New Recordings

Lucky

(Barsuk ***1/2)

Nada Surf may still be best known for its 1996 hit "Popular," but the band has long since gone on to far better, subtler things.

Lucky

picks up where 2005's

The Weight Is a Gift

left off, excelling at Beatles- and Byrds-derived, hypnotically chiming pop-rock that washes over you in contemplative waves. The New York trio fronted by Matthew Paws shares many of the power-pop tendencies of the Fountains of Wayne, but is free of the jokiness that began to curdle on FoW's

Traffic

and

Weather

. Instead, Nada Surf specializes in conjuring melancholy moods and then expertly employing yearning melodies to rise above the fray. "Trying to remember when I could fix anything with sound," Paws sings, in "Beautiful Beat" searching for that ideal musical elixir.

Lucky

sounds like it might do the trick.

- Dan DeLuca

The Rise & Fall of Ruby Woo

(Verve ***)

Unabashedly retro, the Puppini Sisters look back to the Andrews Sisters for their swinging, close harmonies and their glamorous 1940s fashion sense.

The Rise & Fall of Ruby Woo

, their second album, wisely avoids predictable vintage classics - "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" excepted - in favor of solid, amusing originals and inspired covers. The Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian" and Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" become toe-tapping swing sensations, with the ladies' exuberant voices riding acoustic bass lines; Barry Manilow's "Could It Be Magic" turns into a dreamy reverie.

Like their fellow Brits the Pipettes, the Puppini Sisters (Marcella Puppini, Kate Mullins and Stephanie O'Brien) take a concept that could be played for irony and camp and treat it with enough loving sincerity and genuine enthusiasm to make it infectious. And the Puppinis are better singers.

- Steve Klinge

Heretic Pride

(4AD ***1/2)

John Darnielle's Mountain Goats belongs to a coterie of literate indie-rockers that includes the Decemberists, the Hold Steady and Okkervil River, bands that relish character and narrative and a well-turned phrase as much as they do a catchy melody. The prolific Darnielle started releasing lo-fi cassette albums in the early '90s, and he continues to refine his craft on

Heretic Pride

.

While not as thematically focused as 2005's superb

The Sunset Tree

, these 13 songs dwell on tales of emotional turmoil and contain recurring images of blood. "Lovecraft in Brooklyn" rides a raw, electric riff, but most of

Heretic Pride

is quietly beautiful, as Darnielle's acoustic strumming and Erik Friedlander's mournful cello mask captivating, precise stories of life during wartime and murdered reggae stars, of sexual misunderstandings and mismatched lovers.

- S.K.

Controversy: A Tribute to Prince

(Rapster/K7 ***1/2)

While the mainstream hip-hop nation is off celebrating the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's

Thriller

, an odd collection of pop, hop and electro's underground parties like it's 1999 for Prince. The Purple One and Jacko were always rivals, so it's fitting that this compilation of previously released and new tracks comes out now. Prince's most recent stuff has sounded so erratic, it's good to hear his iconic past reconsidered.

Spacey soul player/lover man D'Angelo is a logical fit within this continuum as he makes "She's Always in My Hair" into a crunching lo-fi rock workout worthy of Prince's psychedelic side. It's not great, but it's potently musky, a decidedly unfussy interpretation of a once-facile tune. While fellow electronic mavens Stina Nordenstam and Soulwax soften their blows, dirtball-dance siren Peaches (with 7 Hurtz) does to "Sexy Dancer" what she does best: makes it into a four-letter electro-blip workout

sans

subtlety. Perfect. Yoruba label head Osunlade, too, makes the most of his moment by turning Prince's wild-eyed "Crazy You" into a sonorously exquisite neo-samba. Even Wyoming folkie Jeb Loy Nichols finds the funk at Prince's feet. Thriller 25's star power would have been nice, but Prince doesn't need the help MJ does.

- A.D. Amorosi

Toolin' Around Woodstock
- Featuring Levon Helm

(Aquinnah ***)

A guitarist's guitarist and long an in-demand session player, Arlen Roth is not as well-known as the friends who join him here. In addition to singer and drummer Levon Helm, they include fellow guitarists Bill Kirchen and Sonny Landreth.

Toolin' Around Woodstock

is a wide-ranging joyride through American roots music, but, for all the six-string expertise on hand, it is as much about deep feeling as virtuoso technique, about putting a fresh, heartfelt spin on mostly familiar material.

Helm applies his once-again-robust vocals to Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" and Buck Owens' "Cryin' Time"; Kirchen joins Roth on guitar and vocals for Joe South's "Games People Play" and shares some rock-and-roll fireworks with him on Roth's "Gas Station Frustration"; daughters Lexie Roth and Amy Helm duet on the pop-soul classic "Just One Look"; and Landreth engages Roth in a slide duel on the latter's "Tumblin'," one of several tour de force instrumentals that include "Sleepwalk" and "Unchained Melody."

- Nick Cristiano

Low on Cash, Rich in Love

(Alligator ***)

Although he was born and raised in California, Eric Lindell has lived in New Orleans since 1999. His second Alligator album again shows just how well he has soaked up the city's irresistibly elastic rhythms.

