'THE NEW DANGER'

'THE NEW DANGER'
Mos Def
(Rawkus/Geffen)
ss The latest in the long line of rappers-turned-actors, what sets Mos Def apart is the fact that his undeniable talent enabled him to rise from the minor leagues (underground hip-hop, no major radio play) versus making an easy transition from the majors ( & agrave; la Will Smith or Ice Cube).
His immense abilities, however, coupled with his broad aims, are what make his second solo album simultaneously compelling and frustrating.
At 17 songs (one with a nine-minute plus runtime), "Danger" is all over the place. Its most successful spots are the most bare-bones: resilient rhymes over true-school beats ("Close Edge," "Sex, Love and Money").
But when his band, Black Jack Johnson, shows up for the hard-rock cuts, his ambitions run astray. The dated guitars evoke Living Color, and when Mos fumes at the end of "War," it's the equivalent of a second-rate Rage Against The Machine or worse, Body Count.
These detours would be easier to forgive if the hip-hop wasn't so effortless. On the production side, Kanye West culls his endless reservoir of soul for the aquatic lick and boom-bap of "Sunshine." And the bluesy funk on joints like "Bedstuy Parade' and "Funeral March" is live instrumentation that actually works.
The wild card is the inclusion of "reggae n blues" type ballads. Splitting the difference between hip-hop and clich & eacute;d riff-rock, Mos pulls them off surprisingly well -- his singing on "The Beggar" is genuinely moving.
'SAVIN' THE HONKY TONK'
Mark Chesnutt
(Vivaton)
sss As the title suggests, this is dedicated to the preservation of the honky tonk as a quintessential country music institution. And there's nobody better suited to singing the praises of those hallowed bastions of brew than Chesnutt, the traditionalist whose twangy vocals and emotion-drenched songs seem to fit perfectly in the honky tonk atmosphere.
He cut his teeth in the honky tonks of Beaumont, Texas, alongside his father, Bob, a singer and big fan of classic country music. Chesnutt developed his own style with obvious influences from Merle Haggard, George Jones, Lefty Frizzell, and assorted other honky tonk icons. On 15 knockout songs, he mixes barroom laments with two-steppers on an album that's destined to be one of the biggest hits of the year.
Several of the songs are new, with the opener, "Somebody Save The Honky Tonks," setting the festive table. The classic oldie, "The Lord Loves The Drinkin' Man," gets a double shot of warm feeling. The total package delivers a genuine kick, whether for dancing, listening -- or drinking.
'THE ONES WE NEVER KNEW'
Holly Williams
(Universal South)
ssss Forget the surname. Forget the lineage that goes straight back to the father of modern country music himself. Holly Williams may have been born of that baggage -- and the talent and heartbreak that accompanies it -- but she is shaping up as a genius unto herself.
"The Ones We Never Knew" is filled with longing, and it's evident even if you never listen to any of the well-crafted words that Hank Williams' granddaughter sings. Her voice and the instruments that back it are tinged with sorrow and misgivings and missed opportunities -- even impossible ones.
Williams' debut album is somewhere in that increasingly popular netherworld between alt-country and throaty, gentle folk rock -- a hybrid that offers up wisps of Lucinda Williams, the nonpreachy songs of Natalie Merchant and even a bit of REM.
Where her in-your-face half-brother Hank III is aggressive and insolent (and frequently brilliant), she is introspective and Dylanesque and brooding. "I've got a broken man to repair," she sings, and she laments of how "there is so much danger in wanting more." She seems contemplative and shadowed by experience, but not consumed by the river of darkness that has run through her family's landscape for three generations.
'SINGS HANDEL'
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
(Avie)
sss Lieberson's recording of Bach cantatas was one of last year's best, thanks to her astonishingly deep identification with the music. You don't quite have that on the new disc, even though Lieberson is indeed firing on all dramatic cylinders in a selection of music that includes the "Lucrezia cantata plus arias from "Serse and "Theodora.
Conductor Bicket offers solid, period-style accompaniment. If there's a problem, it's Handel's. He often set clunky, substandard texts, and Lieberson's vivid word projection makes that fault all the more obvious in the "Theodora arias." (For the record, she sings the mezzo role of Irene, not the soprano-register title role she recorded years back for Harmonia Mundi.)
'CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE'
Dianne Reeves
(Blue Note Records)
sss It's probably a bit too early for thoughts of Santa, snow, mistletoe or shopping for Christmas music CDs.
Nonetheless, Blue Note has released this festive Dianne Reeves album, a blue-chip Christmas package sure to be one of the best offerings among the impending glut of holiday albums.
Wrapped in bright holiday cheer and gleaming good will, it comes complete with sparkling, genuinely substantive music.
When Reeves, Blue Note's Grammy Award-winning diva, sings hardy perennials like "A Child Is Born" or "Christmas Time Is Here," she creates celestial sounds for all seasons.
Aside from her splendid voice and keen musical intelligence, Reeves has a seasoned cabaret singer's knack for evoking drama from a lyric while portraying a wide range of emotion.
On "Let It Snow," she's all hipness and light. Her fleet scatted syllables fall flawlessly like Ella Fitzgerald flurries. "Little Drummer Boy" never marched to a more soulful beat. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "The Christmas Song" are mellow and nostalgic, never schmaltzy. Her grand finale, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," is both sweet and sad but saccharine-free.