New Recordings

Electric Arguments

(ATO ***)

"Don't Stop Running," Paul McCartney urges himself on

Electric Arguments

, his third collaboration with 47-year-old producer Martin "Youth" Glover as the Fireman. You've got to hand it to Macca: At 66, the cute Beatle shows no sign of slowing down, recording each of these experimental yet catchy tracks in a single day, and playing all the instruments himself. This may be a man who's just gone through a painful divorce, who howls in pain like Howlin' Wolf on the psych-rock opener "Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight." But the signature McCartney sunniness cannot be kept at bay, on the satisfyingly Beatley "Highway," the hopeful "Light From Your Lighthouse," or the poptimistic "Sun Is Shining." Which is not to say that, as texturally and melodically rich as they are, tracks like the would-be English folk song "Traveling Light" aren't a touch ponderous and corny. And the tail end of

Electric Arguments

settles for wallowing in its own ambience. Still, it's a left turn worth taking.

Freedom

(Universal ***)

Akon sneaks up you, doesn't he? Since 2004, while much of the hip-hop universe witnessed sales plummet and elaborate productions grow duller, the Senegalese hop-popper with the mournful, lilting voice was busy being locked up and smacking that and making big money. The key to Akon's success is an economic sonic style and a lyrical palette that keeps it simple.

Richer, denser and more ruminative than Akon's usual tinny production,

Freedom

isn't exactly baroque. But it is broader in tone, churchier and clubbier, even. While the title tune comes across as somewhat heavy-handed (African marching drums and moody melody to make Peter Gabriel blanch), much of Akon's remaining efforts are sprightly and discoesque.

If "We Don't Care" doesn't make you yearn for further Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder collaboration, the elated house-music grandeur of "Keep You Much Longer" will send you to the nearest dance floor. Corny as that sounds, Akon manages to make club-pop with a vocal and melodic dexterity as ferocious as its rhythms. Still, there's little here as potent as the clipped, flippant hip-hop kick of "I'm So Paid," with Akon's patented moan set against the leering raps of Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne.

Smack that.

Witness to the Blues

(Stony Plain ***1/2)

Over a career that goes back to the '80s, Joe Louis Walker has established himself as one of the preeminent bluesmen of his generation, an artist who has invariably managed to keep the music fresh. On

Witness to the Blues

, the 58-year-old singer-guitarist gets great help in that regard from producer-guitarist Duke Robillard.

Robillard puts the soul and R&B elements of Walker's sound in sharp relief here. His influence is also evident in the way the songs include long instrumental passages that keep the music cooking without sapping momentum. (His piano and organ player, Bruce Katz, is prominent throughout.)

A sweet but fiery duet with Shemekia Copeland, "Lover's Holiday," brings out the soul man in Walker, while the stirring "Witness" and "Keep on Believin' " highlight the sanctified side of that soul man. His own "Hustlin' " and the traditional "Rollin' and Tumblin'," on the other hand, are stylish R&B vamps. And if there's any doubt Walker can still get down and dirty, he tears into the acoustic-slide boogie of "I Got What You Need" and the grinding "100% More Man."

- Nick Cristiano

Lightnin' in a Bottle

(Backspace ***1/2)

Street musicians have to project a dynamic presence to get and keep an audience. The 44-year-old Guitar Red (Billy Christian Walls), who busks in Decatur, Ga., is a pro at it, and, performing solo except for one number, he captures all that energy on tape on the aptly titled

Lightnin' in a Bottle

.

The singer-guitarist has substance abuse, homelessness and jail time on his resume, which gives him ample fodder to sing the blues. Without denying hard-luck reality, however, he conveys an infectious exuberance for life. Laments such as "I Ain't Got Nobody But Myself" and "Chain Gang Blues" are outnumbered by brisk, hard-strumming workouts such as "Lips Poked Out" and the humorous "Three-Legged Dog Blues," or the sweet declaration of faith "I Believe." A great find.

