• POP
DUFFY
Rockferry
Mercury/Rough Trade
*** ½
Welsh singer-songwriter Duffy, 23, will earn plenty of comparisons to Amy Winehouse for her debut CD, Rockferry, but here's hoping that doesn't brand this former waitress a knockoff.
True, both women borrow the sounds of '60s vinyl and update it convincingly. Both have thin, but distinct, expressive voices. Both have infectious lead singles -- Winehouse's Rehab with its ''no-no-no'' hook and Duffy's equally infectious Mercy with its ''yeah-yeah-yeah'' chorus.
Winehouse, who took the edgy girl group sound of the Shangri-Las and modernized it, is brasher, more in-your-face. But Duffy, who reimagines and toughens up the '60s soul sounds of Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick and Al Green's Hi Records era, might be the longer-lasting of the two.
Rockferry's warmer, more melodious, bathed in acoustic instruments and strings, and just as crafty as Winehouse's Grammy-winning Back to Black. Surprisingly, Duffy got her start on a Welsh version of American Idol in 2003, but she's a rarity: a reality show also-ran who has soul and grit and a fresh style. Duffy proves a valuable asset to a recording industry desperate for true new talent.
Pod Picks:Hanging on Too Long, Mercy, Delayed Devotion.
-- HOWARD COHEN
• CLASSICALMOZART
Piano Concertos Nos. 17 and 20
Ove Andsnes/Norwegian Chamber Orchestra
EMI
*** ½
Leif Ove Andsnes is breaking no speed records in his Mozart concerto cycle, with this recording coming four years after the superb installment of Concertos Nos. 9 and 18.
This disc is a worthy follow-up and again displays Andsnes' fleet, stylish way with Mozart. Conducting from the keyboard, the Norwegian pianist plays with quicksilver vivacity and directs the ensemble with equal panache, giving prominence to wind lines, particularly the gamboling bassoon. The Andante is elegant and poised, with the strings providing tart twang, and the concluding Allegretto delightful, with wonderfully witty back-and-forth between Andsnes' piano and the woodwinds.
In the darker D-minor concerto, Andsnes pares down the textures and takes the outer movements at a fast clip in the modern manner, though the tuttis have fine biting edge. The Romanze is elegant and flowing, capped by a lightning Rondeau with plenty of verve and electricity. Andsnes seems incapable of making a recording that's anything less than first-class, and the recorded sound and balance are faultless.
-- LAWRENCE A.
JOHNSON
• DANCEDONNA SUMMER
Crayons
Burgundy/Sony
* ½
Donna Summer hasn't released a studio album in 17 years, and to find her last truly exceptional full album you would have to reach all the way back to 1980's The Wanderer.
Since then, her old disco hits have been compiled and re-compiled on countless best-ofs, with the occasional new song or two added as incentives. But those stray tracks -- Love is the Healer, I will go with You (Con te partiro) and Melody of Love -- were of such high quality the prospect of a new Summer disc tantalized fans.
Beware of high hopes, though. Crayons (in stores Tuesday) is a crushing disappointment. Summer's understandably leery of doing disco again for fear of coasting on old glories and not exhibiting growth. But at 59, she also sounds desperate for a hit by using the producers behind younger acts Rihanna, Pink, Sean Kingston and Ciara. She does so at the expense of her own superior style.
She's rendered generic, buried in cheap-sounding, machine-driven beats on plasticized, forgettable dance/urban pop tracks like the single, Stamp Your Feet, the title track (a duet with Ziggy Marley) and the formulaic Brazilian pastiche, Drivin' Down Brazil.
The minor highlights include the electronic I'm a Fire, which has already given Summer the distinction of having a Billboard No. 1 Club Play hit in every decade since the '70s. Fame (The Game), a cautionary yet trite tale on surviving show business, aims for some of Hot Stuff's rock bite but, like the rest of Crayons, falls short.
Pod Picks:Fame (The Game), I'm a Fire.
-- HOWARD COHEN
Audio | Duffy: 'Hanging On Too Long,' from the album 'Rockferry'