• JAZZ

TITO PUENTE

Dance Mania

* * * ½

This reissue reintroduces us to percussionist Tito Puente's bestselling recording. The two-disc set from 1957 is full of the Latin dance craze that was coursing through Manhattan's Palladium Ballroom at the time.

Puente, who was born in Harlem of Puerto Rican parents and died in 2000 at 77, was an excellent leader who arranged well and played a plethora of instruments, from his signature timbales to piano, saxophone and congas.

The tempos here were likely a few clicks short of his live performances. But they go down easily. The collection is full of great dance tunes as well as muscular horn lines, ardent vocals, fierce solos and a consummately free spirit. Ray Barretto and Mongo Santamaria are two of the great musicians represented here.

-- KARL STARK

• ELECTRONIC

SOULSAVERS

Broken

Columbia

* * *

It's hard to remember Soulsavers is a collective now that Mark Lanegan's draping his raspy croon all over things. The brainchild of producers Rich Machin and Ian Glover, Soulsavers is on only its third album, but Lanegan's presence has taken their brooding, dark blend of electronica and grounded it firmly in a dark patch of earth.

As on 2007's It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land, Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age) is undoubtedly at the heart of Broken, but he's also joined by guests like Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes, Spiritualized's Jason Pierce, Pulp's Mike Hawley and Faith No More's Mike Patton. There's also newcomer Red Ghost, who more than carries her weight in making Broken a first-class Soulsavers disc.

Opening instrumental The Seventh Proof initially seems like a bit of misdirection, its stately piano and woodwinds standing in stark contrast to the uptempo songs that follow. Death Bells is a hard-charging rocker in the vein of former Soulsavers nuggets like Ghosts of You and Me, with Lanegan reveling in graveyard imagery, while Unbalanced Pieces is all slinky bassline and sensual. Those two tracks, though, begin to feel like Lanegan and company are just working off a little pent-up energy before getting to the real, sentimental business at hand.

Rosa Agostino (Red Ghost) sings with Lanegan on Rolling Sky , its tense arrangement of twangy guitar and squawky saxophones giving the mix of Agostino's sultry vocals and Lanegan's dark croon the feel of some kind of devils' duet. For By My Side, she gets the spotlight all to herself, and does a fine, fine job, sounding a bit like P.J. Harvey in the process. Obviously, even though Lanegan currently gives Soulsavers its personality, there's always room for new voices.

-- ANDREW GILSTRAP

PopMatters.com

• HIP-HOP

MATISYAHU

Light

Epic

* * ½

As a Hasidic Jew singing dancehall reggae and rapping, Matisyahu is so outside the realm of expectation as to be beyond any questions of authenticity, and he's too skilled to be dismissed as a novelty. Born Matthew Miller, Matisyahu is on a mission to spread positive messages on Light, his third studio album.

The album ranges widely, from widescreen electro to triple-time toasting to loping reggae to splashes of hard-rock guitars, and it features guests including reggae legends Sly & Robbie, members of the L.A. ska-punk band Fishbone, and, for On Nature, a boys' choir and bagpipes.

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