Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Sugarcult seems to have sorted out its identity crisis. On its debut album, the SoCal quartet displayed a fondness for carefree, punky anthems of the blink-182 variety. On the band’s followup, the band shifted to a more serious, hard-rock stance. For their third album, singer Tim Pagnotta and crew seem to have settled on lyrically lightweight power-pop songs like “Do it Alone,” “Shaking” and the “Majoring in Minors,” about one-night-stands and longer-term affairs. A predictable, but highly commercial formula. Sept. 12

It’s been more than a decade since the Motor City rock legend released an album of new material. The son of a Ford plant worker, best known for hits like “Night Moves” and “Old Time Rock & Roll” (remember Tom Cruise’s skivvies dance in Risky Business?), is back in the game with the Stones-y rocker “Wreck This Heart” and the mid-tempo ballad “Wait for Me,” which echoes his 1980 hit “Against the Wind.” For “Real Mean Bottle,” Seger, now 61, teams up with his protégé Kid Rock for Detroit-style country stomper. Sept. 12

Once goofy geeks, the Ladies are now erudite artists with families, cottages and RRSPs. Their wisecracks have given way to a thoughtful global perspective and a group dynamic that allows other group members to step forward more frequently. Although frontman Steven Page’s gypsy-like “Everything Had Changed” is an album highlight, Jim Creeggan’s pastoral “Peterborough and the Kawarthas,” and keyboardist Kevin Hearn’s tender “Vanishing” and Queen-like “Sound of Your Voice” offer refreshing new sounds. Sept. 12