In each case, a brand-new track has been crafted, but some work better than others. [10 Feb 2007]

While it's commendable for the trio to try to break out of its teen dream box, it's on songs like 'Before the Storm'--featuring Miley Cyrus--where the brothers prove they're still among the best at putting the fizz in pop culture.

Unfortunately, instead of eliciting the same response as its predecessor, ["Girl Tonite"] comes as a feeble attempt to copy success. Luckily, there are enough highlights to balance things out. [8 Oct 2005]

It doesn't all hit home, but at its best ("Heaven/ Where True Love Goes," "In the End," "Green Fields, Golden Sands"), this record is uplifting enough to satisfy even a 30-year thirst. [18 Nov 2006]

Overall, Sugar Ray sticks to what it does best: helping audiences realize that there's no better alternative to a California fun-in-the sun day at the beach.

As projects of this nature go, this is a remarkably cohesive, high-quality set. For the most part, the material is appealing, if not terribly memorable.

Dennen's tenuous vocals (and lyrics) are better suited to silly love songs than this sort of material, and though producer John Alagia knows how to make the guitars jingle and jangle and how to work up a soft, swimmy groove, Dennen needs a little more to rise out of the ever-growing multitude of sensitive guitar dudes.

A mostly solid collection of quirky dance pop and cryptic rock.

There is an easy-listening elegance to his songs, but the album plays out like a soundtrack to sipping coffee. [28 Jan 2006]

Halfway between a fraternity kegger and a housewarming party.

More hit than miss. [30 Jun 2007]

It's a pleasant enough, if uneven work. [14 Apr 2007]

Leans more toward conscious than commercial. [26 Nov 2005]

Overall, listeners will struggle to classify "Rubies," as much for Bejar's blurring of bluesy folk, pop and lo-fi indie rock as his unconventional delivery.

By abandoning the gloom and doom and embracing quirky power-pop, the Stills seem to have morphed into a less minimalist Spoon, and your replay mileage may vary based on how strongly you liked what they were doing before.

Snoop has found a happy balance between pop and hardcore. [25 Nov 2006]

There's nothing really spectacular about any track, although in a strange way the entire album does have the ability to grow on you.

Where the Faint falls short, though, is its lack of daring; even with the welcome addition of strings (apropos of its cinematic live show) and varying styles, "Wet From Birth" sounds contained and merely likeable.

There are moments when you wish for just a tiny bit of dirt, or just a little bit of edge.

As uneven as the film itself.

This record isn't for casual listening, so those checking out the Mars Volta for the first time should take it slow to prevent a sonic hangover.

The rest of Identified, though, panders to the preteen demo with stop-start pop that ranges from pleasant (the title track) to dull ("Amazed") to off-putting ("Hook It Up"). But for little girls, this is one nonstop singalong.

An album that would have been great in 1983; now, it is more of a nostalgic lark.

Fans of Wilco will certainly oblige Kotche's singular visions; fans of "Being There," maybe not so much.

With a few notable exceptions... inspiration is just what this album lacks.

Although the arrangements remain impressive, there are moments when it feels as though Dungen should stick with a quicker pace. [26 May 2007]

A fairly paint-by-numbers affair.

More often than not, even Shadow's most extreme sonic detours hit home.

It is simply miserable, heavy, repetitive and cathartic. [18 Nov 2006]

The group's live shows are the stuff of legend--perhaps that's why the act's debut album, #1, seems a bit disappointing without the corresponding over-the-top visuals.

The seemingly ageless Australian rock combo mostly employs its same tried-and-true formula on the audio side of the Black Ice equation.

No matter how hooky things get, the Warlocks tend to bury each song in the same multi-layered haze of feedback and distortion, as if sheer decibels are the sole element holding everything together.

Well-produced, albeit predictable.

The set as a whole lacks variety and rarely shifts tempo. [24 Feb 2007]

There is a little too much tra-la-la-ing, but it's a pleasure to hear a new band having so much infectious fun. [24 Mar 2007]

Nonsensical lyrics about butterflies and name-changing lovers on tracks like 'You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)' and 'Apollo And The Buffalo And Anna Anna Anna Oh!,' could serve as a distraction, but the songs are saved by beautifully frantic instrumentals.

More often than not, Oldham's signature vocalizing keeps Tortoise from falling back on old sonic tricks. [21 Jan 2006]

[It] flashes with moments of greatness. [9 Dec 2006]

The melodies aren't always there, and the restrained production makes for an occasionally nagging sense of meandering. [3 Mar 2007]

With expectations tempered for Forgiven, the sibling trio from Texas doesn't panic but rather retrenches, returning to the easy-grooving, harmony-laden Carlos Santana-meets-Stevie Ray Vaughan feel of its first album.

While the production is good, the divergent styles and lack of cohesion add up to a somewhat schizophrenic offering.

Even visionaries lose sight at times, as Pierce does on "Let It Come Down," an album that can only be deemed a fractured opus.

Mark's sound here is cohesive and unified, though a pervasive midtempo vibe and downer subject matter (it's mostly a breakup album) tend to blur together. [3 Mar 2007]

Though Milian often comes off as a third-rate Beyoncé, her feathery soprano captivates when her lyrics do not.

"Word of Mouf" never quite meets the standard 'Cris set for himself with his debut.

The set is somewhat of a shambolic affair, wherein kernels of good ideas get blown out, jumbled up or lost in execution.

It's still a mess, though an ambitious and grandiose one.

"Run the Road 2" does not live up to its crack predecessor, but that observation is neither a surprise nor a slam. [18 Feb 2006]

Finds the duo, well, pushing too many of the same buttons.

