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Forty years ago, The Who raised the bar on rock 'n roll behavior. They were the first to smash their guitars and the first to destroy their hotel rooms. They've just released their first album in 24 years, and some threads will be familiar to longtime Who fans.

Mixing rock, ska, and dance beats, the British band Hard-Fi recalls The Clash's ability to slyly protest the status quo in the context of infectious pop music. "Middle Eastern Holiday" adopts the perspective of a friend going off to fight in Iraq.

Rocky Votolato, former leader of the Seattle band Waxwing, mixes hopeful love songs with biting commentary about the world around him. "White Daisy Passing" is a searingly personal look at fleeting moments and treasured memories, the song wallows in the details of love lost.

Even by the band's own standards of ornate beauty, "Hurry Home Dark Cloud" sounds especially striking. Singer Darren Richard's voice swoops and swoons elegantly, even operatically, making it the key instrument in a mix rife with strings, organs, and bells.

A Glaswegian rock band that punctuates its guitar-fueled rock blasts with moody interludes and bits of esoteric instrumentation, The Twilight Sad makes epic songs that sound both punishing and pretty. Singer James Graham paints a vague but distinct portrait of alienation.

Great Lake Swimmers hasn't abandoned its short but grand tradition of marrying sweetness and sorrow: Whether examining someone's tortured psyche or traversing the mountains and lakes of "Your Rocky Spine," it's unafraid to explore forbidden and forbidding terrain.

Saxophonist Ted Nash has been playing in jazz orchestras (Thad Jones, Lincoln Center) for the past two decades. He's also a founding member of the Jazz Composers' Collective, an organization that presents challenging new works by its members. But Nash is finally stepping out of the reed sections of other people's bands to play and record with his own. He has two recent recordings — one features a jazz quartet with a string quartet and the other has Nash's saxophone and clarinet with tuba, trombone, violin, accordion, and drums. That's the latest — it's called Sidewalk Meeting. Tom Vitale reports from New York. (7:45) Ted Nash's CDs are on the Arabesque label.

Adam Baker's hushed voice and muted acoustic guitar both help to maintain a back-to-nature vibe, but soon enough, the North Carolina band's pastoral mood turns to surreal instrumentation.

Aaron Behrens and Thomas Turner, who perform as Ghostland Observatory, play electronica with the ferocity of great rock 'n' roll. The Austin duo's music presents a beguiling synthesis of new-wave-influenced bands like The Rapture and the progressive dance-floor musings of Daft Punk.

Since 1996, Sunny Day Real Estate's Jeremy Enigk has experienced band break-ups, reunions and a widely publicized conversion to Christianity. What remains is a man who's grown up and brought his lovely voice and sweet melodies out from behind layers of blaring bluster.