New on CD 6/13

'St. Anger'Instead of "St. Anger," "St. Jude" would be a more appropriate title for Metallica's latest disc -- but even the patron saint of lost causes couldn't help this album.

Like the title implies, "St. Anger" is Metallica's heaviest, most aggressive, angriest album yet. But apparently their anger overwhelmed their hearing; the sound quality on this disc is simply atrocious. Lars Ulrich has managed to capture perhaps the worst drum sound in the history of recorded music. His drumming sounds like a sugared-up 3-year-old banging on kitchen pots and pans with a wooden spoon. The guitars are a muted, monotonal mush, and -- hello? -- there's not a single guitar solo in all 11 tracks. Talk about an easy payday for guitarist Kirk Hammett.

The songs themselves are forgettable, and laden with profanity, but none stands out or provides even a modicum of a catchy hook. No band has done more to influence and advance heavy metal over the past two decades than Metallica, but this album truly sounds like the 14-year-olds in the garage down the street trying to sound like Metallica.

A few years ago, Metallica was the most vocal opponent of online file sharing through Napster. Another album like this and they'll have nothing to worry about; no one will want this stuff, even for free.

'Hail to the Thief'Radiohead's sixth album, "Hail to the Thief," further proves that the British quintet has set out to break down rock 'n' roll and deconstruct the music into tiny bits of melody and rhythm.

Like the album's cover -- a puzzle of buzz words that form a whirlwind of ideas -- the mix of electronica and instrumental rock on the album forms into an ever-changing stream of consciousness that's easy to listen to but hard to follow.

Opening to the feedback of guitars plugging into an amp and a drum loop, the first track "2+25" features singer Thom Yorke lamenting the clear cut logic of life in a dreamlike minor key melody. Other tracks such as "Sail to the Moon," "Backdrifts," and "Where I End and You Begin" have the same sound.

The second half of the album breaks from the dream into satire and absurdity. "A Punchup at a Wedding" details a drunken fight after a wedding. And "Myxomatosis," named after a virus used to control rabbit populations, has Yorke moaning that he has the disease over a fuzzy bass line.

Yorke, who writes the lyrics to all of Radiohead's songs, has said the ideas for "Hail to the Thief" came from long drives at dusk, and the logic of the album seems to follow one of those drives.

Because if there's a meaning to "Hail to the Chief," it's deep between the lines. And the only way to find it might be just to listen, and go where the music takes you.

'Everything Must Go' First track to last, "Everything Must Go" is classic Steely Dan: arch lyrics, exquisite musicianship, and a seamless sound.

Sure, you expect that from Walter Becker and Donald Fagen (and their ever-changing corps of sidemen and backup singers). But what you don't expect is that they'd be back just a couple years after "Two Against Nature" -- their first studio release in 20 years, which won a long-overdue "Album of the Year" Grammy. (Maybe they were inspired by their also-overdue induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after a campaign chronicled in hysterical detail at www.steelydan.com).

Yet here they are. Three tracks in particular stand out. "The Last Mall," which kicks off the disk, is a hip and jazzy nod to the Apocalypse. "Blues Beach" is notable for its infectious keyboard line and Fagen's lovable loser lyrics. And the title track, the last of nine, is a bluesy breakup ballad cast as a going-out-of-business sale. It includes this wry rhyme: "Let's admit the bastards beat us/I move to dissolve the corporation in a pool of margaritas."

'Bare' The third solo release from the former Eurythmics front-woman should satisfy her longtime fans. But "Bare" really isn't potent enough to draw in new listeners.

It's beautifully produced -- almost too beautifully. While the full orchestra gives many tracks an atmospheric, lush sound, it sounds a bit too clean, too controlled. Lennox has a powerful voice and it would be thrilling to hear her truly let it loose.

"A Thousand Beautiful Things," "Wonderful" and "Pavement Cracks," the release's first single, are worth a listen. But, overall, "Bare" isn't much more than dinner party background music.

'Alive In Seattle' This Heart has still got the beat. Twenty-eight years after sister act Ann and Nancy Wilson exploded out of the Canadian northwest with a blend of tender harmonies and bone-crunching rock riffs, Heart proves they still have a lot to contribute to contemporary music. This two-disc set recorded last summer at the Paramount Theater in Seattle offers steaming new live versions of most of their greatest hits, including "Magic Man," "Barracuda," and "Crazy On You." It also includes killer covers of two Led Zeppelin classics -- "The Battle Of Evermore" and "Black Dog," that the band has done live for years but never recorded + and Elton John's "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters."

No female singer in the history of rock (and darn few males, either) has had a stronger, clearer or more soaring voice than Ann Wilson, and "Alive In Seattle" captures it perfectly. Nancy's more delicate vocals and artistry on acoustic and electric guitar blend with that voice to give this band a distinctive sound many have tried to match, with little success.

But the best part of this album is new songs like "Sister Wild Rose" and "Break The Rock," which owes more than a little to AC/DC's "Highway To Hell."

-- Wayne Parry, AP Writer

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"Ultimate Dolly Parton (BMG Heritage, $18.98) -- Dolly Parton

Every few years a new Dolly Parton compilation is cranked out, and most of them are lacking in some way.

Such is the case for the misnamed "Ultimate Dolly Parton." The 20-song album has just three songs that weren't on either "The Essential Dolly Parton" (1995) or "The Essential Dolly Parton Volume 2" (1997).

The first one, "Please Don't Stop Loving Me," is best enjoyed along with her other great duets with Porter Wagoner on their 1996 retrospective, "The Essential Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton." The other two "new" additions are "To Know Him is to Love Him" by the trio supergroup with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, and Dolly's 1989 feel-good rocker "Why'd You Come in Here Lookin' Like That." But there isn't enough recent material here to get excited about. And there's nothing from her well-regarded 1999 album "The Grass is Blue."

If you're looking for a Dolly starter kit, the standard remains "The Essential Dolly Parton Volume 2," which focuses on her early work. Not only does that release contain searing classics like "Jolene" and "The Bargain Store," it has "Mule Skinner Blues" and "My Tennessee Mountain Home," which somehow weren't included on "Ultimate."

However, if you want the old goodies and still can't get enough of Parton's crossover hits from the late 1970s and early '80s ("Here You Come Again," "9 to 5" and the inevitable "Islands in the Stream"), this album will fill the hole in your CD collection. But just barely.

-- Landon Hall, AP Writer

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"Church: Songs of Soul and Inspiration" (Universal, $18.98) -- Various Artists

On "Church: Songs of Soul and Inspiration" some of the top divas of our time, including Dionne Warwick, Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle, turn their affections heavenward and give some classic soul tunes a gospel revival.

The lyrics are familiar, but the meanings are fresh. Stephanie Mills' sings the essence of "love thy neighbor as thyself" into her thoughtful version of "Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand" and Ann Nesby's voice is anointed with a longing that is simply angelic on Leon Russell's "Song for You."

Shirley Caesar offers a frame of reference for classic gospel style with the standard hymn "His Eye is on the Sparrow" and Denyce Graves' dynamic range is showcased on an updated version of the classic "Ave Maria."

If you want to know where these singer's inspiration comes from, pop the second CD of this two-disc set into your computer. In videotaped interviews, each artist recounts how gospel music affected their lives, and how the sacred essence of "Church," as Maya Angelou defines it in her intro, permeates their beings.

-- Aimee Maude Sims, AP Writer