The group spiffs up their sound and takes it cruising in a modern direction -- proving that there's plenty of life left in them yet.... The caveat? In updating their grooves to sound like everybody else's, the band has succeeded in -- well, sounding like everybody else.

Though Ecstasy is gruesome, fearsome and rife with realism much in the same way as his heart-stopping shocker, Berlin (1973), Reed has a compelling way with words, and a magic touch with psycho-delic guitar riffs that dare us to follow him down the back alleys to his darkest thoughts.

It plays like an enjoyable variety show, since, as opposed to star turns, Willie's company puts in guest appearances, creating a strange mixture of not enough or a little too much (save for Willie's solo turns).

The real genius of Almost Famous, however, is the inclusion of the exquisite and infuriatingly overlooked Led Zeppelin ode "That's the Way," as well as David Bowie's rare (but not impossible to acquire) live cover of Lou Reed's "I'm Waiting for the Man." And herein lies Crowe's smoking gun with which he shoots himself in the foot. If these songs are worth having (and they absolutely are) and are the best that Almost Famous has to offer (ditto), so too are the entire albums from whence they come, Led Zeppelin III and Santa Monica '72.

The translations that work best are the more modern pieces... The chief fault with Pieces is that, at times, it veers dangerously close to Muzak.

Alone With Everybody is a good album with great moments.

The bottom-line is that while All is a good album, it isn't a great one.... All largely rides somewhere in the '80s, hitting a few heights (the ruminative "New York"), while occasionally missing the target altogether ("Peace on Earth").

Though G.O.A.T.'s songs are all new, they do bear more than a whiff of the familiar, with the rapper looking back in time to invoke the tried-and-true formulas which have brought him chart-topping success throughout his storied career.