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

'HONKYTONK UNIVERSITY'
Toby Keith
(Dreamworks) sss
After "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," after the public feud with Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, after the tiresome charges of jingoism and insensitivity, this is the album Toby Keith needed to make. Most of "Honkytonk University" finds the artist, 43, in a surprisingly quiet mood. He's gentle, vulnerable at times and, on "As Good As I Once Was," a reflection on middle age, downright charming as he muses: "Now my body says, 'You can't do this, boy'/But my pride says, 'Oh yes you can.'"
What's most appealing, though, is Keith's songwriting. Assisted by frequent collaborator Scotty Emerick, he has crafted memorable choruses for "Knock Yourself Out" and "Your Smile" and strikingly honest lyrics for "You Caught Me at a Bad Time" ("You weren't everything I needed/Just the softest place to fall"). Can this be the same guy who wrote last year's schlock-filled "Stays in Mexico"?
Co-producer James Stroud, returning Keith's sound to basic country, keeps the tracks lean and free of usual Nashville studio tomfoolery, and country icon Merle Haggard shows up for duet duty on "She Ain't Hooked on Me No More." The result is an album that is, in short, a wise career move. On "Honkytonk University," Keith isn't angry. He isn't intent on being cute or sly. And he isn't -- as critics have loudly charged -- too full of himself.
'COLD ROSES'
Ryan Adams & amp; The Cardinals
(Lost Highway) sss
With every new release, the prolific musical chameleon Ryan Adams proves he is more than capable of playing confidently in multiple styles, whether it's loud and roof-shaking ("Rock N Roll") or quiet and introspective ("Love Is Hell"). On "Cold Roses," the first of three, count 'em, releases he has planned for this year, Adams and his terrific band the Cardinals are in a mostly alternative-country mode. This 18-song, twin-disc outing is entirely pleasing, and could have been outstanding if edited down to about half its size.
Adams would be hard-pressed to find better accompanists than guitarist J.P. Bowersock (guru to garage-punk revivalists the Strokes) and steel and lap steel guitarist Cindy Cashdollar (longtime member of Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel). Both shine on the Grateful Dead-ish "Easy Plateau" and "Let It Ride." To be clear, we're talking about the Dead circa "American Beauty" and "Workingman's Dead," with tight, concise ensemble playing and no self-indulgent solos.
"Meadowlake Street" is particularly affecting, an end-of-the-affair missive that builds to a mighty crescendo and showcases Adams' acoustic guitar playing and falsetto vocal range.
Tentatively scheduled for release this summer is Adams' next opus, "September," with "29" to follow this fall.
'THE FORGOTTEN ARM'
Aimee Mann
(SuperEgo) sss
A loosely knit concept album about the troubled relationship between a Vietnam vet-turned-boxer-turned-drug addict (John) and his heartsick girlfriend (Caroline), the fifth solo work from Aimee Mann is a moving and beautifully crafted affair that vividly captures the push and pull of codependency without becoming too overwrought or morose.
Though it's never obvious in the lyrics, Mann, the former vocalist of '80s pop band 'Til Tuesday, imagines that the story told in "The Forgotten Arm" takes place in the '70s, which helps account for its musical influences, including the Band, Paul McCartney, Mott the Hoople and Elton John. Recorded in an astonishingly fast four days with the astute help of producer Joe Henry, "The Forgotten Arm" is most effective when Mann amps up the emotion during the album's closing stages. The soaring, poignant "I Can't Help You Anymore" and silver-lining closer "Beautiful" are simply stunning. And speaking of stunning, check out the CD packaging, which is made to look like a pulp novel and is filled with gorgeous illustrations by Owen Smith.
"LIVE (AT) THE FILLMORE"
Lucinda Williams
(Lost Highway) sss
More than not these days, a live album provides the opportunity to strip it to the bone. So what do you do if you're Lucinda Williams, whose studio albums, in contrast to most artists, have gotten rawer as her audience has grown? This two-disc document, distilling a three-night stand at a legendary San Francisco music hall that is to rock what the Village Vanguard is to jazz, sees Williams and her band taking the Neil Young with Crazy Horse route, digging into songs most of her fans have memorized in search of something new. Sometimes she finds it, as in the sad-sweet "Lonely Girls," and sometimes it ends up just rocking out, as in the funky "Changed the Locks."
Williams continues to expose herself like no female singer-songwriter has since Joni Mitchell, even though her minimalist approach to music couldn't be more different than Mitchell's post-"Blue" professionalism. Williams' slurry, sexy singing tends to either touch a heart or hit a nerve.
Knight Ridder Newspapers