POP/ROCK

Sade, "Soldier of Love," (EMI/Credential)

When you get right down to it, there's not much difference between hair-metal sociopath Axl Rose and quiet-storm songstress Sade Adu. Both are eerily reclusive. Both go long stretches without releasing music. And when they do unveil something -- such as this album, Sade's first since 2000's "Lover's Rock" -- it's not "new" at all. Over the course of six albums (in 26 years), her undulating rhythms have centered on love and its mysteries. She doesn't make false moves, and she expects the same of her tight band. Guitarist-saxophonist Stuart Matthewman gently merges Latin and African influences, an exotic melange perfect for the singer's melting-pot vocals. Much like Jack Johnson's, Sade's voice exists in an ethereal range between high and low. She uses subtle inflection and propulsive sway to great effect, and there's remarkable honesty, sensuality and pain in her vocals.SEAN DALY, St. Petersburg Times

Ike Reilly, "Hard Luck Stories" (Rock Ridge)

Reilly has always come up with intriguing album titles -- "Salesmen and Racists," "Poison the Hit Parade," etc. Now, for the best album of a brilliant lot, the title is rather generic. But that is the Chicago-area rocker's only misstep. Reilly is still mixing the motor-mouth wiseguy dazzle and bent blues of "Highway 61 Revisited"-era Dylan with blasts of the Clash's punkish intensity. But amid the street-poet swagger, audacious humor and industrial-strength hooks, he has sharpened his storytelling skills and revealed a lot more heart: "Lights Out," "The Ballad of Jack and Haley" and "The Golden Corner" help make this the most emotionally resonant of his albums.