'ALL JACKED UP'

'ALL JACKED UP'
Gretchen Wilson
Epic
ssss (out of four)
Fans of Gretchen Wilson's chart-topping 2004 debut album, "Here for the Party," might have braced for a letdown with her latest, "All Jacked Up."
Feel free to unbrace. This album's even better than the first. The pride of Pocahontas, Ill. pulls no punches (again) and nearly every song sounds like a dare for someone to tell the country sensation she's all bluster -- and not expect a face full 'o knuckles.
The title track, "All Jacked Up," is a romp about keeping an eye on your drinking. Wilson knows her way around a bar, she readily admits, and she's not one to shy away from a song about knocking a few back. But there's something responsible about her don't-do-it-while-driving caveat here.
"One Bud Wiser" is a hands down instant karaoke classic. Every country girl worth her salt will be trying to belt this one out for years to come. Wilson looks to the bottle for a little solace after a bad breakup:
"When he left me he took my brand new Silverado/ I started thumbin' and I finally hitched a ride/ I just came in here to drink a beer and watch the rednecks fight/ Now I don't feel so bad about going home alone tonight," she belts out in earnest.
It's all here. "Politically Uncorrect" is the brazen flag-waver and "Rebel Child" is the strong sung but cautionary tale about life in the fast lane that could use a little downshifting to avoid the mistakes of youth.
"Skoal Ring" is the only weak link to be found. Any song that glorifies a man halfway home to gum cancer is a dud. Sure, it's supposed to be country code for a hard working man of true grit. But it's a throwaway tune that unfortunately stayed on the album.
That aside, Wilson is the real deal. If there's a better country act going, let's see it.
'WILDFLOWER'
Sheryl Crow
(A & amp;M)
s (out of four)
Point to ponder while contemplating Sheryl Crow's new "Wildflower" CD: will a bad review earn a set of tread marks on my back?
Time to run. Don't be deceived into thinking that big rock on Crow's finger courtesy of fiancee Lance Armstrong will result in a giddy album of love songs. Instead, this disc is downbeat and downright boring.
Crow is 43 now, beyond the point where all you wanna do is have some fun. She's brooding over the big issues of life, love, loyalty and mortality, and that's more than understandable. It's just harder to make that into engaging pop-rock tunes, and that's Crow's strength, where she beat the odds to become very successful in a style that's no longer fashionable.
Here, you slog through seven earnest, mid-tempo songs until there's a sign of life: "Live it Up" has Crow urging someone to not let life pass them by, and it has the disc's strongest hook and quickest pace. "Always on Your Side" is the best of the rest, a stately ballad that benefits from stripping the music down. Otherwise, the production is simultaneously busy and rather anonymous, unwisely emphasizing Crow's thin vocals.
Perhaps "Wildflower" has a few seeds that will take time to grow. Pass the fertilizer, though.
'THE TRINITY'
Sean Paul
Atlantic
ss 1/2 (out of four)
If you remember dance floor circa 2003, you remember that Sean Paul was an unshakable force, making dancehall hip-hop a necessity. Paul attached sing-jay stylee to divas in need of toasting and turned "Gimme the Light" and "Get Busy" into everywhere-anthems that made you want to slap a DJ.
It wasn't the DJ's fault. Steppers unfamiliar with reggae's stammering groove got a fever for the flava at its most infectious. And Paul's subtle mind-melding of dancehall and hip-hop empowers him.
Filled with Diwali rhythms and whistling, whining synth lines, "Trinity" is as contagious as past works; even more so. Whether nestled in reggae's slow saunter ("Yardie Bone") or neo-crunk noise ("Breakout") Paul's monochromatic tone and fluid flow is a field guide to melody. He finds the hook -- under an acoustic guitar's flitter, through a siren's wail -- and yanks, lifting even a diabolical dirge ("I'll Take You There") to a sweet epiphany of song and swing.
Get ready to slap that DJ again.
'GOOD APOLLO, I'M BURNING STAR IV'
Coheed and Cambria
Columbia
ss 1/2 (out of four)
Get your No. 2 pencils ready: Is Coheed and Cambria a) an emo band, b) a metal band, or c) a prog-rock band?
The answer: d) All of the above. That is, the four piece fronted by Afro'd auteur Claudio Sanchez is a progressive rock band that delivers a grandiose, multi-part sci-fi storyline with metallic force and the keen emotionalism of heart-on-sleeve emo acts. The major label debut by the California band is the third in a continuing saga about a dystopian future in which the parents must kill their children to stamp out a plague. (The curious can check out the Sanchez-scripted comic books, available at www.coheedandcambria.com.) If that's not dark enough for you, there's a snazzy guillotine on the CD sleeve and song titles like "Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial)." Though Sanchez is prone to bloated arrangements, faux-classical orchestrations and his high-pitched voice is disturbingly reminiscent of Rush's Geddy Lee, he also has a knack for tough-to-resist pop tunes. Take you eye off the lyric sheet and before you know it, you'll be humming along to a nifty little number called "Once Upon Your Dead Body."
'HITS I MISSED ... AND ONE I DIDN'T'
George Jones
Bandit
sss (out of four)
Here's something novel: Over the decades, publishers and songwriters have pitched good songs to country legend George Jones, who for one reason or another, passed on them. The songs wound up becoming hits for others, keepers like "Funny How Time Slips Away" (Willie Nelson), "On the Other Hand" (Randy Travis) and "Here in the Real World" (Alan Jackson).
On the ballad-oriented "Hits I Missed ... And One I Didn't" Jones sings them all in a voice slightly weathered by age -- on "Funny" he sounds a bit like Ray Charles -- but it's still an expressive and clear instrument.
The musical accompaniment is simple and timeless. The one hit he didn't miss is his own 1980 classic, "He Stopped Loving Her Today." This new version is sufficient.
Highlights are the once controversial '60s hit "Skip a Rope" and "The Blues Man." The latter was written by Hank Williams Jr. and in the liner notes Jones writes that he believes Williams wrote it for his father. But it "hit too close to home." The lyric sounds tailor-made for him, and he and guest vocalist Dolly Parton nail it.
Pod Picks: "Skip a Rope," "The Blues Man."