New Music : March 2, 2010 - March 8, 2010

Peter Gabriel "Scratch My Back"
If you only release a new album once every eight to 10 years, you better deliver the goods when you do and the former Genesis singer usually makes the final outcome worth the wait. This is certainly true as Gabriel takes an increasingly tiresome practice, the covers album, and not only puts a fresh twist on the gimmick (all the artists featured are recording Gabriel covers for a companion album, "I'll Scratch Yours"), but also delivers readings so considered that they do what the best covers should: illuminate the material in wholly new ways. Replacing standard rock arrangements with somber orchestration helps, but Gabriel's meticulous singing is the pièce de résistance. The Cajun lilt of Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble" is replaced by a piano and a few strings, and the glacial pace on the David Bowie "Heroes" shows off all the texture and nuance in Gabriel's voice. Also includes great performances of songs from Arcade Fire, Bon Iver and the Magnetic Field. The album is intense, but invigorating nevertheless.

Soundtrack "Alice in Wonderland"
Johnny Depp's turn as the Mad Hatter is the biggest draw for Disney's new adaptation of "Alice in Wonderland." If only he had been involved in compiling "Almost Alice," an album of songs inspired by the film. Surely he would have come up with something cooler than this motley of mall-friendly alt-rock and emo: Owl City,  All-American Rejects, Plain White T's, Tokio Hotel. Nevertheless, the roundup tells of who the album creators were going after. A few glimmers of mischief surface, notably Franz Ferdinand's "The Lobster Quadrille", a woozy "Very Good Advice" by Robert Smith of the Cure, and the poppish tune brought upon Avril Lavigne on "Alice".  

Jamie Cullum "The Pursuit,"
Boyish Brit jazz renegade Jamie Cullum shook things up, working with a different producer and new musicians (members of Beck's band, the horn section from MJ's "Thriller"). "Getting out of your comfort zone is such a cliché for your third or fourth album," he says. "But, you know, it really worked." No argument here. Cullum's fifth full-length sounds more consistent than some of his other willfully eclectic outings. Includes the reading of pop-star Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music" which underscores what a fantastic pianist Cullum is, while the original "I'm All Over It" proves deceptively catchy in a '70s soft rock way. Cullum, if you don'e know is best enjoyed live; his North American tour begins March 4 at the Town Hall in New York.

Blake Shelton  "Hillbilly Bone"
This country star couldn't give a hoot about New York. In the opening lines of "Hillbilly Bone," he disses a Big Apple buddy who's never heard of Conway Twitty, which turns out to be one of the few flashes of originality in the hit song, a duet with Trace Adkins that sounds like an old Georgia Satellites cast-off. The Oklahoma native's new album is being billed as something dubbed a Six Pak, with only a half-dozen tracks (isn't that called an EP?) but carrying a lower price tag. Produced by Scott Hendricks, the album (excuse me, Six Pak) also features collabos in songwriting with Rhett Atkins, Craig Wiseman, and Shelton's girl, Miranda Lambert, and a song titled "Kiss My Country Ass."

Raheem DeVaughn
This Maryland-based R&B vocalist seems to have two topics on his mind on his third album. "The Love & War MasterPeace" is composed of "half socially conscious and half love" songs. On the former tip, DeVaughn invokes the spirit of Marvin Gaye circa "What's Going On" with lead single "Bulletproof" (featuring Ludacris). Nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, DeVaughn also enlists help from rapper Wale on "The Greatness," while Ne-Yo produced "I Don't Care," and the all-star closer "Nobody Wins a War" includes cameos from Jill Scott, Bilal, Ledisi, Citizen Cope, Chrisette Michele and, um, Chico DeBarge.