CD reviews: Kid Rock

Kid Rock, "Born Free" (Atlantic)

Few musicians have the stylistic reach Detroit rap-rocker Kid Rock displays in bringing together musical guests as disparate as country music sweetheart Martina McBride and rapper T.I. -- on the same track, no less. But that's one of the nifty surprises he pulls off on his eighth album. That may have something to do with producer Rick Rubin, who has an uncanny gift for chipping away bluster and artifice and sculpting songs to their essence. Rock asserts his place as the classic-rock scion of Detroit rasper Bob Seger, who plays piano on "Collide," a folk-rock ballad that exhibits honest-to-goodness vulnerability. "Wish I didn't know now the things I didn't know then," Rock sings wistfully in "When It Rains," the melancholy flip side of his nostalgia- minded 2008 hit "All Summer Long." He hasn't abandoned his party-hearty ethic, delivering a dive-bar jukebox classic, "God Bless Saturday," with its Stones-Aerosmith echoes, and a lively ZZ Top-worthy shuffle in "Rock Bottom Blues."

RANDY LEWIS, LOS ANGELES TIMES

Lee DeWyze, "Live It Up" (RCA)

As DeWyze discovers on his first album after winning "American Idol," his career is no longer entirely his own. Every would-be artist who survives the contest is squeezed through a music-industry processor that weeds out the quirks. With a knack for earnest folk-soul, DeWyze is best in coffeehouse mode. But the relentlessly bland "Live It Up" sounds as though it were created in a laboratory. There's a slice of Jack Johnson's mellowness, a splash of Jason Mraz's pleading sensitivity, breathy accents that could've been lifted from a John Mayer ballad. "Dear Isabelle" comes closest to finger-picked intimacy, but in general DeWyze never moves beyond journeyman competence.

GREG KOT, CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Reba McEntire, "All the Women I Am" (Valory)

McEntire has scored more hits than any country female, but she's not ready to chill on the back porch just yet. One of her best efforts, this disc blends hard-edged, modern country-rock -- including the opener "Turn on the Radio," which is already a hit -- with some profoundly tender ballads, as in the throwback, Bobbie Gentry purr of "The Day She Got Divorced." Reba's strong, no-nonsense persona gets a workout here, but as the CD title implies, she is many women rolled into one.

STEVE MORSE, BOSTON GLOBE

Nelly, "5.0" (Universal Motown)

It might be an accident that the word "gone" appears in two titles on Nelly's comeback, but you get the sense that the St. Louis MC realizes that if he didn't fire up a hit-laden set, his teetering career might vanish. Nelly has recruited an all-star supporting cast and emerged with a tuneful mainstream effort. He has a major single with "Just a Dream," the hip-hop equivalent of a power ballad. There are misfires, but he does better on such tracks as the club-aimed "Move That Body," the melodic "Gone" (featuring Kelly Rowland) and the hard-edged "1000 Stacks," which echoes his early work.

KEN CAPOBIANCO, BOSTON GLOBE