Displays a broader sonic reach than its predecessor.

Sounds nothing like a swan song, but rather like what should have been a mid-career album from a band whose ideas and abilities were still in full effect.

[Co-producer Mirwais Ahmadzai's] deft touch for crafting disarmingly warm songs out of synthetic tools gives Music a rich, human quality that nicely underscores Madonna's quietly personal -- if purposefully vague -- lyrics.... it's the music that ultimately sucks us into Music.

A rousing, driving smack in the face of all things pop, punk, and hard rock.

An ardent and successful attempt by the British quintet to divorce and distance itself from its past and to reinvent both itself and our notions of pop music, using soundscapes rather than songs, and instrumental choices that are a far cry from the group's previous forays into its own brand of guitar rock.... odd, perplexing, and utterly fascinating...

Wasp Star adheres to the bouncy melodicism and skewed humor that's been XTC's stock in trade for 25 years.

Sailing to Philadelphia represents yet another high watermark in his impressive recording career.... If there's anything to quibble about here, it's that the CD's energy sags because it contains so many ballads and mood pieces.

Overall, God Bless the Go-Go's is a spirited, entertaining album that was worth the wait.

It's smartly crafted black comedy from hip-hop's greatest white MC, a strong storyteller and a master of the metaphor, who produces staggeringly popular music that's mostly meant to be enjoyed with both a pained grimace and a smirk.

Without the thundering drums and over-amped testosterone of the originals, the songs are revealed as the beautiful blues-based writings they in fact are.

The lyricism is, as always, witty, wry, and full of cleverly deployed twists, along with literary and cultural allusions and smart metaphors...

By most standards, Mosaic Thump would be considered an excellent album, but this is De La Soul.

Jones' fans may be disappointed at the lack of original material and the shortness of the set -- just over 37 minutes -- but as a showcase for the singer's interpretive talents, it's dynamite.

Although its moods swing across the dial, it more than delivers on the group's initial promise.

OCS is quite simply straight-up and ultra-refreshing, expert in crafting great pop songs and equally adept at letting the music do its talking.

While Lovers Rock is not any sort of departure from the quiet ballads that marked the group's first three albums, there is an element of freshness that aligns Sade with the current electronic music insurgence while still maintaining a distinctly analog outlook on love's foibles.

One of the group's most adventurous outings...

For all the back story that precedes her, and even with an already overplayed first single, Everybody is a terrific debut.

All Hands on the Bad One returns to concise song structure, making it more accessible and ultimately more satisfying.

If one wanted to quibble, one could say that the Cash-Rubin collaboration is starting to feel just a little formulaic.... yet Cash continually surprises with his ability to completely inhabit material by writers much younger than him.

The band has introduced cleanser and furniture polish into the summer cleaning, sweeping away the rough edges and brightening up the melodies, which results in the group's best-sounding album to date.

Fans who have waited patiently for a proper follow-up to 1989's acclaimed Disintegration should be pleased, if not necessarily bowled over by Bloodflowers, a deeply felt album with a similarly downcast mood.

Reed has lost neither his lyrical bite nor his sonic perfectionism.

The music on Return of Saturn... is a bit darker than it was on Tragic Kingdom, but it's no less energetic.

As best-of joints go, The Evidence is solid, featuring a bevy of T's greatest cuts, as well as a few left-field inclusions.

Their sound has congealed into a silvery core, rooted in moody dance music, and incorporating bits of acid jazz, lite funk, and minimalist classical stylings.

With hushed arrangements that feature little more than acoustic guitar and piano over bass and drums, plus the occasional steel guitar or pump organ, the album is Young at his simplest and most easygoing.

Not only is this "collection of previously unreleased material, rarities, and B-sides" far better than most such discs, but, quite frankly, it's also superior to most regular albums.