Keane
Perfect Symmetry
Interscope

Keane returns with its third album, an even greater departure from the piano-based pop of its debut Hopes & Fears. With Under the Iron Sea, the Brit-pop outfit added almost U2-ish textures to some songs, and now add dance elements as well.  The first half is, well, totally ’80s, so fans of that era will just love it, including the clomp-stomp of “Spiralling” and the gliding, very Bowie-like (think “Heroes”) “The Lovers Are Losing,” though you might also think The Killers as well. There are more Bowie influences (an “Ashes to Ashes”) in “Better Than This,” with a pinched falsetto vocal that’s a touch Sparks. The latter half dangles less inspirations with that tuneful Keane styling that comes up in “Again and Again” and the snappy “Pretend That You’re Alone,” as well as the bittersweet flow of the title track.  Overall, more proof that British pop outdoes most mainstream American dreck these days.

Oasis
Dig Out Your Soul
Big Brother/Reprise

Though not about to make one forget the band’s genuine classics, Definitely, Maybe and What’s the Story Morning Glory, Oasis’ debut on its own label, Big Brother, distributed through Warner-Reprise, is still mighty solid.  Every time one thinks the battling Gallagher Brothers will explode/implode, they get it together. And that’s just what happens on Dig Out your Soul. ”Someone tell me I’m dreaming, the freaks are rising up through the floor,” Liam sings on the clanging march of the lead track, “Bag It Up,” followed by the beatific sonic blast of “The Turning.” The group plays its best Beatle card in “Waiting for the Rapture,” and cuts loose for rocking waves in “The Shock of The Lightning or The Turning.” Other stand-outs include the mid-tempo, very Oasis (and also Brit-rock) sounding “I’m Outta Time” (with a lift from a John Lennon BBC interview) and “Falling Down.” While there’s nothing gripping in the way of the new, it’s good to have the lads back for another go-around.

Nikka Costa
Pebble to a Pearl
Stax/Concord

Nikka Costa should have been bigger when she released the rip-it-up funky soul of Everybody Got Their Something back in 2001, but it was a time of Britney and the clones.  Still, she made her mark in Europe and Down Under, and came up with a worthy follow-up in Can’tneverdidnothin’.  Now, she’s back on the revived Stax label through Concord Records, the perfect home for her brand of soul. Plus, with the retro-soul success of Amy Winehouse and Duffy, Costa should get the attention she deserves with Pebble to a Pearl. There’s a definite Stax-Volt redux magic on the opening “Stuck to You,” and things heat up even more for the that’s-a-fact “Can’t Please Everybody.” The percolating funk of the title track is matched by the equally bubbling “Cry Baby.” There’s a sexy Maria Muldaur glide to “Without Love,” and “Loving You” is an organ-swathed R&B ballad. Pebble to a Pearl is a definite gem.

Johnny Cash
At Folsom Prison - Legacy Edition
Sony Legacy

This is the first edition of Johnny Cash’s most famous concert recording from 40 years ago to not open with, “Hello…I’m Johnny Cash.”  But among other extras added, we get a behind-the-scenes look at how that iconic intro happened, and that’s just fine because the Legacy Editon of At Folsom Prison is one of those defining pieces of Cash history, now expanded to a two-CD and one-DVD special package. When he warns the prisoners not to let loose with expletives because the show is being recorded, he delivers a few himself. Some have argued that Cash’s prison performances — Folsom and also San Quentin (reissued in a special edition two years ago) — exploited the audience of convicts, but it’s doubtful any of them at the time would’ve thought so. That performance, recorded and filmed on January 13, 1968, was all about the music played by Cash, June Carter, and the Tennessee Three, from “Dark as a Dungeon,” “Green Green Grass of Home,” and “Still Miss Someone” to “The Long Black Veil,” “Jackson” and, of course, “Folsom Prison Blues.” Does it matter that Cash was more the storyteller than living his harshest songs?  No, not at all. The DVD includes the documentary film of the concert, produced by director Bestor Cram and Cash biographer Michael Streissguth. There are also interviews with family and friends who were part of the performances, as well as inmates who saw the show. Though the last reissue nearly a decade ago was excellent, this three-disc set is the one to have.

Love Train: The Sound of Philadelphia
Sony Legacy

Already covered by Buzzine prior to its release, this four-CD collection chronicles the musical legacy created by songwriter-producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, creating “Philly Soul,” which first took flight in the late ’60s, then came to rule the airwaves even more so than Motown by the ’70s. The artists include The Spinners, Billy Paul, The O’Jays, The Manhattans, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, and more. And the songs? Seventy-one tracks in all, classic after classic: Soul Survivors’ “Expressway (To Your Heart),” Billy Paul’s “Me and Mrs. Jones,” The Three Degrees’ “When Will I See You Again,” Jerry Butler’s “Only the Strong Survive,” “Love Train,” and other tracks from The O’Jays, “T.S.O.P.” by MFSB, and a whole lot more. If you’re already holiday shopping, this one’s for the old-school soul music fan on your list.

Popularity: 3% [?]