ON THE RECORD | What's hot in albums, tapes and discs

'OCEANS APART'
The Go-Betweens
Yep Roc, sss 1/2
Between 1981 and 1989, Australia's Go-Betweens released six literate, lilting, often lush albums that balanced Grant McLennan's poppy ditties of wistful romance with Robert Forster's darker tales of witty romanticism.
The two reconvened in 2000, and two albums later comes the subtly textured "Oceans Apart."
Beginning with the catalog of passing scenes in "Here Comes a City," "Oceans" bubbles with images of travel. Often that means journeying into the past, as Forster does on the country shuffle "Born to a Family" and the orchestral "Darlinghurst Nights," and as McLennan does on the beautifully melancholy "No Reason to Cry." The themes may be nostalgic, but these well-crafted songs sound timeless.
'TIMES LIKE THESE'
Buddy Jewell
Columbia, sss
He's not young and slim, and there's nothing flashy about him. It's a wonder Buddy Jewell won the original "Nashville Star" TV competition, country's "American Idol." But as the 44-year-old singer shows again on his second album, his success is well-deserved.
The solid, if occasionally stolid, Jewell delivers the songs on "Times Like These" with an Alan Jackson-style understatement, confident in the emotional authenticity he brings to the material. That goes for songs he didn't write, such as the standout ballad "If She Were Any Other Woman," as well as those he did, including "Dyess, Arkansas," which is not about the town's most famous ex-resident, Johnny Cash.
'LET IT DIE'
Feist
Interscope, sss 1/2
And the Canadian invasion continues. Leslie Feist -- former roommate/collaborator with electropunk diva Peaches, and vocalist with indie-rock collective Broken Social Scene -- joins Arcade Fire, Stars and Buck 65 in the 2005 parade of border-crossing Canucks.
The soulful, chilled-out torch singer's second solo album, recorded in Paris (where she now lives), is almost equally divided between impressive originals and covers. It also displays her moves as French chanteuse ("Tout Doucement") and disco queen (the Bee Gees' "Inside and Out").
A piano-ballad version of Dick Haymes' "Now at Last" is brittle and bittersweet, though her agreeable rendering of Ron Sexsmith's "Secret Heart" doesn't quite capture the uneasy heartbreak of the original. But hey, nobody's perfect.
'THE GROUND'
Tord Gustavsen Trio
ECM, sss 1/2
How does pianist/composer Tord Gustavsen get so melodic without becoming maudlin?
The Norwegian, who has become one of Europe's top players, creates jazz that is spare, somber, and pretty in a melancholy way.
His trio cuts are clean, like the lines of Scandinavian furniture. His solos represent a successful search for melody. And his sidemen play little while saying a lot; Jarle Vespestad is leprechaun-light on drums, while Harald Johnsen's bass resonates with an oaken solidity.
Late in the disc's 66 minutes, one can yearn for more of the joyful wildness so typical of jazz. But the trio's results are wistful and oddly pleasant.
'VANESSA'
Samuel Barber
Susan Graham, Christine Brewer, William Burden, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin conducting
Chandos, sss
Few opera recordings have been so wisely assembled. The singers for this version of Samuel Barber's 1958 opera have just the right vocal qualities for their roles. They sing the English language beautifully and act with their voices in ways that bring alive the characters in this faux-Chekhovian story about a wealthy woman who is romanced by and married to the son of the man she has spent her life pining for. Susan Graham (as the title character's repressed niece) and William Burden (the man who seduces them both) are ideal in their respective roles, and should be considered models for all who sing them.
Knight Ridder Newspapers