‘Rated R’

‘Rated R’

Rihanna (Island Def Jam)

Grade: C-

On Rihanna’s last CD, she was a good girl gone bad. On her latest, “Rated R,” she’s definitely a bad girl — more like a mad girl, and a dangerous one, out for revenge.

Throughout her fourth studio album, the 21-year-old is reasserting her strength through viciousness and vulgarity.

And sometimes it works, like on “Rude Boy,” “Hard” and “Wait Your Turn [The Wait Is Ova].”

But enduring surly, bitter Rihanna through 13 songs can be a bit much, and sometimes you want her to tone the attitude down.

Whether it’s the numerous f-bombs she drops or screaming “guns in the air” and that she’s “gangster for life” — it’s unnecessary, and more than adding edge to the songs, she takes away from them.

Rihanna says she started recording “Rated R” one month after she was beaten by ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, and her thoughts on that situation and the end of the relationship is all over the CD.

— Mesfin Fekadu, Associated Press

‘Battle Studies’

John Mayer (Sony)

Grade: C+

Despite an even more milquetoast synergy than usual — U2 meets Sting on the opener — the fourth album from the cornball writer of “Your Body Is a Wonderland” is easily his darkest. It’s ironic how angry he is, considering that his last huge one was a plea for peace called “Waiting on the World to Change.”

The word “War” appears in two song titles here, and lest the album title confuse you, this isn’t a political record.

No one gets assassinated in “Assassin,” which mixes Mayer’s literal-lady-killer metaphor with stealing (hearts, natch) — and dig this twist: The girl’s an assassin, too!

This is not to be confused with the entirely separate “Heartbreak Warfare,” or the six pushy minutes of the McCartney-wannabe closer “Friends, Lovers or Nothing” (“anything other than yes is no”), which, I suppose, is answered by “Perfectly Lonely,” the happiest song here.

Nothing on “Battle Studies” approaches the tenderness of earlier Mayer tunes such as “No Such Thing” or “Daughters,” or even the goofy bedplay of “Wonderland.”

— Dan Weiss, Associated Press

‘Them Crooked Vultures’

Them Crooked Vultures (DGC)

Grade: B

As supergroups go, Them Crooked Vultures, who are Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, is pretty super.

What’s more, this self-titled riff-rock debut is superior to most big-name one-off powwows because it refuses to take itself too seriously. Led Zep is the obvious starting point, with two prodigiously talented alt-rock fanboys getting their jollies playing with the monster bassist who laid down the foundation for Robert Plant’s ululations.

But TCV brings the heavyosity without ever growing overbearingly imitative, and the trio is often unabashedly silly — see the psychedelic “Interlude with ’Ludes” — while remaining more than serious enough about the business as of constructing scuzzy, boogie-down productions such as the swirling “Scumbag Blues” and the stampeding “Elephants.”

— Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer

‘Sara Smile’

Jimmy Wayne (Valory)

Grade: A

An album of emotionally layered songs about love sustained and sometimes lost, “Sara Smile” should establish Jimmy Wayne as Nashville’s most sensitive male vocalist — both in his well-chosen material and in his elegant, soulful delivery.

The album also should further the most significant comeback in country music in recent years.

The North Carolina native earned his first No.1 hit with the title song of his 2008 album, “Do You Believe Me Now.” It came four years after Wayne’s only Top 10 hit, but his new album, “Sara Smile,” proves he’s making the best of his new chance.

As a testament to his star potential, Wayne links up with three of Nashville’s hottest producers — a common strategy in pop music, but unusual in Nashville, where artists almost always work with one producer per project.

Collaborating with Mark Bright (Carrie Underwood), Nathan Chapman (Taylor Swift) and Dann Huff (Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban), Wayne achieves a consistent quality through “Sara Smile,” yet also manages to make it blend more seamlessly than might be expected.

Highlights are many: Wayne’s vocal showcase on the title song, a cover of the Hall & Oates classic; the effervescent Keith Urban co-write, “Things I Believe,” about the spiritual power of devoted love; and Wayne’s solo-written “I’ll Never Leave You,” about how flashes of frustration need not derail a good relationship.

— Michael McCall, Associated Press