Smash tracks a fun spin

LITTLE ROCK — Soundtrack

Bombshell

Columbia

B+

No, Bombshell isn’t a real Broadway musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe. It’s the show-within-a-show on NBC’s musical series Smash, and they’ve put all the original Marc Shaiman/Scott Wittman songs into this cast recording.

Some of the lyrics are trite, but overall, they’re entertaining. The writers use different styles and tones, from funny and up-tempo to quietly heartbreaking, so it’s not all one note.

Also not one note? The Monroe role. Three actresses played her on the series and two of them are on this album. If you’re keeping score, Katharine McPhee has eight songs and Megan Hilty comes out on top with 11.

The rest of the cast, including Christian Borle, Leslie Odom Jr. and Will Chase, get to show off their impressive chops.

Just a warning: If you’re avoiding spoilers for Season 2, hold off on buying this album or looking at who sings what.

Hot tracks: “They Just Keep Moving the Line,” “(Let’s Start) Tomorrow Tonight,” “Second Hand White Baby Grand.”

• JENNIFER NIXON

Petra Haden

Petra Goes to the Movies

Anti-

A-

Petra Haden is a minor national treasure, a vocalist with a gift for aural mimicry and invention that borders on a superpower. A triplet daughter of jazz double bassist Charlie Haden, she first blipped on the pop scopes as a member of Los Angeles power punk outfit That Dog and as a sporadic member of The Rentals. With the release of her delightfully bizarre note-for-note, home-recorded a cappela cover of The Who Sell Out in 2005, she acquired a kooky singularity as the girl with an amazing, throbbing, buzzing voice who could do what she wanted.

Haden is back with a mostly solo-sung album of movie music, such as the “Psycho Main Theme” and the main title from Rebel Without a Cause. If it’s not as fresh and disorienting as Sell Out was, it is deeply interesting and, at times - such as the album’s high point, a vocalese version of John Williams’ “Superman Theme” - jaw-droppingly weird. The best tracks may be the most conventionally realized, in which she invites other musicians - her dad, pianist Brad Mehldau and guitarist Bill Frisell among them - to join her. Come for the gimmick, but stick around for Haden’s straightforward treatment of “It Might Be You,” a song from Tootsie.

Hot tracks: “It Might Be You,” “Superman Theme,” “This Is Not America.”

• PHILIP MARTIN

Tegan and Sara

Heartthrob

Warner Bros.

B

These Canadian twins, known for emotion-packed confessionals, find a new way to express themselves - on the dance floor. Joined by producer Greg Kurstin (Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Ke$ha), the duo’s new songs still have the personal lyrics, but the setting is catchier, dance-rockier, the choruses more pop smart.

Tegan and Sara’s execution seems more direct and immediate as they pick up some ’80s touches on “How Come You Don’t Want Me,” which hints at Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me.”

While they’re reaching for a broader audience with Kurstin’s input, the songs are still involving.

Hot tracks: The driving “Closer,” “I’m Not Your Hero,” the edgy “Drove Me Wild.”

• ELLIS WIDNER

Bad Religion

True North

Epitaph

B-

Legendary Southern California punkers Bad Religion haven’t eased up one bit on their latest, True North. Songwriter/guitarist Brett Gurewitz is still angry, the beats are still breakneck, the guitars sound like they are running on high-octane jet fuel and singer Greg Graffin sings/ snarls his way through the 16 tracks with desperate urgency.

Bad Religion doesn’t abandon its anthems of the forgotten classes, nor does it hide its disdain for authority. Get off the couch and into the mosh pit, the band seems to say, and then go out to make some kind of difference. Which is all well and good in this post-Occupy landscape, but the message and the relentless melodies wear a bit thin after a while.

Hot tracks: “True North,” “Land of Endless Greed,” “F+++ You.”

• SEAN CLANCY

Florida Georgia Line

Here’s to the Good Times

Republic Nashville

A-

Those who haven’t heard the male country duo Florida Georgia Line should expect to do so soon enough. The group’s debut, Here’s to the Good Times, is a tailgate cooler full of impossibly catchy - I mean, seventh level-of-Shania-Twain catchy - songs starting off with the infectious “Cruise,” which has already knocked none other than Taylor Swift from her Billboard perch.

As the title suggests, the band members aren’t deep thinkers, and there doesn’t appear to be an occasion where the boys aren’t ready for a party. But the act’s sound is a sly and clever incorporation of country flourishes - an oddly tuned banjo in “Get Your Shine On” is a favorite - that turn this into a potent ear cocktail.

Hot tracks: “Cruise,” “’Round Here,” “Get Your Shine On.”

• WERNER TRIESCHMANN

QUICK HITS …

Barbra Streisand, Release Me, Columbia. The singer is digging into her archives, and this first compilation grabs finely executed versions of the standard “Willow Weep for Me,” a striking take on Randy Newman’s “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today” and “Being Good Isn’t Good Enough” from Broadway’s Hallelujah, Baby!

Destiny’s Child, Love Songs, Legacy. Destiny’s Child - Beyonce, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams - didn’t just reunite for the Super Bowl. They recorded a new song, the lovely “Nuclear,” for this compilation. The disc also includes the Timbaland remix of “Say My Name,” along with “Brown Eyes,” “Emotion” and “Heaven.”

Billy Joel, She’s Got a Way, Legacy. Singer-songwriter Billy Joel has always had a way with heartfelt ballads, and this album’s got a bunch of ’em. The 18 tracks include “Shameless,” “Just the Way You Are,” “She’s Got a Way,” “She’s Always a Woman” and “Honesty.”

• ELLIS WIDNER