music

POP/ROCK

Allison Iraheta, "Just Like You" (19/Jive)

There are times on Iraheta's spunky, tomboy debut when she comes close to genuine Joan Jett grit. Even though this "American Idol" finalist isn't even 20, she sounds as if she's been hoovering Marlboro Reds for the past 35 years. Iraheta relaxes on the album's second half, and the result is genuine swagger and presence. "D Is for Dangerous" and "Holiday" are good, toothy rock songs. The album's best track, "No One Else," penned by Pink and "Idol" judge Kara DioGuardi, plays like a leathery Heart ballad, tender but empowering.

"Just Like You" starts with a desperate Kelly Clarkson attempt, the go-nowhere club bouncer "Friday I'll Be Over U." The awkward Britney song is next: the lazily titled "Robot Love." It's not until the fourth track, "Don't Waste the Pretty," when you start to remember just how good Iraheta could be on "Idol." Iraheta might wind up selling some records. Maybe not now, and maybe not with these producers. But strip down her sound. Let her live a little.

SEAN DALY, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

Them Crooked Vultures, "Them Crooked Vultures" (DGC)

As supergroups go, this trio -- Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones -- is pretty super. What's more, this self-titled riff-rock debut is superior to most big-name one-off powwows because it refuses to take itself too seriously. Led Zep is the obvious starting point, with two prodigiously talented alt-rock fanboys getting their jollies playing with the monster bassist who laid down the foundation for Robert Plant's ululations. But TCV brings the heavyosity without ever growing overbearingly imitative, and the trio is often unabashedly silly -- see the psychedelic "Interlude With 'Ludes" -- while remaining more than serious enough about the business as of constructing scuzzy, boogie-down productions like the swirling "Scumbag Blues" and the stampeding "Elephants."

DAN DELUCA, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER