Beta Love feels too much like the band's token electronic record. [Feb 2013, p.92]

While electronic music fans are not always a lyrics-first bunch, the sentiments here will probably sound better shouted at Glastonbury or Coachella than examined via earbuds.

Overall, Keane's efforts to move beyond pigeonholing succeed more than they fail. [Jun 2010, p.107]

It feels a lot longer than it is, and that's a bad thing. [May 2009, p.115]

The tunes are instantly likeable.... What's missing are the immediate hooks that today's competitors from Katy Perry to Marina And The Diamonds, use to claim Madonna's now-vacant throne. [Jul 2014, p.98]

The best songs are, as usual, the weirder ones... Elsewhere, Balls spends too much time riding the same quirky-dance autopilot that has fascinated Sparks since the late '70s. [Jan. 2001, p.102]

As full of empty bluster as its title. [Mar 2004, p.110]

Overlook has its moments. [Sep 2011, p.120]

If Euphoric has a weak spot, it's that Glasvegas' desperation can become overwrought. [May 2011, p.93]

If helium-filled kitsch 'n' synth tunes float your boat, this CD will satisfy. [Sep 2002, p.87]

He seems hell-bent on sabotaging his amiable, acoustic-guitar-based songs with the sort of distortion and static that drive most engineers up the soundproofed wall. [Jan 2005, p.114]

The band ultimately lose the pop craftsmanship and hook-filled bite that distinguished their debut. [Oct 2005, p.166]

Every successful band eventually put out a bloated album, and for Northern Ireland's Snow patrol, it's Fallen Empires. [Feb 2012, p.84]

There's not much sonic discovery or eviscerating emotion here to elevate godhead outside the Pro-Tools realm of co-headlining tours with Stabbing Westward. [#151, p.82]

Frontman Chris Carrabba then shifts into the "Mature Artist" EP, showcasing critic-approved influences like U2 and the Cure ("Blame It On The Changes"), but goes too far with the acoustic mewl of "Even Now" (which is so personal, it's awkward) and "The Motions," a failed experiment in '80s pop. [Jan 2010, p. 92]

Buffalo Daughter seem more concerned with emulating others than with creating their own niche. [Apr 2002, p.66]

The album as a whole is scattershot; it's easy to appreciate the boundaries that Zion I are pushing, but the best authors have great editors. [Feb 2009, p.107]

High Llamas make the trendy retreat into their parents' soundtrack-filled record collection, and on Buzzle Bee, they use a film editor's aesthetic to cut, splice and dissolve their Pet Sounds-based pop into scenes from the celluloid past. The result is as atmospheric as Air, but not as danceably substantial. [#152, p.81]

The band have thankfully corrected course for their self-titled sophomore full-length, but Forever The Sickest Kids is still a frustrating listen at times.

Even if this Boat doesn't always stay afloat, Cook's eager-to-please melodic sensibilities can still get jaws a-smilin'. [Mar 2009, p.116]

This isn’t a record to slap on for kicks or to challenge the bass response of your car stereo; this is the album that makes you want to scowl under gray skies as you slog to your day job.

If 1987-era U2 is your bag, you'll dig it. [Jul 2001, p.74]

For all of his wild swinging, Jones never fully connects. [May 2005, p.136]

Darker, glitchier and garage-punkier... a gamble that doesn't always strike gold. [Jan 2005, p.114]

The crossbreeding makes for a difficult listen, even thought it sharpens the Oscar Wilde-like wit Momus brings to the endeavor. [#155, p.86]

The serious tone is a natural progression for the Sounds but Rubicon's downfall is that it's songs don't linger much after the music stops. [Jul 2009, p.128]

With its techno beats, yowling vocals and laughably cliched lyrics, "I Am Your Skin" fumbles at being a love song, while "She's So Bendable" (the band's vision of Lou Reed fronting the Jesus And Mary Chain) is beyond generic. [Jan 2010, p. 92]

Overall, The Boy With No Name has just enough personality to remind imitators like Coldplay and Keane from whence they came. [Jun 2007, p.151]

The songs tend to meander along without a sense of overall purpose. [Dec 2006, p.188]

Asstoria radiates a childlike glee and naivete you'll wish you still had. [Apr 2003, p.70]

Lady Sovereign celebrates her freedom from Def Jam not by leading with the (middle) finger, but instead by showing her vulnerability....[But after the first three tracks,] the old Lady Sov returns. [May 2009, p.123]

Raditude seems intent on establishing itself as a now album, sacrificing any sort of cohesive vibe for a pop-friendly disc designed for car stereos to be turned to 11.

The music, more polished and synthetic than ever, is fine.... But too much of this album comes off like self-parody. [Oct 2013, p.92]

For now, this stands as another good if inessential addition to their catalog-a phrase that, for better or worse, applies to the majority of their output.

Ungrateful comes off as cluttered and confused. [Jun 2013, p.92]

Avenged Sevenfold is so all over the map musically and lyrically, it's difficult to decipher whether it's pure genius or the most convoluted mess of music you'll hear all year. [Dec 2007, p.178]

This North Carolina sextet's satisfying angst gets replaced with tinny keyboard effects and Guster-ready bongo drums. With every song, vocakist Adam Baker oozes further into an imaginary indie-lite Pixar flick. [May 2010, p.102]

Shawn Christensen's vocals are buried in the mix, while songs fly by with no memorable structure or hooks. [Aug 2009, p.115]

Maybe if Keith had spent more time on his lyrics and less time watching reality TV, this would be a better album. [Dec 2008, p.152]

It has a hard time hitting the kind of peaks required to make a singer-songwriter disc truly memorable. [Jun 2006, p.180]

Except for the dearth of truly original ideas, Love Part II is, at its core, just another Angels & Airwaves record--nothing more, nothing less. [Jan 2012, p.100]

Sometimes it works, other times it just sounds bitter and gratuitous. [Jul 2013, p.96]

What none of these songs has... is a hook that sticks with you. [Jul 2006, p.204]

The dozen synth-and-drum-machine-laden tracks that make up Hologram Jams range from percolating to breezy to nostalgic to inescapably annoying as hell. [Apr 2010, p.123]

Noel Gallagher's songwriting is more derivative than ever. [Aug 2002, p.78]

This record sounds like Story Of The Year if they weree from the UK--energetic pop-hardcore that's ultimately a bit on the fogettable side. [Jul 2009, p.122]

Between the bloated song lengths and repetitive arrangements, What Angels & Airwaves really need for LP3 is an editor. [Dec 2007, p.184]

Not much on Magnetophone's debut really distinguishes them from the legion of bedroom-based nerds playing with the same breakbeats and software as they do. [March 2001, p.83]

Lonely Road thrusts RJA away from being categorizeed as a "scene band," instead jouneying deep into the realm of radio-oriented modern rock. [Mar 2009, p.110]

Blood is a disappointing step backward from a band that showed real greatness only two years ago. [Sep 2012, p.90]

Good Charlotte have obviously put a lot of effort and imagination into Chronicles, and if it comes off as slightly awkward in parts, well, isn't that part of growing up? [Nov 2004, p.135]

Young has a good chance at becoming a worthy replacement for the Postal Service; he just needs to monitor the ratio of sugar to substance on subsequent efforts. [Oct 2009, p.111]

James Walsh does have a beautiful voice, but unfortunately, it's not enough to illuminate Starsailor from the shadow of British bands like Travis and Coldplay. [Feb 2004, p.90]

Longtime fans will be comforted by Nightbird, even if it comes off like the fluff Giorgio Moroder might've rejected after a coke bender. [Mar 2005, p.138]

Overall, the Beeps still seem like a work in progress. [Nov 2004, p.140]

Whether Black Tide are going heavy or tender, every desperate attempt to conjure a moving moment fails. [Sep 2011, p.110]

Offers yet more fun funk/blues-rock mashups for unpretentious gatherings of all sorts. [Nov 2004, p.156]

It's quite a bit slicker and sonically feels as if it could fill an arena--but lacks personality. [Oct 2007, p.172]

The problem: Semi-masked in the Healers, he's short an originality chromosone. [Feb 2003, p.70]

Disappointing--and worse yet, faceless. [Apr 2012, p.99]

Breezy, flashy, and fun, but emotionally bereft as well. [Jul 2002, p.81]

