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By Times staff writers
Published November 10, 2005

Kenny Chesney, The Road and the Radio (BNA)

Looks like you'll have to wait awhile for country star Kenny Chesney's "divorce" album. The Road and the Radio makes no overt reference to the behatted hunk's recently annulled four-month marriage to "Walk Away" Renee Zellweger. So I'm betting it'll be his next disc that's stuffed with sad drinking songs and at least one lonely tune about a dog and a hammock. Just a hunch.

As for The Road and the Radio, Chesney plays it slick and safe, delivering a reliably breezy, catchy 11-track follow-up to January's surprisingly stripped Be As You Are: Songs From an Old Blue Chair. Once again, the 37-year-old Tennessee native knocks 'em back at the tiki altar of Jimmy Buffett, singing for 9-to-5ers who hanker for boat drinks and better hours.

When done sloppily, that armchair pirate shtick can stink like a Parrothead left out in the sun. But there's something charming about Chesney's jangly Summertime and its images of "two bare feet on the dashboard" and "cheap shades and a tattoo and a Yoo-Hoo bottle rolling on the floorboard." These days, Buffett often comes across like a gone-corporate flimflam man, but you get the feeling Chesney really believes this paradise-found stuff.

Even better and beachier - and proof that Chesney should rely more on his own pen instead of shopping for puns-aplenty songwriters - is Beer in Mexico, a fun, propulsive rocker written at Cabo Wabo, a.k.a. Sammy Hagar's Cabo San Lucas beach bar. That curious locale makes sense: Underneath Chesney's Hawaiian shirt, there's most certainly a well-aged Van Halen tank top. If you don't believe me, listen to that crunchy guitar intro on Living in Fast Forward. There aren't many New Country stars who make me flash the metal salute. Rock on, dude.

Like most of us, Chesney can get into trouble when he stops partying and starts thinking. He pretends to be Buddha in a beat-up truck on the cloying title track. And the maudlin Who You'd Be Today is a regrettable Hallmark condolence card. Quiet Kenny is quite often a blah Kenny, but there is one sweet slow song that should get people singing (and maybe a few gossips whispering): You Save Me, which, ironically enough, you'll no doubt be hearing at wedding receptions for years to come. Grade: B-

Santana, All That I Am (Arista)

The title begs a cynical response: All that Carlos Santana is? He is a wily rock 'n' roll survivor who six years ago latched onto a chart-busting strategy: Invite a variety show's worth of guest stars and watch what happens. He apparently isn't willing to revise the formula.

But that's not quite all he is. Santana's guitar, overdriven, burr-edged, chewy, always probing and searching, is as distinctive and welcome a sound as it was in 1969, when he and his band of the same name made their commercial breakthrough.

All That I Am is shot through with Santana's guitar, and it comes to the fore on El Fuego and Con Santana, the latter track benefiting from the support of Senegalese rhythmmakers Toure Kunda. The jazzy, new-school soul of Anthony Hamilton's catchy Twisted makes a great match with Santana, and he makes a sensible fit with pedal-steel wizard Robert Randolph and Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett for Trinity, and with Texas blues-rock guys Los Lonely Boys for I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love.

But on too much of the disc Santana sounds like a mere afterthought. I'm Feeling You is unexceptional modern rock from Michelle Branch, a returnee from 2002's Shaman CD, and Just Feel Better is by-the-numbers power balladry from Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. Also showing up for the forgettable party are Mary J. Blige and Outkast's Big Boi, the Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am, and Sean Paul and Joss Stone. In a category of his own is American Idol loser Bo Bice, with the inexcusable Brown Skinned Girl. Grade: C+

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Trey Anastasio, Shine (Sony)

Phish could be the world's greatest jam band - brilliantly creative, willfully eccentric and absolutely in synch with the group's open-minded fans. But the band never released anything quite as tuneful or accessibly tasty as co-founder Trey Anastasio's Shine.

The disc, the singer-guitarist's fourth solo CD and his first since Phish's breakup last year, is all sunny pop rock that's smart, catchy and bolstered by his fluent six-string improvisation.

The title track is buoyant modern rock, with a bridge reminiscent of Peter Gabriel; the second half of the folkish acoustic-electric Invisible is lined with Beach Boys-style vocal harmonies; Wherever You Find It is traced with pure pop, a la Squeeze; road-trip love story Sweet Dreams Melinda is built on a jaunty, colorful groove a la the Grateful Dead and a British Invasion bridge; and the mellow ballad Love That Breaks All Lines wouldn't be out of place in a James Taylor set.

Sellout? Nah. Shine is simply Trey being Trey, digging his freedom. It suggests the shocking possibility that one day Phish may be thought of as a prelude to Anastasio's solo career. Grade: B+

- PHILIP BOOTH, Times Correspondent

[Last modified November 10, 2005, 01:20:16]