In Brief

** 1/2 Michael Penn, “Free-for-All,” RCA. High expectations can make anything short of brilliant seem disappointing, and that’s the case here. Penn, whose wonderful first album three years ago showed him to be a gifted exponent of quirky power pop, has made a brave second effort, effectively tackling the boundaries of the genre but sometimes failing to anchor things melodically.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).