Editor’s Note: In Sound Advice, the first Saturday of every month, veteran NEWS entertainment writer Dale McGarrigle, former British music-press writer Adam Corrigan and a revolving stable of NEWS writers review new albums from across the musical spectrum.

“Up” (Geffen) – Peter Gabriel

Some younger readers out there would not have been born when Peter Gabriel last released a new CD. But knowing it has been 10 years since “Us” is not as surprising as discovering that I simply hadn’t noticed.

This could be taken as a bad omen, but I really think it’s not a lack of interest in Gabriel’s music that has made his absence relatively easy to bear. I have the greatest respect for much of the man’s work, from his groundbreaking work with Genesis, through to his, um, groundbreaking solo work. After all, Gabriel, was toying with world music years before Paul Simon crushed it into everyone’s face with “Graceland.”

So why no clamor for new stuff? I think the answer is that Peter Gabriel has been so busy, made himself so ubiquitous, that it’s easy to miss that he’s not been releasing any albums. He’s still pumping WOMAD, which he co-founded. He still runs his globally eclectic Real World label, and has been involved in a hatful of art projects.

But now “Up” is here. Apparently culled from about 130 song ideas Gabriel has been working on during the last decade, the album is not the uniform celebration the title might suggest. Instead it kicks off with “Darkness,” an often creepy, distorted sonic slink through childhood fears.

“I Grieve” is an understated backdrop for Gabriel’s incisive musings on loss.

But it’s not all somber reflection. “The Barry Williams Show” is an elastic, funky slap at modern talk-show celebrity. And the CD’s stand out, “Growing Up,” revisits fertile Gabriel ground of Afro-centric rhythms, solidly welding a search for a path through life to a loping, driven bass line worthy of Leftfield.

So Gabriel’s back, with a solid piece of work. I may not have noticed he was away, but I’ve no objections to him being back; and he comfortably remains the best ex-vocalist of Genesis. – Adam Corrigan

“Power in Numbers” (Interscope) – Jurassic 5

Hip-hop has always been a slick slope crowded with quarrelsome factions – even in its much-revered early years. On one end are self-conscious indie purists ever espousing the well-worn b-boy rhetoric of “keeping it real.” The other side is crowded with the Dres and the Diddys who profess “realness” while brandishing “bling.”

Amid this struggle, Jurassic 5 have carved themselves a sweet-sounding niche between the hallowed bedrock of hip-hop’s roots and the modern b-boy school of thought and, in the process, put out some mighty fine (and fun) records. “Power in Numbers” is no exception.

Sandwiched between the hazy opening and closing soundscapes of “This Is” and “Acetate Prophets,” all the tracks on “Power in Numbers” create a work of controlled quality. DJs Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark make each track swing and pop with whiplash beats and artful sampling. MCs Akil, Chali 2na, Marc 7, and Zaakir all contribute to a provocative lyrical sound and use their signature harmony-rich choruses to full effect, prompting listeners to head-nodding and compulsive rapping along.

Points must be subtracted, however, from the album’s high score due to a rather tacky guest appearance by pop songbird Nelly Furtado on “Thin Line.”

Celebrity cameos aside, “Power in Numbers,” is an album devoid of all the other things that can make hip-hop albums hard to take (such as thug posturing, copious grunting, and horrible skits), while retaining that ever-elusive “realness” and without watering down hip-hop’s potential to move minds and backsides. – George Bragdon

“Kindred Spirits: A Tribute to the Songs of Johnny Cash”(Sony Nashville/Lucky Dog Records) – Various Artists

Seemingly there are two schools of thought when it comes to tribute albums: individualized interpretations of the honored artist’s works, or imitation.

This 14-song tribute to the original Man in Black features both, and gives clear evidence that while imitation is considered the ultimate form of flattery, personalization in this case is much more interesting.

Listen to Keb ‘Mo, who takes “Folsom Prison Blues” in an even bluesier direction, using little more than his trademark slide guitar and a slow, funky, Delta-blues rhythm.

Other highlights include Bruce Springsteen’s stark rendition of “Give My Love to Rose,” a rockin’ “Get Rhythm” by Little Richard, “Flesh and Blood” by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Emmylou Harris and Sheryl Crow, and Bob Dylan’s “Train of Love.”

This compilation was produced by Marty Stuart, whose relationship with the country legend goes back to the early 1980s, when he was married to Cash’s daughter Cindy and played in Cash’s backing band.

Stuart’s goal was to highlight Cash the songwriter, and through most of the tracks, he succeeded. Stuart also contributed “Hey Porter” to the mix, as well as backup vocals on the spiritual “Meet Me In Heaven,” a song made even more haunting given Johnny Cash’s recent health troubles and the fact he appears on the track along with the likes of Earl Scruggs, Connie Smith and lead singer Janette Carter, a cousin of Johnny’s wife, June Carter Cash. – Ernie Clark

“Waiting for You” – Jess Tardy

With a debut album this vocally assured, it’s hard to believe that this Palmyra native is only 24.

Although she’s been singing publicly since age 4, Tardy heard jazz calling while a student at Newport Regional High School. She went on to earn raves as the vocalist for the acclaimed Harvard Jazz Band.

Now she’s taken all that jazz and blended in blues and folk and even a little country on her self-produced debut. Tardy has even written seven of the release’s 12 insightful songs, with her guitarist Noam Weinstein contributing three more tunes.

Tardy’s versatile voice can be sweet and smooth one moment, smoky and rough the next. She’s got a jazz vocalist’s chops, and “Waiting for You” is a well-crafted showcase for them. Her talented, Boston-area bandmates ably support her vocals, which stay, appropriately, front and center.

A jazz singer from central Maine is, to be sure, the exception rather than the rule. But as this album illustrates, Jess Tardy is an exceptional talent, one to keep an ear on for the future. – Dale McGarrigle

(“Waiting for You” is available at jesstardy.com.)