Cheers boasts 74 straight minutes of inventive production, original ideas, thought-out lyrics, and straight-up MCing -- even if it lacks outright hits à la "In da Club" or "Lose Yourself."

Spoon and Rafter has no trouble making Ryan Adams seem like more of a farce than he already is, and it's deserving of at least half of the attention given to anything released by Wilco.

The end results are a bit unwieldy, perhaps, and not always successful, but it is interesting and certainly different than a Dave Matthews Band record.

Both records are visionary, imaginative listens, providing some of the best music of 2003, regardless of genre.

While the band still needs to develop more of its own sound, there's enough promise in stellastarr* to suggest that they might.

There's no crybaby posing here, no deployment of cliché. Even if SDRE had a hand in the popularization of the emo movement, the Fire Theft's music is much too personal to be anything other than a therapy session, both for Enigk and his musical co-conspirators and friends.

Sure, his collaborators have some of the best beats in the business. But they can't always take up the slack when Bubba's raps start to wither in the heat.

Without a doubt the most moving, ambitious, and elegant album of her career thus far.

Her confidence blossomed this time around and vocally, she's never sounded so good.

As easy as the disc is to slide into, it's far and away the least commercial R&B release of the year.

Not quite the big comeback DMX needed at this point in his quietly sagging rap career, Grand Champ regardless has its share of highlights.

The band's poppiest and most upbeat and musical record yet.

It could be the most innocent, charming and believable record of 2003.

Ultimately too derivative to fully enjoy.

She has unique phrasing and a huge voice that accents, dips, and slips, never overworking a song or trying to bring attention to itself via hollow acrobatics.

Even though Permission to Land isn't quite as metal as its singles suggested it might be, the album is surprisingly good, especially considering how bad the band's '80s metal revival could have been.

It's a little artier than Heathen, but similar in its feel and just as satisfying.

Thirteenth Step is the sound of a musical and lyrical maturity that normally doesn't occur until a band's third or fourth albums.

A swirling, beautiful, and warmly complex road trip of an album.

Those who just enjoyed the sound and feel of Room for Squares should feel right at home.

Serene and tranquil, but never uninteresting, 5 is a lovely album.

It is a generally pleasant effort, but it isn't in a class with either Hatfield's best solo output or the Blake Babies' most memorable jangle pop.

Quasi's crass sense of humor is in full force, but throughout their witty criticisms Quasi are imaginative songwriters and conscious of their curiously cool indie rock style.

As worthwhile as Shields' contributions are, it would be a mistake to let them eclipse the rest of this fine soundtrack.

Despite being heavy with unexceptional tunes, Seal IV has enough going for it to warrant the next four years of anticipation.

With an unlikely rock blend of classicism and narrative, British Sea Power has composed a brilliant album that's nearly perfect. It's not exactly pop, but it might as well be.

Byrne leaves behind all the international rhythms that have dominated his solo work and turned in an album of moody, subtle beauty.... This is one of the strongest albums of his solo career.

In all, My Morning Jacket may be a journey through the past, but it's also a solid step into something rock & roll has been missing for an awfully long time in the mainstream arena: melody, extremely catchy and well-written songs that aren't afraid of the mainstream, and a love of the great pop continuum that translates into something new.

As promising as it is inconsistent, Hocus Pocus may not be Enon's strongest album, but it's still a fairly interesting one.

Amazing Grace is far from a bad album, but it's not an especially compelling one, either.

Even though Her Majesty isn't quite as striking and full-formed as Castaways and Cutouts, it's still a consistently charming album that finds the band coming into its own.

A switch in approach and sound definitely worked for them, and fans shouldn't be put off by Beulah's toughened confidence.

Far from being an angry album, Show Me Your Tears is filled with the kind of conscious joy that comes from working through your problems.

A solid rock effort.

Andrew W.K.'s debut found meaning in partying, but The Wolf sounds like a party about finding some meaning in life.

Put Pretty Girls Make Graves on the short list of bands that matter and make sure you get this record.

It's possible that The Meadowlands might be a "better" album if it were more focused and logical, but there's something to be said for its immersive, stream-of-consciousness approach.

An added bonus for Orton loyalists.

A greater combination of accessibility and subversion would be nearly impossible to imagine.

Sure, it's more interesting than the still-born, awkward second Black Grape album Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, largely thanks to its intricate, layered production, but the end result is calculated without reaping the rewards of its precision.

More gutsy, more aggressive, and more dynamic than B.R.M.C.

It's hard to shake the feeling that the National is highly influenced by and studied in the bands it emulates, but the album is still worth a listen for fans of moody country-tinged lounge music.

The Chain Gang of Love is far more glossy and layered in melodies compared to Whip It On's gray-colored coolness.

If you say you've heard a better adult pop record this year, you are lying.

More New Order and Saint Etienne than Smiths, and with male and female vocals, the band comes across as an electro-pop Belle and Sebastian.

