'Idol' winner's cookin' but he's not exactly hot

DAVID COOK David Cook 19/RCA ½ If anyone hoped that David Cook, the first ''rocker'' to win the title of American Idol, would make good on his promise to release a major label debut album that was truly his own brand of rock music, well the resulting David Cook isn't it.

NEW MUSIC

In stores Tuesday

Belle & Sebastian, The BBC Sessions (Matador Records). Double CD features 24 live tracks recorded between 1996-2001 -- including four never-released -- by Scottish indie-pop band.
ALBUM REVIEW

Chapman's 'Future' not so bright

TRACY CHAPMAN Our Bright Future Atlantic ½ Tracy Chapman has been trying to replicate the success of her stunning 1988 debut album ever since (where did those 20 years go?) But, with a few exceptions -- some of 1989's Crossroads, the overlooked 1992 single Bang, Bang, Bang and 2000's nicely varied and melodic Telling Stories album -- she has come up short.
NEW MUSIC

Music available on Tuesday

David Archuleta, David Archuleta (Jive). American Idol fan favorite's debut features the single Crush. Enya, And Winter Came (Reprise Records). Seventh studio album from ethereal Irish singer explores the dark beauty of the holiday season.
ALBUM REVIEWS

Guitar fest finger-pickin' good

BRAD PAISLEY Play Arista Nashville Any arguments over who is the best guitarist in country music today can be settled with one spin of Play, Brad Paisley's new, mostly instrumental CD.
NEW MUSIC

In stores Tuesday

Andrea Bocelli, Incanto (Decca). Tenor sings classic Italian songs. Sarah Brightman, A Winter Symphony (Manhattan Records). Classical/pop singer takes on holiday favorites including Silent Night and I Believe in Father Christmas.
ALBUM REVIEWS

P!nk's feeling a little blue

P!NK Funhouse LaFace Records ½ P!nk is best known for her infectious pop hit Get the Party Started. Maybe she should have called her new album The Party's Over.
NEW ALBUMS

In stores Tuesday

Bloc Party, Intimacy (Atlantic). British indie-rockers channel their inner Cure and Strokes. Cradle of Filth, Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder (Roadrunner Records). Double CD from black metal kings.
ALBUM REVIEWS

Labelle's back on a high note

LABELLE Back to Now Verve Forecast Lady Marmalade, Labelle's 1974 ode to a New Orleans hooker, has remained such a presence in pop culture, most recently as a 2001 remake by Christina Aguilera, Mya, Lil' Kim and Pink, it's hard to believe the trio disbanded all the way back in 1976.
MUSIC

In stores Tuesday

Brett Dennen, Hope for the Hopeless (Dualtone Music Group). Singer-songwriter was one of Rolling Stone mag's ''10 Artists to Watch'' in 2007.
ALBUM REVIEW

Lucinda's in a good mood

LUCINDA WILLIAMS Little Honey Lost Highway Country rocker Lucinda Williams, well-known for her moody introspection, has said she's ''in a different phase of my life, so there are more happy moments'' on Little Honey, her ninth album. Truth is, she sounds downright giddy much of the time.
NEW MUSIC

In stores Tuesday

Kenny Chesney, Lucky Old Sun (BNA Records). Features the hit Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven. Nikka Costa, Pebble to a Pearl (Stax).
ALBUM REVIEW

Is Chrissie just a pretender?

