NEIL DIAMOND

"Home Before Dark" (Columbia)

If "12 Songs," Neil Diamond's striking 2005 collaboration with producer Rick Rubin, renewed your love of Diamond's songwriting, the pair's follow-up, "Home Before Dark," is a must-have.

"Just go out there and face what you did before/Did it once you can do it once more," Diamond sings on one of the album's many highlights.

Diamond cuts deeper lyrically and the production is even simpler, utilizing hard-strummed acoustic guitars to carry the melody and provide percussion.

Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines turns out for the haunting duet "Another Day (That Time Forgot)." The album's first single, "Pretty Amazing Grace," immediately takes its place on this songwriter's top shelf. "Home Before Dark" is a true contender for Grammy's Album of the Year.

As impressive as this is, "Home Before Dark" isn't quite as revelatory as "12 Songs." The CD is a more challenging listen given the near demo-like feel of the arrangements, and a few songs are overlong. The plodding "Slow It Down," for instance, takes itself too literally. Still, Diamond and Rubin are creating a powerful body of work few could have predicted and even fewer could surpass. A third dozen would be most appreciated.

-- Howard Cohen, McClatchy-Tribune

SIERRA HULL

"Secrets" (Rounder)

Combine the angelic voice of Alison Krauss with the fiery mandolin picking of Rhonda Vincent and you have the sound of Sierra Hull on "Secrets."

It doesn't hurt that the 16-year-old Krauss protege is backed by members of Krauss' band Union Station, or that Hull's co-producer is Station's Ron Block. But it's still her album.

She hits the ground running on the title track with a vicious mandolin lick followed by her driving vocal. It's the only cut that includes all four members of Union Station -- Dan Tyminski on vocals, Block on guitar and vocals, Barry Bales on bass and Jerry Douglas on dobro.

Two instrumentals highlight Hull's mandolin virtuosity -- "Smashville" by Jim VanCleve, who plays fiddle on the track, and Hull's "Hullarious" -- on which she's joined by another amazing teen, 17-year-old banjo player Cory Walker from her band Highway 111 and shows she's no slouch at guitar, either.

-- Tom Gardner, Associated Press

CRAIG DAVID

"Trust Me," (Warner Bros.)

"Trust Me" isn't just the title of British artist Craig David's fourth studio album. The two-word combination might best serve as instructions for listening to the disc.

The 26-year-old, who made a splash in the United States with his 2001 platinum debut "Born to Do It" but then fell off the radar here, exudes soul. His voice is sweet and sincere on the delicate, slow-moving track "Awkward," with its earthy mix of guitar and organ.

But creatively, David isn't so easily labeled. Perhaps it's because he escapes the usual boundaries of those in his musical genre -- going full-throttle with sounds some artists only dabble in.

Tracks, such as the folksy "Top of the Hill," might seem out of character, but he sounds good, nevertheless. For those who choose to follow David's directions, "Trust Me" is easy to enjoy, even if the tracks don't mesh seamlessly together.

-- Melanie Sims, AP

STEVE WINWOOD

"Nine Lives" (Columbia)

Five years after his acclaimed indie release, "About Time," Steve Winwood has returned to the majors with "Nine Lives," but fear not: He's made minimal concessions to the pop commercialism that wilted much of his mid-'90s output. "Nine Lives" is a muscular, genre-jumping collection that has the understatedly talented Winwood exploring everything from Latin rhythms ("Secrets") to acoustic blues ("I'm Not Drowning") -- and even offering a nod to his past with the Traffic-y flute-and-organ jam "At Times We Do Forget." Winwood's bandmates -- particularly saxophone player/flutist Paul Booth and percussionist Karl Vanden Bossche -- are given plenty of sonic wiggle room, enhancing the expansive arrangements that give songs like "Dirty City" (featuring Eric Clapton) and "Raging Sea" a loose but structured vibe. Winwood lays down plenty of funky guitar and Hammond organ licks throughout, but his greatest instrument remains the soulful, soaring vocals that first brought him fame as a teenager more than 40 years ago.

-- Nicole Pensiero, The Philadelphia Inquirer