Records are rated on a scale of one (awful) to five (classic) stars:

Pop/Rock

Foo Fighters 'Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace' (Race)

By now, people know what to expect from the Foo Fighters: earnest, no-frills, high-fidelity guitar-rock that can be explosive or detour to the softer side.

The band stays the course on its sixth record, built just right to crank up in the car. First single "The Pretender" is vintage Foo, going to No. 1 on the Modern Rock Charts with driving guitars revving up to a tight, raging chorus of "What if I say you're not like the others?!!"

Dave Grohl follows the master formula of quiet-to-LOUD nirvana on "Erace/Replace" and the slow-burning "Come Alive." He mixes it up with "Summer's End," carrying the slightest Outlaws twang, and the flashy acoustic guitar instrumental "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners."

Grohl will never be confused with a lyrical genius or a musical innovator, but he's the voice and (bearded face) of alt-rock and he rarely takes a bad step.

-- Scott Mervis,

Post-Gazette pop music critic

Iron and Wine 'The Shepherd's Dog' (Sub Pop)

No needy to worry about Sam Beam wallowing in a rut. The lo-fi master who goes by Iron and Wine takes another step away from minimalism on this third full-length while still managing to hypnotize with spiraling melodic loops and whispery vocals.

Fueled perhaps by his side project with Calexico, "The Shepherd's Dog" is a masterpiece of woodsy texture that begins with Beam's fingerpicking guitar and layers on dense percussion, string instruments from steel guitar to sitar to violin, keyboards, accordion and electronics. It becomes a world-beat tapestry that's a little Indian raga, a little township jive, a little Southern swampy.

Again, it all feels of a piece, one tune flowing gracefully into the next with a set of imagery as textural as the music. Think Nick Drake, think Paul Simon and Bonnie "Prince" Billy. The biggest surprise is "The Devil Never Sleeps" on which Beam (gasp!) rocks like some kind of long-bearded folky Jerry Lee Lewis.

-- Scott Mervis

Joni Mitchell 'Shine' (Hearmusic)

I'll always love those early Joni Mitchell albums and have spent too much time arguing on her behalf.

But I wouldn't waste any breath defending her later stuff. On her first Starbucks release, it sounds like Mitchell's sitting at the grand piano in her beach house with the gorgeous view bemoaning what we've done (we're all guilty) to the landscape.

"Shine" is a preachy dissertation of how we've screwed up the world -- war, pollution, girls on cell phones at shopping malls -- sung in her husky alto and embellished with glossy contemporary jazz textures.

There's little left of the wit, humor and swing that drew people to her in the first place, and it grows wearisome real fast. She even goes back to "Big Yellow Taxi (2007)" to make it more deathly serious. What she ought to do is pick up one of the recent records by one of her early inspirations who goes by the name of Dylan.

-- Scott Mervis

Queen Latifah 'Trav'lin' Light' (Verve)

She can beatbox with the boys, play a tough prison guard and now we know she can sing "Poetry Man" like an angel.

Queen of soul? Maybe not. But that need not detract from "Trav'lin Light," Queen Latifah's second straight vocal collection of jazzy standards and pop tunes.

Latifah and producers Tommy LiPuma and Ron Fair have assembled a first-class project with such A-listers as Abe Laboriel (Jr. and Sr.), pianists George Duke and Joe Sample and bossa nova guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves.

She's up to the challenge, whether delivering the pure soul of "Don't Cry Baby," swinging hard on "I'm Gonna Live Till I Die" or breathing fresh air into 10cc's "I'm Not in Love."

-- Scott Mervis

Barry Manilow 'The Greatest Songs of the Seventies' (arista)

Manilow is back with another collection of covers, having been through what he considers the greatest songs of the '50s and '60s.

But this time, he's in the decade that launched his own career, and he shows a closer relationship and more enthusiasm for these tunes.

The songs are right up his alley -- the soft-pop ballads that played alongside his own on the radio, such as the Carpenters' "(They Long to Be) Close to You" and Bread's "If."

Manilow seems to be an expert in choosing backing musicians, and the lush orchestration expertly complements the arrangements. He sounds in strong voice here, hitting and sustaining the high notes (but, fortunately, not trying to be a Bee Gee with "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart").

The songs sound much the same as their originals, but Manilow puts his stamp on them, such as inserting his signature dramatic key change into "Sailing" and "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother," two of the best offerings on the disc.

The real treats are the acoustic versions of six Manilow hits. The scaled-down arrangements give new intimacy to "Mandy," "Weekend in New England" and "Even Now." The standout here is a salsa/flamenco-esque "Copacabana (at the Copa)" fueled by a spicy guitar accompaniment.

So, are we headed now for the '80s and some Air Supply?

-- Karen Carlin, Post-Gazette staff writer

Jazz

Muhal Richard Abrams 'Visions Towards Essence' (Pi Recordings)

The Art Ensemble of Chicago had a motto: "Ancient to the Future." They embodied it by combining forward-thinking aesthetics with strong Afro-American roots, and by serving as the flagship group for the Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. The problem is that the participants are growing ancient, waiting for a future that hasn't arrived. Crucial players such as Lester Bowie and Malachi Favors are no longer with us.

That's why it's all the more important to treasure the pioneers we have left, such as Muhal Richard Abrams, the pianist who co-founded the AACM in 1965. In the past 40 years of his storied career, he has released a slew of albums as a headliner (often on the Black Saint label) and served as sideman for everyone from AACM compadres Anthony Braxton and George Lewis to Dexter Gordon, Chico Freeman, and Max Roach. Distinguishing himself as a formidable composer by writing string quartets (for Kronos) and symphonies, he became a sought-after instructor of jazz and composition in the United States and Canada, despite being mostly self-taught.

Yet Abrams himself has said that his real musical essence is revealed in solo performances, and this new CD, recorded at the Guelph Jazz Festival in 1998, makes that case quite well. Jazz piano lovers should be aware that "Vision Towards Essence" is no facile ivory-tinkling in a martini lounge, nor is it suitable for an audio bed below the chatterings of some NPR nerd.

This is serious listening music, with each piece extending to 20 minutes and demanding the audience's complete attention, while Abrams proves his prowess by ranging all over the map. The first track has passages darkly brooding and lightly lyrical. The second piece veers between the virtuoso licks typical of a classical pianist with a New Music penchant, and the tonal clusters one might expect from a Cecil Taylor or Matthew Shipp.

The final track works in more bombastic runs and abrupt punctuations, occasionally focusing on key dissonances in both hands, and even briefly moving into an avant-garde version of a boogie rhythm. The relentless proceedings on Abrams' personal "Vision Fest" never grow weary (there are no silences or ECM-style reflections), which is amazing for a man of 68 at the time (he's now 77 and still going like the Energizer Bunny).

-- Manny Theiner for the Post-Gazette

---

Correction/Clarification: (Published Sept. 29, 2007) The review of the Muhal Richard Abrams album included in this collection as originally published Sept. 27, 2007 incorrectly indicated that jazz musician Henry Threadgill was dead.