Kenny Wayne Shepherd

“The Place You’re in” (Reprise)

Compare to: Believable Picnic, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Earle

It’s funny that Kenny Wayne Shepherd has a song called “Ain’t Selling Out” on his new album, “The Place You’re In,” considering that it seems like he is.

Every song on the album sounds like Shepherd is making a conscious effort to get more radio play than he previously had.

Radio play isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but Shepherd has made an album that is undeniably radio-friendly. Shepherd proves yet again why he is one of the best young guitarists in the industry, however.

Shepherd’s guitar work is excellent, and he has some solo time on every song. The solo performance tends to be very blues-based, which doesn’t always fit well with some of the more grueling rock tracks.

Shepherd co-wrote all the songs on this album, showing that his songwriting skills have improved.

“Get It Together” is the strongest track. The song doesn’t follow normal verse/chorus/bridge structure. Shepherd does this by tweaking his guitar parts so each chorus, verse and bridge sound like a slightly newer, more polished version of the previous.

Even so, the song is played with a tad too much distortion to have a straight blues-rock feel. The solos have a hardcore blues feel, although the effects pedal used doesn’t give off sound that is normally raw enough to good with blues.

There is something to be said for “The Place You’re In” even though Shepherd’s music has lost some of its blues feel. Fans of good, straight-ahead rock music with ridiculous amounts of guitar soloing and heavy distortion will want to check it out, but fans of Shepherd’s previous efforts might be disappointed.

— Dan Hopper

Sum 41

“Chuck” (Island)

Compare to: Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, Midtown

Sum 41’s new album “Chuck” is a bit like opening Christmas gifts at your senile grandmother’s house — you never know what you’re going to get.

It could be a single for radio play, an ’80s metal ballad or a 7-year-old can of Beefaroni from the back of her pantry. You just never know.

Although Sum 41 changes musical styles more than J. Lo changes husbands, the album works. Well, it works better than “Bennifer” did.

Sum 41’s fourth album shifts from pop to punk to metal not only from song to song, but in the middle of some tracks as well.

“The Bitter End” starts with pounding guitars that lead into lyrics that sound like something from the band’s first album, “Half Hour of Power.” However, this is immediately followed by a guitar solo that will have you checking the CD jacket to see if there was a collaboration with Slash from Guns N’ Roses. This pendulum-swing from punk to ’80s hair revival continues throughout the song and serves as a template for the entire album.

The slow tempo on “Some Say,” the infectious chorus of “No Reason” and the furiousness of the album’s first single, “We’re All to Blame,” are worth your money and are all before the halfway point of the disc. But keep listening and you’ll find even more gems buried deeper in the album.

Although “Chuck” may not have a consistent flow, the inconsistencies quickly become a non-issue. They are still noticeable, but greatly outweighed by Sum 41 doing what it does best — amazing guitar solos with catchy, but usually not too poppy, singalong choruses.

— Andrew Shafer

The Advantage

“The Advantage” (5 Rue Christine)

Compare to: Trans Am, Fuckstorm, Fantomas

The golden ping of the Super Mario Bros. theme song can be heard and recognized in many places.

Whether the familiar “do do do do-do do do” is originating from the neighbor’s television or from one of many early ’90s techno songs, beloved video games have spawned the childhood soundtracks for a generation.

Now take a talented, technical rock band and have them cover songs from the original Nintendo Entertainment System. This band is called The Advantage — named after the arcade-style controller available for the NES.

What brings The Advantage’s concept down is the obscurity of the songs the band has redone. Most people who’ve handled the great gray plastic Nintendo controllers will recognize many of the songs found on the album. Megaman, Double Dragon 2 and Super Mario Bros. 2 all include songs that have played on loop in the minds of gamers for years. But seriously, can anyone remember the music from the P.O.W. Camp level of Bionic Commando or the Shark Skeleton level of Bubble Bobble? Those who answered yes have no doubt been hardcore gamers for years, and The Advantage is for them.

By staying true to the original music without using any of the electronica tricks one might expect in an album such as this, The Advantage narrows its audience to the geekiest of geeks.

The Advantage has the potential to carve out quite the sub-niche, but that’s all it will be.

The guitar-picking, righteous basslines and rhythmic drums are all very rad, but muddled by poor production. A few of the songs stand out, but listening to 26 video game songs in a row only works as background music — while playing video games.

— Andrew Mabe

Cake

“Pressure Chief” (Columbia)

Compare to: Soul Coughing, Eels, Butthole Surfers

Often, during the creative process, artists become members of method rather than procurators of inspiration; they become confined by constraints resulting in a work that feels lacking and forced in nature.

Whether the source of this lack of fire is one derived from outside pressure to produce, or an internal desire to succeed, the resulting product may seem like a dull knife, true in form but lacking in function. The new Cake album “Pressure Chief” feels this way — dull and hard-pressed to cut.

For Cake fans who have waited three years for a follow-up to the album “Comfort Eagle,” “Pressure Chief” may come as a bit of a disappointment to listeners expecting to find the same caliber of music.

Tunes like “Carbon Monoxide” and “Tougher Than it Is” are redundant and oversimplified both in lyric and song, resulting in a sound that feels manufactured rather than created. In “Carbon Monoxide,” singer John McCrea pours over the line, “Too much carbon monoxide for me to bear” and “where’s the air?” so frequently that the listener may mistakenly think the CD is skipping.

The album isn’t without a few gems though, with songs like “She’ll Hang the Baskets” and “Dime,” which exercises some of Cake’s finer traits. In “Dime,” McCrea once again uses his ability to write lyrics that flow against their own nature, bending words into shapes and syllables function never intended.

Other songs such as “No Phone” stray away from Cake’s traditional metaphorical lyrics and focus more on the sound. The heart of this song lies within its driving and full nature. Vocals take a backseat role and a catchy bass-ridden rhythm takes over, creating what will be a radio favorite.

Overall, “Pressure Chief” may be more like a can of mixed nuts than a gourmet meal.

Good tracks thrown together with boring repetitive fluff make the album feel exciting at times and sluggish at others. Unfortunately, “Pressure Chief” doesn’t escape the dull blade of monotony and results in an album that might not cut it for the average listener.

— Mark Vestweber