A & E

'Hard Candy'
Madonna (Warner Bros.)

The photos of Madonna in what appears to be S&M wear are inoffensive in comparison to the music on "Hard Candy." Simply, one cannot imagine a major artist -- and no matter how one feels about Madame Ciccone, she's a star of the highest magnitude -- releasing such tepid material. "Hard Candy" feels and sounds like a desperate attempt to remain relevant, with Madonna enlisting the likes of Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Pharrell Williams and Kanye West for support.

That's sort of like enlisting Picasso and Van Gogh to paint a house.

"Give It 2 Me," "Dance 2night" and "Spanish Lesson" are cliched, tepid, repetitive songs. There's nothing here that comes close to "Ray of Light," Madonna's best work, and little that even approaches the mediocrity of "Vogue." The music is so overwrought, so contrived, that Miley Cyrus seems like an innovator in comparison.

What's most apparent is that Madonna, at 49, has become what she must fear most: Irrelevant, boring and disposable.

-- Regis Behe

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'Wonder in the World'
Kelli O'Hara (Ghost Light)

Kelli O'Hara manages to combine country, jazz and pop sounds without making a total mess of matters. She does that with a great soprano voice and an equally good sense of song. Nor does it hurt that she has the help of Harry Connick Jr, who does the arrangements on "Wonder in the World" as well as writing two numbers and joining her for a duet on the title song. He also plays piano on the album, offering particularly good background on O'Hara's own "Here Now." The album is a wonderful blend of material including "I Have Dreamed" by Richard Rodgers, Billy Joel's wonderful "And So It Goes," James Taylor's "Fire and Rain" and even Betty Comden's well worn "Make Someone Happy." It also includes pop hits such as "Spooky" and "And I Love You So." The songs tend to have a country feel because of O'Hara's overall style, but that doesn't steer them totally away from the jazz feeling hinted at by Connick's work. But O'Hara does fine when she stays away from the country, as she does on "I Have Dreamed."

-- Bob Karlovits

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'Awake'
Miguel Zenon (Marsalis Music)

'Shayari'
Ron Blake (Mack Avenue)

Miguel Zenon and Ron Blake continue to establish themselves as developing saxophone stars on their current albums. Blake's "Shayari" presents an odd range of music, from the oddly rhythmic "Hanuman" to the gently grooving "76." Most of the tunes are original, but the album also includes a pretty version of Ivan Lins' "The Island." Blake and his athletic tone are joined by pianist Michael Cain, drummer Jack DeJohnette, bassist Christian McBride, percussionist Gilmar Gomes and violinist Regina Carter on one cut. Alto sax player Zenon is equally inventive, but in different ways. He plays generally in a quartet, but on two tracks has a string quartet that acts as almost another instrumental voice rather than a support group. On the jarring "Awakening - Interlude," he also is joined by a three-piece horn section. The "Prelude" and "Postlude" sections of "Awakening" are much easier to take and a better showing of his talent. Most pieces, however, are like the pretty "Lamamilla" and "Camaron." His playing is quick and precise with a crispness that sounds like a bebopper moved into the 21st century. Both are players to follow.

-- Bob Karlovits

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'Mudcrutch'
Mudcrutch (Reprise)

Three decades later, Tom Petty is paying his buddies back. Before Petty made his name with the Heartbreakers, the straw-haired rocker played bass in Mudcrutch, a Gainesville, Fla., fivesome that released one single before splitting in 1975. Since the reconvened band includes two Heartbreakers in guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboard player Benmont Tench, plus lead guitarist Tom Leadon and drummer Randall Marsh, it's no surprise that "Mudcrutch" is hardly a departure from the easygoing, instantly grabby fare Petty's been placing on rock-radio playlists for eons. Thanks to Leadon (brother of Bernie, formerly of the Eagles), the album stretches out further into Allman Bros.-esque guitar jamming on the nine-minute-plus "Crystal River" than Petty fans may be accustomed to. And country-rock cuts such as "Orphan of the Storm" and "Topanga Cowgirl" steer toward Sweetheart of the Rodeo-era Byrds influence. But mainly, Mudcrutch sounds like just another Tom Petty album packed with memorable songs, and a particularly good one at that.

-- The Philadelphia Inquirer

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'Nine Lives'
Steve Winwood (Columbia)

Five years after his acclaimed indie release "About Time," Steve Winwood has returned to the majors with "Nine Lives," but fear not: He's made minimal concessions to the pop commercialism that wilted much of his mid-'90s output. "Nine Lives" is a muscular, genre-jumping collection that has the understatedly talented Winwood exploring everything from Latin rhythms ("Secrets") to acoustic blues ("I'm Not Drowning") -- and even offering a nod to his past with the Traffic-y flute-and-organ jam "At Times We Do Forget." Winwood's bandmates -- particularly saxophone player-flutist Paul Booth and percussionist Karl Vanden Bossche -- are given plenty of sonic wiggle room, enhancing the expansive arrangements that give songs like "Dirty City" (featuring Eric Clapton) and "Raging Sea" a loose, but structured, vibe. Winwood lays down plenty of funky guitar and Hammond organ licks throughout, but his greatest instrument remains the soulful, soaring vocals that first brought him fame as a teenager more than 40 years ago.

-- The Philadelphia Inquirer

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'Through These Walls'
Hilary McRae (Hear)

She's only 21, so Hilary McRae wasn't around in the '70s. But that's the decade the piano-playing singer and songwriter evokes on her exceptionally accomplished debut. Buoyantly catchy in many spots, "Through These Walls" could easily qualify as pop. The music, however, is grounded in warm, uptown R&B -- heavy on the horns. The sophistication of the arrangements matches that of McRae's schmaltz-free songs -- tough or tender, she dwells on matters of the heart in ways that expose raw feeling without resorting to histrionics or melodrama. Add her decidedly dusky alto, and you have a young artist who sounds wise and battle-scarred beyond her years, while also coming across as a vibrant new voice.

-- The Philadelphia Inquirer

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