By the end of the year, expect Harris' star to steadily rise as 18 Months continues to devour the calendar-and the universe.

The Boy With No Name instantly gets Travis back to the business of being Travis. [#25, p.102]

Simple without being simplistic. [#14, p.98]

Loud Like Love’s loudest moments (“Exit Wounds,” “Purify”) are all puff and no power. But on the tormentedly bemused “Too Many Friends,” we get incisive philosophical reflections on technological alienation and the swelling meaninglessness of modern existence.

The August release date makes this a perfect end-of-season party album, getting you in beach or barbeque mood. [Summer 2008, p.92]

Divided By Night continues to raise the bar for the electro wizards. [Spring 2009, p.96]

Not every song here is successful, and as far as innovation goes, Grubbs isn't going to be driving the conversation, but he's put out a pleasing pop record that leaves listeners with no reason to absolutely despise the channel. [Winter 2010, p.99]

Gomez finally makes peace with the fact that it's a pop band that loves to jam and a jam band that loves to write pop songs.

Many of the songs indistinguishably work together to guard from it, making the album as a whole feel like one long, subdued tranquilized state.

In this debut, Lou Reed and "Gallows Pole"-era Led Zeppelin mix with Fraiture's honest storytelling and obvious familiarity with a good hook, thus ensuring that while these tracks won't be slam dunks, they will hold up against detailed scrutiny. [Holiday 2008, p.94]

Yeah, it's good: vintage rock. [#20, p.92]

If all goes well, people will forego the bad songs and concentrate on the really good ones, and Starsailor will get the message to go subtle and tight. [#8, p.102]

Too often, though, the metronomic guitar-plucking and rainy-day harmonies give the tunes an interchangeable, mid-tempo somberness, which inevitably turns boring.

The last few numbers droop, and as a whole, the record sinks a little from the weight of all that goddamn goodwill. [#12, p.98]

It's refreshing to see a talented musician who’s harmlessly heartfelt, but the record would have more edge and lasting value if Jack simply grew some balls.

This is nowhere near a bad album. [#12, p.95]

It's both disjointed and jarring, but it's unlike anything the Chicago legend has done before. Drop your booty if you enjoy such things. If not, try and appreciate those who do. [Holiday 2008, p.91]

The only problem is that many of those stylings have already been put to death, so hearing them again can be a little annoying.

The thread that made Weezer everyone's favorite nerd-rock quartet--the soul and core behind the dramatic guitar crescendos--has unraveled completely, leaving us with a record full of, well, a lot of dramatic guitar crescendos. [#16, p.87]

You can't help but be pleasantly surprised and impressed by how much this effort doesn't borrow from its predecessor.

That this album eviscerates the armies of shoegazer-come-latelies is a trifiling accomplishment compared to the fact that for 74 minutes--with an overall tone of foreboding bordering on the haunting and disturbing--this album is impossible to turn off. [Spring 2008, p.92]

The formula seems tired, or at least stretched too thin to be effective. [#9, p.101]

Beyond the Neighborhood is somewhere in between, melding studio tweakery with the kind of sweeping melodies that never seem to go out of fashion.