Billboard CD reviews: Dolly Parton, Erykah Badu

ARTIST: DOLLY PARTON

ALBUM: BACKWOODS BARBIE

NEW YORK (Billboard) - There's more than meets the eye to Dolly Parton, the autobiographical title cut tells us, and her first mainstream country album in years is an important reminder of the breadth of her singing and songwriting talents. Classic country "Do You Think I'm Made of Stone" is a passionate plea for a man to stop his cheating ways, while first single "Better Get to Livin"' is laden with pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps advice to women who play the victim. Parton's take on the Miracles' "Tracks of My Tears" took chutzpah, but she wears the song well, and her version of Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy" works as a funked-up bluegrass number. "Only Dreamin'," a plaintive call for the return of love lost, wrapped in a swirling Celtic production, is easily the set's most powerful tune.

ARTIST: ERYKAH BADU

ALBUM: NEW AMERYKAH: 4TH WORLD WAR (Universal Motown)

After a healthy hiatus, R&B mistress Erykah Badu has returned with "4th World War," the first of a planned three installments under the moniker "New Amerykah." First single "Honey" stands out with a funky, 1970s hippie vibe. From the album's introduction, where a woman speaks to a doctor about getting a second head, it's clear Badu's on another plane. Songs like "The Healer," produced by Madlib, feature thick bass, triangles, finger cymbals, what sounds like gears shifting and an echoing choir. "The Cell" sports a digital sound that rides an offbeat and clapping rhythm section. "Soldier" has Badu describing a "mama hopped up on cocaine" over rumbling drums. Curtis Mayfield would be proud of the lyrics and her throwback sound.

ARTIST: THE CLARK SISTERS

ALBUM: ENCORE: THE BEST OF (Rhino Records/Dexterity Sounds)

For three decades the Clark Sisters have stood as pivotal figures in traditional and modern gospel. Their bold, innovative vocal sound has won them Grammy Awards (three this year alone), hit after hit on the gospel charts and the praises of luminaries in R&B, jazz and pop. This 21-song collection, taken from three Clark projects dating from 1986 and 1990, is a digitally remixed and remastered feast of every classic for which the group is known, including "My Redeemer Liveth," "There Is a Balm in Gilead," "Pray for the USA" and "Take Me Higher," all long out of print. Also featured are the group's two crossovers into the mainstream -- 1986's "Time Out" and its 1983, career-making debut, "You Brought the Sunshine" -- done here in medley form (and redone by 2007 "American Idol" runner-up Melinda Doolittle).