CD reviews: 7/12

This CD passes by inconspicuously enough until a mid-album song, "Take Me as I Am," raises the question: What is he?

The Season 7 winner of "American Idol" is hell-bent on being a monochromatic Everyman who belts bittersweet relationship songs swarming with clamoring guitars. To be fair, it's somewhat refreshing that Cook has tunnel vision, considering how unfocused so many other former "Idol" contestants have been. Also, Cook has good delivery and his husky voice is well suited to sustain the assault of overwrought production. And though his lyrics are banal, the melodies are generally solid.

A couple of tracks emerge from by-the-numbers arrangements, including a "We Believe" that carries emotional resonance and the restless "Last Goodbye" that harkens Kelly Clarkson's better work. Yet the composite effect of "This Loud Morning" is a colorless blur as Cook and his team build every single song to a cacophonous blowout. Their method doesn't simply lack creativity; it's aggressively anti-creative. Cook can do better.

Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, who are married, are like-minded artists who have made fine music as solo acts. They've toured together before, playing material from their individual repertoires. Now they've put together a group that features musicians from their respective bands and collaborated on original material.

"Revelator" is what you'd expect. It's a richly organic stew steeped in soul and blues, spiced with Dobro, slide, horns and B3. Trucks and Tedeschi are both excellent guitarists -- lyrical solos punctuate many of these songs -- and Tedeschi is a powerful vocalist who never succumbs to the temptation this kind of material offers to get overwrought. Over the course of 61 minutes, though, you wish for a little more of the energy found in the gospel-fueled "Bound for Glory" and the loose-limbed funkiness of "Love Has Something Else to Say." The Tedeschi Trucks Band plays Aug. 26-27 at the Minnesota Zoo.

The 24-year-old vocalist has an ace up his sleeve in superstar producer Polow Da Don, but the combination can't deliver a winning hand with this thin set. The problem for Lloyd (beyond his limited range) is weak material, as the songs rarely rise above generic booty stomps ("Bang!!!!") or insipid love songs ("Jigsaw").

On "Be the One," Trey Songz brings the flavor Lloyd frequently lacks. Andre 3000 helps boost "Dedication to My Ex (Miss That)," which boasts the most insanely salacious hook in recent memory. The bouncy "Shake It 4 Daddy" is beyond redundant, while "Angel" is Lloyd's best vocal, though its sentiments are pure pabulum. The understated "This Is 4 My Baby" and crisis-of-conscience plea "World Cry," with R. Kelly, Keri Hilson and K'Naan, are fine, but they are the rare cuts with gravity.