Release Redux

We all struggle with gaining a few pounds as we get on in years, but as music gets older, re-releases get seriously bloated. And the sight of these import-only Deluxe Edition re-packages overflowing with rare tracks, remixes and live cuts gets our nostalgic hearts thumping. Lumpy, middle-aged men? Less so.   Propaganda’s 1985 masterpiece A Secret Wish (25th Anniversary Edition) i

Dark Night

Boy, has Australian native Sarah Blasko got it bad. She opens her third album, As Day Follows Night (out Tuesday), with "Down On Love," a ruminative track that combines the melody of Leonard Cohen’s "Hallelujah” with the words "Lately you’ve been down on love…" After 45 minutes of bad romances, unfaithful lovers and just plain despair, you feel as if you’ve spent a long, dark nig

House of Games

"I’d love to kill you with a kiss." Those are the first words of Katie Melua’s fourth studio album The House (out August 3). And damned if that’s not exactly what the singer does for 46 minutes — kill us with a mesmerizing, dark-hued collection of songs that’s 180° from her normally bucolic, multi-platinum songwriting.    Produced by William Orbit (Madonna’s Ray of Light) and wr

Drama Queen

After a five-year break from music, John Grant, lead singer of the much-admired, now-defunct alt-rock band the Czars (1994-2005), is back and doing his own thing. Queen of Denmark (out now) is 12 elegantly askew compositions steeped in the amber tones of '70s rock. From a handful of tracks inspired by his doomed relationship with a man named Charlie ("TC and Honeybear," "It’s Eas

Mo' Better Blues

Pop music’s full of sorry songs. Not bad ones, but "baby-I-did-you-wrong" tunes. We never tire of a heartfelt apology, whether it’s a stadium-sized Buckcherry regret called "Sorry" or a ska-whipped confession of guilt by the The English Beat on a song of the same name. For righteous pop lovers, Francis and the Lights’ It’ll Be Better (out today) is a gift, a long-playing act of c

Ford Country

There are tons of subjects that rock and roll makes sexy. Counterfeiting money? The B-52’s "Legal Tender" is alluring. Masturbation? You could be "Turning Japanese" or playing with your "She-Bop." Lying to hide your insecurities? Can’t beat Sarah McLachlan’s "Building a Mystery." But motherhood? Moms do all the grunt work and get none of the credit. It just doesn’t seem — to quot