record reviews

Lyle Lovett

Album: “Release Me” (Curb/Universal)

Grade: C

On “Release Me,” Lyle Lovett makes like the Brown Eyed Handsome Man and touches all the bases. There’s gospel-tinged R&B (“Isn’t That So”), jump blues (“Keep It Clean”), a murder ballad (“Dress of Laces”), a classic duet (“Baby, It’s Cold Outside”), a Christmas novelty number (“The Girl With the Holiday Smile”) and a Chuck Berry cover (the aforementioned “Brown Eyed Handsome Man”). All are very good.

There’s also an instrumental hoedown (“Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom”), a weepy country duet (“Release Me”), a trucking song (“White Freightliner Blues”), bedtime music (“Night’s Lullaby”) and a closing church hymn (“Keep Us Steadfast”). Those tunes are fair.

This is Lovett’s final album for Curb/Universal, his label since he started making records, which may explain why he seems to be coasting a bit. That was also the case in a recent live performance, when he spent more time talking than singing. But there’s no doubting Lovett remains a man of many muses.

— Steven Wine, Associated Press

Estelle

Album: “All of Me” (Home-School/Atlantic Records)

Grade: B

British singer Estelle prefers to take her time. It took her four years to produce her 2008 album, “Shine,” which included her breakthrough Grammy-winning single, “American Boy,” featuring Kanye West.

Now, after nearly another four years, Estelle releases her latest album, “All of Me” — and once again, it’s well worth the wait.

Estelle sings with her Brit- accented delivery mixed with uptempo dancehall tracks and heartfelt ballads that touch the soul. She bounces back-and-forth from rapping and singing on “Speak Ya Mind” and “The Life,” informing listeners that she hasn’t missed a step since her last album a few years ago.

The track names might indicate that “All of Me” is all about the somber state of breakups. But that is not the case with Estelle, who focuses on the positive aspects of departing from her mate. On the Akon-written “Thank You,” Estelle shows gratitude toward her cheating mate for their inevitable split. She pours her heart out on the chorus: “These tears I cry sure won’t be the last/They will not be the last ... no/This pain inside which never seems to pass/It never seems to pass me by/So I thank you/Said I thank you/Yes I thank you/For making me a woman.”

In total, Estelle’s album is a solid piece of work, and she proves that her “all” is more than enough.

— Jonathan Landrum Jr., AP

MITCH RYDER

Album: “The Promise” (Michigan Broadcasting Co.)

Grade: B

Nearly 30 years after his last album released in America (1983’s underrated “Never Kick a Sleeping Dog”), Mitch Ryder seems to have mellowed a bit, at least musically. “The Promise,” however, is still in the gritty, R&B-infused style of Ryder’s ’60s hits such as “Devil With a Blue Dress” that helped define Detroit rock ’n’ roll.

Produced by fellow Detroiter Don Was, the album has only one real vintage rave-up in “Get Real,” but it comes close with the rocking soul of “Junkie Love” and the punchy defiance of “My Heart Belongs to Me.” Mostly, however, the 66-year-old Ryder uses slower tempos, which are better suited to songs that sound more personal and revealing, such as the gospel-inflected “One Hair” and the anguished “Everybody Loses.”

“The Way We Were” shows that rap, or quasi-rap, is not Ryder’s forte. He’s a singer, still gloriously raw-voiced and powerful. Nothing underscores that more than his magnificent live version of the Jimmy Ruffin Motown classic, “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?”

— Nick Cristiano, Philadelphia Inquirer

CHAIRLIFT

Album: “Something” (Kanine/Sony)

Grade: B

Brooklyn has a handy klatsch of art-pop personalities — MGMT, Yeasayer, Chairlift — keen on mixing goofy lyricism with gaudy instrumentation. Yet only the last of those listed started with a contemplative synth-rock sound, whimsically weird songs (such as “Bruises,” best known from commercials for Apple’s iPod Nano), and a relationship between its founders, Caroline Polachek and Aaron Pfenning.

On its sophomore effort, “Something,” most of Chairlift’s whimsy has disappeared (though “Amaneamonesia” is pretty dippy), its retro-future-forward compositions are less reserved and more contagious (“Ghost Tonight” is a New Wave smash that never happened), and the happy couple at Chairlift’s center have busted up.

Pfenning is out of the band, and Polachek is out of patience. “All of the bones of your body are in way too few pieces for me,” snarls Polachek in classic woman-spurned mold during “Sidewalk Safari.” Polachek may be angrily disgusted, but she’s never vocalized it with more vehemence, in a cool, loud coo that could shatter glass on the likes of “Met Before.” And although it’s uncertain to whom romantic good cheer is directed on the airily anthemic “I Belong in Your Arms,” it’s clear that Polachek as vocalist is the heart at the center of Chairlift’s heartiest tunes.

— A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer

SHEARWATER

Album: “Animal Joy” (Sub Pop)

Grade: C

The band Shearwater is out with “Animal Joy,” its seventh album. Songwriter/ornithologist Jonathan Meiburg has toned down the bird references. But even more noteworthy is his sudden interest in guitar rock, perhaps to impress his new label. The timing’s just right. His ex-colleagues in Okkervil River are getting kind of creaky. But he’s still no match for the faux-Britprog of bands such as Sunny Day Real Estate. Even with the concise melody of “Animal Life” or drummer Thor Harris’ impressive dance-punk moves on “Pushing the River,” Meiburg is allergic to choruses — and shouldn’t his dramatic aspirations reach beyond merely singing like Antony? Meanwhile, there’s a token post-punk quickie tune that insists on the title “Immaculate.” It sounds like the Decemberists.

— Dan Weiss, Philadelphia Inquirer