RECORD REVIEWS

CARRIE UNDERWOOD

Album: “Storyteller”

Grade: B+

Carrie Underwood has always had a great voice, certainly one of the most potent in country music so far this century. And when she wraps that voice around a great song, as she often does on her fifth studio album, “Storyteller,” she is basically unstoppable.

The gorgeous “Like I’ll Never Love You Again,” well-crafted by songwriters Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna and Liz Rose, is set to be a country classic, one of those timeless ballads that is both stunningly new and instantly familiar. On “What I Never Knew I Always Wanted,” which Underwood co-wrote with Lindsey and Brett James, she crafts a pretty little thank-you to her hockey-player husband, Mike Fisher, and their infant son, Isaiah, for changing her life.

However, as the title suggests, “Storyteller” is about Underwood telling tales. And she doesn’t always pick believable ones.

Yes, her single “Smoke Break” works, as Underwood rocks out a bit while championing some of the ways the working class lets off a little steam. But man, “Renegade Runaway” is bad, as she talks of “a sure shot, knock the ash off a smoking cigarette.” And “Mexico” is worse, as she worries, “If they get the cuffs on us, it’s 25-to-life,” before telling her partner in crime to “look for the golden sombrero.”

—Glenn Gamboa, Newsday

5 Seconds of Summer

Album: “Sounds Good Feels Good”

Grade: B-

The hair gel divided by raw energy that is Australian power-pop rockers 5 Seconds of Summer are out with their second studio album, “Sounds Good Feels Good.” The album sounds OK and feels exactly like what you’d expect from a band with the sole mission of delivering palatable rock songs to a global audience of teenage girls.

5SOS is not in a position to gamble away their fame by veering too far off course here. The result is 17 tracks that push no musical boundaries and explore no topics so salacious as to deter fans of this generation’s Blink-182.

“Permanent Vacation” speaks to the underachiever in us all, asking us to take ownership of it and treat ourselves to a grand old time out from the pressures of life that weigh in too heavy. It’s an admirable artistic aim, but the track sounds like every song Green Day might have left on the cutting room floor because it was too soft around the edges.

That’s where these four Aussie heartthrobs come in. Soft is their specialty.

—Ron Harris, Associated Press

The Dead Weather

Grade: “Dodge and Burn”

Grade: B

It’s easy to identify ’70s antecedents with the Dead Weather, and we’re not talking about the Grateful Dead or Weather Report. “Dodge and Burn” is full of Led Zeppelin guitar work by Dean Fertita, but the riff references also range from Television (“Buzzkill(er)”) to ELP (”Lose the Right”).

And on its third album, the supergroup reaches back even farther for inspiration. Alison Mosshart’s vocals marinate in more reverb than early Elvis, and Jack White’s murder tale “Three Dollar Hat” sounds like an 80-year-old track from Harry Smith’s folk anthology, minus the gramophone crackle.

In this case, retro rocks. White produced, and his typically sparse arrangements give each note that much more punch, while his drumming provides plenty of propulsion.

Mosshart sings about negative feedback, grinding her teeth and going back to bed. She dials down her delivery with lovely singing on the closing ballad “Impossible Winner,” a testament to staying power. It’s potential sports arena fodder, an odd prospect for a band that does best when it has the blues.

—Steven Wine, Associated Press