Billboard CD reviews: Black Eyed Peas, Iggy Pop

ARTIST: THE BLACK EYED PEAS

ALBUM: THE E.N.D.

NEW YORK (Billboard) - In an era of economic instability, it's nice to know the Black Eyed Peas still believe in truth in advertising: The acronym that forms the title of their latest stands for "The Energy Never Dies," and they more than make good on that promise, blasting through 15 high-powered rave-rap jams that rarely lack for melodic hooks or rhythmic thrust. The Los Angeles quartet's most dance-influenced outing yet, "The E.N.D." is best when group mastermind Will.i.am shares behind-the-board duties with David Guetta, the French disco-house producer whose "When Love Takes Over" is giving the Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" a serious run for song-of-the-summer status. In "Rock That Body" they "get a little crazy, get a little stupid" (as Will.i.am puts it), while "I Gotta Feeling" throbs as triumphantly as a BEP version of "Don't Stop Believin'."

ARTIST: IGGY POP

ALBUM: PRELIMINAIRES (Astralwerks)

Iggy Pop is back -- not with a vengeance, but with an album of introspective, jazz-tinged, Leonard Cohen-esque standards and originals. Surprising? Sure. But the album succeeds because Pop bounces from track to track with the same swagger (albeit more muted this time out) that made him a punk icon. He simply refuses to acknowledge the shift in genre, instead diving head-on into this new sonic sea. From the upscale, hotel lounge-meets-faux-bossa nova vibe that Pop sings over on the timeless classic "Les Feuilles Mortes" (in French, of course) to the Louis Armstrong-meets-Tom Waits strut of "King of the Dogs," each track is an aural journey all its own. And on cuts like "I Wanna Go to the Beach" and "Spanish Coast," Pop's understated delivery draws in even the most skeptical of listeners, bathing his hushed voice in beds of stark piano and tremolo-washed guitar.

ARTIST: NANCI GRIFFITH

ALBUM: THE LOVING KIND (Rounder Records)

In the liner notes to Nanci Griffith's 19th album, she concedes that she had "lost something in her heart for writing songs." She added that it was fellow Texan and "larger than life hero" Dee Moeller who motivated her to "kick-start my writer's pen" for a new batch of the country-infused, folk story songs she's renowned for. Griffith not only gives thanks to Moeller by covering two of her honky-tonk songs -- the cooking "Party Girl" and the classic country lament "Tequila After Midnight" -- but also delivers nine top-shelf originals, including many that express poignant political sentiment sans soapbox. While she weighs in on two Texan presidents (thumbs-up for LBJ on the social-conscious "Cotton," thumbs-down for George W. on the broken, torn "Still Life"), Griffith's strongest lyricism buoys in two compelling tales: the death penalty protest "Not Innocent Enough" and the heartfelt saga of pioneering interracial couple Mildred and Richard Loving on the title track.