New CDs: The Cure, Uncle Kracker

The Cure's Robert Smith is a love cat with nine lives. He's the groovy big sister you always wished you had, a swirl of big, sticky hair and lipstick and New Wave angst. He still reigns as the coolest lesbian rock star of all time, even if he's technically a straight guy. The Cure are on a roll these days, and the new album is their most adventurous and passionate since Disintegration. "Before Three," "Lost" and "(I Don't Know What's Going) On . . ." are jaw-droppingly great hymns to romantic obsession -- the Cure's specialty. The first big surprise on The Cure is how loud and resonant the guitars are, with no neo-Eighties keyboards at all. The next big surprise is Smith's huge vocals -- he sounded wispy on the erratic Bloodflowers (2000), but he emotes live and direct here. People tend to associate Smith with adolescent gloom, but he's always sung smart adult love songs -- "The Lovecats," "Just Like Heaven" -- and he hits one of his all-time romantic peaks here, wailing the twisted devotion of "Before Three": "Whispering dreams, so fucked and high/It's hard to hold this night inside." It's the grooviest thing, it's a perfect dream. (ROB SHEFFIELD)

Uncle Kracker 72 and Sunny (Lava)

As Kid Rock's DJ and songwriting buddy, Uncle Kracker juices Rock's albums with redneck funk and can't-miss choruses. But on Seventy-two and Sunny, they're replaced by folkie simplicity and country-crossover schmaltz, with Kracker chasing the success of his 2002 cover of Dobie Gray's "Drift Away." So he duets with Nashville hitmaker Kenny Chesney on the cowboy ballad "Last Night Again" and hires Diane Warren for a lead single, "Rescue," that's stale cheese. (CHRISTIAN HOARD)

Christopher Lawrence All or Nothing (Kinky Beat)

Known as one of America's most beloved trance DJs, Christopher Lawrence finally makes the artist album leap with All or Nothing. Fans of the turntablist's high-energy sets can breathe a sigh of relief, pleased in the knowledge that this collection of tracks gurgles and bursts with spirited dance-floor beats. Heavily waited in the genre for which he is best known, Lawrence harkens back to trance's turn of the century heyday compiling ethereal, vocal-laden, superclub stormers ("Freefall"), quick-fire, scratched up symphonies ("Hot Rod"), wistful, tempered breakbeats ("New Day") and fanciful chiming frenzies ("October's Child"). Cramming it all into just ten minutes past the hour, Lawrence makes All or Nothing a feel good club record, that's as fun as any of the many mixes he's churned out over the years. (JOLIE LASH)

Authority Zero Andiamo (Lava)

Mesa, Arizona's Authority Zero offer little in the way of innovation, but by wearing its main influences -- like Bad Religion ("Painted Windows") and Sublime ("Madman") -- proudly on its sleeve, the band's sophomore album goes where other major label punks like Good Charlotte never will. Sustaining one's attention with the genre isn't an easy feat anymore, but by incorporating ska, reggae and even tossing in a Tex-Mex/surf guitar instrumental, Andiamo comes out mostly fierce and fun. Okay, the group's stab at Wall of Voodoo's classic "Mexican Radio" is regrettable, but by countering it with the inventive pacing and irresistible refrain of "Revolution," AZ has one of the finest radio anthems since that other Mesa band, Jimmy Eat World, dropped "The Middle." (JOHN D. LUERSSEN)

Neurosis The Eye of Every Storm (Neurot)

It's hard to fathom why The Eye of Every Storm, Neurosis' ninth studio effort, runs almost sixty-nine minutes. A three-track EP could have made the same point quite sufficiently. Instead, this album of trippy, industrial-metal-with-hushy-bits is ponderous and self-indulgent. But Neurosis is clearly not without talent. Conceptually there are a few promising buds of sonic-psychological exploration and while there are some interesting lyrics, the vocals of dual singers Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly are half-crazed and buried so deep in the mix that it's difficult to hear. Alas, everything remains bolted inside frustratingly narrow parameters. If Neurosis would use their abilities more progressively, they might just be a noteworthy, new-millennium prog-rock band. Let's hope this veteran Bay Area sextet get it right next time. (ADRIAN ZUPP)

Tres Chicas Sweetwater (Yep Roc)

Tres Chicas are more than just friends -- they're a sisterhood of song. When Caitlin Cary (ex-Whiskeytown), Tonya Lamm (ex-Hazeldine) and Lynn Blakey (Glory Fountain) bring their voices together, they convey sweet heartache and the world-weary acceptance that comes to insightful gals on the tall side of thirty. Their frayed harmonies saunter over melodic folk-rock gems (some culled from their previous bands) and well-chosen covers (Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Lucinda Williams) that sparkle even brighter thanks to ex-dB and North Carolina indie icon Chris Stamey's crisp production. With Blakey's sweet vulnerability on songs like "Heartbeat" ("Some people fall in love, some of us stumble around"), Lamm's languid rhythm and fascination with the unknowable on the Hazeldine tune "When You Sleep" ("All I want to know is in the secrets you keep/When you sleep do you dream?"), and Cary's wordplay, sounding ever like Christine McVie on "Desire" ("Wishing gave me her number/And Waiting won't answer the phone/You're hiding out at Desire's house"), each Chica brings her own personality to the fore. (MEREDITH OCHS)

Music Lovers Cheap Songs Tell the Truth (Marriage)

The Music Lovers play wistful melodies about being a long, long way from home. And they are -- the San Francisco rockers originally hail from the U.K., as a few syllables of singer Matthew "Ted" Edwards' vocals quickly reveal. Their debut EP is a fine collection of domesticated Brit-pop: the piano-driven "Sweetzer Avenue" bounces like late-era Zombies; "The Train Home" haunts like an early Smiths ballad; and the string-heavy "This World vs. the Next World" will put a smile on the face of any Scott Walker fan (ooh, right, he's not British). Edwards' songs are cracking, and they're in good hands with a band whose name says it all. (BILL CRANDALL)

Louque So Long (Everfine/Lava/Atlantic)

Louque -- pronounced "luke" -- offers music with meat on its bones. So Long, the band's debut, is electronic and reggae, alternative and hip-hop, ballad-soft and rock-sure. And it satisfies with every spin. Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and singer Dustan Louque deserves all the credit. The Brooklynite brings into his tunes all the elements of his native New Orleans -- a touch of blasphemy and reverent respect that informs all of So Long -- as well as the blues, country and rock & roll. Here's the Sixties grit of Shoals mixing with London drum-n-bass on "Whoa Now"; here's the reggae of New York's outer boroughs in "Still in Waiting"; there goes Atlanta's glossy R&B in the calculated keyboard line of "Art"; everywhere is hip-hop's reworking the familiar into something sometimes recognizable ("All the Young Dudes" rings clearly in "Time Will Take"), sometimes not (the lyrical play in "I Did" echoes Pennies From Heaven's "The Clouds Will Soon Roll By" and Terence Trent D'Arby's infuriating insouciance). So Long delivers danceable, listenable, radio-friendly music -- pop at its best.(MARIE ELSIE ST. LEGER)