By the writers of Last Word Features

Jack Johnson: ‘To The Sea’ (Brushfire)
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-And on his fifth album, Jack decided it was time to rock – at least a little bit.

In other words, Johnson, who has always been known as an acoustic performer, gives his legion of fans some new wrinkles on “To The Sea,” by plugging in with his band and doing more then half of the album electrically. The extra muscle works well, adding extra instrumental interest and some energy and groove to his poppy sound. In fact, Johnson positively rocks on “At Or With Me.”

The title song gets a bit of soul out of its soulful overtones. “From The Clouds” has a bit of a 60s pop vibe and sounds like it could have gone in a doo-wop direction had Johnson chosen that treatment. On “You And Your Heart,” Johnson works up a pretty frisky jangle.

There are also several acoustic songs (“Turn Your Love” and “Anything But The Truth”), so Johnson isn’t leaving that signature behind. Throughout “To The Sea,” one thing that stands out is the simple chord patterns and melodies in Johnson’s music. Simple can sound under-developed in the hands of some artists, but here it only highlights the sturdiness and directness of the songs.

Johnson may be risking alienating some fans that are stuck on the idea that he’s an acoustic artist with “To The Sea.” But it’s hard to imagine anyone not being won over by the simple charms of this unfussy, effortlessly melodic album. – Alan Sculley
Buy if you like: Jason Mraz, G. Love and Special Sauce

Dixie Chicks: ‘Playlist: The Very Best of Dixie Chicks’ (Columbia/Legacy)
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This Dixie Chicks collection picks two songs from “Wide Open Spaces,” the trio’s first CD with Natalie Maines singing, then adds three each from the albums “Fly” and “Home” before ending with four tracks from “Taking The Long Way.”
The first eight songs were all hits, reaching No. 1 or 2 on the country chart. The last four from the Chicks’ less-commercial, post-controversy album didn’t come close to charting. But because the set is presented in chronological order, it’s easy to hear the development of the group, which starts at the harmony-drenched, mainstream country, incorporates the cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” then becomes artier and more complex with the final tracks.
“Playlist” isn’t a greatest hits album. Among the omissions here are “There’s Your Trouble,” “Goodbye Earl” and “Travelin’ Soldier.” But it’s a good sampling of the trio’s career and a vivid reminder of why the Chicks ruled country music for a few years and continue to be missed, even if they’re harvesting some cash on The Eagles tour this summer. — L. Kent Wolgamott
Buy if you like: Courtyard Hounds, Emmylou Harris.

Bettye LaVette: ‘Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook’ (Anti-)
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At age 64, Bettye Lavette has only recently received the recognition she so richly deserves. She is one of our great soul singers. “Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook” is further evidence of that, a disc in which she pulls you into familiar songs and makes them something new and, in many cases, more emotionally powerful than the originals.
“Interpretations” is the perfect title for LaVette’s take on a dozen songs from the likes of Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Elton John and The Who. Stripping the songs down to their essence or soaking them in lush strings and choruses, LaVette gives the songs an R&B treatment that, with the exception of the Stones’ “Salt of the Earth,” was only hinted at in the originals. Her voice is rough and broken, gravelly and haunting, and she puts it to fine use, finding an anguish in the Moody Blues’ “Nights in White Satin” and turning the Ringo Starr ditty “It Don’t Come Easy” into a meditation far deeper than pop. She gives an up-tempo horn-punched Memphis blast to Eric Clapton’s “Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad,” before wrapping up the disc with her performance of The Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me” that brought the house down at the Kennedy Center a couple years ago. — L. Kent Wolgamott
Buy if you like: Aretha Franklin, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.

Tokyo Police Club: ‘Champ’ (Mom + Pop Music)
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This group’s 2008 debut, “Elephant Shell,” had promise written all over it, as the songs showed a genuine talent for writing catchy pop with a decidedly modern edge. Now comes “Champ,” and Tokyo Police Club delivers – and then some, on the expectations that come with being a buzz band.
The new CD is full of the kind of songs that give pop music a good name. Songs like “Boots Of Danger (Wait Up)” offer kinetic energy to go with plenty of pop hooks. “Bambi” brings an electronic edge into the group’s sound, as its stabbing riffs and percolating keyboard lines give the song a unique sound. “Gone” uses a harpsichord type keyboard to bring a bit of a baroque touch to a mid-tempo track that otherwise could fit on a Death Cab For Cutie album. On “Big Difference,” the band kicks the tempo into overdrive and matches the energy with an angular, new wavish melody. A lead guitar line that weaves its way through “Favourite Colour” brings a tangy edge to what otherwise could have been a pretty straight-forward pop song.
And so it goes, as Tokyo Police Club consistently finds ways to make modern pop sound fresh. That makes “Champ” a hands-down winner. — Alan Sculley
Buy if you like: Tapes ‘n Tapes, the Vines.

Box Set

John Mellencamp: ‘On the Rural Route 7609’ (Mercury/Island/UME)
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John Mellencamp took his sweet time putting together a retrospective of his career. And thankfully, he chose not to slap together a collection of greatest hits with a few outtakes and “bonus tracks.”
No, The four-disc set, “On the Rural Route 7609,” is a true retrospective, with a track-by-track commentary, songs in their evolutionary phases and cuts that deserve far more attention than they earned when first released. But it’s also not quite a retrospective, in that it’s not about reflecting every period of his career. It’s more about introspection, a songwriter examining the meaning of his work, and his life.
It all comes into focus when Joanne Woodward reads “The Real Life” to start disc two:  “I guess it don’t matter how old you are/or how old one lives to be. I guess it boils down to what we did with our lives/and how we deal with our own destinies,” she says. And that’s what this carefully sequenced set is really about: Mellencamp’s quest to be a better man, for forgiveness, love, freedom. His consideration of youth and mortality. His railing against injustice and inequality, against prejudice, hypocrisy, hate.
Mellencamp hated his early image as a pretty-boy rocker; the very name “Johnny Couger” makes him cringe. As his career has evolved, he’s worked hard to earn critical respect. But even if he never gets as much as he deserves, he’s got something more important: A body of work that’s both topical and timeless. As Anthony DeCurtis correctly points out in his brilliant essay, Mellencamp also had a hand in formulating the sound we now call alternative country/Americana. He isn’t acknowledged for that because he committed the sin of having too many hits, DeCurtis writes. But if ever there was an artist who deserved the Americana Music Association’s “Spirit of Americana” Free Speech Award, Mellencamp certainly does. Or at least, a Lifetime Achievement Award for songwriting. As much as Bruce Springsteen or his Farm Aid co-founder Neil Young, he’s captured the American experience in ways that make his work a vital part of our musical canon — in any genre.  — Lynne Margolis
Buy if you like: Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young.