record reviews

TONY BENNETT

Album: “Viva Duets”

Grade: B+

Tony Bennett, on a never- ending quest to improve his voice and delivery, is always searching for new inspiration. The 86-year-old legend finds it for his new “Viva Duets” (Columbia) album by teaming up with Latin music’s biggest stars, including Shakira, Thalia and Marc Anthony. The new duet partners often draw something new out of Bennett, especially in the playful, bilingual back-and-forth with Thalia on “The Way You Look Tonight” and the jazzy virtuosity he shares with Christina Aguilera on “Steppin’ Out With My Baby.” The crowning achievements, though, come with the drama of faceoffs with Romeo Santos (on “Rags to Riches”) and Gloria Estefan (on “Who Can I Turn To?”).

— Glenn Gamboa, Newsday

TAYLOR SWIFT

Album: “Red” (Big Mahcine)

Grade: A

Taylor Swift’s fourth album, “Red,” plays like a meticulous musical scrapbook of her eclectic adventures. She comes across as some sort of Lady Bono on the U2-inspired anthem “State of Grace” There’s a dubstep-inspired drop in the bouncy “I Knew You Were Trouble.” And by now we’re all familiar with the Max Martin-produced pop chant-along “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” so willful that you can practically hear Swift rolling her eyes as she talks about the breakup.

Though she’s traveled so far from her country roots, even teaming up with Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody on “The Last Time” and British up-and-comer Ed Sheeran on “Everything Has Changed,” when Swift returns to familiar ground it’s actually a thrill. The banjo makes the charming “Stay Stay Stay” even sweeter. The alt-country ache of “All Too Well,” which seems to conjure up details from her breakup with Jake Gyllenhaal filtered through Patty Griffin wisdom, is the album’s high point — both in drama and execution, with Swift’s vocals and her lyrics at their sharpest.

Her mastery of a broader range of musical tools and styles on “Red” only solidify her position as music’s unassuming girl-queen.

— Glenn Gamboa, Newsday

Various artists

Album: “The Man With the Iron Fists” soundtrack (Soul Temple Records/STAX/RED Distribution)

Grade: A

One can’t blame RZA for assembling an A-list roster for the soundtrack of his directorial debut, “The Man With the Iron Fists.” Kanye West, The Black Keys, Pusha T, Corinne Bailey Rae and his Wu-Tang Clan bandmates Ghostface Killah and Method Man guest star on this 15-track gem, with some of the songs re-orchestrated picks from Wu-Tang’s back catalog. With more than a decade of producing soundtracks under his (black) belt, RZA uses a deft hand to create a homogenous yet distinctive sound for a cross-cultural martial arts period film that sees him acting opposite Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu.

There’s tension within the songs, there is emotion and nuance in sound, a bit like a full-scale assault on one’s imagination. Call it a friendly takeover. Songs such as “Rivers of Blood,” “Built for This” and “Tick, Tock” walk a fine line between atmospheric Western tunes and steam punk hip-hop. RZA and Flatbush Zombies’ “Just Blowin’ in the Wind” is disturbing in the way its deconstructed sound hisses threateningly, but the eerie-sound song is still a winner. “White Dress” finds West rapping with auto-tune about a damsel closely resembling his own girlfriend, and it’s the album’s only misstep.

RZA’s works have always had a distinctive cinematic quality, but this record digs for iron and comes up with gold. It’s kinetic, mesmeric and chimeric.

— Cristina Jaleru, Associated Press