ous desire to connect with an audience too young to remember mid-'80s hits like "Dancing on the Ceiling" and "Hello." Akon, Ne-Yo, Stargate, "Tricky" Stewart and the-Dream all contribute to an album with an up-to-the-minute digital sheen. Yet thanks to Richie's confidently grown-up vocals and his consistently mature subject matter -- here's a guy whose romantic timeline stretches past tonight to "Forever and a Day," as one track puts it --"Just Go" never sounds calculated or desperate. In fact, highlights like "I'm in Love" and "I'm Not Okay" showcase a cultivated cool -- perhaps a first for this longtime champion of tenderness and devotion.
ARTIST: DAVE MATTHEWS BAND
ALBUM: BIG WHISKEY AND THE GROOGRUX KING (RCA Records)
"Big Whiskey" is a big moment for the Dave Matthews Band -- it's the act's first album in four years and first since the sudden August death of founding saxophonist (and titular king) LeRoi Moore. But this eulogy is a celebration, and "Big Whiskey" is a dense, humid album that, befitting its New Orleans origins, shrewdly cuts its melancholy with exuberance and vice versa. "Shake Me Like a Monkey" is classic DMB stutter-stepping funk, "Squirm" is an Eastern-flavored epic, "Why I Am" is a radio-directed bottle rocket with a sneaky little time shift, and "Time Bomb" unfolds into a full-blast rocker with Matthews doing his best Eddie Vedder. Moore's ghost haunts throughout -- the saxman's fluttery work appears sporadically, most clearly on the sweet, sad "Lying in the Hands of God" -- and the band clearly poured grief into the swelling carpe diem tune "Dive In." Matthews' lyrics can be of the make-love-shine variety, and there are a few meandering detours as usual, but "Big Whiskey" finds the band at its most pointed and purposeful in years.
ARTIST: TORI AMOS
ALBUM: ABNORMALLY ATTRACTED TO SIN (Universal Republic)
Tori Amos will forever be best known as the fiery redhead straddling a piano bench with the same rock 'n' roll ferocity as a guitarist wielding a Strat. But since her electric '92 breakthrough "Little Earthquakes," her style has gone beyond the black-and-white of the grand piano to include a full range of colors and instruments. Her 12th studio release, "Abnormally Attracted to Sin," finds her in full command of her expanded arsenal, creating a sound that's as psychedelic as it is classic. "Strong Black Vine" channels her affection for Led Zeppelin; "Ophelia" uses mandolins, percussion and solo piano to great effect; and album standout "That Guy" is cosmic cabaret, complete with strings. The sounds coupled with the usual Amos lyrical content -- metaphors rendered through literary heroines, religious imagery, exotic food, cities as characters, triple entendres -- make for a singular tapestry that, as the artist matures, requires less and less knowledge of her catalog to enjoy.
ARTIST: BUSTA RHYMES
ALBUM: BACK ON MY B.S. (Universal Motown)
Busta Rhymes' eighth studio album has been a long time coming, originally slated for release as early as late 2007 but held up by Rhymes' break with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope, which released 2006's chart-topping "The Big Bang." Now with Universal Motown, Rhymes seems to have used the wait time for market research; there's something for everyone on "Back on My B.S.," from the business plan of "Respect My Conglomerate" with Lil Wayne and Jadakiss, to thumping sex-up "Sugar" featuring Jelly Roll, to club-jumper "Arab Money," which stands out not only for its exotic hook but for its culturally disconcerting lyrics. What there is not quite enough of is Rhymes himself -- the deft MC is a bit crowded out by collaborators' mic turns and auto-tuned refrains. Those tunes that he owns, such as "Kill Dem," or even the verses Rhymes wrestles from Akon and T.I. in the energetic jam "Don't Believe Em," are the best evidence that the rapper is still one of the most skilled in the game.
