Music

This is the best of the Divine Comedy 2 disk compilation, featuring Neil Hannon.

In the run-up to this, her third album, Joss Stone told a phalanx of glossy magazines that the difference between this disc and the two that preceded it was a newfound clarity of vision. Whereas the other records--their gold status notwithstanding--represented the fumblings of a huge-voiced kid being bossed around by experienced music-biz types, this one, she promised, would reveal the real her. Thus, the titular "introduction." To which anybody who spins the 14 groovy and fully unbuttoned tracks herein will wish to reply not "nice to meet you"--far too lame a sentiment for so fully realized a disc--but "Where have you been all my life?" As good as Joss Stone's previous efforts are, Introducing Joss Stone represents a giant step forward: there's a freshness to these songs that suits her age (19 as of the album's release) and a funkiness that suits modern pop sensibilities. There's also a cross-hatching of visions with artists like Lauryn Hill and Common that will rightly advance her reputation as an artist who can sling disco, R&B, and rock almost as convincingly as soul. Splicing girl-group harmonies with blaxploitation-style funk with Joplin-esque and, at times, Shelby Lynne-reminiscent vocals, Stone works these Raphael Saadiq-produced beats with the stealth and steadiness of a '70s-era legend who's still going strong. "Girl They Won't Believe It," she wails against the tight hoo-hoo harmonizing of talented backup singers on the opening track; get a load of how much she's accomplished in the space of three albums, and you won't believe it, either. --Tammy La Gorce

Amazon.com Coheed and Cambria's first three outings were smart, adventurous affairs that didn't eschew accessibility and No World for Tomorrow proves no exception. From the title cut to the epic "The End Complete," No World carries an intensity informed by occasional touches of the light, such as "Feathers," which not only recalls the Van Halen classic "Dance the Night Away" in its opening measures but also gives a knowing wink to silliest and most histrionic elements of emo. ("The ... [more]