Lost Highway isn't "Bon Jovi goes country" so much as a meaningful tribute to the Nashville ethos done on their own terms.

Emancipation works the kind of pure-pop magic that sets us all free.

No, it does not rank with the band's best work. But yes, as long as Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey walk the earth in tandem, the Who live on.

Beneath this band's graceful posturing lies a deep discontent and anger, but band lyricist Michael Timmins manages to once again turn that gentle simmering fury into poetic grandeur.

Brit-leaning space-pop that switches rhythmic gears with pleasing regularity from dreamy to driving.

Wildflower moves Sheryl Crow one step closer to Hall of Fame status.

Sprawling, funny, angry, compelling, and entirely unafraid.

Unsurprisingly, the lyrics are direct and honest, while they've broadened their sonic palette to allow a tad more dissonance in with their urgent and propulsive pop-punk.

This album is bursting with quality. [Amazon UK]

Ripe rides a similar vibe to 2005's "Awake Is the New Sleep": quick-and-dirty pop melodies polished with chiming guitars, piano fills, and Lee's exuberant, boyish vocals.

The disco-rock jitters come back soon enough with the next selection, 'Let Me In,' but there's no denying that the group's horizons have broadened. For every throwback Cure sound-alike, such as 'Give Up?,' there's a lush retort featuring the Abbey Road Orchestra-like 'Outta Heart.'

For fans of Silver Side Up, Nickelback have delivered the goods once more.

One of 2003's best releases.

Overall, ADD demonstrates why Lewis blazed his way into AI's final round: He's out there, sure, but he's willing to reel it in enough to keep it real for the masses.

Duff edges ever closer to adult sensibilities; her goofball Lizzie McGuire days seem far behind.

While McGraw may not be the greatest of warblers, nobody in country can touch him at conveying emotions too deep to express in words.

The contributions of that tag-team of hitmakers take nothing away from the tightness and characteristic chic of the band--that they enhance the hypnotic sheen of Duran Duran, rather than subjugate it--makes a certain sense.

Out of Nothing is a truly exceptional album.

T.I. is at the top of his game, though, and he makes it heard.

The Art of Love and War, on the re-launched Stax label, is as full-bodied an affair as this old-school-leaning, incessantly self-exploring diva has delivered.

Songs like "Baby Come On" and the spooky "Little Death" show the musicians finally delivering the substance that was promised on Blink 182's self-titled 2003 release.

Flitting between fraught ballads and up-tempo adult pop (the misguided sample-laden singles "Freeek!" and "Shoot the Dog" being the unnecessary exceptions), George here returns to the structure and mood of 1990s Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1. [Amazon UK]

Fans of their live performances will appreciate its wall-to-wall rhythmic thrust and quirky textures, while aficionados and newcomers alike should welcome its surprising, seductive melodies and mature songwriting.

Songs About Girls is, for sure, a big, noisy record. But in addition to the kind of hugeness, it's sometimes hard to get your head around.

To his credit, Jenkins is much more interesting a songwriter when he's wounded, offering candor that's not evident on TEB's first two discs.

The album isn't without its problems––come the halfway mark ("Sons of Plunder") vocalist David Draiman and his mates lapse into the expected, with a series of songs that are good but rarely as remarkable as those found in Act I.

Overall, Corgan's captivating effort to mine both the spirit of these turbulent times and the soul of his defining band is a smashing success.

The songs on his debut album, Charmed and Strange are quirky and inventive.