Billboard CD reviews: Green Day, Steve Earle

ARTIST: GREEN DAY

ALBUM: 21ST CENTURY BREAKDOWN

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Five years after "American Idiot" restored Green Day as a modern-rock powerhouse, the trio returns with an even riskier album. "21st Century Breakdown" mixes the pop-punk charge of the band's "Dookie" days with the political awareness of "Idiot," resulting in an arena-ready record with a sense of purpose. Much of "Breakdown" is as sprawling as its 69-minute length would suggest: Ballads like "21 Guns" build into fiery sing-alongs, while "American Eulogy" uses a song-suite structure to voice social dissatisfaction. Billie Joe Armstrong's lyrics are just as riveting, with images of bleeding hearts, falling towers, endless wars and atom bombs. "Breakdown" offers a harsh reality, but an underlying sense of hope runs throughout, with Armstrong singing, "I just want to see the light/I need to know what's worth the fight." The album is a call to arms for the digital age, and 20 years into its career, Green Day's ambition continues to dazzle.

ARTIST: STEVE EARLE

ALBUM: TOWNES (New West Records)

The mark of a classic songwriter is less the physical artifacts left behind than the psychic ones: who was influenced, how the legacy is carried forward and, certainly, the enduring nature of the songs. For the late Townes Van Zandt -- check, check and check. And for Steve Earle, who knew Van Zandt from the early '70s, cutting an album of Van Zandt compositions was a no-brainer. Every one of these 15 tunes is a living, breathing creature, from the haunting, modal-tinged blues-waltz (with cello) of "Rake" to the jaunty fingerpicking and mouthy dialogue of "Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold" (a duet featuring son Justin Townes Earle) to the eternally elegant Tex-Mex anthem "Pancho and Lefty." Additional guests include Tom Morello, Tim O'Brien, Darrel Scott and Earle's wife, Allison Moorer. Earle's shape-shifting voice inhabits the songs just as Van Zandt's colorful characters do. Fans who desire an even more up-close-and-personal experience can spring for a two-CD deluxe edition featuring Earle's solo acoustic versions of the same material.

ARTIST: TIEMPO LIBRE

ALBUM: BACH IN HAVANA (Sony Masterworks)

The compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach and turbo-charged Latin jazz might not seem like an intuitive blend, but the conservatory-trained Cuban group Tiempo Libre finds an engaging balance. Piano provides the backbone, whether it's a Sonata in D Minor that segues into a jazz improv layered with brass and congas, or the famous Minuet in G cut up with claves and sax. Santeria references abound, with a delicate C Major Prelude accompanied by Afro-Cuban bata drums used to call upon deities. Guest clarinetist Paquito d'Rivera brings a distinctive funkiness to the familiar melodies, as does "Timbach," a passionate Latin ode to the bewigged German composer.