N'dea Davenport Self-titled (BMG)

On her virgin solo flight sans the Brand New Heavies, N'dea Davenport is like a gypsy roaming the musical landscape. On her journey, she discovers blues, folk, rock, jazz and, of course, plenty of soul. Along the way, she contemplates love's satisfaction ("Underneath a Red Moon"), life's struggles ("Placement for the Baby"), and time's passing (Neil Young's "Old Man"). She holds it all together with a musical conviction that seems as genuine as her words. She ain't brand new anymore, but she's still plenty heavy. 8/10 (Gerard Dee)

Rancid Life Won't Wait (Epitaph/Sonic Unyon)

Rancid have always had a soft spot in my heart (Tim Armstrong's previous band Operation Ivy may have been the first band to successfully fuse ska and punk). Rancid have had every major label sniffing around them, only to turn their noses up at the hefty monetary offerings. But do they make good music? You're damn right they do. Life Won't Wait is the London Calling of the '90s. Sustaining the Clash comparison, Tim Armstrong's Joe Strummer perfectly offsets Lars Frederiksen's Mick Jones. This 20-song punk rock Exile on Main Street is the real deal from a band who refuses to put out tripe. 8/10 (Johnson Cummins) Listening party at Café Campus tonight, Thursday, June 25, 8:30pm, with prizes and stuff.

Barry Adamson As Above So Below (Mute/Fusion III)

Could he be the bastard child of Nick Cave and Sade, conceived in a haze of liquor fumes, cell phone radiation and lapsed-Catholic gnashing of teeth (check the title)? Current beats and synth-ooze served cold against smoke-stained retro jazz and soul stylings, religious angst and moral erosion reflected weirdly off a faint, gold-toothed grin. Adamson's a scavenger, both musically and in the way he claws through the tangle of darkness around--and inside--us for a few tiny scraps of light and hope. Sounds like he's got his work cut out for him. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Phil Woods/Lew Tabackin ...With Jimmy Rowles, Michael Moore, Bill Goodwin (Evidence/Fusion III)

The co-leaders, two of the most inventive jazzmen on their respective instruments (the alto and tenor saxes), inspire each other on this 1980 session finally released on CD. The superb rhythm team includes the late Jimmy Rowles, an improviser whose harmonic imagination is of the first order. The music here mixes standards, Tadd Dameron, and three by Woods. It cooks from the stompin' opener, "Limehouse Blues." 9.5/10 (Len Dobbin)