THE PRETENDERS Break Up the Concrete Shangri-La Music ½ Pretenders fans with high expectations for the group's first studio album in six years will be sorely disappointed: Break Up the Concrete is nothing more than singer Chrissie Hynde sowing her rockabilly oats at age 57.
MUSIC

New music in stores Tuesday

Antony and the Johnsons, Another World (Secretly Canadian). Five-song EP from Mercury Prize-winning New York band. Bob Dylan, Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 (Sony BMG). Double compilation album spans the recording sessions for Oh Mercy, World Gone Wrong, Time Out of Mind and Modern Times.
ALBUM REVIEWS

Robin Thicke's latest really is something else

ROBIN THICKE Something Else Interscope On album No. 3, Robin Thicke becomes the Lenny Kravitz of sexy bedroom soul. Like Kravitz, Thicke isn't an originator and borrows so heavily from his antecedents you wonder where they trail off and he begins. But in these times where melody and musicianship is sacrificed for one-size-fits-all rhythm tracks, a crafty album like Something Else is worth starting a collection around.
NEW MUSIC

Enigma, Melissa Etheridge release new albums

Anberlin, New Surrender (Universal Republic). Enigma, Seven Lives Many Faces (EMI). Dreamy electronica with a classical touch. Melissa Etheridge, A New Thought for Christmas (Island).
ALBUM REVIEWS

Browne back with winner

JACKSON BROWNE Time the Conqueror Inside Recordings It would seem unfathomable but Jackson Browne, a left-wing activist who is suing Republican Sen. John McCain for using his song Running On Empty in his presidential campaign, once thrived musically under Republican administrations. His finest, most eloquent albums -- Late for the Sky (1974) and The Pretender (1976) -- were released during the Ford administration.
ALBUM REVIEWS

James sounds good as new

JAMES Hey Ma Mercury ½ British rock band James produced a string of irresistible singles in the '90s (Sit Down, Born of Frustration, Laid), but fell apart when Tim Booth, lead singer and creative heart of the group, left to pursue solo projects.
Album review: Metallica's return to speed metal feels Olympian

ROCK METALLICA Death Magnetic Warner Bros. ½ ''Change we can believe in'' might work for some campaigns but it's never been easy for Metallica to navigate the tricky terrain of musical growth when its fans consider stylistic shifts a personal affront.
ALBUM REVIEWS

Album Reviews | Sure don't know country

JESSICA SIMPSON Do You Know Columbia Early this year when Jessica Simpson announced her shift to country music, she raised the ire of purists and skeptics who saw her as just another faded pop singer to carpetbag in Nashville -- a musical community that lately seems all too eager to take in these outsiders.
ALBUM REVIEW

Album Review | Old Beach Boy shines on his latest solo effort

BRIAN WILSON That Lucky Old Sun Capitol For his return to Capitol Records, home of his greatest Beach Boys songs, Brian Wilson has released a conceptual work with the obvious blueprints being the beloved Pet Sounds and the ridiculously overrated Smile.
ALBUM REVIEW

Album Reviews | Eclectic alt-rockers out with a dandy hit

THE DANDY WARHOLS ... Earth to the Dandy Warhols ... Beat the World Records Like the Pop Art legend who inspired their name, the Dandy Warhols are at their best when borrowing from the hipster world in which they're fully immersed. Past alt-rock hits Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth, Cool as Kim Deal and the swaggering, Stones-y blues of Bohemian Like You (which has now become ubiquitous, thanks to those Ford commercials) all create who-does-that-sound-like moments.
New Music | In stores Tuesday

Blues Traveler, North Hollywood Shootout (Verve). Features the single You, Me and Everything. Eva Cassidy, Somewhere (Blix Street).
ALBUM REVIEW

Album Reviews | Glen makes you believe

GLEN CAMPBELL Meet Glen Campbell Capitol Meet Glen Campbell, in which the country singer covers modern rock songs by Green Day, Travis, U2 and the Foo Fighters in his own style, is one of the season's more pleasant surprises. The new CD's punny title marks the singer-guitarist's return to Capitol Records, the label for which he recorded his most lasting works in the '60s and '70s, including Wichita Lineman and Rhinestone Cowboy.
New Music | In stores Tuesday

Staind, The Illusion of Progress (Atlantic) Shwayze, Shwayze (Geffen Records) Amy MacDonald, This is the Life (Decca U.S.) Ice Cube, Raw Footage (Lench Mob Records)