Bo Bice - "Inside Your Heaven" (Single)(RCA, 2005) * * *Carrie Underwood - "Inside Your Heaven" (Single)(RCA, 2005) * *

As far as slight little American Idol singles go, "Inside Your Heaven" fits the mold. It's a lame track that was meant to fit the format of the two hour finale; some hollywood hack songwriters cobbled it together from a list of rock cliches, and hoped that either Carrie Underwood or Bo Bice might make it a winner. Carrie's results involved selling a ton of singles in her first week, but the song doesn't fit her country style as well as it does Bo's Creed-ish rocker voice best. Carrie sings the steaming heap of a song better than I would have expected, but it sounds like she's still imitating the likes of Faith Hill rather than instilling at least a small sense of her charm in the song. Yet Bo seems to do the opposite, applying his easygoing sense of "I'm here because I should be" bravado to make the song into something more than it should be.

Niether version of the single should be used to judge whether Underwood or Bice deserve to be played in your stereo. Many of you non Idol junkies may go to your graves saying all Idol winners deserve to die slow deaths. But I think both of these artists could succeed in their genres, if the label has the good sense to let Carrie write a true country album and to let Bo play to his strengths (hell, he's been performing for a decade without RCA interferring). Bo wins round one -- he proves that even a horrible song can sound good with the right voice and production. But Carrie still stands a chance once she gets back to her Oklahoma roots.

Ringo Starr - "Choose Love"(KOCH Records, 2005) - * * *

Ringo's back and for the most part listening to "Choose Love" is like listening to anything else Starr has recorded. This is pop music at its barest and most vulnerable, no bells and whistles just simple melodic songs that revel in simplicity. Perhaps that's why he's able to slide under the radar with a release like this. If you aren't a fan, you're not going to hate it, and if you are, you're sure to want to keep listening but it's not the kind of album that you'll shout about from the rooftops. Songs like "Give Me Back The Beat" mix country with pop in a way that stands out. "Give me back the beat / Give me back the beat / Give me back the only thing that makes my life complete / If you come back to me / I'll be dancing in the street ..." It's like flashing back to an age where songwriting wasn't all frills and overproduction; it was about the song itself. The bottom line is when I'm listening to "Choose Love" I'm not thinking about anything but the blissful pop of Ringo Starr. Which is the point entirely. And the bluesy swagger of that title track is worth the price of admission on its own. Bravo, Ringo!

Backstreet Boys - "Never There"(Jive, 2005) - * *

I've never been a big fan of the Backstreet Boys or any of their boy band counterparts. But back during their massive heyday, when albums like Millennium sold 1.1 million in a week, I had a sister who was a big boy band fanatic, particularly when it came to N'Sync. And since I often depended on her to drive me around, I never got to pick the jams on the stereo.

Because of that, I gained a deep personal knowledge of all things teen pop. I could respect the fact that N'Sync at least tried to innovate within the narrow bounds of the genre (which seemed to kill Justin Timberlake, who kept struggling to break out of the limited role he could play in a band like that). Then there were bands like Backstreet Boys, comfortable playing their role as the genre's journeymen -- making an occasional comeback whenever the opportunity would create itself, but also able to disappear into the background when times grew tough.

Now they're back with Never Gone which proves I suppose that when you've got the right producers behind you just about anything can sell a quarter million copies in a week. But does that make it good? The verdict's still out on that. It's not awful, but it's hardly inspired. Songs like "Incomplete" push the band's boundaries enough that you might not have immediately known the song was theirs when you first heard it. But upon repeated listens, it becomes a retread of the year's music, attempting to gain ground off what bands like Evanescence and Maroon 5 gained this year. In the end, they fail ... they sound insincere, which makes the song seem contrived.

That's the problem with much of the album. When they were younger (which is a laugh when you consider that the Backstreet Boys were always the oldest "teen" popsters -- even when you use the word "teen" lightly) they at least sounded like they mildly cared about what they were singing. On Never There there's no feeling, just another attempt at a comeback that sounds hollow and cheap. Which disappoints me. I mean, if you're going to make a comeback, shouldn't you have something worth saying?

It's not all bad. There are some bright spots, notably on tracks like "Poster Girl" for which they take an earcatching acoustic melody with a light piano backdrop, add mildly distorted vocals that make the song memorable, and blend it with lyrics that might not even have sunk in yet for them: "The consequences of your actions really are just a game / Your life is just a chain reaction taking you day by day / She says 'nothing's forever in this crazy world.'"

How true. Which may be a good reason for the Backstreet Boys to enjoy the muted initial success they're having with Never Gone because I'll bet once the few good songs on the album oversaturate the radiowaves, they'll end up fading back into the woodwork.

Then they may finally be gone for good.

The White Stripes - "Get Behind Me Satan"(V2, 2005) * * * *

While I haven't been a big fan of the White Stripes in the past, I did gain a lot of respect for Jack White over the past year. His work with Loretta Lynn on Van Lear Rose and his original bluegrass compositions for the Cold Mountain soundtrack showed impressive range, and I've been anticipating Get Behind Me Satan primarily because of those side projects. The ones Meg White says keep him sane and ready to record music for the White Stripes in the first place.

What we've got here is an album that takes so many risks (and succeeds on so many levels) that I can't believe I haven't been addicted to their music for years. From the opening bursts of "Blue Orchid" to the marimba-meets-thrashing drums of "The Nurse," I have been hooked. It seems Jack White has taken everything that worked about his roots experiments over the past twelve months and blended it all, forming the rawest garage album to come out this decade. Considering it was all recorded in analog demo quality in a matter of weeks speaks to the immense talent White has, as well as to the ear he's got for ways to take roots music into the new millennium. Like Jack says, every band says their demos were better than their finished albums, mostly because on finished albums no one tells you when to stop. What he's done with Get Behind Me Satan is to skip that future album recording bloat and issued a demo that stands up to any quality standard.

And it's not like he's merely playing to his record collection either. White has the ability to absorb huge quantities of music from across the broad spectrum of roots, blues and Americana, and then twist it all to his whims. "Forever For Her" features plaintive vocals over a guitar marimba and piano base, yet the song has such elemental power to it it's amazing to realize there's not a touch of electric guitar on the entire track! That blew my mind, considering the brutal strength of this album and the fact that White only relies on electric guitar on three tracks. Then there's the eerie track "Passive Manipulation" in which Meg White sings over a piano melody: "Women -- listen to your mothers; don't just succumb to the wishes of your brothers. Take a step back take a look at one another, you need to know the difference between a father and a lover." It's just a thirty second minimalist performance piece, but it made the hair stand up on this reviewer's neck, and that's what great music is all about.

This is the album to listen to if you've never listened to the White Stripes, as well as being the album to listen to if you've been a fan of the band since the beginning. It is the album that's going to prove once and for all that Jack White is one of modern rock's few true creative geniuses. I'd written this group off without giving Jack and Meg White the chance to prove their talent. Get Behind Me Satan proves that you don't need a thirty piece orchestra behind you or a $10 million album budget to record music that is timeless.

Jack may not like the idea that he's responsible for a rock revival, nor for the fact that he's expected to pass that torch on by educating today's ignorant listeners to what roots and Americana music have to offer. He said as much in a recent Newsweek interview. But rest assured, whether he intended to or not, the music on Get Behind Me Satan is likely to live on regardless of what the band does in the future. And future musicians are likely to use it as their own template for keeping this sound alive long after Jack White is done rocking.

That's something worth celebrating.

Black Eyed Peas - "Monkey Business"(A&M, 2005) - * * * *

Whether they're taking on the tune of Dick Dale's "Miserlou" on the opening single "Pump It" or letting Fergie go full throttle on "Don't Phunk With My Heart," it was clear from the moment this album came out that it was going to put the hit-machine that was Elephunk to shame. And with the exception of the afterthought track "Let's Get Retarded" (which of course was changed to "Let's Get It Started" for radio consumption) that album was already the ultimate prototype when it comes to reviving a band supposedly doomed to obscurity.

Now the Black Eyed Peas are hitmakers supreme, and honestly if you can't get moving to the amazing beats on this album you're probably not trying hard enough. As the album progresses through the minimalist percussion style of "My Style" through the latin-infused "Don't Lie" it's clear that the Peas are ready to take radio over completely. Not just pop either ... you're going to hear these songs this summer and fall played to overkill like nothing that's been experienced since Outkast and Usher revived their careers. On every station -- don't even TRY to change it, they'll follow you and force you to like it.

And you will. That's a certainty.

The great thing is that there is no shortage of solid material on this album. There's "My Humps," which could be this summer's potential ode to big butts (in the vein of "Thong Song", god help us ... but it has the bare-bones production to please fans of Gwen Stefani and Missy Elliott, which should ensure hours of radio repeats). Then there's "Feel It," which should get the fans of Mariah Carey up and moving. This is an album for the masses, made to please anyone, everyone ... rarely pleasing no one. Which should ensure a long shelf life for the Peas' latest effort.

There's even "Union" at the end of the album, a track which takes the band's political bent and twists it against the idea of war in general, while managing to keep a grip on their newfound ability to craft insane mind-mashing hooks. For once they hit the mark twice, crafting a political track that could still move a crowd uninterested in philosophical or political debate.

That's something they should be able to put on their pop resume. It's also something worth celebrating if you've been a fan of the band for the long haul.

Coldplay - "X & Y"(EMI, 2005) * * 1/2

I've never been a big Coldplay fan, I'll admit that from the start. But it is hard to say the band completely lacks talent. They've just blown far beyond the proportions that can sustain a band of their caliber.

On X&Y, they've gone from successful indie band to full-blown stadium rockers, and the change doesn't fit them. Chris Martin is no Bono; these overblown studio arrangments drown in pretension; he's dragged down by the bombast. While songs like "Speed of Sound" succeed moderately at delivering a hook radio listeners can enjoy, the rest of the album is an exercise in dullness, as the songs never grab the listener's attention.

Perhaps Coldplay could benefit from a more stripped sound, as the album's closer ("Til Kingdom Come") suggests. "Steal my heart and hold my tongue," Martin sings. "I feel my time, my time has come. Let me in, unlock the door, I never felt this way before. The wheels just keep on turning ... I don't know which way I'm going, I don't know which way I've come." As he sings, the backdrop is created by a simple guitar and piano melody, reminescent of "The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash. But just as soon as the enjoyment begins, the song is done, and knowing that it's the only bright light on a dismal disc makes the end of a listen even more depressing.

X&Y will surely sell millions, just as its predecessors have done. Coldplay will rise (perhaps temporarily) to stadium rock glory, so maybe it doesn't matter too much what we lowly critics have to say. But all but the most strident fans are bound to be disappointed by the lack of a creative leap forward, and I suspect the band will need to reconsider its direction if a fourth album is in order. Their third simply misses the mark.

Black Cloud Theory - "Black Cloud Theory"(Independent, 2005) - * * *

The Music
Black Cloud Theory - "Just Another"

As a critic I have heard my fair share of disappointing albums, but for every one of those, there's a phoenix that rises from the ashes and re-proves to me that great music hasn't died. A few semesters ago I reviewed an album by the Muncie band NewCleaR and recall being disappointed -- and I said so in a sharp-tongued review. But I always tell my readers I don't hold a grudge, and bands like Black Cloud Theory are a reason why. Formed in the summer of 2004 following the breakup of NewCleaR, Black Cloud Theory is proof that when the focus comes away from image and is placed upon solid, catchy, well-produced music -- the results can be startlingly good.

"Black Cloud Theory" is a four-track EP that is brimming with the promise of a band that could really go places. Songs like "Without You Here" exhibit the perfect blend of rock and pop, taking a catchy hook all the way to the bank. And "Just Another" already sounds ready for college radio. "Just another bad fiction writer ... just another ten minutes that should help you fall asleep ... you feel too good to be true!" Josh Hedge sings, building the lyric pattern over the steady crunch of guitars and drums that bring up comparisons to groups like Jimmy Eat World. It's a combination of great musicianship and impressive songwriting that makes me want to hear an entire album's material.

Link to EP: http://www.bsu.edu/web/djclark/bct/.
BCT on MySpace: http://myspace.com/blackcloudtheory.

Jedd Hughes - "Transcontinental"(MCA Nashville, 2004) - * * * 1/2

Much like artists who came before him, including Alison Krauss and the Del McCoury Band, Jed Hughes wants to bring a contemporary bluegrass sound to modern country music. It would seem that since bands like Nickel Creek came around in the early part of the decade, it's become cool to want to bring bluegrass into the 21st century, something that tends to anger genre purists who don't think the style should have changed since the 1830s.

The problem with those purists is they're missing out on a revolution in country music. Krauss and McCoury may have built the road, and Nickel Creek paved it ... but Jedd Hughes finally makes it rock. Taking a page from 80s-era Steve Earle, Hughes has created an album that features amazing fingerpicked guitar coupled with light bluegrass tinged vocals to rival anyone in the business. He also has a surprising ability to blend rock, country and traditional americana to create an album that runs the gamut from emotional ballads ("Time To Say Goodnight") to outright bluesy rockers ("Snake In The Grass") all without losing the subtlety that makes a song like "High Lonesome" sound both classic and contemporary. Which gives his music the amazing ability to shift when necessary. Just listen to the difference between the album version of that particular song and its NapsterLive acoustic counterpart.

Hughes clearly has the range, the creativity and the musical chops to turn this solid debut into a successful country career. Let's just hope radio success soon follows.