The pop hooks are there, but we can't shake the feeling that the sentiments come off as phony.

But even as Santana's magic fingers sometimes struggle for a common thread here, they still do plenty of good work.

This album tends to lean more toward the psychedelic ballads, which slows down the action a little too much.

Her voice is still in fine shape, but tracks like "Fallen" and "Drifting" are so mild-mannered you have to wonder if anyone will even notice she's back.

While [Linda's] death hangs over much of Driving Rain, Macca's knack for taking a sad song and making it better means tracks like "Lonely Road," "It Must Have Been Magic," "Your Way" and "Back in the Sunshine" are redemption songs, not exercises in self-pity.

She doesn't quite act her age on teen beat-driven single "Whatchulookinat," but she makes up for it with a series of R&B standards and diva-worthy ballads that hit most of the right notes.

Unfortunately, this straightforward approach also reveals how straight-up dull Mann's country-tinged songs can be.

It lacks the raw energy and tunes that made people want to hum uncontrollably in the shower. Worse yet, the brazen confidence the Gallagher brothers displayed during the early years has faded.

The Day After sounds like something we've heard before.

When he gets it right, the rich grooves and soulful voices can be sublime, like early '70s Curtis Mayfield or Sly and the Family Stone.

Subtítulo... is not without its charms, but it borders on easy listening at times.

On "Waiting on the World to Change," Mayer breathily imagines a world where frat boys get off their couches and have people sign petitions. Sigh. A little more of that and less of noodley songs like "Vultures" and "Gravity" would have been a good step toward reminding us who Mayer really is.

At worst, a couple of the songs sound like bad Oasis remixes--"All or Nothing" comes to mind--but the good stuff can get any club (or car) hopping.

His similar-sounding interpretations lose their oomph a few tracks in.

Ultimately, it's hard to shake the feeling that something is missing.

Gone are the inspired melodies and sweet emotional turns of their past triumphant albums, replaced by boring philosophical musings and wafer-thin tunes.

We'd rather watch the Dandys than listen to 'em.

While this sounds mostly like incomplete leftovers, there are a few tasty treats: The lonely guitar of "Knives Out," that dirty beat pulsating under "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" and the hypnotic body-ponging of "I Might Be Wrong."

His backing band's heavy-metal veering leans toward the generic. Only the Igster's sometimes fierce (but fading) yowl adds enough soul--and insanity--to make them at least momentarily credible.

Given that this may be your final release, this is no way to say goodbye.

This spinner of wispy, earnest vocals, sad-eyed melodies and country sensibilities lacks that special spark of passion to keep one's interest.

This is mainly just D12's other five anonymous members moaning on about the lack of credit they get by dropping the most underwhelming rhymes this side of the last Dogg Pound album.

A mixed bag at best.

Headed for a prom near you... it's the Goo Goo Dolls.

A few moody moments work, but this CD should come with a warning sticker that reads vacant.

[It] offers only occasional flashbacks to the seedy glamour of the debut, instead settling on lightweight MOR clichés.

But once those fleeting, producer-driven thrills die down, the remainder of the album takes a middle-of-the-road, midtempo stance that goes from covering her age issues on "17" to getting downright silly and insipid about looove with "Saturate Me."

Exactly as gratingly infectious as you might expect.