record reviews

COLDPLAY

Album: “Mylo Xyloto” (Capitol)

Grade: B+

Coldplay is the Steve Jobs of modern rock. Like the late Apple co-founder, Chris Martin and friends aren’t about invention, they’re about repackaging and need-creation and need- fulfillment. Also, like Jobs, they are incredibly successful at what they do.

“Mylo Xyloto” finds Coldplay soaking in current influences and folding them, more or less, into the sound the band has established over its previous four albums.

They have an interesting preoccupation with Rihanna-styled R&B, even bringing in RiRi herself on “Princess of China.” It’s a stunningly beautiful pop song that’s radio-ready, though Rihanna sounds far more at home here than Martin does. On the current single “Paradise” — which bears more than a passing resemblance to “Umbrella” and “Love the Way You Lie,” right down to the “para-para-paradise” chorus — Martin sounds even more ill at ease.

Coldplay fares far better with “Hurts Like Heaven,” which seems to draw from Arcade Fire’s exuberance, as well as its lush vision of indie rock. Equally energetic is the youthful “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall,” which seems to square the sprightliness of “Viva La Vida,” while guitarist Jonny Buckland adds layers of chiming U2 guitars.

“Mylo Xyloto” dances around ideas of revolution and governmental overreaching — quite timely stuff — before love eventually conquers all, offering comfort to a world in upheaval.

—Glenn Gamboa, Newsday

KELLY CLARKSON

Album: “Stronger” (RCA)

Grade: A-

Kelly Clarkson is stretching again on “Stronger.” After consolidating all her pop prowess on her irresistible 2009 album, “All You Ever Wanted,” she is trying her hand at a variety of genres — from the acoustic country ache of “Breaking Your Own Heart” to the four-on-the-floor dance-floor stomper “What Doesn’t Kill You.”

She handles it all very well, infusing her tales of empowerment after a breakup with her unique combo of vulnerability and sass. Clarkson is best at the pop put-down, though, and she has a doozy in “Einstein,” where she declares, “I may not be Einstein, but I know dumb plus dumb equals you.”

—Glenn Gamboa, Newsday

Toby Keith

Album: “Clancy’s Tavern” (Show Dog-Universal Music)

Grade: B

Strip away the No. 1 hits, the sold-out tours and his unabashedly patriotic point of view, and Toby Keith is just a guy who likes telling stories and putting them to music.

He gets lots of help from friends on his 15th studio album, which includes just one track (“I Won’t Let You Down”) credited solely to him. The lyrics of frequent collaborators Scotty Emerick and Bobby Pinson are heavily featured, and the deluxe edition contains four covers Keith performed with his side band of session musicians called “Incognito Bandito” at New York’s Fillmore in 2010.

The 11 studio tracks hit all the customary themes. There’s an old man who spends “a little more in the store for a tag in the back that says USA,” a fiddle- enhanced melody where the singer demands to hear a “three chord stone-cold country song,” and a tribute to his late grandmother, nicknamed Clancy, who ran the tavern in the album’s title.

There’s nothing fancy here, just simple stories set to acoustic, electric and steel guitars with choruses you’ll memorize after a few listens.

—Rob Merrill, Associated Press

Vince Gill

Album: “Guitar Slinger” (MCA)

Grade: B

The title of Vince Gill’s new album focuses on his instrumental skills. But the music more intently highlights another talent: songwriting. On “Guitar Slinger,” Gill concentrates on lyrics about friends and issues, turning out stories that are sometimes entertaining and often touching.

Some draw on his sense of humor: The title is a roadhouse rocker inspired by Gill’s catastrophic loss of musical equipment in Nashville’s 2010 flood. Others confront tragedy: “Bread and Water” is based on the death of Gill’s older brother, who struggled with daily existence after suffering a severe head injury. “Billy Paul” questions why a close friend took such a deadly turn, and “Buttermilk John” honors the late steel guitarist John Hughey, who worked with Gill for many years.

As usual, Gill’s guitar playing adds color to his songs, and he balances the difficult stories with those of love and faith: “Who Wouldn’t Fall In Love With You” is a beautiful love song to his wife, Amy Grant, and “Threaten Me With Heaven” explores his religious beliefs.

Altogether, “Guitar Slinger” shows Gill utilizing a veteran’s craft to delve into truths essential to who he is.

—Michael McCall, Associated Press

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Album: “The Goat Rodeo Sessions” (CBS Masterworks)

Grade: A

Classically trained bassist Edgar Meyer began exploring links between orchestral and folk-based string music some 25 years ago, and the results have been bountiful: One-time bluegrass musicians such as Mark O’Connor and Bela Fleck now compose symphonic works, while acclaimed classical masters such as Yo-Yo Ma regularly record with string instrumentalists from Nashville and other musical centers.

The beauty and excitement of these experimentations reach an apex with “The Goat Rodeo Sessions,” which features Ma, Meyer, bluegrass fiddler Stuart Duncan and mandolin wizard Chris Thile. The four virtuosos ignore genre restraints to impart on an inspiring journey full of exhilarating string music that ranges from beautiful to mind-spinning.

The strength comes from the compositions, credited to Meyer/Thile/Duncan, with vocalist Aoife O’Donovan, featured on two tunes, adding lyrics. These aren’t neatly arranged, tightly composed quartet pieces gently crossing classical and vernacular styles; instead, they are unpredictable and often untidy musical journeys that are rhythmic, noisy, moody and, yes, at times pretty.

—Michael McCall, Associated Press