Keyshia Cole, 'Calling All Hearts'
All hearts, little life is the problem plaguing Keyshia Cole's stodgy fourth album, one rich in soulful confessionals but without everlasting beats. Single "I Ain't Thru" is so dead on arrival – think of a blander Mary J. Blige – that even magic-making rapper Nicki Minaj, who can elevate just about any collaboration, can't send it into survival mode. "Tired of Doing Me" sounds like Blige leftovers too, a sound Cole wisely resisted on her last studio album, "A Different Me," which went for a sexier, dance-funk-soul amalgam. Without that singularity to distinguish her from her peers, Cole's the kid who'd rather fit in than stand out. Look to "Last Hangover," and there's super producer Timbaland. Look to "Thank You," and there's the stock song for the Lord. Too much of it's forgettable, save for a few golden moments: "Take Me Away," a snappy groove that could've easily fit on her last CD; "If I Fall in Love Again," with vocal match Faith Evans; and "Sometimes," a gentle softie about pushing on that perfectly frames her vulnerable voice. Singing from a real place that never feels filtered isn't her problem. But a body needs more than a heart.
Grade: C
Crystal Bowersox, 'Farmer's Daughter'
Let's not kid ourselves: Image is everything on "American Idol," the sing-off show Crystal Bowersox graduated from last year in second place with a degree in Showing You What's Up. Her talent overruled her constantly ridiculed hippie mom look (no wonder the nickname Mama Sox), something she embraces on her debut, "Farmer's Daughter," which sounds more like the title of an Emmylou Harris record than something "Idol" birthed. But, though she's from Ohio, Bowersox is a Red Dirt Girl through and through, cloaking all these rock 'n' roll ruminations in roots music. She's in her element when she's thrashing her bluesy wail across charged wallops of drums and guitars on "Holy Toledo," a blasted ballad that casts her as Melissa Etheridge in the making. Bowersox is on her way with songs like the feisty "Kiss Ya" and the particularly memorable title track, where she breaks from her abusive mother. But as invested as she is – her name's on 10 of 12 songwriting credits, helping to accentuate her as an artist rather than simply a reality TV spawn – there's a sense that she's being stretched beyond her comfort zone: "Lonely Won't Come Around," easily the most radio-ready of the bunch with its ill-fitting KT Tunstall chirp, is a prime example. Let Mama Sox do her own thing, people.
Grade: B-
Also Out
The Black Eyed Peas, 'The Beginning (Deluxe Edition)'
I gotta feeling, and that feeling is confusion: How could a band that once seemed promising turn into complete sellouts? The Black Eyed Peas' sixth album pounds and thumps through 15 of the longest songs ever, shamelessly clubbing up a "Time of My Life" cover and pitching a corny graduation galvanizer called "Own It." But their all-night carousing cuts as deep as a scrape, and even their greatest asset, Fergie, sits out in the corner. If the world's as lucky as they've been, this is "The Beginning"… of the end.
ABBA, 'Gold: Greatest Hits (Special Edition)'
You're not human (or gay) if you don't know the songs "Dancing Queen," "Mamma Mia" and "Lay All Your Love on Me" – all the classics that one of the most iconic bands recorded throughout their '70s prime. Nineteen of them wind up here, on the Swedes' retrospective – a refined cash-in of their greatest hits compilation first released in 1992. This time, though, with a DVD of music videos (mostly very no-frills, except for a cartoon take on "Money, Money, Money") that will make you feel like a, uh, dancing queen.