- N.C.

Tim

(Rhino ****)

Pleased to Meet Me

(Rhino ****)

"One foot in the door, the other foot in the gutter," Paul Westerberg wails on "I Don't Know," from 1987's

Pleased to Meet Me

. That ambivalence gets to the heart of the brilliant mess that was the Replacements, one of those bands that is far more influential than its record sales would indicate. Now, the Minneapolis quartet's eight studio albums, from 1981's

Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash

through 1990's great-in-retrospect

All Shook Down

, have been remastered and reissued, all with worthy and sometimes revelatory bonus tracks.

Tim

and

Pleased to Meet Me

were the Replacements' first two major-label albums after four in the indie ranks, but the move up didn't tame them any. (That would come with the next album, the disappointing

Don't Tell a Soul

.) They may have refined their punkish attack - and the made-in-Memphis

Pleased

added some R&B elements - but the scruffy foursome still seemed on the verge of careering wildly out of control (as their notorious live shows often did).

Amid all the thrilling recklessness, however, Westerberg continued to grow as a songwriter. There were no arty pretensions there - like his mates, he was a Midwestern kid raised on AM radio (the bonus cuts on the 1984 masterpiece

Let It Be

include ragged but unironic covers of "Temptation Eyes" and "Heartbeat - It's a Lovebeat"). The singer-guitarist could still be a smart-aleck ("Waitress in the Sky"), but with piercing songs about youthful alienation ("Bastards of Young") and longing to connect ("Can't Hardly Wait"), he wasn't afraid to wear his bruised heart on his sleeve. Seventeen years after the Replacements' demise, these songs ring as true as ever, and these reissues reaffirm the group's stature as one of the greatest of rock bands.

The Lord's Prayer

(Bun-Z **1/2)

As musician, producer, and songwriter, Walter "Bunny" Sigler is a legend. Besides playing behind and creating hit tunes for such talents as Patti LaBelle, the Whispers, the O'Jays and Jackie Moore, this member of the Leon Huff and Kenny Gamble team has made some of the best soul music of this century.

Now we have

The Lord's Prayer

, a 12-track album that features Sigler gospel originals.

Prayer

has a soulful streetcorner take on gospel. Sigler doesn't skimp on the bellowy, church-style vocals, either, although those vocals are not always as strong as they were in his R&B work.

Each track evokes spiritual consciousness complete with backing chorus. While the songwriting is generally of lukewarm quality, standout tracks include "He's Coming Back," "Honky Tonk Music," and "Jesus Got Your Back."

With the release of

Prayer

, Sigler is in an element of soul he helped create, a bridge between the spiritual urgency of gospel and the emotional drive of soul. That heritage is alive down to the very production values: Every track sounds like a throwback to that old Philadelphia Sound.

Live 2008: 5th Annual Concert Tour

(SF Jazz Records * **1/2)

The SF Jazz Collective is a yearly phenomenon. Eight elite players gather annually in the city by the bay to devote themselves to their tunes and to those of a modern master. After a substantial San Francisco residency, the group sets off across the world before returning to their substantial careers.

A fixture since 2004, this year's collective, led as usual by tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman, is focused on the music of Wayne Shorter, one of jazz' greatest composers and colorists who is always breaking established forms. "Aung San Suu Kyi," his tribute to the Burmese activist, and "Footprints," arranged by pianist Renee Rosnes, would be worth the price alone.

But riches abound on this three-CD set. Trombonist (and Philly native) Robin Eubanks' setting for Shorter's "Black Nile" is funky and sultry. Tenor man Joe Lovano's exploration of "Infant Eyes" is luxurious in the extreme. And altoist Miguel Zenon offers up a hot ditty he wrote called "Frontline." All this firepower, including trumpeter Dave Douglas and vibraphonist Stefon Harris, plays over the beat of the hot Texas drummer Eric Harland.

