Grit, gospel and an army of Annies

Annie Lennox

“Songs of Mass Destruction”

(Arista)

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On her first album in four years, Annie Lennox is on the prowl for deliverance -- from isolation, from “the same old madness,” from bitterness and hatred, from the scourge of AIDS.

That’s good news for fans of the demigod of divas, because her quest has resulted in a return of the fiery, gospel-rooted rave-up to her repertoire after its near-absence on 2003’s “Bare.” The emotional darkness that yielded that album’s deliberate introspection is even more intense now, but this time she’s out to purge it in classic churchy tradition, with some foot-stomping, hands-in-the-air call and response with a vocal chorus.

This being Lennox, who’s always liked to mix the earthy with the experimental, all those voices are her own, an army of Annies clustering into vast choirs and wailing and bantering with their leader.

If you want to record gospel with grit, you hire a Ry Cooder or a Kirk Franklin to produce. Lennox has pop-rock maestro Glen Ballard, who marshals her voices into a cyber-soul chorale. The sleekness doesn’t diminish the fervor or the fun.

Still, it’s big, adult-contemporary ballads that ground “Songs of Mass Destruction” (coming out Tuesday), and although Lennox (who wrote all the songs) can entice with the honeyed tones and focused self-evaluation of the opening “Dark Road,” others, including “Big Sky,” “Through the Glass Darkly” and “Fingernail Moon,” don’t really come to life.

The one chorus that isn’t all Annie is “Sing,” a “We Are the World”-style gathering aimed at the African AIDS crisis. The 23 singers include Madonna, Céline Dion, Shakira, Joss Stone, Fergie and Faith Hill.

The recording doesn’t have the personality that the lineup might suggest, but one thing is clear: When this diva calls, it’s a good idea to respond.

-- Richard Cromelin

A country voice heard in bluegrass

Merle Haggard

“The Bluegrass Sessions”

(McCoury Music)

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Country’s greatest living songwriter gives “crotchety” a good name on his first bluegrass album (in stores Tuesday). Fortunately, Haggard didn’t wait till he was 70 just to take a stab at “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.” Instead, the album is dominated by a batch of strong originals, some delightfully cranky, others disarmingly melancholy, rounded out with a few of his classics redone acoustically.

The high point is “What Happened?” in which Haggard counts the ways he’s watched the fabric of America come unraveled over the last half a century:

It used to be Andy and Barney Fife

Now it’s Howard Stern and the brothel life ......

Hag’s wagging finger points, however, not just at the world outside his window, but also into his mirror, notably in “Learning to Live With Myself.” The song recounts a series of losses and underscores the way the passage of time intensifies a thinking man’s efforts toward self-understanding. His updates of “Big City” and “Mama’s Hungry Eyes” fit nicely in the album’s bent toward giving voice to the common man and woman’s travails.

Instrumental support from Marty Stuart and a team of hired guns, who recorded this with Haggard in a quick session in Nashville, is expectedly first-rate. If there’s one way to soothe the savage country breast, it’s with music as spirited as this.

-- Randy Lewis

Quick spins

Soulja Boy

“Souljaboytellem.com”

(Interscope)

The debut album from this teenage rapper, thrust into the national spotlight because of the infectious, steel-drum-accented hit “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” exists simultaneously in diametrically opposed worlds. On the one hand, this largely self-produced 14-cut collection is a sonic marvel. The mesmerizing beats contain thunderous bass, insanely catchy keyboard patterns and bizarre sound effects that make such tunes as “Sidekick” and “Snap and Roll” decidedly infectious and aurally staggering. But Soulja Boy’s regularly sophomoric lyrics (“Bapes,” “Booty Meat”) cannot keep up, resulting in an ultimately uneven release.

-- Soren Baker

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Albums are rated on a scale of four stars (excellent), three (good), two (fair) and one (poor). Albums reviewed have been released except as indicated.