When a musician really means it you feel it from the moment the laser hits the disc. On his first release in four years, Radney Foster means it. An aching musical ambition and a fearless introspection drives the best cuts on this, his most adventurous and most rock-influenced effort. But if the torrential guitars, splashing drums, and even, believe it or not, tense folk-hip-hop (on the daring story song "Folding Money") work artistically, it"s because the sound serves some exceptionally intelligent and emotional material. Recalling the twangier work of Marshall Crenshaw and Nick Lowe, these aren"t just heartbreaking tunes--these are soul-tearing songs. "Each little broken piece of what we thought was fine / Is laid out for all the world to see," Foster sings on the feverish opening track. As one of Nashville"s most respected songwriters, Foster knows the country formulas, but he"s pushed beyond them and created the most passionate album of his career. --Roy Kasten