Records are rated on a scale of one (awful) to five (classic) stars:

KELLY CLARKSON 'My December' (RCA)

So, the honeymoon seems to be over for the new queen of the breakup song. Kelly Clarkson was supposed to have a banner year, issuing this third record and heading out on a triumphant headlining tour.

Instead, she ended up in a publicized power struggle with label head Clive Davis over the album's harder-rock edge and the tour was scrapped for lack of ticket sales.

But all is not lost. "My December" is her best effort yet and with some media support, it should find its audience one way or another.

If you saw her play it on "American Idol" or heard it on the radio, you know the first single, "Never Again," is just a little bit angry. "I hope the ring you gave to her turns her finger green/I hope when you're in bed with her, you think of me," she rages in the opening lines, staking her case as the Pat Benatar of her day. The bitterness spills over into the propulsive dance track "One Minute," the metallic "Hole" and the driving New Wave rocker "Judas."

The good thing is, these are Clarkson's songs, and it's her anger -- not the fake stuff they manufacture in the studio. You can hear the feeling in her voice, which is, by the way, one of the strongest around.

There's also a softer side to "My December." "Be Still" is a beautiful, soft-spoken ballad; on "Maybe" she pleads "I don't want to be tough... I need to be loved"; the record ends with an ethereal acoustic ballad called "Irvine" that falls between Roberta Flack and Mazzy Star.

More killer than filler, "My December" is a personal, passionate statement from a singer you don't want to cross.

-- Scott Mervis. Post-Gazette pop music critic

It's tempting to say "ho hum, another great Ryan Adams record," but the last one, 2006's "29," was actually pretty lame, so this is like a return to form.

"Easy Tiger" is the ninth album in the past seven years for the former Whiskeytown frontman, who seems to do this effortlessly -- sometimes too effortlessly.

"Easy Tiger" isn't any kind of startling departure, like the glammed-out "Rock N Roll" or the Dead-tripping "Cold Roses." It's just Adams settling back into the kind of songs he can write in his sleep, but he's doing them with ease and grace and a voice to die for.

There's a nice representation of his tastes, from Dead-like "Goodnight Rose" to the softer side of Neil Young on "Everybody Knows" to Replacements-style rocker "Halloweenhead" to the bluegrassy "Pearls on a String." The emotional centerpiece is the torchy "The Sun Also Sets," where Adams wails, "there it is/we are only one moment from death/we are only one push from the nest."

Although his genius doesn't bubble over on "Easy Tiger," it's a good summation of what he's been doing, and it might be one of his most complete records.

-- S.M.