Here, T.I. shows he can still dominate a song given quality production (Just Blaze, DJ Toomp), but the album does little to build on what we have heard before. [1 Apr 2006]

Think of a visit to Nana's house reimagined as alt-Broadway musical theater. [29 Oct 2005]

while the first single, 'All You Did Was Save My Life,' provides some much-needed bite, "Burn Burn" is ultimately ballad-heavy and one-dimensional.

It's about average for albums from Prince proteges.

Power ballad 'What If' reveals that Tisdale can deliver the radio-ready goods, and 'Tell Me Lies' is convincingly spunky. But the rest of the material, as racy as it sometimes is, doesn't give the singer room to comfortably let loose.

Familiar, yes, but not unwelcome. [1 Oct 2005]

Try as the trio might to inform its '80s pastiche with an extra degree of menace, the disc ends up sounding like the same old Trans Am: part Rush, part "Miami Vice" soundtrack and part pranksters just taking the piss.

It often feels sluggish despite itself, and his lyrics show him riding against the same old Michigan wind with a voice that's grown haggard and curmudgeonly with time.

One can't help but think that by scaling back their ambitions, the Foos could have made one great album instead of two average ones.

Has its moments, but it comes across as a baby step forward.

The group seems incapable of integrating these traits into something new. It's either Morello re-writing his old licks for bash-and-thud Rage-style rawk or Cornell's more straightforward tension/release confessionals.

"Lucky" kicks off the proceedings; it's a buoyant, blistering winner of a song. Unfortunately, the track is also one of the disc's few high points.

Here, there are moments when he entertains us and other times when he doesn't.

Free Somehow, which marks the debut of new-ish guitarist Jimmy Herring, is no less of a tease, boasting three or four memorable songs (none mightier than 'Airplane') and the rest serviceable filler.

The band's writing stagnates, rendering the majority of the album in a rote midtempo formula that Stipe's increasingly trite lyrics can't always save.

Party Intellectuals contains enough noise and/or dead space to ruin the flow of many an iPod shuffle, but experimental jazz or avant-garde fans should find enough here to sink their teeth into.

Linkin Park's ambitions are nearly palpable, but songs likely conceived as homages end up sounding too close to their sources. [26 May 2007]

Unfortunately, for all the hype surrounding "Restless," Xzibit has lost some of the lyrical ferociousness that made his previous releases underground favorites.

There's an odd allegiance to the overblown prog-rock theatrics of Rush... and Yes... that seems incongruous alongside earnest Beatles homages... and straight-up, gloom-rock confessionals.

All the elements for a smart, catchy dance-rock album seem to be in place, but the final product still remains slightly unstructured and rehashed.

While Dulli's bitter, drunken voice remains front and center, the backup vocals and orchestras nearly make the songs sound like a parody, marrying a beast to a beauty.

What this channel lacks is true feeling and originality.

Songs such as the Rodney Jerkins-produced "Make It Last Forever" and "Get Up"... are surefire club hits, although such ballads as "It's Over" tend to fall flat. [9 Dec 2006]

The deafening dialectics often feel contrived, making Test Icicles sound like a fun "project," not a real band. [28 Jan 2006]

Many of Angel's midtempo tracks, while well-intentioned, fail to reach the lofty heights to which they aspire.

The band seems oddly restrained and processed through much of the album's 12 numbers.

The album doesn't really push the creative envelope and relies too heavily on guests at the expense of the principal artist. [15 Apr 2006]

Nostradamus isn't likely to surprise you--this is softcore for the hardcore.

This album is calm and relaxing almost to a fault. [26 Nov 2005]

"Revolverlution" may be little more than a curious career capper, but at least the never risk-averse Public Enemy seems to understand that even failure can be your friend if it ultimately helps you move forward and stay fresh.

Now in his 30s, he doesn't surf the beat so much as box with it, with both brutality and no small degree of grace. That a rapper of this much verbal gymnastic ability is still making Perez Hilton cracks is too bad, but the bigger problem is that Eminem's recipe of gore and gay jokes sounds like the past.

Aside from a few unique moments ("The Return," "Take Me Away"), there's not much new to report here.

Film-specific songs like "Make No Sense at All" and "Call the Law" fall flat out of context.

Though the album grows stronger as it lurches on, the trio's pursuit of bombast leaves the killer melodies lost in outer space.

Once again, the results feel too spotty.

[An] uneven set.

"Born" loses its focus amid unabashed nods to Burt Bacharach and songs that are just not done yet, despite smart tempo changes and pretty melodies.

Primarily lackluster.

Though a floundering economy, bombed-out GOP and a season or two of corporate bailouts have provided them with a fat barrel of fish to shoot, this rap-rock hybrid simmers instead of seethes, never quite mustering the blood-boiling rage of its principals' previous material.

"Per Second..." finds Wheat in the midst of an identity crisis, attempting to balance largely superb songs with an exasperating presentation.

Sometimes it's good bizarre. Other times it's bad bizarre.

Missteps more than it hits.

Seem[s] like a missed opportunity.

What has become increasingly clear is that Devendra Banhart needs an editor.

Most of The Block is a reasonable enough approximation of faceless club pop, complete with standard-issue guest stars (the Pussycat Dolls, Timbaland) and out-of-left-field rap bridges.

This new set fills in the spaces with sweeter, fuller arrangements, but the songs are hit and miss.

There are only a couple of songs with enough impact to avoid boring people who catch the band on tour this summer. [9 Jun 2007]

It's defiant like a bad drunk, uncomfortably oversexed and more at home in a seedy after-hours club than a celebrity ultra-lounge.

Songs like "Do You Remember" and "Wasting My Time" are tolerable but don't require repeated listening.