Every year there are two or three fine albums that manage to slip through the cracks and not get reviewed in Ground Zero for whatever reason. Because new albums largely stop coming out in mid-December, the end of the year provides an opportunity to catch up on those worthy discs.

Here are this year's pair of noteworthy albums that have been out for several months but are well worth picking up.

Rock

Drive-By Truckers

"The Dirty South"

There are no better chroniclers of the South today in music or in literature than Drive-By Truckers, the Alabama rock 'n' roll band that has remade Southern rock in its own, literate image.

On "The Dirty South," the Truckers trio of writers — Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and Jason Isbell — record life and legend of today's Dixie.

For example, Hood's mournful "Tornadoes" is a Weather Channel storm story set to music, Isbell's propulsive "The Day John Henry Died" is a revised look at the steel-drivin' man after his talents were no longer needed and Cooley's "Carl Perkin's Cadillac" is a distinctive retelling of the Sun Records story.

Other subjects on "The Dirty South" include: economic dislocation and work-related disease ("Puttin' People on the Moon"); World War II veterans ("The Sands of Iwo Jima"); recasting legendary Sheriff Buford Pusser as just another corrupt Southern lawman ("The Boys from Alabama," "The Buford Stick (The Legend of Sheriff Buford Pusser)"); a family's stock car racing legacy ("Daddy's Cup") and paying tribute to The Band ("Danko/Manuel)," a perfect subject for a band that is in many ways following in that legendary group's footsteps.

The Drive-By Truckers are definitely a Southern outfit and they can crank up the guitars a la Skynyrd. But they're really more of an Americana roots rock outfit that blends in acoustic country here, a touch of soul there, a la The Band. Hood's ragged vocals cut to the core while Cooley is a singing storyteller.

That makes for just the right kind of mixture to hold the ear from start to finish and once you start listening, the Truckers' South comes alive. This is great American music from a great Southern band.

— L. Kent Wolgamott

Rock

The Forty-Fives

"High Life High Volume"

With "High Life High Volume," The Forty-Fives have made 2004's best garage rock record.

A hard-shakin', fuzzy guitar, keyboard-enriched effort, "High Life High Volume" sounds like it could have come out in '67 or '78 and yet still feels alive and rockin'. That's no easy task. But the Atlanta quartet pulls it off through energy and a proper mining of history.

The latter is apparent on the bouncy, hook-laden version of Otis Blackwell's  "Daddy Rolling Stone," a little slab of rockin' white kids R&B for the 21st century.

The 21st century is the only time that songs like "Junkfood Heaven" could have been written. Like most good rock 'n' roll songs, the title is a bit misleading — this one's a melodic, densely layered plea for a girl to release singer Bryan Malone from his drab existence to go bum around the world.

The Forty-Fives and producer Jim Diamond also have sense enough to use harmonica, saxophone, horns and female backing vocals on various tunes, employing all the tools in the garage box to create maximum sonic entertainment. The sax turns up on "Backstage at Juanita's," a swingin' soulful instrumental anchored by Trey Tidwell's organ.

The organ sets The Forty-Fives apart from most of their garage contemporaries. But so does the quality of their music, whether it's fast and fun on "Superpill" or a bluesy ballad like "Too Many Miles."

— L. Kent Wolgamott

Pop

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

"Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus"

*** 

With his deep, portentous voice and grave manner, Nick Cave demands to be taken seriously. His literate lyrics often rely on biblical and mythological allusions: even the titles of the two-disc set "Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus" could use footnotes.

But Cave's pretensions are a large part of his appeal, and after 20 years with his ever-evolving band, the Bad Seeds, he still pulls off audacious rhymes like "Orpheus"/"orifice" without sounding ridiculous.

The mainly acoustic, piano-driven "Lyre" is the more accessible album. The rolling ballad "Breathless" is the most beautiful song in Cave's vast catalog, and "Babe, You Turn Me On" isn't far behind. The more visceral "Abattoir" raises a holy clatter of apocalyptic noise in songs such as "There She Goes, My Beautiful World," an invocation to the Muses to cure writer's block that links St. John of the Cross to Johnny Thunders and features a gospel choir. Based on the inspired songs in these albums, the Muses must have listened.

— Steve Klinge

Country/roots

Mark Chesnutt

"Savin' the Honky Tonk"

***½

David Ball

"Freewheeler"

***

One of the best of the neotraditionalist singers for most of his former tenure in the Nashville mainstream, Mark Chesnutt continues to keep the honky-tonk faith. The Texas native's new indie album serves straight-up, 90-proof barroom country, and the booze does indeed flow freely in these songs.

"Why don't they take that old wrecking ball/to the yuppie bars down at the mall?" he wonders in "Somebody Save the Honky Tonks." Amid all the dim lights, thick smoke and loud, loud music, Chesnutt pauses to deliver some fine ballads, including the sentimental "Mama's House."

David Ball, another neotraditionalist stalwart, has never quite matched his smash 1994 "Thinkin' Problem." With "Freewheeler," however, he delivers another solid, low-key effort, mixing earnest ballads with songs that add some spice from the bayou, Hawaii and '50s pop. If "Happy With the One I've Got" finds him resisting the temptation to cheat, the rollicking "Too Much Blood in My Alcohol Level" lets him cope with heartache in tried-and-true honky-tonk fashion.

— Nick Cristiano

Jazz

Art Farmer/Benny Golson

 "The Complete Argo/Mercury Art Farmer/Benny Golson Jazztet Sessions"

****

The jazztet created in 1959 by the trumpeter Art Farmer and saxophonist/composer Benny Golson more than merits this seven-CD stocking stuffer from Mosaic Records.

The two created a group with a suave sound that showcased great melodies from a swinging core. Farmer, who died in 1999 and helped popularize the flugelhorn in jazz, was among the most sensitive of brass players, while Golson, a heavyweight reed man, remains one of jazz's top composers. Included here is his classic tribute to trumpeter Clifford Brown, "I Remember Clifford," which encapsulates the greatness of the partnership: Farmer's trumpet finding poignant nuances in Golson's elegiac composition.

The jazztet, which ran through 1962, was a great vehicle for Golson's tunes, which range from "Killer Joe," with its spoken and theatrical introduction, to the goose-stepping "Blues March," and from the earthy "Blues After Dark" to the noir ballad "Park Avenue Petite."

— Karl Stark

Classical

Sibelius

 "Symphonies 3 and 5" Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam conducting

****

One of the more memorable Sibelius symphony cycles on disc was made several years ago on Chandos by composer/conductor Leif Segerstam. Now he's back at it again, and this particular installment is even better. The "Symphony No. 3" is its bouncy, folksy self, but the "Symphony No. 5" performance is one of the most daringly grand interpretations ever recorded, characterizing the elemental forces of nature with an energy that borders on terrifying.

— David Patrick Stearns