At times, the disc trades solid shoegazing for a slip into blase modern rock, with songs that beg for broadcast next to STP and Third Eye Blind; ultimately, however, Gwenmars' recasting of the dark British sounds that lent depth to sunny American movies is intense and compelling. [#153, p.75]

Too many songs rely on sappy love-song cliches, bland arrangements or saccharine lyrics. [Mar 2007, p.135]

The group's fourth outing supports singer Joel Pott's super-earnest reflections with melodies and arrangements direct and sturdy enough to bear the emotional weight. [Feb 2009, p.92]

As eleventh albums go, Siren Charms is a more than respectable collection. [Oct 2014, p.98]

Monochrome is marred by Hamilton's vocals. [Sep 2006, p.218]

Until Reptar develop their own voice, they have to keep making up for their derivative music with enthusiasm. [Jun 2012, p.82]

The good: Tyler Carter and Luke Holland's performance one-ups YouTube tryhards on Paramore's "Ain't No fun"; Set It Off are naturals at this whole "pop" thing, nailing Adriana Grande's "Problem".... The bad: August Burns Red's cover of Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" tries to make a pp song pissed--it's dated on arrival.... The just plain ridiculous: Upon A Burning Body ft. Ice T covering "Turn Down For What?" [Dec 2014, p.107]

My Damnation is destined to become another album absorbed by the sonic wallpaper of bands copying a similar, well-worn blueprint. [Aug 2011, p.112]

For a bunch of comedians, the Electric Six sure are talented musicians. [Dec 2006, p.189]

Dark Touches has its catchy moments, but sticking a song in the listener's head is not the same thing as creating important music. [Nov 2009, p.109]

Often feels like the soundtrack for a party that's running short on ideas. [Oct 2004, p.132]

This is an album aimed at minivan-driving moms who saw Incubus live a decade ago, but the boneheaded lyrical cliches and nap-inducing arrangements are likely to bore even them. [Aug 2011, p.114]

Though Sublime With Rome's debut LP is a promising collection of summer songs, under the carefully fabricated surface, it's hollow.

Amount[s] to little more than a facsimile of their forefathers. [Nov 2004, p.149]

While we believe that Sum 41 have the potential to succeed without the aid of power chords, the fact that only a handful of the musical ideas on the album are fully developed makes for a frustrating listening experience.

Doo-wop-inspired harmonies lend a barbershop charm to the Chicago quintet's earnest and energetic pop-punk sound, though the retro styling of World occasionally comes off as more tired than inspired.

On the whole, the songs are more tuneful and airy and less spastic than previous riot-on-the-stage efforts. [Mar 2007, p.143]

The band's anti-everything style can get annoying if you don't have the patience for heavy doses of idiosyncrasy in your rock. [Jul 2006, p.204]

Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" loosens up into a glittery anthem, while the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" should have stayed a karaoke favorite. [March 2003, p.94]

While the band's heritage has been hanging on by a thread for decades, The Devil's Rain is but an undercharged defibrillator to its decomposing corpse.

The absence of Paul Leary's drug-fried guitar is unconscionable. [Nov 2001, p.78]

It must have been much more fun to record all of these tracks than it is to listen to them.

Good Charlotte have become caricatures of themselves. [Apr 2007, p.175]

Occasionally get[s] a tad too close to Jamiroquai territory. [Nov 2005, p.226]

Seems like a tarted-up version of 1986's Raising Hell.... This is for diehard fans only. [#154, p.87]

Lee's cutesy folk and piano pop leaves us cold. [Mar 2009, p.106]

[A] slickly produced holding pattern. [Jul 2003, p.122]

The result: a CD without hooks, impressive guitar pyrotechnics, or anything else, really. [Sep 2006, p.226]

La Luna's overall style is ambient industrial, with a hypnotic, grinding pulse and pounding kick drum, embellished by sporadic rhythmic tappic, guitar growls and strange electronic squiqqles... and while Czukay's industrial groove is righteous, 47 minutes of it is excessive. [Jan 2001, p.87]

Anyone wishing to reminisce about the golden age that was the third wave of ska-punk will find plenty to like, though, as by its very nature, TV/EP sounds like something straight outta '97.