D’Angelo Works a Slow Magic; Lynne Connects

D’Angelo’s “Voodoo” and Shelby Lynne’s “I Am Shelby Lynne” are both albums that require some listener patience, but they ultimately reward you for the time spent. They are the standouts in the latest guide to keeping up with what’s exciting in pop music on an album budget of $50 a month.

January

D’Angelo’s “Voodoo” (Virgin). It’s understandable that the reviews haven’t all been glowing for D’Angelo’s follow-up to “Brown Sugar,” the 1995 debut that made him the heir apparent to the soul music tradition of Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and Al Green. With that kind of pressure, you want to make sure you state your musical case fully--and the R&B; wunderkind has done it a bit too fully. At 79 minutes, the album sometimes ambles along too leisurely, content with grooves where immediate hooks would be preferable. But the seductive pace of these tales of sexual and spiritual conflict eventually draw you in. D’Angelo is indeed a modern soul wonder. He’ll be at the House of Blues for five nights starting Wednesday, followed by a Universal Amphitheatre date April 7.

Shelby Lynne’s “My Name Is Shelby Lynne” (Island). Lynne has been a star in the making for more than a decade, but she had to get out of Nashville to make the record that finally captures her soulful country-R&B; approach. The tone is jagged in places, as if Lynne and co-writer and producer Bill Bottrell wanted to try out every musical style that has ever excited her. In those moments when she connects, however, the album is spellbinding. Think of a Dusty Springfield who also writes.

Various artists, “Magnolia” (Reprise). In the soundtrack’s opening number, Aimee Mann sings Harry Nilsson’s “One” in a delicate, caressing way that shows what the song might have sounded like if it had been a hit for the Carpenters rather than the more flamboyant Three Dog Night--and that’s a compliment. Elsewhere, Mann serves up some of her own songs, and she’s never been showcased so well. The themes are built around a restless, self-examining spirit, and the soft folk-pop style is both sophisticated and a touch exotic.

February

Groove Armada’s “Vertigo” (Jive Electro). This is the most entertaining dance-minded album, hands down, since Basement Jaxx’s “Remedy.” The English duo of Tom Findlay and Andy Cato is already getting airplay with the Fatboy Slim remix of “I See You Baby,” a “shake your booty” good-times exercise that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. And the Armada doesn’t disappoint with the album. The duo seems to delight in surprising us, which it does constantly with such unpredictable samples as Patti Page’s “Old Cape Cod” and the Platters’ “Twilight Time.” Bull’s-eye.

Various artists, “The Sopranos” (Columbia). If you’re not familiar with the splendid HBO series, this soundtrack will probably be your introduction to A3, a little-known British outfit whose “Woke Up This Morning” is the opening theme of the show. It’s a funky mix of country, blues and voodoo magic that summarizes the A3 approach. The album may also be your introduction to R.L. Burnside, whose gritty “It’s Bad You Know” is enough to debunk the theory that the blues is a dead art form. From then on, it’s mostly old favorites (from Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra to Bruce Springsteen and Los Lobos) on an album that mirrors the edgy tension of the series.

Rhonda Vincent’s “Back Home Again” (Rounder). Like Lynne, Vincent spent several frustrating years in Nashville, earning the respect of her peers but not really connecting with mainstream country. But the singer has a winner here as she returns to her bluegrass roots. The music--closer to the traditional side of Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton than Lynne’s blues-driven music--is filled with glistening harmonies, and it comes across as both effortless and true.

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Robert Hilburn, The Times’ pop music critic, can be reached by e-mail at robert.hilburn@latimes.com.