Cry of defiance

Carrie Underwood Cry Pretty Universal

YOU can always count on Carrie Underwood to churn out songs about exacting revenge on cheating boyfriends (Before He Cheats, Dirty Laundry) and spiritual anthems (Jesus Take The Wheel, Temporary Home).

This time round, on her sixth album, Cry Pretty, there’s none of those. In fact, her new material is quite a departure from the Carrie Underwood we’ve come to know and love.

Life-altering events during the album’s production may have something to do with it. Late last year, she ended up getting some 50 stitches on her face after falling down outside her home.

The freak accident inspired the emotionally-charged title track. Filled with meaningful lyrics and sung with so much conviction, the song is one of her strongest efforts in her 13-year music career.

The roaring ballad encourages listeners to embrace life’s tears instead of bottling them up. That howl she performs towards the end is the perfect embodiment of letting out our deepest sorrows.

Elsewhere, Underwood also chooses to use her voice to shine a spotlight on pressing current issues. In The Bullet, the 35-yearold takes on the most divisive topic affecting the United States yet – guns.

The power ballad opens with a scene at a funeral of a victim who presumably died of gun violence.

The narrative suggests that the bullet didn’t only take its victim’s life but greatly affected the lives of the victim’s many loved ones long after he or she has died. “The bullet keeps on going,” she sings despairingly.

A similar theme runs through Love Wins – in which she sings, “a stray bullet and a mamma cries” – though it is decidedly more hopeful and upbeat.

There’s a strong sense of purpose in these songs that I haven’t heard from Underwood before. Another marked difference in

Cry Pretty is the introduction of pop, dance and R&B.

Perhaps in an effort to tap into the mainstream market, she leans heavily on these influences on tracks like That Song That We Used To Make Love To, End Up With You and Backsliding. The former, in particular, might just be catchy enough to climb the pop charts.

Interestingly, it’s not jarring at all. The country crooner’s voice is versatile enough to carry these songs.

While Cry Pretty sees Underwood making significant changes in her musical direction, one thing remains the same – her voice. Her powerful vocals thunders through the album (especially on the title track, Low and The

Bullet) the same way it did during her American Idol days. She can’t cry pretty but she sure can sing pretty. – Kenneth Chaw

Good Charlotte Generation Rx MDDN/BMG

ON their new album Generation Rx (MDDN/BMG), Good Charlotte’s Madden twins, Benji and Joel, tackle current issues with the same brashness they used to puncture the lifestyles of the rich and the famous when they started out two decades ago.

The single Prayers shows how much things have changed, as they use a straightforward rock framework to throw punches at the “thoughts and prayers” culture. “I see a little girl who’s crying ‘cause she lost her family,” sings Joel Madden. “All these strangers sending thoughts and prayers, she’s buried underneath.”

It’s a powerful image, delivered simply, showing how effective a rock anthem can still be at that.

On the soaring rock ballad Cold Song, Good Charlotte shows they can handle massive arrangements as well, using them to offer support, “I want you to know, you’re not alone.”

On Actual Pain, they take on the opioid crisis. Shadow Boxer takes on bullying and esteem issues with raging guitars. While their views on these topics may not be deep, they are certainly memorable, making Generation Rx a first step that could introduce fans to a lot of new ideas. – Glenn Gamboa/ Newsday/Tribune News Service

Paul Mccartney Egypt Station Universal

PAUL McCartney isn’t done innovating just yet.

Sure, Macca is embracing his past a little more than usual as he rolls out his new Egypt Station, which had a few recording sessions at Abbey Road. He even revisited Liverpool to reminisce with latenight TV host James Corden.

But there is no doubt he is still looking ahead. You can hear it in the first single I Don’t Know ,a piano ballad that harkens back to The Beatles’ heyday but still sounds current, as producer Greg Kurstin applies some of the sonic dynamics he has used with Adele.

The framework of Egypt Station allows McCartney to try all sorts of styles, as he imagines each song as a different stop on a train ride. There are some surprisingly risqué numbers, including the rocking

Come On To Me, which is his first Top 10 single since 1997 on any Billboard airplay chart, and the even more straightforward Fuh

You, which sounds like a mix of a Coldplay anthem and Katy Perry’s Roar.

Back In Brazil is a suite of wild world beat styles, with bits of bossa nova, blooping synths, random screams and funky organ riffs. Despite Repeated Warnings is a seven-minute epic tale of a captain piloting his ship into dangerous territory, though with lines like “Those who shout the loudest may not always be the smartest, but they have their proudest moments right before they fall” it’s clear Macca is also referring to someone specific. It builds to a dramatic close, with a choir singing, “It’s the will of the people.”

McCartney is more direct on the future singalong People Want Peace, as well as the charmingly simple Happy With You.

Egypt Station is easily McCartney’s most pop-friendly collection in two decades, since 1997’s Flaming Pie, but he accomplishes it with some of the experimental edge he has cultivated in recent years. It’s a combination that would work for anyone, but is especially thrilling coming from McCartney. – GG

Paul Simon In The Blue Light Sony

JUST because Paul Simon is set to retire from touring later this month does not mean his creative well has run dry.

Simon’s new album, In The Blue Light, reinterprets songs from throughout his career to create something new, something that reflects his current tastes while still standing the test of time. For the most part, the new versions are simpler and more elegant than the originals, whittled down to their essential beauty with help from jazz greats like Wynton Marsalis and Bill Frisell, as well as the chamber music ensemble y Music.

Simon slows down One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor, making it warmer and bluesier than the version from 1973’s There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. Can’t Run But from The Rhythm Of The Saints is also warmer — less icy Philip Glass minimalism and more energetic acoustic chamber music — thanks to a new arrangement from The National’s Bryce Dessner. Marsalis turns Pigs, Sheep And Wolves — one of four songs reworked from You’re The One — into a New Orleans-styled party. Replacing the original’s dramatic bass line with a swinging horn section to spectacular effect, like most of In The Blue Light .–