The duo fight back with song after song full of cutting takedowns and brotherly wisdom--they get petty, they get mean, but aided by Arcade Fire orchestrator Owen Pallett, they turn their bitchfests into grandiose melodrama.

Throughout the album, haunted-saloon piano and reverb-choked guitar conjure a murky, wobbly misaligned version of old R&B.

Snoop sounds great without saying anything he hasn't already said many times... Which is a testament to his abilities, but it's a bit disappointing, too. [Sep 2004, p.132]

The band covers this cerebral terrain with renewed vigor, thanks to a sudden fondness for antique synthesizers and battery-powered drum machines. [Feb/Mar 2002, p.112]

Without goth glamour or Fall Out Boy self-flagellation, Voices gets mired in a modern-rock middle. [Mar 2006, p.113]

Dido should let her socks go unsorted for a while; genuine sorrow sounds good on her.

Rimes's gigantic soprano never flags, yet remains best in ballads. [#11, p.140]

If Dido had a thing for madrigals and a suite of neuroses, she might sound this interesting. [#9, p.146]

Around the midway point, just as APC seem handcuffed to despair, they remember that a good protest song should stir the spirit rather than sink it. [Dec 2004, p.140]

A prince's share of his royal talent survives. [Aug 2004, p.136]

A radiant collection of pure pop songs. [#10, p.125]

Though the drones drift into Enya-like ambience on "Slip Away" more often, as on "Pieces and Parts" and the keening "Broken," Anderson dresses up her hard-won koans of personal wisdom just enough to make them alluring. [Aug/Sep 2001, p.120]

An album that begins as a me-against-the-world celebration of self ends as a somber plea for emotional wholeness. [Dec 2006, p.173]

Dan Bejar is in "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mode: He's made an album that sounds nearly identical to the one before it. [Apr 2008, p.78]

It presumably adds up to Something Important, but good luck deciphering what. [Jul 2006, p.103]

Walking on a Dream initially sounds as familiar as montage music in an HBO midday movie, but it will haunt your dreams.

Her solo debut... spruces up a vintage style--'80s SoCal new wave--with lyrical twists. [#8, p.126]

It's almost as much fun as 1981! [May 2003, p.114]

At several points... the duo belatedly attempts to revivie its peak period formula, but... it's as old-fashioned as a Lollapalooza 1992 T-shirt. Fortunately, Jourgenson and Barker's new ideas are better. [#14, p.140]

Not much happens, which seems to be the point. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.96]

Endearing hints of '60s pop glow faintly beneath the frictionless surfaces of Gane's loops, chirps and austerely percolating rhythms. [Sep 2008, p.84]

Much of Voyage to India is a soporific swath of happy-hour wallpaper. [#11, p.127]

Over 45 minutes, it feels monotonous and preposterously self-pitying, but in controlled doses, it bests all the rest of the U.K.'s current wave of post-Coldplay bedwetters. [Jun 2006, p.145]

Important? No. Remarkable? Not really. [Sep 2003, p.118]

Lerche originals... aren't starry-eyed vintage exercises. They're just swell new tunes. [Apr 2006, p.114]

Refining the spare sound of her last studio album "Uh Huh Her," she herein presents an 11-part song cycle about loss, longing and wandering bereft through the moors. [Oct 2007, p.108]

It may not hold the attention of anyone who's been out of diapers more than five years. [#8, p.124]

Despite the occasional misstep... it's a welcome album to anyone who wishes the past 15 years never happened to Run-D.M.C.'s legacy. [Nov 2005, p.139]