Call and Response is everything the format could and should be.

A 62-page book and new vinyl pressing complete the package for the audiophiles and superfans, but the real value is in the album itself, an important piece of the history of a seminal '90s band.

The singer does double duty as a dance diva and brokenhearted balladeer. It's no easy feat, but when Spears shoves aside the tabloid trauma and hooks up with the right producers--on this album it's Guy Sigsworth, Danja, Dr. Luke and Max Martin--she is in a class of her own.

While 'Troublemaker' and 'Holla Holla' each sound a lot like prior Akon songs (the former like Kardinal Offishall's 'Dangerous,' the latter like '07's Akon/T-Pain pairing 'Bartender'), ultimately they're highlights for that very reason.

While Everything is firmly grounded in Eno and Byrne's previous work, their mutual commitment to musical exploration ensures the album rarely sounds like something we've heard before.

It's clear from the sheer range and energy on this album that McCartney is heeding his own advice.

In the end, it seems that no matter how pained West is, as long as his one true love--himself--is intact, he will prevail in the face of adversity

This one's stuffed with massive, flamboyant beats; overloud dirty-comic vocals; and all the usual lyrical stops.

Six tracks are leftovers from the Brian Eno-produced "Vida" sessions, many of which make noticeable, if not exactly terrifying, departures from the band's swelling rockery.

Jones roars out of the box with Tommy James & the Shondells' 'I'm Alive,' a sweat-soaked jumpsuit of a song thick with fierce maleness.

While the debut showed him eager to step outside the confines of STP, he essentially has nothing to prove here, and as a result, it's a casual-sounding record.

Not known as a songwriter, Adkins has an innate ability to make a song his own, as is the case with the seemingly autobiographical 'Happy to Be Here' and the family-first 'All I Ask for Anymore.'

It may be because of its unevenness that Alone II is an intriguing look into Cuomo's complicated mind, because unlike his largely homogenized Weezer albums that have stuck to the center of late, these recordings shed light into every dark corner.

The Caribbean-flavored 'I Can't Stay' and the Duran Duran-lite 'Joyride' are much more perplexing, as is the looped chanting that anchors 'This Is Your Life.' If nothing else, this band keeps fans on their toes, and they're likely to buy in for another round.

With Rick Rubin polishing the group's garage rock approach into a sharper aural attack, T(I)NC dishes out such heady anthems.

The artist is in fine, ever-changing voice throughout, and there's certainly a ton of musical food for thought here, requiring several listens before the nuances are revealed. Worth the wait? Maybe. Worth a few hours of your time? Definitely.

It's the kind of recording that makes you wish you were there—but also makes you feel like you are.

It's the classic, more timeless R&B songs on the I Am portion of the album that seem like a much-welcomed stretch for the singer.

The bulletproof Nickelback provides affordable fun that promises good returns in hard times.

There isn't a standout single, but this is Dido's most fully realized and elegantly rendered collection.

Endearing sour trumpet and recorder notes on uptempo tracks like 'Judy and Her Dream of Horses' and a stunning 1998 version of 'Slow Graffiti' capture the essence of early Belle & Sebastian, while the four unreleased songs from 2001 find the group experimenting with funky, spoke-sung vocals ('Shoot the Sexual Athlete') and haunting atmospherics ('Nothing in Silence').

Much like his predecessors' quick-turnaround debuts, Cook's is fairly generic, but its rock edge is dirtied up with crunching guitars and the artist's tuneful growl.

His relationship [with Miranda Lambert] gives Startin' Fires its verve and spirit, a love-struck recovery from the heartbroken pall that hung over 2007's "Pure BS."

Some of the fierce headbanging that is Mudvayne's stock in trade can still be found in 'The Hate in Me,' 'We the People' and 'Dull Boy,' but the bulk of the record finds the group playing its New Game with hard-hitting exuberance.

Kuti studied piano and revisited the trumpet, his original instrument, resulting in a more textured and jazz-influenced approach this time out.

A silky tenor with a natural melancholy that makes him a heartbreaker by default. His charming debut exploits that very quality with some strokes of pop genius.

Though they're written by a teenager, Swift's songs have broad appeal, and therein lies the genius and accessibility of her second effort.

A new high point for the already accomplished Walker.