New Music Monday

A sampling of what we're listening to these days:

• Madeleine Peyroux, Careless Love - Billie Holliday may have died and gone to heaven, but Madeleine inherited her voice. Whether tackling Leonard Cohen ("Dance Me to the End of Love"), Bob Dylan (a sublime "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go") or W.C. Handy (the infectious title track), Peyroux effortlessly demonstrates what it takes to be a great singer. It helps to have a great voice. It can't work if you haven't got a love for the song, and Peyroux has a lot of love to sprinkle on each of these twelve greats. Perfect dinner music.
• Bruce Springsteen, Devils and Dust - Tom Joad meets The Rising. It's too bad that Springsteen hasn't gotten stingier as he's aged. While the Boss cranked out the hits in the eighties, his recent work has suffered from too little editing. The Rising's fifteen tracks should have been ten, and on Devils, Springsteen lets a couple of dullards slip through. Nevertheless, the record's brightest moments are really great, including "Black Cowboys," "All I'm Thinking About" (on which Bruce shows off his country soul) and "Maria's Bed," a Tex-Mex take on The Rising's "Mary's Place." Those who enjoyed The Ghost of Tom Joad and Nebraska will dig the stories, which benefit from the full development of Springsteen's literary voice, though Devils is a much sunnier, livelier record. And at $10, Amazon is a full third cheaper than HMV. Serious fans will devour the bonus DVD.