New Recordings: Marc Anthony, Mayer Hawthorne, Pokey LaFarge

Marc Anthony

3.0

(Sony Music U.S. Latin ***1/2)

nolead ends Marc Anthony has remained his own man. He married Jennifer Lopez and never got a stupid hybrid title (no J-Arc or Ma-Lo). He sang "God Bless America" at baseball's All-Star Game and got Twitter grief for it ("How dare immigrants sing our song?"). But he brushed it off, went on TV, and reminded audiences he was of Puerto Rican descent and born in New York. As a singer, he's rarely succumbed to slick, gringo pop.

But salsa is where Anthony lives, where he made his bones, and where his pointedly expressive voice settles most handsomely. It is thrilling, then, that 3.0 is his first original tropical recording in eons (he covered salsa sensation Héctor Lavoe for his 2007 film El Cantante). Make no mistake: There is lush pop in ballads such as "Espera." For all the beauty of his voice and the rocky romanticism conveyed throughout 3.0, there is swagger. "Hipocresía" is as gutsy as it is graceful. The guaguanco grooves of "Flor Pálida" open wide for Anthony's warning - that an untended flower is a dead one. Impresionante.

- A.D. Amorosi

nolead begins Mayer Hawthorne
nolead ends nolead begins Where Does This Door Go
nolead ends nolead begins (Republic ***1/2)

nolead ends Wearing a snazzy suit and casting yourself as a retro-soul act is a fine way into the music business, but a potential artistic dead end. Those attempting to paint themselves out of a creative corner in 2013 include Fitz & the Tantrums (with the hit-and-miss More Than Just a Dream) and JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound (with the breakthrough Howl). And now Mayer Hawthorne, the Ann Arbor-born, Motown-schooled slickster who's on his third album (first on a major label), seems well positioned for stardom.

Working with a host of producers, including the ubiquitous Pharrell Williams, and making room for drop-ins by the likes of rapper Kendrick Lamar, Hawthorne makes his play with a laid-back, cool-as-a-cucumber lover-man persona. Occasionally, he slides into the wholly generic. (Did he really just sing, "We'll forever be ships passing in the night?" in "Corsican Rose"? Yes, he did.) But while he's mostly a mild vocal presence, songs like the lead single "Her Favorite Song" and "Reach Out Richard" show him stretching out sonically while showing off his aptitude for creating soothingly seductive ear candy that would sound right at home on 1970s AM radio.

- Dan DeLuca

nolead begins Pokey LaFarge
nolead ends nolead begins Pokey LaFarge
nolead ends nolead begins (Third Man ***1/2)

nolead ends On his website, Pokey LaFarge declares: "It's not retro music. It's American music that never died." On his fifth album, the St. Louis-

based singer and guitarist makes another irresistible case for that claim.

Although only 30, LaFarge draws mostly from pre-World War II sounds. But he still comes across less like a mannered preservationist and more like an inspired original. The way he mixes and matches jazz, ragtime, and country blues is matched by the natural verve and charisma of his singing, whether he's crooning through ballads like "What the Rain May Bring" and "Let's Get Lost" or tearing through rhythmically harder-edged numbers like "Central Time" and "Close the Door." Sealing the deal is LaFarge's songwriting. Drawing often from his own Midwestern upbringing, he avoids gauzy nostalgia and gives these performances an undeniable immediacy that makes them as resonant and vital as anything out there.

- Nick Cristiano

Top Albums in the Region

This Week Last Week

Locally   Nationally   Locally

1   1    Jay Z Magna Carta ... Holy Grail   1

2   3    Kidz Bop Kids Kidz Bop 24   -

3   2    Sara Bareilles Blessed Unrest   -

4   4    Ace Hood Trials & Tribulations   -

5   7    J. Cole Born Sinner   3

6   32    Taylor Swift Red   17

7   8    Teen Beach Soundtrack    -

8   10    Cody Simpson Surfers Paradise   -

9   6    Imagine Dragons Night Visions   7

10   9    Justin Timberlake 20/20 Experience   12

SOURCE: SoundScan (based on purchase data from Philadelphia and Montgomery, Delaware, Bucks, Chester, Camden, Burlington and Gloucester Counties). Billboard Magazine 8/3/13 © 2013

Buddy Guy, Rhythm & Blues;

Vince Gill & Paul Franklin, Bakersfield;

Robin Thicke, Blurred Lines;

Keiko Matsui, Soul Quest