ALBUM REVIEWS

JACK WHITE BOARDING HOUSE REACH Third Man

For his third solo album, Jack White, the mad scientist of rock, sought out musicians he hadn’t worked with before. Then he listened to what happened. Boarding House Reach is thrilling stuff, but more than a little disorienting. You get the sense that this is what the inside of Jack White’s head sounds like.

The 13-track Frankensteinlike album doesn’t always work, but when it does, it’s like a jolt of electricity, mixing hip hop, gospel, blues, country and hard rock. “Forgive me and save me from myself,” White warns us.

The successes include the funky, hard-rocking tunes Over and Over and Over and Corporation. Ice Station Zebra is brilliant, but in a bizarre way. Many of the album’s best moments are drum-led, extended propulsive riffs, like on Respect Commander.

White’s collaborators include drummer Louis Cato, bassists Charlotte Kemp Muhl and Neon Phoenix, and keyboardists Neal Evans and Quincy McCrary.

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS STONE TEMPLE PILOTS Rhino Records

The four-piece band once closely associated with the grunge explosion of the early 1990s with such hits as Creep and Plush has returned with a new self-titled album and a new lead singer, Jeff Gutt.

Gutt has big shoes to fill, namely those of original frontman Scott Weiland, who was dismissed from the band amid his drug troubles, and Weiland’s replacement, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, who did a two-year stint with the band ( both are now dead).

The album kicks off with Middle of Nowhere and Gut ts in gs with strutting bluster, “There’s a right way/And there’s a wrong way/And then there’s my way.”

The 12-track album is a nice collection of straight-ahead hard rock songs and a couple outstanding ballads.

MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO VENTRILOQUISM Naive/Believe

Meshell Ndegeocello strips much of the glossy production off the 11 covers on Ventriloquism but keeps the songs’ emotional charge, investing them with an ethereal quality that acts as a counter-agent to these accelerated times.

Ndegeocello’s voice travels the breadth of her range across the record, but there’s also air in her vocals, a certain restraint that enhances the moods along with the mellower beats per minute.

She creates a bluesy approach to TLC’s Waterfalls, a transformation which is reminiscent of Taj Mahal’s reinvention of Take a Giant Step. Prince’s own Sometimes It Snows In April is heart wrenching.

Ndegeocello’s talent or need to avoid being pigeonholed may be a handicap when it comes to wider acclaim, but even a dummy will tell you that Ventriloquism is worthy of all ears.