• COUNTRY

REBA McENTIRE

Keep on Loving You

Valory Music Co.

* * * ½

Keep on Loving You, Reba McEntire's 31st album, isn't altogether unlike the female-centric mainstream country the singer has made a cottage industry of, but she's found better songs and sounds more committed to them than she has at any time since the release of Read My Mind, one of her better albums, in 1994.

Songs like the feisty Nothing to Lose, with its fiddle breaks and quicksilver tempo, and the expert Western swing of I'll Have What She's Having are also the most purely country-oriented tunes McEntire has attempted in decades.

While contemporary cuts like Strange and Just When I Thought I'd Stopped Loving You (a track McEntire, 54, jokes is her ``booty call song'') could be standouts on a Carrie Underwood CD, the elder icon is able to bring considerably more personality to them.

Good fun. But McEntire's story-telling gifts are at their best on Maggie Creek Road, a backwoods tale of a gun-totin' Mama's vengeance on a man who forces himself on her daughter. It's a classic in the vein of her 1991 cover of The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia and helps McEntire mark a welcome return to form.

-- HOWARD COHEN

hcohen@MiamiHerald.com

• R&B

K'JON

I Get Around

Universal Republic

* * *

Don't be fooled by the GQ-style image of K'Jon on the cover, in a trench coat and dark shades glancing over at the album title I Get Around.

This is no wannabe bad-boy R&B poser. The Detroit native's major-label debut, heavy on ballads and retro soul grooves, is music aimed at grown-ups.

The album covers a wide emotional terrain that resonates as authentic and deeply personal.

``My ship has finally come,'' K'Jon declares on the piano-and-strings ballad On the Ocean, which was penned during a drought in his career.

With his versatile tenor always the focus, K'Jon's lyrics reflect themes ranging from the yearning for success and fulfillment explored in On the Ocean to the bond of romantic love.

Spanish-inflected guitar and strings dance around his vocals on This Time, a commitment to family obligations buffeted by a children's choir.

The standout ballads include the throbbing, radio-friendly Fa Sho, offering a smooth invitation to ``my favorite girl,'' and the guitar-driven I'll Never Forget, a lover's vow of eternal devotion.

K'Jon excels at ballads but fails to shine on a couple of hip-hop-influenced tunes, including the predictable After the Club. But as a whole, the album is moving and memorable.

-- WILLIAM T. McGEE

wmcgee@MiamiHerald.com

• ROCK

DISCOVERY

LP

XL

* * *

Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend and Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot have collaborated to form Discovery, a ``recording project'' whose debut album, LP, is adorable and slightly affected, offering a geeky hybrid of the former's orchestral rock and the latter's Upper West Side Soweto.

LP's percussive computer pop approaches hip-hop but veers away from that genre's frequently overwrought production and preoccupation with excess. Minimalist jams such as Orange Shirt and So Insane are refreshingly weightless, and the playfully tinkling melody of Swing Song, while danceable, remains stripped-down. The album incorporates insider friends and references throughout.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@