Billboard album reviews: Paul Simon, Teena Marie

NEW YORK (Billboard) - On paper, a

Paul Simon album produced by and featuring three co-writes with

Brian Eno is a dream come true. In reality, "Surprise" falls shy of a masterpiece, but it is consistently engaging and offers some of Simon's most creative songs in two decades. Eno brings a tangible sonic resonance to the material, woven through with unconventional song structures and gorgeous acoustic guitar progressions. Six-strings reverberate and wash away in a haze, and drums are tweaked with electronic effects, while Simon's signature voice, often slipping into a heartwarming falsetto, floats effortlessly through the empty spaces. Simon also remains an evocative storyteller, whether assaying the joys of family ("Beautiful"), reaching out to soldiers' families ("Wartime Prayers") or admitting his enduring vanity (the funky, humorous "Outrageous").

ARTIST: TEENA MARIE

ALBUM: SAPPHIRE (Cash Money Classics/Universal Motown)

Teena Marie possesses one of the most distinctive -- and respected -- voices in R&B, and she shows it off to full effect on her second Cash Money album. Named after an unreleased song by late mentor and longtime compadre Rick James, the album features Marie and James reprising their earlier duet magic on "You Blow Me Away." Elsewhere, Marie harmonizes with 14-year-old daughter Alia Rose, family friend Kurupt and another Motown legend,

Smokey Robinson. The Robinson pairing results in the standout "God Has Created." Marie briefly stumbles on "Love Is a Gangsta," whose imagery comes off as a forced attempt at hipness. But Lady T's knack for penning moving lyrics remains intact as her expressive vocals bring to life relatable stories about love and inspiration on the playful "Ooo Wee" and the emotional "Resilient (Sapphire)."

ARTIST: SNOW PATROL

ALBUM: EYES OPEN (Fiction/Polydor Records)

"Eyes Open," the follow-up to Snow Patrol's 2003 breakthrough, "Final Straw," is its first effort with bassist

Tom Wilson (who replaces Mark McClelland) and keyboardist Paul Simpson, who turns the band into a five-piece. This may explain why Snow Patrol suddenly sounds like a cross between Goo Goo Dolls and Train, championing giant radio hooks with generous slabs of keyboards and programming. Gone is the moodiness and intimacy of its predecessor, which balanced happy rockers with atmospheric slow burners that reluctantly soared. Now polished uptempo anthems like "Hands Open" feel one-dimensional, while dreamy arena ballads like "Chasing Cars" and "Open Your Eyes" are too bombastic. Frontman Gary Lightbody keeps crooning about cars ("Headlights") and eyes ("Shut Your Eyes"), offering surface metaphors in lieu of the heartfelt introspection that made "Final Straw" such a keeper.

ARTIST: VARIOUS

ALBUM: SAIL AWAY: THE SONGS OF RANDY NEWMAN (Sugar Hill Records)

This 12-song collection is as compelling and perfectly conceived a multi-artist "tribute" as one could imagine. Drawing entirely from Newman's incredibly fertile early- to mid-'70s era, a diverse yet utterly coherent grouping of alternative country, blues and acoustic artists gives this body of songs an identity all its own. Cajun homeboy Sonny Landreth delivers a searing post-Katrina "Louisiana 1927," while

Steve Earle offers up a sneering take on "Rednecks."

Allison Moorer is devastatingly poignant on "Marie," as is

Kim Richey on "Texas Girl at the Funeral of Her Father." Tim O'Brien, the Del McCoury Band, Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, the Duhks and others prove not only the depth of their own creativity but the amazing versatility and timelessness of Newman's work.

ARTIST: ROY NATHANSON

ALBUM: SOTTO VOCE (AUM Fidelity)

Here's a resounding welcome back for Nathanson, whose "Sotto Voce" brims with a bemused exuberance and bubbles with a strange brew of spoken word, song and improvisation. "Sotto Voce" functions as a hip, lyrical variety show that at turns gets boisterous with instrumental soaring (snaky sax lines, Curtis Fowlkes' trombone slithers, violinist Sam Bardfeld's klezmer-shaded phrasings) and energized by the hip-hop and doo-wop-infused vocals of Napoleon Maddox. Tunes range from Nathanson originals (the playful but poignant "By the Page" and the melodic beauty "Home") to covers like the new-grooved rendering of Bobby Hebb's 1966 soul hit "Sunny." Like Nathanson's spirited projects with the Jazz Passengers, which he and Fowlkes co-founded in 1987, "Sotto Voce" is jazz that stretches the art form.

ARTIST: GRANDADDY

ALBUM: JUST LIKE THE FAMBLY CAT (V2)

Grandaddy's music has always had an undercurrent of melancholy, so it's fitting the group disbanded earlier this year before its final album's release. Through the use of vintage analog keyboards and songs about depressed robots, Grandaddy previously fixated on technology turned newly obsolete. This time, the gorgeous harmonies and lo-fi ELO homages remain, but the lyrics are more personal. "Summer ... It's Gone," "Rear View Mirror" and "Where I'm Anymore" seem to speak of the gradual demise of the band, which, despite critical praise, never had a commercial breakthrough in its 13-year career. At least Grandaddy is ending on a high note, as "Jeez Louise," "Mirror" and the surprisingly rocking "50%" rank among the band's best work. "Fambly Cat" offers a worthy coda to a woefully underappreciated band.

Reuters/Billboard