Album: Paolo Nutini, Sunny Side Up (Atlantic)

The follow-up to Nutini's 2006 debut finds Ethan (Kings of Leon) Johns gamely trying to make production sense of a record that ranges from ska to soul via country and ragtime. Adventurous, but this 22-year-old does possess a voice that conveys a maturity beyond his years, even if it's lost at times due to lack of musical continuity. "Come Up Easy" is an Otis Redding-like highlight, while "10/10", a punchy ska number, teleports you to a place closer to the Caribbean than Nutini's home town of Paisley.