ARTIST: RUBEN STUDDARD
ALBUM: LOVE IS (Hickory Records)
On his fourth album, "American Idol" season-two winner Ruben Studdard lives up to his "Velvet Teddy Bear" nickname with a collection of originals and covers devoted to the theme of love. The singer teamed with veteran producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, as well as Stargate and John Rich, to capitalize on his strength as a balladeer. The strategy works best on the record's midtempo numbers. The nimble "How You Make Me Feel" wastes no time, bouncing along to a sweet storyline, and recalls Stargate's regular collaborator Ne-Yo; a cover of Michael Jackson's "I Can't Help It" feels sensual and genuine; and "Song for Her," co-written by Studdard for his new wife, showcases the singer's vocals at their strongest. Less successful is a plodding rendition of Extreme's "More Than Words" and the album's belabored first single, "Together," but those are slight missteps.
ARTIST: PHOENIX
ALBUM: WOLFGANG AMADEUS PHOENIX (Loyaute/Glassnote Records)
Paris-based quartet Phoenix continues its successful run with this fourth full-length release, blending retro and futuristic sounds with a panache shown by few contemporaries. The group has polished its '60s-rock-revivalist sound to near perfection, but keeps expanding its aural palette, experimenting with layered rhythms and sonic textures. Opener "Lisztomania" captures the group at its peak: Sprightly rock rhythms and shimmering guitar licks intertwine beautifully with Thomas Mars' lead vocals, which ruminate on musical fame in raucous verses and spare, keyboard-plinking choruses. But in a departure from past releases, Phoenix doesn't linger in a thematic box, and there's something for everyone: "1901," with its pulsating fuzz bass riff, is the hardest rock moment in the group's catalog, while "Fences" gives a nod to sophomore album "Alphabetical," with its slinky, dance-floor-ready groove. And the two-part centerpiece "Love Like a Sunset" juxtaposes an ominous instrumental with a heartfelt open-chord ballad.
ARTIST: JENNI MULDAUR
ALBUM: DEAREST DARLIN' (Dandelion Music)
The daughter of blues singer Maria Muldaur and folk singer Geoff Muldaur pitches up the family business a soulful step louder. "Dearest Darlin'" is such an authentic rump-shaker it could be a solo album by one of Ike & Tina Turner's Ikettes, all guts and glory with roots deep in obscure '50s and '60s roadhouse R&B. Wily opener "I've Got a Feelin'," a long-ago vehicle for Big Maybelle, sets the tone, in which the singer airs her suspicions about a straying mate: "My name is Jenni but he calls me Jane." Since "Jane is a friend I've known for years," it's a case you don't need "The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency" to solve. The title song is an obscure Bo Diddley tune (with guest vocal by Joseph Arthur) that's as close to a love song Bo ever wrote to anyone other than himself. "I'd Rather Live Like a Hermit" is from the rich Cold War tradition of R&B influenced by the atom bomb. Muldaur's bravado is evident on everything from James Brown's "Lost Someone" to NRBQ's "Blame It on the World." The rowdy yet disciplined band is anchored by Brian Jackson on piano and the late Sean Costello on guitar.
ARTIST: COLIN LINDEN
ALBUM: FROM THE WATER (True North Records)
Though hardly a household name, Colin Linden is well known in Nashville and Canadian studios as an in-demand producer, songwriter and session musician, as well as a member of the longtime Canadian trio Blackie & the Rodeo Kings. "From the Water" is his 11th solo album, and it's a nice encapsulation of his many collaborative gifts. Linden works the roots spectrum -- blues, country and folk rock -- in a seamless, lyrical style that is often reminiscent of the Rodeo Kings, the Band's later records (one of which, "Jericho," Linden produced). Several songs deal with life-and-death issues, and the final five, including such titles as "Later Than You Think" and "God Will Always Remember Your Prayers," honor the memory of keyboardist and longtime collaborator Richard Bell, who died in 2007.
ARTIST: RED STICK RAMBLERS
ALBUM: MY SUITCASE IS ALWAYS PACKED (Sugar Hill Records)
Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Red Stick Ramblers don't just walk the walk on "My Suitcase Is Always Packed." A five-piece who all write, with four singers, two fiddles, guitar, bass/banjo and drums, they travel fast and light, switching styles with carefree abandon. Dedicated enough to regional roots to open the with the French Cajun "J'Taime Pas Mieux," they take cheerful excursions into barroom string, Texas swing and even the Johnny Mercer-influenced pop of "Lay Down in the Grass." The spirit is so uplifting that you could expect to hear "Goodbye to the Blues" in an ad for an antidepressant.
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