Do you like romantic-minded, life-lesson-sharing piano men? Billy, Elton, or that dude from Five for Fighting? If so, try on the self-titled set from Brendan James (Decca, B). His brutally honest kiss off "The Fall" and "Different Kind of Love" are especially good fits.
With noted producer Tony Visconti working the dials, Richard Barone (of Bongos fame) sometimes achieves a muffled, Paul McCartney-esque vocal aura on "Glow" (Bar/None, B-). The album-sticker hype - "Like a lost solo Beatle album from a glam-rock future world" - is a bit of an overstatement, though.
ONE STEP BEYOND: With his smartly spiced, sweet-swaying, Spanish-language renderings of songs like "Tenderly" and "Perfidia," vocalist Issac Delgado's "L*O*V*E" (Calle54/Masterworks, A) offers an apt tribute to Nat King Cole as a promoter of Latin-flavored pop. Brother Freddy Cole even pops in to lend a couple of vocal assists.
As "The Trio of Oz" (Ozmosis Records, B), keyboardist Rachel Z, drummer Omar Hakim and acoustic bassist Maeve Royce join the parade of jazz talents riffing on contemporary rock hits - including florid, Keith Jarrett-like twists on Coldplay's "Lost" and New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle." Other cites include Alice in Chains (heavy!), the Swedish psychedelic band Dungen (in town at Johnny Brenda's tonight), the Killers, Morrissey, Death Cab for Cutie and the Police.
BLUES 'N' FOLK: Got room in your heart for another blue-eyed emulator of classic soul music? Eli "Paperboy" Reed hopes you'll "Come and Get It!" (Capitol, B-). Don't think that the more newsworthy James Hunter and James Morrison should feel especially challenged.
