Rave On Buddy Holly takes classic tracks and, for the most part, offers instantly memorable covers of them. It's not quite an A, but it's as close as anything I've reviewed in a while.

Where Devotion contained only three or four songs with big, traditional choruses, Tough Love is built on them.

In the end, Feeling shows just how delicate the balances are that Mirah is capable of striking, and how fine-tuned a song’s mechanics must be in order for it to work properly.

Packed with peace, love and jangly guitars, Diane Coffee’s debut LP, My Friend Fish, is an irresistible ode to ’60s psychedelia.

A fully realized collection of 11 songs that are at once polished, precise and visceral. Williamson could not sound more in control, or less concerned about it. The effect is, well, enchanting as she breezes through tunes that pull you into the center of rich musical arrangements so unobtrusively that you’re sometimes not quite sure how you got there.

Concise, focused and even, it’s a great addition to the band’s increasingly rich catalog.

Frontwoman Shingai Shoniwa scales back her Billie Holiday persona but is no less a dominant presence, showing herself to be equally adept at giddy twee (“Wild Young Hearts”) and crackling synth-pop (“Saturday”) as she is girl group sing-alongs .

The Dreamer is also an album that calls for multiple spins-it's not likely to grab listeners by the throat, or even kick them in the shins for that matter. It's just good.

The songs are bolstered by a generally unsettled sound throughout. Yet rather than opt for a tumult, Hatfield maintains a persistent pulse and an air of determination.

It’s no surprise that their return doesn’t feel as triumphant as it should have. Instead, this record feels like more of a means to an end, an excuse to get back out on the road and play their biggest hits once again.

As she walks the walk and talks the talk, she makes it clear that KiCk i is her fullest vision yet for herself, the culmination of eight years of musically and visually rocketing outside the box, bridging seemingly diametrically opposed forces, and pursuing her muse no matter how strange others might find it. When she lets out a soft chuckle at the track’s end, she’s earned it.

Murs for President isn’t the most perfect campaign, but it’s more than worthy of being on the ballot.

Mamalarky is a promising debut, no doubt. In places, though, it feels fussed-over, which saps some of these songs of their warmth and intimacy, and keeps them at an arm’s length. If Mamalarky spend more time writing, playing, performing and just being together, they’ll almost certainly overcome that obstacle.

Ranks with Lunapark and Penthouse as one of its best. [#13, p.119]

Recall's Johnny Cash's recordings with Rick Rubin. [Apr/May 2006, p.111]

He's certainly comfortable with the material, and his worn-leather voice conveys an unexpected tenderness that adds spirited desperation to opener 'Stop the World and Let Me Off,' gritty regret to ''Til I Get It Right,' and aching vulnerability to 'Help Me Make It Through the Night.'...The Sadies know just when to step forward or back, creating a general bootgazer ambience.

Age Against the Machine isn’t a seamless reunion--it’s too messy, too bloated (18 tracks, not a single necessary interlude), too Green-centric to feel like a pure collaboration. But in a way, those Perfect Imperfections come with the territory. Even at its worst, it’s a Machine built with fascinating craftsmanship.

They are what rock ’n’ roll is meant to be and, frankly, what most rock bands have forgotten altogether: These songs are fun.

Though The Clearing works fine as background music, it offers up many more intricacies and delights if you give it your full concentration.

He comes at these songs with an easy familiarity that tells you he didn’t need to spend a lot of time learning them, because he had long since absorbed them into his very bones. Also, the guy can flat-out sing, which is something he doesn’t get enough credit for. ... The one real knock against anything on Only the Strong Survive is that the definitive versions of most of these songs are so solid that even he can’t find much to improve upon.

Most of these artists strike a rare rework/remix balance, preserving what made the original tick while infusing enough of their own identity to justify the new take.

Like most of Malkmus’ releases, Wig Out At Jagbags won’t likely endear him to many newer listeners. But for those who are of the same disposition, this ain’t a bad place to be.

Even with the burden of sloppy crossover tracks, Paper Trail has enough standout moments for T.I.’s throne to remain secure for now.

Like a prayer, The Saint of Lost Causes best listened to alone and deliberately. It’s too close and intimate to put on when there are others present unless they also plan on listening in silence. It’s a lot to ask the modern, harried soul to lay low and meditate on a record, but listen any other way and it’s all, well, a lost cause.

Cold War Kids’ multifaceted style keeps things exciting even at the LP’s weaker points, but how does the story change when taken as a whole? Maybe not by much. Taken on its own, though, New Age Norms 3 shows how much Cold War Kids will push to figure themselves out as they grow and the world around them slowly shifts into something unfamiliar.

Fake Sugar picks up where her book left off. It bridges the gap between love and loss and taps into her Southern roots to create a record that fully encompasses the person she’s become.

On Beal’s first album, he moved between child-like ambience, songs suitable for weird film scores and stomping blues.

Although Vestiges & Claws may wander close to guitar-based, folk-rock homogeny, González’s musings offer a cerebral reminder to enjoy figuring out what it all means.