With his raspy voice, Lindell often sounds like a younger Delbert McClinton, applying those rich R&B and soul grooves to his own material with a natural command. The originals range from tales of love and lust, such as "Lay Back Down" and "It's a Pleasure," to the pointed social commentary of the Katrina-inspired "It's a Pity." If they are not always as sharp as McClinton's - that's a pretty high bar - Lindell invariably comes across as, to borrow a song title, "Tried and True."

- N.C.

Avatar

(Blue Note ***)

Pianist and Cuban expat Gonzalo Rubalcaba covers a lot of territory here with his quintet. Free jazz and mainstream moments are commonplace on "Looking for Retrospective." "Aspiring to Normalcy" has suggestive depths with trumpeter Mike Rodriguez breaking through the depression. And "Hip Side" is angular and Cuban-grooved.

Rubalcaba, 44, who was discovered in the island home world by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie in 1985, has been recording in recent years with a trio and by himself. Here on his 13th Blue Note release, he invites in a posse of four, full of brio and energy, but also bristling with complexity.

Just coming into his own is the younger Cuban reed man, Yosvany Terry, a New Yorker since 1999, who's worth hearing. Rodriguez is a sensitive foil, playing sweetly on the classical-sounding "Preludio Corto No. 2 for Piano" by the Cuban composer Alejandro Garcia Caturla.

This is a hard-driving band with bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Marcus Gilmore that goes deep into grooves and then off into free jazz. It's not overtly Cuban-sounding, and some of it seems remote.

It still clicks more often than not.

- Karl Stark

You Are There

(Emarcy/Groovin High ***)

This duet recording catches an emerging talent with a well-seasoned one.

Singer Roberta Gambarini is a native of Turin, Italy, the country's Motown. Two weeks after landing in the United States in 1998, she placed third in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Competition (behind Jane Monheit and now-deceased Teri Thornton.)

Gambarini, who started the label Groovin' High to showcase herself when other labels wouldn't, is an intelligent singer who welcomes listeners into her songs. She's pleasant and smoky to listen to on these 14 tunes in the standards tradition. Contract commitments back in Italy are said to have delayed this release, which represents her first on a U.S label.

The ace here, of course, is pianist Hank Jones, eldest brother of the famous Jones clan that included Elvin on drums and composer Thad on trumpet. The pianist turns 90 in July, and his playing on this September 2005 session makes such a great frame for this singer. Jones is never overly busy yet always full of motion and color, like the grain in a majestic piece of oak.

- K.S.

Daniel Hope, violin; Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Thomas Hengelbrock conducting.

(Deutsche Grammophon ***1/2)

Daniel Hope and Leila Josefowicz, violin; Paul Watkins, cello; BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis, Jirí Belohlávek and Oliver Knussen conducting.

(Deutsche Grammophon, two discs, ***)

Daniel Hope, violin; City
of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo conducting.

(DG Concerts, download only ***)

Born in England and based in Berlin, violinist Daniel Hope is suddenly all over the place with three new recordings and a Beaux Arts Trio concert in Philadelphia on April 9. The Mendelssohn is heard in its original, unrevised and far-less-streamlined form, and though it's inferior to the final version, Hope makes a good case for it with his high-personality phrasing and scintillating passagework - more than when the Philadelphia Orchestra played the same version in the 1980s. Similarly, the popular

Octet

doesn't just take an easy ride on the piece's great tunes; you really hear what it's made of.

The two discs of Proms performances are packed with goodies. Chances are you won't love all of it (I parted company with Richard Rodney Bennett's

Four Poems of Thomas Campion

), but the set is worth hearing for Oliver Knussen's

Violin Concerto

and especially Michael Tippett's

Triple Concerto

- the latter featuring Hope, who rather overshadows his soloist colleagues, though that's a high-quality problem in a good performance of this seldom-heard but entrancing, gamelan-influenced work.

The Birmingham download featuring Elgar and Brahms is less appetizing than it looks. Hope was born to play the Elgar, but conductor Sakari Oramo doesn't always seem that interested in the piece, which requires close collaboration to come off. Oramo's Brahms is so highly and thoughtfully inflected that you want him to record the composer's other three symphonies.

- David Patrick Stearns

The Belcea Quartet

(EMI, two discs, ***2)

You know you're in good hands with this youngish British quartet: Everything the group has done in the past, both on disc and in concerts presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, has been intelligent, earnest and beautifully played. But in these six cornerstones of 20th-century music, the performances are, at the very least, deeply engaging, with fresh personal responses in every phrase. Some performances are astounding, as in

String Quartet No. 1

, where the individual instrumental entrances often feel like monumental events. Also remarkable is the sense of horror projected by the

String Quartet No. 6

, written as the composer was facing the wartime demise of his native Hungary.

By way of perspective, though, you can't say the set as a whole establishes a new standard or point of view. There's not quite the coloristic imagination of the Takacs Quartet or the cerebral fierceness of the Emerson Quartet or early Juilliard Quartet recordings.

- D.P.S.