POP/ROCK

The Pretty Reckless, "Light Me Up" (Interscope)

Taylor Momsen is too young to make a fatal career move, but the 17-year-old "Gossip Girl" star is part of a grave miscalculation with the debut of her rock band, the Pretty Reckless. The release presents the underage singer as a cheesy, sexualized fantasy of a sassy hedonist. Think Lindsay Lohan in Lita Ford mode.

It's a shame, because Momsen has the pipes to be taken seriously eventually as a soulful belter. And she does have her moments. She's both tough and vulnerable as she nails the melodic chorus of "Miss Nothing," and she masters a growling delivery on "Make Me Wanna Die." Momsen also is a solid presence in the high-voltage pop of the title track.

Other tracks, such as the plodding "Zombie," the enervating "Just Tonight" and the uneventful "Nothing Left to Lose," are dead ends in this mysterious maze. Perhaps someday Momsen will get the irony of this album closing with a song called "Factory Girl," because at this point, she sounds straight off the assembly line.

CHUCK CAMPBELL, SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE

Teddy Thompson, "Bella" (Verve Forecast)

"There is a place where the happiness flows," Thompson sings on "Over and Over." To be sure, that's not a place the prodigiously talented son of English folk-rock greats Richard and Linda Thompson has visited often in his work. And that holds true through his fifth and best album.

The songs on "Bella" wallow in longing and ache, unease and unflinching self- appraisal. ("My longing for control is leaving me cold," he laments on "Gotta Have Someone.") But if the emotions are unvarnished, the music is another matter. Thompson and producer David Kahne frame these downbeat tales in exquisitely crafted, hook-happy pop. Some numbers ("Looking for a Girl," "The Next One") lean toward rock. Others employ strings, such as "Take Me Back Again," which echoes the romantic sweep of the Drifters. Either way, the results have a classic feel, and they are irresistible.

NICK CRISTIANO, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

COUNTRY

Hot Club of Cowtown, "What Makes Bob

Holler" (Proper American)

The "Bob" in the title is, of course, Bob Wills, the American music titan whose Western swing, made with his Texas Playboys, is one of the prime inspirations for Hot Club of Cowtown.

The trio gets to the essence of Wills' appeal with a set that approximates the live-in-the-studio immediacy of Wills and the Playboys' radio transcriptions, while providing a showcase for the members' own instrumental virtuosity, whether it's fiddler Elana James and guitarist Whit Smith dueling on "The Devil Ain't Lazy" or bassist Jake Erwin taking the spotlight on the instrumental "Osage Stomp." With the more familiar material, Hot Club seems to make an extra effort to provide a fresh angle.

NICK CRISTIANO, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER