It really isn't any different from any of the higher-charged rock albums in his repertoire.

Their strongest effort since their strong run in the mid/late-'80s.

But for all the high-level assistance the group receives, what keeps Built From Scratch consistently interesting remains the fantastic four’s work on the wheels of steel.

Time to pull out Dig Your Own Hole while the Bros. claw through this current slump, er, evolutional period.

Point is in another zone altogether, establishing Cornelius as one of the most creative pop musicians around.

A MY-T-FINE punk rock album, chock full of swirling harmonies that came into fashion sometime around the Descendents rise in the mid-1980s.

While the group attacks things with great velocity and singer Chud shreds his larynx at regular intervals, the always difficult follow-up album features actual melodies and mature textures that make the band's eventual transformation into a progressive rock band nearly inevitable.

Spinning a zoo of samples redundantly, song after song, can only amuse the most blissed-out of stoners...

Sounds like one long song of wheezing harmonium and heavily echoed, slightly out-of-tune vocals.

Whatever angst might have settled under the surface has been swept clean and in its place a jubilant spiritual quest in is place.

The best work of his inventively mad career.

The only problem is that Ja's ear for a hit has begun to make his straight street-level efforts less enticing.

[Her songs are] articulate and bright, enlivened by pithy metaphors and images that suggest a well-rounded English major with a sensitive side.

Gold has its good points and its filler.

This is one striking album from start to finish.

Mark's best work yet.

No one--and I mean, no one, not even people paid to say such things--is going to confuse this with Highway 61 Revisited or even Nashville Skyline, but when the official Bob Dylan bubblegum card is issued, Love And Theft will certainly rank ahead of Knocked Out Loaded and Saved.

It rocks less but parties harder than 1997's Tellin' Stories.

It all sounds nice, but little sticks.

Other than "PMS," a misguided Lauryn Hill cop, the album also gets stronger as it plays, concluding with an impressive trio of songs that show off Blige's gospel roots.

Whether you're an experienced fan or a newbie, the easy and honest appeal of their high melodicism should be readily apparent.

Just when you figure he's down for the count, he comes back with an album as majestic and epic as this one.

These days they sound like Hootie & the Blowfish shot through with Viagra.

Arling & Cameron continue to cook up a unique and effervescent blend of European electro pop and future/retro lounge exotica all sprinkled with a computer-calculated dose of kitsch.

Along with her partner David Rawlings, Welch pulls together quiet unassuming tunes that straddle the line between country and folk and have finally found a home in the public consciousness via the Coen Bros.' O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack.

Even at his least inspired he's got these funk-rap-metal boys beat.

A few dopey passes at world music are forgiven, as he still can't sing.

If it isn't quite the debut that new soul touchstones like D'Angelo's Brown Sugar and Erykah Badu's Baduizm were, it's certainly far more ambitious...