In Brief

** Live, “The Distance to Here,” Radioactive. Dark, aggressive rock to the left, pop fluff to the right, this Pennsylvania quartet continues undaunted with its fourth album of reaching for the light (in stores Tuesday). “Love will overcome,” pleads Ed Kowalczyk in “Sparkle,” guitars crescendoing around him. A noble stance, indeed. But the band (which plays the Mayan Theatre on Oct. 21) hasn’t moved forward in message or sound appreciably since introducing its R.E.M./U2-flavored elixir in 1991, and the light’s not getting any closer.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.

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Hear the Music

* Excerpts from Melissa Etheridge’s “Breakdown” and other recent releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: http://ukobiw.net./soundclips