The band's writing stagnates, rendering the majority of the album in a rote midtempo formula that Stipe's increasingly trite lyrics can't always save.

While not as immediately memorable as "Lump" or "Peaches," punchy songs like album opener "Mixed Up S.O.B.," "More Bad Times" and the breezy "Loose Balloon" come across as less novelty-like as a result of songcraft.

After being the first white guy to grace the cover of a Gangsta Grillz underground mixtape ("The Greenhouse Affect" with Don Cannon & DJ Drama), this buzzed-about MC proves that suburban rap has finally arrived.

Songs so intimate that they sound like singer Margo Timmins could be whispering them in your ear remain the group's hallmark, but the delivery continues to grow more sophisticated. [21 Apr 2007]

Nearly everything here is top 40 or AC radio-ready.

The Fray is a more angst-filled and melancholy set than you'd expect from a group following up a double-platinum debut, populated with songs about lost love and tortured souls. But hand-wringing music sells.

A must-hear recording rich with pleasantly surprising depth.

It's hard to take the band too seriously, but the songs are debaucherous fun. [14 Jan 2006]

It is P.O.D.'s lyrics, which are stuck in adolescent neutral, that doom "Testify" to feeling like a relic. [28 Jan 2006]

With expectations tempered for Forgiven, the sibling trio from Texas doesn't panic but rather retrenches, returning to the easy-grooving, harmony-laden Carlos Santana-meets-Stevie Ray Vaughan feel of its first album.

An old-school alternative rock album full of oversized riffs and open-hearted hooks.

An unexpected but dazzling return to the top form of the later Beach Boys years.

Throughout, Berg never loses his appeal.

Mobb Deep often sounds like a guest at its own party.

There's plenty here for old and even new fans to enjoy.

This album is calm and relaxing almost to a fault. [26 Nov 2005]

Taut musicianship, well-crafted songs and potent vocals make this a landmark album in an already multiplatinum career.

"Life in Cartoon Motion" is like Scissor Sisters-lite: Retro disco with heavy doses of rollicking piano and funk. [31 Mar 2007]

While the electronic flourishes and arrogant bombast that respectively marred the band's last two efforts are thankfully gone, there's nothing on Heathen Chemistry to suggest that the "Wonderwall" commercial glory days of the mid-'90s are coming back.

Powter firmly establishes himself as a singer/songwriter who sits somewhere between James Blunt and early recordings by Elton John—albeit one who also knows the power of blue-eyed soul. [15 Apr 2006]

I-Empire is a sweeping conceptual piece with a message as big as its sound and just a bit more enigmatic.

Even the few noteworthy moments are lost in the banality of the music. [15 Oct 2005]

Of course, straying from emo's typical lyrical terrain is less risky when it's accompanied by music that fulfills the genre's stylistic requirements as completely (and as satisfyingly) as the hooky, fuzz-encrusted tunes on Lonely Road do.

His hooks can be rock-solid ('Ack Like You Know') and his interest in gleaming synthesizerism (opener 'American Superstar' comes into 'Tubular Bells' territory, really) helps set him off from the legions of rappers clawing over each other to break out of the South.

Some of these songs about life, love, family, friends, and the world seem subtly laced with lyrics inspired by the terrorist attacks, which helps make Are You Passionate? seem not only like a great next step in Young's career but also the best album he could have issued right now.

Overall, Sugar Ray sticks to what it does best: helping audiences realize that there's no better alternative to a California fun-in-the sun day at the beach.

Jem's Dido-like vocals are consistently a soothing treat, but on the whole there's a sultriness and spark missing from the material.

It deftly balances sweet ballads, outer-space jazz, acid-rock, and firecracker funk superior to almost anything he has offered since perhaps "Sign O' the Times."