Red Letter Days
Wallflowers frontman Jakob Dylan may have learned the art of ambiguity from his famous father, but as he opens up on the group's bittersweet fourth album he emerges as a true individual. The band's first release since the departure of guitarist Michael Ward, who came on board to make the four-million-selling 1996 album,Bringing Down the Horse, finds Dylan raking over the details of his personal life in close detail. "I think I made a mistake / I think I pushed when you said away," he sings on "If You Never Got Sick," while using blunt tracks like "Too Late to Quit" and "Health and Happiness" to get in further jabs at the woman who did him wrong. To accompany this outpouring of emotion, the band infuses its midtempo  Americana with fizzing electronic effects and hard backbeats. It's the Wallflowers' most adventurous and rewarding album yet.--Jaan Uhelszki