RECORD REVIEWS

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Album: “Songs For Slim: Rockin’ Here Tonight” (New West)

Grade: A

“Songs for Slim” is a benefit compilation for Bob “Slim” Dunlap, lead guitarist of the Replacements in the post-Bob Stinson years. In February 2012, he suffered a stroke and is partially paralyzed. Starting in January, a monthly series of benefit singles of covers of his songs (mainly from his two solo albums) were sold by auction to raise money for the full-time care he needs, and this set compiles 18 of those cuts plus a bonus CD of 10 additional tracks.

It features an A-list of Dunlap’s peers, including the Replacements themselves, former Replacement Chris Mars, Tommy Keene, Soul Asylum, and X’s John Doe. It also includes alt-country greats such as Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams (one of the few women on the set), Drive By Truckers’ Patterson Hood, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and Lucero. Dunlap wrote great songs, too: Almost everything is straight-up rock ’n’ roll, with roots in the Stones, Bo Diddley and the Replacements. This collection would be worthy even if it weren’t for a worthwhile cause.

—Steve Klinge, Philadelphia Inquirer

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Album: “’Inside Llewyn Davis’: Original Soundtrack Recording” (Nonesuch)

Grade: C

Should he want it, a career in folk singing awaits Oscar Isaac, the actor who brings soulful depth to the sad-sack jerk title character of “Inside Llewyn Davis,” the Coen brothers’ riff on the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 1960s. As in the movie, Isaac more than holds his own with professional singing types like Justin Timberlake, who plays a blandly likable folkie, and Broadway actor Stark Sands. Isaac brings conviction to trad tunes performed solo or accompanied by Marcus Mumford or the Punch Brothers. When he’s not on the mike, the soundtrack is a mishmash, with the too-cute novelty tune “Please Mr. Kennedy” not worthy of repeat listenings, and the odd cut by Bob Dylan and Dave Van Ronk, on whom Davis is partially based, adding to the jumble.

—Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer

WE THE KINGS

Album: “Somewhere, Somehow”

Grade: B+

Despite Travis Clark’s sweet-sounding vocals, We The Kings has always been a scrappy band. So when the Florida band decided to fund their fourth album through an Indiegogo campaign with the help of their fans, it was no surprise they got the job done. What is surprising is how much they improved after going it alone.

“Somewhere, Somehow” (Ozone/ We The Kings) is the band’s best album yet, filled with strong pop hooks and pristine production. “We could rule the world, own everything,” Clark sings on “Queen of Hearts,” one of three strong songs he co-wrote with Steve Shebby.

While many of their Warped Tour contemporaries, like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco, have opted to try out other genres, We The Kings have decided to continue to hone their sound, making everything catchier and harder-hitting.

“That Feeling,” another Clark-Shebby collaboration, pushes hard on the galloping, thumping verse and bridge, before leaning back for the sweet chorus. It’s that extra layer of artistry that makes “Somewhere, Somehow” sound so much more impressive than its predecessors.

—Glenn Gamboa, Newsday

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Album: “The Wolf of Wall Street Soundtrack”

Grade: B

Unlike the soundtrack from Leonardo DiCaprio’s other big movie of 2013 “The Great Gatsby,” the soundtrack to “The Wolf of Wall Street” (Virgin) draws mainly from previously released music. The only new songs are a grand cover of “Goldfinger” from Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, who appear in the movie as a wedding band, and a stomping rocker from 7Horse called “Meth Lab Zoso Sticker” that blends Black Keys rootsiness with indie-rock distortion. The soundtrack’s strange mix of styles is actually charming — from Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out” to Eartha Kitt’s “C’est Si Bon,” with excursions to Romeo Void’s punk and Malcolm McLaren’s island-tinged “Double Dutch.”

—Glenn Gamboa, Newsday