CD Report

Sandra Luna
TANGO VARON
Times Square
Enough recent tango albums have become so digitized and remixed that it's easy to forget what the real deal sounds like. One could easily argue that Astor Piazzolla's classics shouldn't twitch and bleep like a robot gone haywire. On "Tango Varon,'' singer Sandra Luna revives the traditional strain of the Argentine art form, more specifically the subgenre called "tango-cancion'' (literally "sung tango''). In Luna's able hands, tango isn't just for dancing; it's for beholding. The title track, which means "Male Tango,'' opens the album on a bold note, though it's a curious choice for the album's name. Granted, tango singers have long been associated with macho males cast from the Carlos Gardel mold, but one of the genre's greatest interpreters, the late Libertad Lamarque, was a female. That said, there's no confusing Lamarque's chirp with Luna's bellow. Her voice is a marvel of Broadway-bound bravado and just enough force to compete with the dramatic orchestrations. Luna's definition of a tango is contemporary enough to envelop the percussion-driven ``Me Llaman Luna,'' and we're all the luckier for it. "Que Nadie Sepa Mi Sufrir'' is an infectious jaunt through bandoneon solos, strumming guitars, and, best of all, Luna's vocals, which tiptoe around the notes as though she were dancing a complex tango.
JAMES REED

Metallica
METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER
Elektra Records
Last year's "St. Anger'' album left some longtime Metallica fans out in the cold. They should be back with this new EP, which includes live versions recorded in Paris last year of some classic Metallica tunes. The EP has the same title as a forthcoming Metallica documentary film that references the making of ``St. Anger,'' but the EP seems clearly designed for those charter fans who go way back in their appreciation of the band. Three of the live tracks are songs from Metallica's first album, 1983 's "Kill 'Em All.'' They include an apocalyptic "The Four Horsemen,'' a guitar-stoked "Motorbreath'' (which singer James Hetfield dedicates to the group's road crew), and a screaming, punk-metal treatment of "Hit the Lights.'' As a further valentine to its early fans (and maybe an enticement for newcomers as well), Metallica rips through two songs from 1986's "Master of Puppets'' record, specifically "Leper Messiah'' and the blistering "Damage Inc.'' The production quality is first-rate and guitarist Kirk Hammett in particular is cranked up. There's also a live version of the latter-day tune, ``Some Kind of Monster,'' but for some reason the recorded version is also included, which seems unnecessary. But the real meat is the incendiary vintage material, which still sounds great. Metallica is at the FleetCenter on Oct. 24.
STEVE MORSE

Cachao
ÙAHORA SI!
Univision
Bebo & Cigala
LAGRIMAS NEGRAS
Bluebird/RCA Victor
Cuban music tends to make you feel as though you've stumbled upon a private party cutting loose with a blazing jam session. In other words, no espaÄnol needed, just a love of good music. When Cuban musicians jam, the songs, sometimes clocking in at 15 minutes, start with a simple enough musical idea, rise to a boil, come totally unhinged, and then somehow return to that initial idea. Usually it's the older musicians who are making the most vital music, as two new albums attest. On "ÙAhora Si!,'' Israel Lopez (a.k.a. Cachao), the legendary octogenarian musician, proves his music only gets better with age. "Mambo Cambio de Swing'' highlights his talents as a master bandleader: Upright bass, violin, timbales, guitar, trombone, and much more collide in a song that burns bright from start to end. On the collaborative album "Lagrimas Negras,'' Bebo Valdes, who like Cachao was born in 1918 and was a fellow innovator in 1950s Cuba, and Spanish flamenco singer Diego "El Cigala'' enliven the quieter side of Cuban piano ballads. Valdes's tender piano tickling cradles Cigala's plaintive voice in all its guttural growls and fragmented exasperations. We're just lucky to tag along for the trip.
JAMES REED

Ric-A-Che
LACK OF COMMUNICATION
Street Records Corporation/Universal
Top-notch production has long since surpassed lyrical skills or singing ability as the biggest key to success in contemporary hip-hop and R&B. Ric-A-Che, a raspy-voiced rapper from just outside Detroit - who like a number of Midwestern MCs sounds as though he's from the South - seems to have recognized that a catchy beat was more likely to get him a record deal than his distinctive voice or elementary lyrics. Che says rapping became his favorite pastime by age 11, and it often sounds as if that's also when his lyrical skills ceased to develop. Songs such as his first single, "Coo Coo Chee,'' or "Gettin' Ugly,'' sound like sleekly produced rap versions of hard-nosed nursery rhymes. In other words, like so much mainstream hip-hop, these songs are entertaining without being lyrically interesting or conceptually groundbreaking. Che's compulsory braggadocio tune, "Thang Thangs,'' as well as his goofy attempt at a second club tune beyond "Coo'' (called "Who Wanna Do Something''), are at times unintentionally hilarious. But more important, they are fun listening. You can imagine yourself at a club bouncing to these and a number of other songs on Che's debut, even if a closer listen leaves you wondering how many battles Che won while plying his trade at the same venues in the Motor City at which Eminem and his protege Royce Da 5'9'' made names for themselves.
ALEX KELLOGG

Uncle Kracker
SEVENTY TWO & SUNNY
Lava
Uncle Kracker goes out of his way to maintain that he doesn't want to be thought of as Kid Rock's DJ, but making this mushy, decidedly rock-lite record is a painful way of distancing himself from his past. The multiplatinum Kracker's music would fit snugly onto '70s playlists and there's a shambling, aw-shucks feel to these 13 tracks. Some may find that endearing but it sounds like he is underachieving in a big way. The singer/songwriter's raspy voice has a range that stretches from A to B, and some of the songwriting here is so rudimentary that you wonder if he might be better off spinning records instead of making them. On the best track, "Place at My Table,'' he confesses his love for classic R&B and country, but you'd never know it from the execution here. The consistently understated approach is appropriate for "Last Night Again,'' the duet with Kenny Chesney, but Chesney's vocals overmatch his counterpart's and only manage to highlight Kracker's shortcomings. Elsewhere, schlock hitmaker Diane Warren contributes the ballad "Rescue'' and it's so cheesy that it's a surprise it's not served with crackers. Cuts like "Blues Man'' and "Songs About Me, Songs About You'' have some hop to them, but for the most part, this Uncle sounds like he's been out in the sun too long.
KEN CAPOBIANCO