Range

Bruce Hornsby's hardest-rocking album, A Night on the Town announces that he is heading into a different direction in its first few notes. John Mellencamp's producer Don Gehman gives the sound, especially John Molo's drums, a feel reminiscent of Mellencamp's best work. The material here is among Hornsby's best, and guest players include Jerry Garcia, tenor saxman Wayne Shorter, banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck, vocalist Shawn Colvin (before she was known), and jazz bass legend Charlie Haden. The arrangements still include the mix of synthesized and real percussion, and the trademark piano licks are sprinkled abundantly throughout, but the overall feel is much more rock & roll than anything before or since.

DiFranco spruces up her sparse folk arrangements with the odd brass band, accordion, and even an electric guitar or two, but the meat of these songs is still her distinctively funky acoustic guitar style (she borrowed her rhythmic plucking technique from R&B, but unplugged, it bears no resemblance to its genre of origin). Meanwhile, DiFranco's spunky activist lyrics are tempered here by a bigger dose of vulnerability than in previous albums, which allows for a unique mix of anger, humor, and poignancy. The best songs this time around are not bitter, but quietly reflective ("You Had Time," "Buildings and Bridges," "If He Tries Anything").

From its previous all-England recording, the Oregon Symphony turns to all-American music for its third classical recording under Carlos Kalmar's direction. "Spirit of the American Range" presents three American works from the first half of the 20th century: Aaron Copland's third and final symphony, which includes the noble "Fanfare for the Common Man," Walter Piston's ballet suite from "The Incredible Flutist" and George Antheil's Jazz Symphony.