CD reviews: Eminem, Lionel Ritchie

Eminem, "Relapse" (Interscope)

Eminem's music has always casually celebrated drug use, but on "Relapse," the party's over. It's Eminem's darkest album, a harrowing journey through the Detroit rapper's near-fatal struggle with addiction.

"Relapse" is a return to form after 2004's underwhelming "Encore," and it takes several haunting turns, as Em details his depression and doesn't shy away from the uglier aspects of his recovery. There are a whole host of unpleasantries, from homicidal fantasies to sexual deviancies to graphic descriptions of incest. But while this overlong 76-minute album is rarely pretty, it's almost always compelling.

References to Valium, Vicodin, methadone, hydrocodone, Ambien, Ritalin, Zantac and a host of other meds pile up, giving Eminem a whole host of new rhymes with which to compound words and syllables, and his dizzying wordplay is as dexterous as ever. Recovery brought about a new candor and clarity in his work, and he sounds reinvigorated on the microphone.

Even when revisiting familiar topics such as his mother ("My Mom") and Christopher Reeve ("Medicine Ball"), he flips the topics and approaches them in a fresh way.

There's a freedom in his flows and a low-stakes approach to the music, which harks back to Em's 1999 major label debut, "The Slim Shady LP." With Dr. Dre producing for most of the album and guest stars all but completely eschewed, Eminem is free to focus on exploring the outer reaches of his cerebrum, and it's thrilling to hear him run circles around the English language.

ADAM GRAHAM, DETROIT NEWS

Lionel Richie, "Just Go" (Island Def Jam)

Richie is a one-man service economy through much of his solicitous new album. He wants to make sure you're comfortable, fulfilled and secure in his devotion. On the lightly Caribbean-flavored title track -- produced by Akon -- he sings, "I'm here to take that stress from you." Then he offers to cook a meal, make the bed and spirit you by sailboat to the Bahamas, where he'll make good on the promise of a massage.

"You" in this case is a placeholder for Richie's core demographic, which skews overwhelmingly female and generally older than any of his kids. But if that makes "Just Go" a textbook adult-contemporary album, it also lends credible emotional footing to the songs. It's one reason that Richie doesn't sound out of his element singing on tracks provided by contemporary R&B hit makers, complete with up-to-the-minute production by Stargate and the team of Tricky and The-Dream.

NATE CHINEN, NEW YORK TIMES