takes Elvis chronologically from his ’50s heyday through his ’60s movie years, on to the Vegas years of the ’70s, and then crashes into today with an updated version of an old song, in this case an embarrassingly bad dance club version of “Rubberneckin’ ” remixed by Paul Oakenfold. Thus, stone cold rock classics such as “That's All Right” and “Blue Suede Shoes” share space with the schlocky kitsch of “Rock-A- Hula Baby” and the overblown pap of “If I Can Dream.” Very strange.

The disc is certainly no “best of,” and it's a shame that one of the most influential artists of the last century is represented by such a haphazard hodgepodge of material, seemingly in the sole interest of spanning his recording career. Collectors will take note of the one previously unreleased track, “I'm a Roustabout,” a fun but ultimately inconsequential addition to the Presley canon. Ultimately, while there's plenty of great music here, it's offset by too many lesser numbers to make this disc — even combined with its predecessor — a fully satisfying portrait of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll. B-

— by Thomas Bond, Get Out

Leona Naess
‘Leona Naess’

Recorded during a now-shattered romance with alt-country bad boy Ryan Adams, Leona Naess’ third album is a midtempo discourse on several aspects of love — healing, obsessive, sexual and sweet.

Made in L.A. with producer Ethan Johns, the disc, with its swirling strings and delicate piano flourishes, has more in common with the singer’s aching, edgy 2002 debut, ‘‘Comatised,’’ than with her rock-oriented follow-up, ‘‘I Tried to Rock You But You Only Roll.’’

Using her icy/warm vocals (which sound like a less folky Edie Brickell) and unreservedly catchy pop melodies, Naess lays herself bare on all 11 tracks as a hopeless and hopeful romantic. She breaks little new ground, but from the endearingly singsong opener, ‘‘Calling,’’ to the guitar-jangling quasi-rocker ‘‘Home,’’ an unflinching earnestness warms these torchy missives. B+

— by Nicole Pensiero, Knight Ridder Newspapers

Cassandra Wilson
‘Glamoured’

Sometimes it seems like Cassandra Wilson can smolder her way through anything. Having one of the most assuredly languid and substantial voices to ever grace the many genres she broaches — paired with musicians who are usually equally accomplished — can do that for an artist. And because all this craftsmanship seems to come so easily, it’s tempting to lump this new release of beautiful songs into the ‘‘What else would you expect from Cassandra Wilson?’’ category, almost dismissing her consistent impressiveness.

But then Wilson takes on Sting’s familiar pop hit ‘‘Fragile’’ and gives it an unexpected, somehow organic sway. She and her band charge into the original ‘‘I Want More,’’ offering new meaning to the CD title ‘‘Glamoured’’— a Gaelic word for being whisked away. Instead of matching all of the high notes we’ve come to expect from Patsy Cline’s version of ‘‘Crazy,’’ Wilson and her percussionist’s approach make it — as well as longtime R&B favorite ‘‘If Loving You Is Wrong’’ — a crisper, more contemplative classic. And all of a sudden, you realize there are still surprises and smarts in all of that deceptively casual, slow-burning seductiveness. A-

— by Sonia Murray, Cox News Service

Belle and Sebastian
‘Dear Catastrophe Waitress’

In the mid-’90s, Scotland gave us the melodic sweetness and minimalism of Belle and Sebastian. The large and frequently morphing band (currently at eight members) released a couple of quietly sparkling albums that married ’60s folk rock to ’80s indie pop. Primary songwriter Stuart Murdoch’s lyrics seemed to speak directly to high school outcasts and losers in love.

Then, the band lost its way. Murdoch ceded songwriting space to other band members, and the results were scattershot. Beginning with the still stunning ‘‘The Boy With the Arab Strap,’’ the albums tried to expand the group’s minimalist sound with a larger instrumental palette. It never came together until now.

Produced by the sometimes overbearing Trevor Horn (of the Buggles and recently behind the boards for Seal and Sapphic pop tarts T.a.t.u.), ‘‘Dear Catastrophe Waitress’’ finds the perfect balance between 1996’s near-perfect ‘‘If You’re Feeling Sinister’’ and the band’s lusher ambitions. This is their finest work since ‘‘Sinister.’’ From start to finish, this is the best batch of songs they’ve put together since then. The slick pop of ‘‘Step Into My Office, Baby’’ and the acoustic ‘‘Piazza, New York Catcher’’ (‘‘are you straight or are you gay?’’) are just a couple of the highlights, but the most interesting piece is ‘‘I’m a Cuckoo.’’ Who would have thought that a Belle and Sebastian lyric would pay tribute to Thin Lizzy? Even more startling, the song sounds like a Thin Lizzy tune as interpreted by Belle and Sebastian. A

— by Shane Harrison, Cox News Service