Mariah Carey, 'Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel'
Mariah Carey's feeling emotions, so on her 12th album – imperfect, and too one-dimensional to be a "memoir" – her life is one big romantic-comedy cliche: Love sucks, then love gets good again. Carey coos, whispers and pillow-talk purrs her way through relationship travails, the blues, bitterness and bitchiness of it all – occasionally stamping them with the signature belting and whistle notes that made her Mother of Melisma to so many wannabes. But don't let the "Vision of Love" curls that Carey's been sporting on this album's promo tour fool you: This isn't exactly Saintess M.C.; that one would never call someone an "f-ing jerk" (the vindictive prologue "Betcha Gon' Know") or talk about hitting her soprano … for reasons other than singing ("More than Just Friends," one of a few insipid slow-jams). This is metaphor-zealot Mimi, who's as playful as ever, writing the corniest quotables of her two-decade career: one about Legos, another about Windex. Rebuilding and cleaning up could've benefited The-Dream and Tricky Stewart's same-y, sometimes-superfluous production, but at least it makes for one of Carey's more fluid projects. And there's also a refreshing old-school sound to "Memoirs," especially during the album's closing ballad trifecta that includes a classic-like Carey heartbreaker, "Angels Cry," and a choir-catapulted remake of "I Want to Know What Love Is." A sweet, sweet fantasy … come true.
Grade: B-
Madonna, 'Celebration'
On disco-dance single "Celebration," a hollow throwback to her "Confessions on a Dance Floor" days, Madonna whoops: "Let's get it started, because everybody wants to party with you." And she's right – for almost three decades we've been looking to her to get us into the groove with her pop genius. Over a sprawling 36-song retrospective set – remastered, and including two new songs (the other being the decent synth-pop "Revolver" with Lil Wayne) – Madonna's chameleon-like evolution, from sweet tart to sex kitten to sociopolitical figure, is almost, if not for the poor sequencing, captured through a comprehensively orgasmic look back over her 27-year career. The heyday hits are here, many recycled from her first best-of package "The Immaculate Collection" – including gay faves like "Vogue" and "Like a Prayer," the album version (yay!) – and spread, sorry to say, non-chronologically over two discs. But they sound remarkable. Editing gaffes butcher a few tracks, the cut-up "Express Yourself" being the biggest eff up, but what's more upsetting are the missing songs gaga fans are still celebrating: "True Blue," the video to which made the sold-separately DVD, "Evita" cuts, "Human Nature," even "This Used to be My Playground." Instead, we get "Hollywood"? That's nuts, but that doesn't mean there's not a lot to celebrate here. So, party on.
Grade: B
Also Out
Jeffree Star, 'Beauty Killer'
With a filthy mouth and boastful swagger, this gender-bending boi's a kitschy Internet-spawned sensation who promises that there "ain't no bitch who can do it like me." He's probably right. On his glam-punk debut, he makes cheeky pop-culture pokes and uses his "celebrity" stature to come out on top, so to speak. The edgy LP starts strong with the killer "Get Away with Murder," but this sex-craved queen can't quite keep it up through the finish.
Rufus Wainwright, 'Milwaukee at Last!!!'
Hearing Rufus croon just isn't enough. He's meant to be seen in all his funny and fabulous flamboyancy – and in those uber-gay get-ups he likes to show off. His second live album quenches both senses with a DVD and CD that center around his most recent studio LP, "Release the Stars." Lots of behind-the-scenes access with his boyfriend and the must-see "Get Happy," featuring Rufus as Judy Garland, totally justify the three exclamation points.
Miranda Lambert, 'Revolution'
First fire, then a pistol. But country music's hell-raiser evokes feeling this time – on her near-perfect third album – with more than a weapon: Her heart, which finds her wryly and woefully musing on grown-up love, childhood memories and grace. She offers chin-up encouragement ("Virginia Bluebell," one of her most brilliant recordings) and justifies her drinking habit because Jesus drank wine ("Heart Like Mine"). "Revolution" is an evolution – and her best album yet.
