RECORD REVIEWS

Imagine Dragons

Album: “Smoke + Mirrors”

Grade: C+

Imagine Dragons’ second studio album, “Smoke + Mirrors,” is certainly one of the more technically ambitious releases of this young year. It’s a boisterous but hit-and-miss effort from the alt-rock band still swooning in international acclaim from its 2012 debut, “Night Visions,” which launched the Grammy-winning hit “Radioactive.”

There’s a lot of everything here. Too much at times, as it can feel like instrumental overload. Songs like “Gold” are so busy trying to fill every crevice with studio sound that it’s hard to find the artistry. “Smoke + Mirrors” is power pop fueled by a blend of discernable instruments and other studio-only effects that can come off too contrived.

Imagine Dragons remain soft enough for radio hits, but restless enough to experiment. All of the band’s musical options are open, but “Smoke + Mirrors” would have benefited from a more focused vision.

—Ron Harris, Associated Press

STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES

Album: “Terraplane”

Grade: A

Earle’s suitably raspy, world-weathered voice is deftly employed on everything from swaggering Chicago blues to finger-picked Mississippi Delta stylings on “Terraplane.” The 11 original songs on the album are loaded with familiar tropes. “The day I was born the moon crossed the sun,” he sings in “King of the Blues” — “Mama cried, ’Sweet Jesus, what have I done?’ ” But the well-worn idioms make light of personal woes as well as wallow in them, and Earle sings his blues with a refreshingly light touch and a lack of self-seriousness, while also delivering laments like “Better Off Alone” and “Ain’t Nobody’s Daddy Now” that deliver emotional punch.

—Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer