Unlikely star Susan Boyle makes debut

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LISTENING STATION: Slight 'Fall' for Norah Jones

Some songs need less restraint

Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009

The voice of sultry chanteuse Norah Jones is in top form on her new album, "The Fall." The album's key flaw — and not everyone would agree that it is a flaw — is its determined restraint.

LISTENING STATION: U.S. resists Robbie Williams' U.K. charm

'Reality' kills CD creativity

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009

Robbie Williams is, essentially, the Justin Timberlake of Britain. Yet North Americans seem peculiarly resistant to his pop charms. His latest album, "Reality Killed the Video Star," isn't likely to change that.

LISTENING STATION: 'Glee' is karaoke exercise

Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009

The TV season isn't halfway over, but a 17-track CD of the musical highlights from the Fox comedy "Glee" is already in stores.

LISTENING STATION: Pink Martini retro in sound

Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009

It goes without saying that they don't make combos like Pink Martini any more — and one wonders if they ever really did. The band crafts a sumptuous retro sound that harks back to postwar Hollywood orchestras.

LISTENING STATION: Tim McGraw finds his new 'Voice'

Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009

"Southern Voice," Tim McGraw's 10th studio album, is a mix of old-fashioned weepers, love songs and tales of lost children, with a few up-tempo numbers thrown in to keep things spinning. It's a middling effort from the Nashville hit-maker — which is to say it's pretty good.

LISTENING STATION: Quirky sound from the Flaming Lips

Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009

The Flaming Lips' new album is that rarest of rare birds — a sprawling, polyphonic double album of the old school. Think of it as a concept album without a concept.

LISTENING STATION: Alice in Chains' latest steeped in nostalgia

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009

The three surviving members of the seminal grunge band Alice in Chains have re-formed for their first studio album in nearly 14 years and the first without frontman Layne Staley, who died in 2002 from a drug overdose at age 34.

LISTENING STATION: Wider range for Monsters of Folk

Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009

The Monsters of Folk aren't monsters, and they're not really folkies either. The ad hoc quartet brings together talents from across the indie-rock spectrum.

LISTENING STATION: Ex-frontman's 'Lucky' album

Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009

There is a familiar mellowness to Mark Knopfler's sixth solo studio album. The former Dire Straits frontman injects an easygoing, campfire vibe into the 11 songs on "Get Lucky."