Sound Advice: This week's CD releases

El Camino/Nonesuch

When the Ohio duo The Black Keys released its sixth studio album, "Brothers," last year, fans and critics alike fell all over themselves praising the indie band's sound.

While I liked "Brothers," I didn't love it, preferring earlier releases such as "Thickfreakness" and "Attack & Release."

Sure, "Tighten Up," was a great single, but I didn't feel that the album as a whole worked.

There's no problem with that on "El Camino," the latest effort from Black Keys core members Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney. The pair seems to have taken everything that worked on "Brothers" and expanded on it.

This album is more up-beat and gutsier than its predecessor.

Songs such as "Lonely Boy" and "Gold on the Ceiling" prove that just because an indie rock band finally hits it big, it doesn't necessarily mean it sells out.

The track "Little Black Submarines" has a sound that reminds you of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," but without seeming to copy that classic tune.

In releasing "El Camino," the members of The Black Keys have stepped up their game when they could just as easily have rested on their laurels. Here's hoping that future efforts from the band will come with the same amount of passion.

Key Tracks: "Lonely Boy," "Little Black Submarines," "Sister"

Please, Please, Please: A Tribute to the Smiths/American Laundromat

I've always been a fan of cover songs, or more specifically, well-executed cover songs. Anyone can cover a song, but when they do it with style, it sometimes can threaten to outdo the original.

If you don't believe me, check out Rage Against the Machine's cover album "Renegades."

The Mystic, Conn., record label American Laundromat has spent the past decade or so releasing some great concept cover albums that feature myriad indie bands.

For its latest effort, the label once again has gone above and beyond the call of duty.

The subject band, while certainly legendary in the rock world, probably falls into a narrower niche of fans than any previous projects. Thankfully, the bands that cover the songs of Morrissey and Co. here are obviously part of that niche.

Listening to acts such as Kitten, Tanya Donelly and The Wedding Present give their respective takes on "Panic," "Shoplifters of the World Unite" and "Hand in Glove" makes you wonder what Morrissey himself might think of the efforts.

For fans of The Smiths, "Please, Please, Please" is like discovering these songs all over again.

Key Tracks: "Panic," "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want," "How Soon is Now?"