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The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 22, 2008

SOMEONE STILL LOVES YOU BORIS YELTSIN:

PERSHING

(POLYVINYL) **½

"Dance as if no one's looking" goes the anti-self-consciousness adage. Too bad someone didn't close the curtains when Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin was recording its second album.

On 2006 debut "Broom," Yeltsin shifted gears in the middle of songs, wandered randomly through 40 years of pop stylings and spent so little time trying to make a good record it wound up making a great one.

"Pershing" hardly is a disaster - "Glue Girls" and "Oceanographer" are both wonderful - but it's a disappointment, reining in the band's quirks for a smoother modern-pop surface. The group tries so hard not to make a bad impression that it winds up barely making one at all.

Download this: "Oceanographer"

Curtis Ross

LADY ANTEBELLUM:

LADY ANTEBELLUM

(CAPITOL) ***

After a first listen, the question we couldn't get past was, "This is a debut album?"

The harmonies are spot on. The lyrics are well-crafted. The production is so polished, it feels like the songs have been buffed with a chamois. This is a remarkably solid album, considering that vocalists Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley and singer/guitarist/keyboardist Dave Haywood have been together only about two years,

More Mellencamp-style roots rock than traditional country, the disc's most valuable performer is Scott. Her harmonies with Kelley, especially on "One Day You Will," mesh perfectly. And the small-town-girl story of "Home Is Where the Heart Is" can stand with any Jo Dee Messina song.

Download this: "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"

Jeff Houck

KAKI KING:

DREAMING OF REVENGE

(VELOUR) *

Guitarist Kaki King reportedly was aiming to make "Dreaming of Revenge," her fourth album, her most accessible. But only one song, "Pull Me Out Alive," has a memorable melody or hook.

Most of the cuts, half of which are instrumental, don't have much kick to them. But still, the instrumentals are the most interesting tracks on the album. When she adds her wispy vocals and angsty lyrics, it makes you wish for more guitar and fewer words.

It seems like she's aiming for old Liz Phair, but it sounds more like Liz Phair if she'd gone completely uncool. Like, if she had started singing from her ninth-grade diary on open-mic night in a really small college-town bar.

Download this: "Pull Me Out Alive"

Gretchen Parker

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