New on CD

'C'mon C'mon'

Thank goodness for the skip button.

It'll get a workout when listening to Sheryl Crow's latest release, "C'mon C'mon." About half of the tunes are worth hearing; the rest should have been left on the cutting-room floor.

Musically, "C'mon C'mon" has no cohesiveness. Numerous guest stars don't help the album gel.

Lyrically, Crow doesn't score points for originality with lines such as "life is what happens when you're making plans" -- a line recorded by John Lennon more than 20 years ago.

Equally insipid is this painful couplet: "I'm just like the weather/I keep changing my mind."

The album opens promisingly enough with "Steve McQueen," a tightly knit three-minute rocker. And the next song, "Soak up the Sun," is a catchy Beatlesque ditty that benefits from backing vocals courtesy of Liz Phair.

But the Don Henley duet on "It's So Easy" sounds like it was cut at a karaoke bar by pop-star wannabes.

Speaking of karaoke, why is Gwyneth Paltrow singing on "It's Only Love"? Thankfully, her vocals are so low in the mix it could be Miss Piggy singing and no one would be the wiser.

The best song on the album is its last. On "Weather Channel," Crow turns down the volume and finds an easygoing vibe with the help of Emmylou Harris.

But Crow's uneven effort leaves the listener in awe one minute and screaming "C'mon!" in frustration the next.

'Heart to Yours'

R&B artists usually don't venture into gospel music at the height of their careers; generally, it's a step taken when their secular careers are losing steam.

Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child bucks the trend with her debut solo project, the gospel album "Heart to Yours." But it seems Williams is not ready to fully shed her secular influences.

Dance beats abound on this album, making it sound more like a Destiny's Child remix record than a religious disc. "Heard a Word" would be unrecognizable as a gospel record if it weren't for the occasional utterance of the word "Lord." In addition, the song "Rock With Me," with its wailing electric guitar, is a little much here.

The disc even features Destiny's Child doing the same "Gospel Medley" that's on their own "Survivor" disc, an odd choice because it serves as a vocal showcase for lead singer Beyonce Knowles, not Williams.

The song selection only underscores the album's main problem -- Williams is no Knowles. She cannot deliver vocally -- her voice is too nasally and often sounds whiny.

It's no surprise that the better songs are "So Glad" with Mary Mary and "Steal Away to Jesus" with Shirley Caesar. These artists overpower Williams, and make you realize what real gospel singers -- and music -- should sound like.

'Hammered'

Motorhead's new album, "Hammered," is a metal primer for budding rock bands. It provides a "how-to" on metal-music basics -- and some good lyrics.

This band has been around since 1975, so these guys are more grizzled than a biker-bar regular -- which is exactly their appeal.

"Brave New World" is a layman's take on the state of the world corrupted by power and greed. It has the fast pace and guitar growl of the band's better-known songs such as "Ace of Spades" and "Eat the Rich."

"Down the Line" is a good tune about getting out of a stagnant relationship. It's the closest thing to a love ballad that lead singer/headbanger Lemmy Kilmister can muster.

Kilmister will always be the force behind Motorhead. His vocals are still limited to strained yelps, but there's musical sincerity when he belts out lines such as: "And religion, like the monster that it is/Keeps telling you to turn the other cheek/God is on your side, but I don't think that you're on his/If Jesus showed up now he'd be in jail by next week."

'Nuevo'

What would you get if you combined an experimental avant-garde string quartet with over 100 years of Mexican musical heritage? Well, the result might resemble the kaleidoscopic musical adventure that is "Nuevo," the latest release from the San Francisco-based Kronos Quartet.

Violinist and founder David Harrington first envisioned Kronos almost 30 years ago as a new type of string quartet; one that would bend the paradigm of the form. "Nuevo" is certainly faithful to Harrington's original inspiration.

By overdubbing, and using tape loops, street noise, "found sounds" and unusual instruments such as the Mexican organillo, Kronos weaves a complex, impressionistic aural tapestry of Mexican musical life.

The tunes on "Nuevo" are from widely disparate sources in Mexican musical culture. There are interpretations of orchestral arrangements of popular songs such as Severiano Briseno's "El Sinaloense," wherein the quartet masterfully mimics the bright timbre of a Mexican brass section.

One of the most poignant stops along this musical journey is the inclusion of the Alberto Dominguez composition "Perfidy," performed by street musician Carlos Garcia blowing on the edge of an ivy leaf, backed by lush Kronos overdubs.

Kronos is able to guide us through an exploration of the soul of 20th-century Mexican music that is both earthy and ethereal. It is as deep and wonderfully mosaic as Mexican life itself.

'Next'

Is there anything funkier than the Hammond B-3 organ in the hands of a master? Soulive's Neal Evans is up there in the pantheon of B-3 players such as Jimmy Smith and Brother Jack McDuff. His playing forms the backbone for the bright, crisp jazz-funk found on Soulive's latest release, "Next."

With bandmates Eric Krasno on guitar, Alan Evans (Neal's brother) on drums and Sam Kininger on alto saxophone, Soulive rips through 13 new compositions on this new CD.

The first three tunes, "Tuesday Night's Squad," "Flurries" and "Liquid," are all up-tempo compositions with clever heads -- the signature musical idea of a jazz tune -- that are more rhythmic than melodic. Soulive tends to play these heads in unison, which creates a phat indelible funk sound.

Dave Matthews and his mannered vocals make an appearance on the track "Joyful Girl," though it would have been better if he had just jammed with the guys and not slowed things down with his brand of sentimentality.

Rapper Talib Kweli's taking control of the microphone on the disc's closing track, "Bridge to 'Bama," is a little more consistent with the group's funk.

'Les Troyens'

"Les Troyens," a brilliant recording, was taken from live concert performances by the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre in London in December 2000. It immediately became the definitive version of Hector Berlioz's monumental masterwork, which for years was unjustly neglected and still is rarely performed because of its length and difficulty.

Sir Colin Davis, a longtime Berlioz specialist, marshals his forces with awesome precision and commitment for this epic that takes the audience from the bloody fall of Troy through Aeneas' tragic dalliance with the Carthaginian queen Dido.

Both Petra Lang as the tormented visionary Cassandra and Michelle DeYoung as the all-too-vulnerable Dido are excellent, and Ben Heppner rises to the fearsomely high tessitura of Aeneas with panache. Supporting roles are cast with exceptional strength, especially baritone Peter Mattei as an ardent Corebus and alto Sara Mingardo as Dido's sister, Anna.

- From wire reports