Moon of the Falling Leaves

(Dreambox Media **1/2)

Tyrone Brown ventures further into the land of strings. The string ensemble features some frequent coconspirators of the last few years, including violinists John Blake and Melissa Locati, violists Beth Dzwil and Michael Ireland, and cellist Ron Lipscomb.

The strings typically lay down the chords, often in short bursts, and vibraphonist Randy Sutin will sweep in to offer some clarity. Or the Abington-based Brown, who long backed the late drummer Max Roach, will appear at his most mesmerizing in solos. The cat can definitely shake a locale, as drummer Craig McIver creates a percolating hubbub.

The strings prove to be intense and often seem to be asking questions for which there are no ready answers. They can sound whiny at times. Yet there's fire here and evidence of a deepening concept.

Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano

(Deutsche Grammophon ****)

Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Myung-Whun Chung conducting

(Deutsche Grammophon ****)

Suzie LeBlanc, soprano; Lawrence Wiliford, tenor; Laura Andriani, violin; Robert Kortgaard, piano

(Atma ***1/2)

Ensemble d'Ondes de Montreal

(Atma ***1/2)

Composer anniversaries often leave music lovers saying, "Tell me something I don't know," but not the current Olivier Messiaen birth centennial. Many worthy works by this prolific French composer - so fascinated by Catholic mysticism and bird songs - are heard in passionately performed recordings, headed by pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard. No Messiaen keyboard performances are more comprehending than his, and this newest disc eases neophyte listeners into the composer's world with Messiaen's early, Debussyian

Preludes pour Piano

before going on to greater complication with selections from

Catalogue d'oiseaux

. Similarly, conductor Myung-Whun Chung begins his orchestra/choral disc with

Hymne au Saint Sacrement

, which is as orchestrally vivid as a Respighi tone poem. From there, Chung goes into the composer's alternately sublime and antic

Trois Petites Liturgies

.

The two Atma-label offerings have bigger surprises. Soprano Suzie LeBlanc's song disc (also including the popular

Theme and Variations

for violin and piano) is all intriguing, but especially with the seldom-heard cantata

La Mort du Nombre

- so folklike in its simplicity but so dramatically heated when warranted. Not everybody will take to LeBlanc's approach - her white-ish voice presents the music more than interprets it - but she's preferable to the Wagnerian-sized instrument for which some of the music was written. The disc that must be heard to be believed is the

Fete des Belles Eaux

: The composer often championed the ondes Martenot electronic instrument, which can be spooky enough by itself. But this 1937 piece has six. Though full of familiar Messiaen earmarks, the music sounds like something from another, rather inviting planet. Given the impracticalities of the performance apparatus, this is probably your only chance to hear it.

- David Patrick Stearns

Robert Gambill (Siegmund), Mikhail Petrenko (Hunding), Willard White (Wotan), Eva-Maria Westbroek (Sieglinde), Eva Johansson (Brunnhilde). Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Rattle conducting

(Bel Air, two DVDs, ***)

The very idea of any Wagner opera with conductor Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic in the orchestra pit is an automatic draw, and that element is nearly all one could want: Caught live at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Rattle & Co. have all the majesty of Georg Solti at his peak, but with far more humanity and dramatic specificity. The rest, though, requires patience. The one star voice, Willard White, isn't a true Wagnerian, but he convincingly encompasses the role of Wotan through dramatic rather than vocal power. Eva Johannson is a girlish, wide-eyed Brunnhilde - with a vibrato that's hard on the ears. Everyone else is good without being memorable, and Stephane Braunschweig's production doesn't get in the way. Scenically, the opera takes place in a bare room with a single window, presumably looking out into the hereafter, with a huge stairway leading up to it in Act III. And if the Valkyries seem a bit comical while dragging around dead soldiers, know that Rattle is on record as saying these characters raise his antiwar hackles, and that he thinks of them as vultures. Interesting!

- D.P.S.