X Def Leppard (Island) The '80s metalheads have adjusted their once bone-rattling histrionics on a surprisingly melodic rocker, the band's 10th album. Warning to diehards who never stopped wearing ripped jeans: Contains heartfelt love songs.

DIRTY CHILD Rosey (Island) Placing her throaty alto over slinky jazz rhythms and eclectic world beats on her debut effort, this blue-eyed soul Child is part Macy Gray (the funky "Love") and part Fiona Apple (the eerie "Beautiful"), yet uniquely Rosey.

FASHIONABLY LATE Linda Thompson (Rounder) Bedeviled for years by a rare psychological condition that prevented her from singing, Thompson returns with a quietly powerful, traditional country-folk disc that should appeal to fans of Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris.