Albums by Christina Aguilera, Soundgarden and Brian Eno

Lotus (RCA)

Christina Aguilera is one of the most powerful singers of her generation; is a friend to raunch, and an expert at making it broadly palatable; never lets tabloids get the best of her; has made it safe for still relevant midcareer pop stars to take sabbaticals for judging reality television competitions; hasnt had a worthy hit in quite a few years; has maybe forgotten what Christina Aguilera does well.

Lotus is Ms. Aguileras fifth original studio album in English since 1999, which, in pop star longevity terms, is a slow drip. (She has also released a Spanish album and a Christmas album.) But consider that a strength: Ms. Aguilera imprinted herself far more authoritatively than many of her contemporaries and those who have followed her. She is, and has been, unmistakable.

Which is why the anonymity of much of Lotus is its biggest crime, more than its musical unadventurousness or its emphasis on bland self-help lyrics or its reluctance to lean on Ms. Aguileras voice, the thing that makes her special. All around her female pop stars are making pop that is forward and modern and often complex, while Ms. Aguilera, who used to play that role but is perhaps beginning to see herself as an elder stateswoman, is playing it straight.

Largely thats by working with Alex Da Kid, who of all of the breakthrough pop producers of recent years, has the dullest, most monochromatic style, mistaking scale for emotion. Of his contributions, only on Best of Me does Ms. Aguilera push her voice beyond comfort; mainly she lets him dictate the arc, and its predictable.

Also, there are job requirements to fulfill. She collaborates here with two of her fellow judges on The Voice, probably just to give them duets to perform this season: with Cee Lo Green on the dull Make the World Move, and with Blake Shelton on the surprisingly warm Just a Fool. (! She already collaborated with the third, Adam Levine, on Maroon 5s Moves Like Jagger.)

There are flashes of the Aguilera of old, though. Her voice veers volcanic on a pair of slow-build ballads, Sing for Me and Blank Page. The single Your Body is sweaty and bold, the characteristics that Ms. Aguilera once held tight to, and Around the World, which has flecks of reggae, is gauche and aesthetically vulgar in the way Ms. Aguilera once proudly was. As ever, Ms. Aguileras talent is in taking something tacky, and making it beautiful. JON CARAMANICA

SOUNDGARDEN

King Animal

(Universal Republic)

Soundgarden deftly acknowledges its long absence 16 years between studio albums with the title of Been Away Too Long, the opening track and first single from its new album, King Animal. Later, in the glum and stately Bones of Birds, Chris Cornell, the bands singer, main lyricist and rhythm guitarist, intones, Time is my friend till it aint and runs out.

But time has stood still, rightfully and triumphantly, for Soundgardens music, which is still the moody, heaving, asymmetrical hard rock that made the band a trailblazer of grunge.

On the five albums it released from 1988 to 1996, Soundgarden started out seesawing between Led Zeppelin and punk. But the band went on to add its own subtleties of emotion, melody and structure. Its lyrics set aside blues-rock swagger for resentment and desolation, and it explored a Beatles streak that culminated in the gorgeousl! y doleful! Black Hole Sun.

Soundgarden also reveled in odd and shifting meters that kept its songs veering away from expectations. Its wasnt the pop with grunge guitar tones that would take over rock radio playlists; it was darker and more stubbornly gnarled.

After the long hiatus and a preview this year with the reunited Soundgardens first new song release, Live to Rise, in the film Marvels The Avengers King Animal simply plugs in and bears down again. The songwriting is largely collaborative, in various combinations of Mr. Cornell, Kim Thayil on guitar, Ben Shepherd on bass and Matt Cameron on drums (who joined Pearl Jam during Soundgardens separation). And for much of the album, the band sounds like four musicians live in a room, making music that clenches and unclenches like a fist. Added layers of guitars, vocal harmony or horns are for heft, not decoration.