POP/ROCK

Michael Bublé, "Crazy Love" (143/Reprise)

Bublé is a master at juggling musical attitudes, and his new CD is his most confident balancing act yet. Appreciative of the past but not reverential, he juxtaposes pre-rock, rock and soul classics without favoring one style. Even at his most emotional, he still insists on having fun. The playfully bombastic "Cry Me a River" is a gargantuan enlargement of a classic revenge song usually sung by a woman. Both in the arrangement and in Bublé's high-on-his-horse vocal, it comes across as a contemporary answer to one of Shirley Bassey's stentorian movie themes, and knowingly flirts with camp.

Because much of "Crazy Love" was recorded live in the studio with a big band and strings, this album conveys the infectious enthusiasm of a singer spontaneously cavorting with musicians. The brawling brass section on "All of Me" spurs Bublée to swing harder than ever. The lush, dreamy "Georgia on My Mind" may not have the ache of the Ray Charles version, but it is steeped in Bublé's own brand of warmhearted nostalgia. His remake with Sharon Jones of the Brook Benton-Dinah Washington duet "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)," from the same era, matches the original in sportive zest.

The softer moments (a 1940s-style "Stardust" crooned with the group Naturally 7; "Whatever It Takes," a duet with Ron Sexsmith) convey an easygoing tenderness. But the most revealing cut is the hybrid rock-big band version of the Eagles' "Heartache Tonight." What the creators imparted with an edge of warning, Bublée turns into a whoop-it-up celebration of nightlife and the mating game.

STEPHEN HOLDEN, NEW YORK TIMES

Lucero, "1372 Overton Park" (Republic)

Four years removed from producing one of the decade's best alt-country albums, "Nobody's Darlings," Lucero has remade itself into something very different. "1372 Overton Park," the band's major label debut, is a surrender without terms to the Memphis sound, complete with horns and backup singers. The album, named for the space where members lived during the band's formative years, is painted with bright colors and big, complex sounds.

This album fits in with today's bands looking for inspiration in Bruce Springsteen, including the Hold Steady. The perfect example here is "Smoke," an anthemic party song that magically blends keyboards with Ben Nichols' textured guitar work and whiskey-scarred voice. The music doesn't have the emotional depth of the band's earlier work. But Nichols is always on his game with tales of heartbreak, loneliness and joy.

Lucero performs Friday at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis.

CHRIS TALBOTT, ASSOCIATED PRESS