Everest: “On Approach” (Warner Bros./Vapor)
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“On Approach” was originally going to be an independently released CD on Vapor Records. But its original March release got pushed back until when the band got signed by major label Warner Bros. Records. It’s a good thing. “On Approach” deserves the higher profile platform a major label release provides.

The second CD by the group (which gained considerable notice in 2008 when Neil Young picked Everest to open a fall run of dates), “On Approach” finds Everest sounding more cohesive and every bit as compelling as on its 2007 debut, “Ghost Notes.” The group demonstrates an uncommon talent for creating deceptively simple, yet sturdy melodies within a fairly diverse, yet compatible range of song settings. “Dot,” “Catalyst” and “Let Go” are appealing songs that evoke a little sweetness within their rootsy pop sound.
At other points, the band takes its sound in more of a dark and deliberate direction, and the melancholy melodies of songs like “Keeping The Score” and “House Of 9’s” provide a nice counterpoint to the sunnier material on “On Approach.”

The band also shows a harder-hitting side on occasion (“Tall Buildings” and “I’ve Had This Feeling Before”), but again builds plenty of melody within the more assertive feel of the songs.

“On Approach” also has an unusually mature sound for a second album, and its timeless feel suggests that Everest will continue to impress as its career unfolds.
Buy if you like: Wilco, Neil Young

Shout Out Louds: “Work” (Merge)
★★★ 1/2
On its second CD, the 2007 release “Our Ill Wills,” the Shout Out Louds sounded like they had just discovered the Cure and even vocalist Adam Olenius was getting a case of the Robert Smithisms.
Now on “Work,” the band seems to be finding its own voice again. That’s not to say there aren’t still some elements that connect “Work” to the previous two Shout Out Louds CDs.

The band still favors mid-tempo rockers that evoke a bit of the Brit-pop of such acts as Echo & the Bunnymen and Ride. But the influences are less specific on “Work,” as the group crafts a solid set of pop songs that nicely interweave keyboard and guitar parts and avoid the riff-based sound of many groups.

The greater originality and creativity is evident on several tracks. On “1999,” the group uses a simple three-note piano part to help spice up a song that is otherwise anchored by its driving bass line.

On “Play The Game,” the Shout Out Louds pair violin with a particularly striking guitar part to create a lovely ballad. The friskiest song on “Work” — “Four By Four” — is another highlight. It uses a propulsive yet gentle beat, what is essentially a two-note bass line and a descending piano line underneath the chorus to create an addictive song.

If the band can continue to show the growth epitomized by those songs from “Work,” its music will really be something to shout about.
Buy if you like: Belle and Sebastian, Echo & the Bunnymen

Various Artists: “Friday Night Lights Vol. 2: Original Television Soundtrack” (Arrival/Scion Music Group)
★★★★ 1/2
Some soundtracks are a jarring mishmash of styles and seemingly more about promoting individual acts than sonically expressing the program they represent. Fortunately, that’s not the case here.

These tracks are exceedingly well-chosen and well-sequenced, and even though they’re not meant as literal representations of on-screen events, they do evoke moods appropriate to the show. The opener, White Rabbits’ bracing “Percussion Gun,” is perfect for a drama about high-school football; it actually sounds like marching-band drummers were used on the song (which also has great harmonies). The Heartless Bastards’ “Sway” is appealing in a garage-sloppy way; Band of Skulls gets a little heavier with “I Know What I Am.” John Doe’s “The Meanest Man in the World” and the Avett Brothers’ “If It’s the Beaches” are lovely treats, as are AM’s atmospheric “What You Hide” and Augustana’s “Fire.” A.A. Bondy, Sufjan Stevens and Jacob Dylan also make worthy contributions. It’s a keeper.
Buy if you like: White Rabbits, John Doe

Elizabeth Cook: “Welder” (31 Tigers)
★★★★
“Welder” is Cook’s fifth and best album — funny and heartfelt, traditional and yet fully contemporary, it has a shot at winding up as the best country record of 2010.

The host of “Apron Strings” on Sirius/XM’ satellite radio’s “Outlaw Country” channel, the Florida native is a sharp songwriter and evocative singer who has plenty of twang in her voice. The funny “El Camino,” “Yes To Booty” and “Snake in the Bed” bring biting humor about lusting for the absolute wrong guy, the effects of alcohol on the possibilities of sex and just plain goofiness, respectively. But that humor is balanced by personal on songs like the touching, acoustic-rooted “Mama’s Funeral,” which is followed by a song written by Cook’s late mother.

“Girlfriend Tonite” is a lived-in view of marriage and the heartbreaking, grittily realistic “Heroin Addict Sister” might just be the best song on the record.

A cover of “Blackland Farmer” and the honky tonk of “I’ll Never Know” display Cook’s traditionalism, while the rest of the music has too much edge and bite for the middle of the road that is today’s mainstream contemporary country.
Buy if you like: Loretta Lynn, Miranda Lambert

REISSUES:

The Jayhawks: “The Jayhawks (The Bunkhouse Album)” (Legacy/American)
★★★ 1/2
A reissue of the ultra-rare, vinyl-only debut by these alt-country pioneers (yes, they predated Uncle Tupelo), “The Jayhawks” doesn’t actually sound very alt-country. At this point, Mark Olsen, Gary Louris and Marc Perlman (plus drummer Norm Rogers) were more about reflecting their influences — Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers, in addition to the old country stalwarts — than expanding beyond them. The songs deal with classic subjects like drinking and jail (and one wonders if the fast-pickin’ rave-up, “Cherry Pie,” inspired offshoot band Golden Smog’s delectable “Pecan Pie”), and feature intricate picking augmented by Cal Hand’s pedal steel. But they barely hint at the transcendent work (“Blue,” “Waiting for the Sun”) the band would produce once they developed their harmonies and songwriting prowess. A listen to this, however, will make you pull out those Jayhawks classics (“Hollywood Town Hall,” “Tomorrow the Green Grass”) you know and love.
Buy if you like: Uncle Tupelo, Golden Smog

Carole King, “The Essential Carole King” (Ode/Epic/Legacy)
★★★
This two-disc set presents Carole King’s work in two highly appropriate ways.
One disc, called “The Singer,” presents her work in the studio, drawing four cuts from her 1971 smash album “Tapestry” along with a couple earlier tracks, the great “Sweet Seasons” and a song or two from the albums she’s released since the ‘70s including duets with Babyface (pretty good) and Celine Dion (make it stop, please).

Disc two is called “The Songwriter,” and compiles 15 versions of songs co-written by King. Among the stellar cuts: The Everly Brothers’ “Crying in the Rain,” Little Eva doing “The Loco-Motion” and the gorgeous “Up on the Roof” by The Drifters.

Considering King as only a recording artist, singing her own songs while playing piano (she’s really good) undersells her impact on pop music. Seeing her only as just a songwriter does the same thing. She is the rare artist who deserves to be heard as both. Few have done it better.
If you like: Norah Jones, James Taylor