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Lucinda Williams

"Live at The Fillmore"

On sale at All That Jazz for $21.98

What does it take for the next generation to discover the great talents that were introduced to the world years before they were born? How did today's teenagers get into Led Zeppelin? Why did Johnny Cash suddenly have an explosion of popularity after years of nobody listening? When did people realize that Stevie Wonder was more than "I Just Called to say I Love You?"

Usually, it's hard to figure out exactly how these timeless talents rise to the surface again, which makes it hard to know who to thank.

I'm not sure how Lucinda Williams caught everyone's attention again. For me, it was her cameo on the latest Elvis Costello album, "The Delivery Man." I heard her scratchy voice and made a mental note to give her another listen.

I've always thought that Williams is a punk-rock chick trapped in the body of a singer/songwriter. She sings as if she's holding back a steam train. She sings when it seems she should be screaming.

Instead, her slow, slide guitar presentation makes this a good album to listen to while you sit on your porch feeling sorry for yourself.

One of my favorite tracks on this album is "Sweet Side," in which she talks over the guitar and tells you the story of your sad, pathetic life like a sort of Southern female Tom Waits.

Rated: Slow dance with me while I cry.

The Weakerthans

"Reconstruction Site"

Available at All That Jazz for $12.98

If you're an idiot, like me, you might have passed right over this album. I was clicking through the CDs and thought I'd heard this one before -- the jacket looks a bit like the cover of a few other albums out right now.

Fortunately, my hero CounterCultureCounterBoy came to the rescue.

He pulled it out of the bin and clicked his nail on the plastic case, "I know you'll like this one."

I learned: John K. Samson formed the Weakerthans in the late 1990s after he quit the punk band Propaghandi.

I feel: This is a band for the kind of people who like King Missile.

If you like your guitars combined with completely ridiculous song topics such as "Plea From a Cat Named Virtue" or "Psalm for the Elks Lodge Last Call," you might be good bait for the Weakerthans.

This is also a band for the poet -- for those who like their guitars mixed with interesting turns of phrase and word combinations. In the title track, they sing, "I'm your dress near the back of your knees, and your slip is showing ..."

Or listen to this song inspired by the Martin Amis book in which time runs backward, "So you watch the sunrise sinking, and she's talking in her sleep. A dream of how alone she was tomorrow when you keep all those promises to someone in a mirror you will find at your parents' house in 1989." And if you like that, you're weird enough to like this album.

Rated: The kind of album that makes you want to fill the review with quoted lyrics.

The Bronx

"The Bronx"

Available at All That Jazz for $14.98

I knew, because I'd been warned.

The first track of this album is just begging to cause some ear damage. The first few bars are played really low, and 99 people out of 100 probably reach over to turn up the volume. And 99 out of 100 people get their eardrums blown out a second later when the mix goes up a few more decibels.

That bit of sadism is as good an introduction to The Bronx as any.

These are hard times for those trying to sort through the rows and rows of tattooed front men screaming into the microphone.

What makes the indecipherable lyrics of one band better than another?

I think it all depends what tradition of screaming they come from.

The Bronx is a screaming band for fans of Social Distortion and early punk. This is screaming for those who wear Converse sneakers. This is screaming for people who won't need an explanation for why a band from California has called themselves The Bronx.

Rated: Yeah. That's a stupid question.

-- Autumn Phillips