'NANCY SINATRA'

'NANCY SINATRA'
Nancy Sinatra"
(Attack/Sanctuary)
sss Like peanut butter and chocolate, the unlikely teaming of young, modern rock hipsters and '60s pop icons pays off once again. Earlier this year, country legend Loretta Lynn paired with White Stripes guitarist Jack White for "Van Lear Rose," one of the year's best albums.
By enlisting a roster of hipster musicians and admirers like Morrissey, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, U2, Steven Van Zandt, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, and Pete Yorn, Nancy Sinatra, 64, has managed to unleash a cool pop/rock disc that, like Lynn's, never feels like a phony attempt at modernism.
The opening Southwestern-flavored "Burnin' Down the Spark," a retro blast mixing mariachi horns, strings, and pedal steel, takes its hallowed place on a shelf alongside her iconic 1966 hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'." Nothing else here comes close and the Morrissey meeting ("Let Me Kiss You") is a fizzle but even initially off-putting tracks like Moore's creepy and dissonant "Momma's Boy," which Sinatra sings in a monotone -- she often sounds remarkably like Blondie's Deborah Harry -- reward repeat listens.
'NOISE FROM THE BASEMENT'
Skye Sweetnam
(Capitol)
ss 1/2 Sweetnam is a bit of an Avril Lavigne/blink-182 lovechild on "Noise From the Basement," opening the release with, "I saw my boyfriend hangin' with this girl that I hate" on track "Number One" and sassing her way to the end.
It's good for what it is -- hook-oriented stuff about boys, friends and self-absorption. The singer throws out reverse psychology on first single "Tangled Up in Me," telling some cute guy that she acts out to get him to notice her. Then she uses reverse-reverse psychology on subsequent track "I Don't Really Like You," where her acting out means she wants him to go away.
Except for its playfully juvenile rendition of Blondie's "Heart of Glass," "Noise From the Basement" will be forgettable jangle for most adults who happen across it, Sweetnam's immature voice sailing through mostly predictable, if persuasive refrains. But Sweetnam makes a good pitch to her targeted demographic of teen (and especially pre-teen) girls who might identify with the breezy tribute to individualism on "Sharanda" or the anti-school restlessness of "Billy S."
It's just the kind of harmless stuff that could go platinum.
'THE CHRONICLES OF LIFE AND DEATH'
Good Charlotte
(Epic)
sss Good Charlotte has a good problem with "The Chronicles of Life and Death."
The band has left behind its megahit debut album "The Young and The Restless," and in its place given birth to a darker sound. The problem? Whether the sometimes fan, who helped propel the pop-punk band's previous album to multiplatinum status thanks to its feel-good, head-nodding melodies (think "Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous"), will buy the band's approach with its latest release.
Good Charlotte does give listeners a taste of its first album with "Predictable," the first single from "The Chronicles of Life and Death." But the use of a cello along with numerous complicated melody changes give the biggest hint that this album is not business as usual for the band.
In "We Believe," Good Charlotte shows their chops as songwriters with a dual message -- one an appeal for a more peaceful political time and the other of one woman's longing to have her son back. It is perhaps the strongest song on the album, thanks to the lyrics: "There's a woman crying out tonight/Her world has changed/She asked God why/Her only son has died/Now her daughter cries/She can't sleep at night." It continues: "Downtown another day for all the suits and ties/Another war to fight/There's no regard for life/How can they sleep at night?/How can we make things right?"
"Walk Away" is big pop-punk with loud guitars and even louder drums. It's followed on the album by "S.O.S.," a considerably more quiet song (think rock ballad) for Good Charlotte.
The album's real weakness is its opening number "Once Upon A Time: The Battle of Life and Death," which is way over the top, and worse, it bleeds into one of the standout songs, the album's title track. Yes, it's artsy. But it's too artsy for a pop-punk band.
'KATRINA ELAM'
Katrina Elam
(Universal South)
Elam grew up in Oklahoma doing talent shows and critiquing her home karaoke performances. Then she moved to Nashville, to be judged by the music industry.
Not to worry. Her powerful voice and her right-on lyrics seem to have won them over. She just made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry and her first CD is a winner as well.
The 20-year-old singer-songwriter has been guided by the advice of fellow Oklahoman and fan Vince Gill on her self-titled album, and the instrumental backing of Keith Urban on her first single, "No End in Sight."
But it's Elam who sells the CD with that rocker, followed by "The Breakup Song," a classic country ballad with a nifty hook at the end.
All but two of the 11 tracks -- with a strong bent toward traditional country -- are co-written by her. Some are autobiographical, like "Normal," about being shunned by high school classmates: "Everybody does it, that's what everybody says as they smoke their cigarettes on Friday night/And if you're still a virgin by the time that you're a junior, then the rumor going' around is you ain't right."
Or "Drop Dead Gorgeous," a title that turns out to be a recommendation to a former boyfriend rather than a description of him.
She shows her rowdy side in "I Want a Cowboy," then her soft side in the poignant "Flowers by the Side of the Road" (with Union Station's Dan Tyminski singing background).
'THIS WEEK'
Jean Grae
(Babygrande)
sss 1/2 Jean Grae has built a formidable reputation in the hip-hop underground through intimidation, spitting rapid-fire verses that threaten anybody who gets too close.
"This Week" -- the second full-length from the South African-born, New York City-raised MC -- finds her in fine, frightening form, particularly on "Going Crazy" and the club-ready "You Don't Want It," on which she sounds like a cross between Eve and Eminem.
But "Supa Love" and "Give It Up" reveal Grae's sensitive side. "P.S.," the record's best song, combines these personae, with Grae narrating a series of apology letters to people she has wronged. In admitting her weaknesses and taking responsibility for her misdeeds, Grae makes herself seem even stronger.