RECORDINGS Quick Spins

Among the other things "Backwoods Barbie" offers up: forbidden love songs, done-me-wrong songs, heavenly choirs, songs about Jesus, and a maniacally perky cover of "The Tracks of My Tears." There's also a Nashville-ized, beat-happy version of the Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy" that mostly works because of the determined way Parton plows through it, as if refusing to recognize its fundamental unreasonableness.

"Barbie's" best tracks are the ones meant to be universal exclamations of sisterhood but really only apply to Dolly, like the I-wear-a-lot-of-makeup-but-who-are-you-to-judge title track ("Don't judge me by the cover/'Cause I'm a real good book"), or "Better Get to Livin'," another number so packed with Parton's own brand of front porch self-help that a better title for the album might have been "Oprah Barbie." At this point, can her own daytime talk show be far behind?

-- Allison Stewart

DOWNLOAD THESE:"Jesus and Gravity," "The Lonesomes," "Drives Me Crazy"

SEVENTH TREE

Goldfrapp

The sexy, glam-rockin' synth-pop on 2005's "Supernature" got electronica duo Goldfrapp a Grammy nod. They didn't try to milk that formula again. Striving for a more "psychedelic" fourth record, Goldfrapp brought in an arsenal of musicians and choirs to augment their magic synthesizers. Best absorbed through headphones using the process of osmosis, "Seventh Tree" is infused with twinkling, enveloping melodies that will inspire critics to use ridiculous words like soundscapes and dreamscapes.

Mostly, these songs are escapes. Everything is flower-petal pretty -- and in the case of the first track, "Clowns," pretty odd. Over a graceful canvas of acoustic guitar and orchestral strings, Alison Goldfrapp coos sweetly about, um, breast implants: "Only clowns would play with those balloons," she sings, inexplicably yet gorgeously mush-mouthing the words as if she's had her face anesthetized for dental work. Synth guru Will Gregory consistently conjures up interesting environments for her often delicate soprano. On sky-scraping tunes such as "Little Bird" and ethereal trips including "Monster Love," the effect is lovely.

Goldfrapp's first album in 2000 hinted at this cinematic approach to composition. Nevertheless, recent Goldfrapp converts holding glow sticks and wondering where their band went have a couple of options here. The poppy, peppy "Happiness" is a standout empowered by whimsical synth sounds. Heck, the groove of "Caravan Girl" would actually work on a dance floor. Even if Goldfrapp's disco ball has lost some of its sparkle, that's probably where you'll find this artistic duo again in an album or two.

-- Michael Deeds

DOWNLOAD THESE :"Little Bird," "Happiness," "Caravan Girl"