Musically, Reconstruction Site has more in common with literate indie types like Clem Snide or even the mature, clear-eyed work of Michael Penn.

The album's stripped-down sound and approach may leave the listener wishing the band had found a little space for some flashy chords or glitzy orchestration to break things up a bit. Still, it is hard to argue with an album as pure and true as this.

At least half a dozen cuts will vie for slots on a future best-of.

The Wind feels less like a grand final statement of Warren Zevon's career than one last walk around the field, with the star nodding to his pals, offering a last look at what he does best, and quietly but firmly leaving listeners convinced that he exits the game with no shame and no regrets.

Fortunately they never swap their emphasis on some serious crunk-drawling for rap music's usual curb-sitting; in fact, the group expand their purview to look lovingly at lower-class life from several viewpoints.

Anyone with an Adult. or Add N to (X) album, or even Berlin's Pleasure Victim, know it's been done better.

For most of Bazooka!!!, the Star Spangles sound like a rowdy bar band just playing a set of songs they love.

If you know Rancid and love Rancid, you will love this record like an old friend.

Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia might still be the band's most accomplished album, but by embracing their emptiness and stylishness on Welcome to the Monkey House, they've crafted an album that is no less enjoyable because of its disposability.

If anything, Clones puts an end to any thought that the duo randomly selects a track from their beat bank when collaborating, since it ably demonstrates how their skills can adapt to any conceivable personality.

These days music fans will be hard-pressed to find an album so satisfying.

Tour de France Soundtracks is a successful record on anyone's terms; it's one that fans won't need to cringe from, and one that newcomers will be able to enjoy for what it is.

If Earthquake Glue isn't a masterpiece, it's as close as this band can be expected to get, and is the rare Guided By Voices effort that's imaginative enough for longtime loyalists and tight enough for dabblers at the same time.

Franti and Spearhead almost made a deliberate attempt to stray from the typical hip-hop beats and go for something a bit more organic and acoustic than their previous efforts -- and the experiments more than pay off.

A tautly crafted, thoughtful album, Shine a Light more than follows through on the promise of their debut, and proves that the Constantines have the ability to be both down to earth and dramatic within their grasp.

It all adds up to a very good record -- one that is interesting, and one that satisfies musically.

Youth and Young Manhood isn't sonically adventurous, but in the new-millennium pop realm, some greasy licks sure sound good.

Haha Sound may not be Broadcast's most superficially perfect album, but it's a more challenging and exciting one because of its deliberate imperfections.

Carrabba's work is so specifically stuck in adolescence that, even if it's presented in a prettier package as it is on A Mark, it's still very difficult for anybody past sophomore year in college to really connect with his music.

If you're looking for a wild blues party, Voice of Treason isn't quite it, but if you want to hear musicians who can respect their influences while kicking it out, then the Soledad Brothers are right down your alley.

The results are goofy but undeniably exhilarating.

If nothing really catches hold as a song, there's still a lot of tuneful, appealing material here, and it functions well as a party album for those hot days of summer.

While Killing Joke's discography has more than its fair share of awkward and overly ambitious albums, they've once again returned to the fury and focus of their classics.

Just a shade less stunning than his last full-length, Emotional Technology at least establishes him as one of the better album constructors in the singles-driven world of dance.

This is Pure Guava performed with the precision and cleanliness of White Pepper -- perhaps a mixed blessing for some (those who long for the Scotchguard-fueled madness of The Pod), yet it's a sheer delight for those who patiently sat through the longest period between Ween albums yet.

Packed with great songs and performances, it re-establishes Golightly as a beacon of grace and restraint in a world sadly bereft of both.

While Luke Steele's influences show through on all of Lovers' tracks, somehow the album avoids sounding totally derivative; instead, it just reveals Steele as a pop chameleon and an expert at pastiche.

Living Outside is as conscious a follow-up record as there can be, but it's likely also the record Sense Field would've made anyway, even without the band's mainstream ascendancy.

The constant changes of direction can be a little jarring on the first couple plays, but they eventually become one of the album's charms.

The power of Jane's Addiction is undiminished by Strays (this is still a band creating music unlike any other artist), but the imagination, bravado, and songwriting smarts apparent from previous classics is sadly missing.

Phantom Power is a very good album (and, again, compared to many of SFA's peers in 2003, it is far ahead of the pack), but it does lack some of the things that made earlier Super Furry Animals so exhilarating -- the grit, the wild abandon, the absurdity, and the sheer unpredictability, where it was impossible to tell what would happen next.

It's All in Your Head doesn't have the punch that Eve 6's previous albums possessed.

Betke wisely abandons a sound that had been developed to its full extent, yet the outcome is a set of hip-hop/dub hybrids that stumble out of the speakers with a fatigued skank.

Blessed with a voice that immediately announces itself, Gray still hasn't found a musical personality to complement it.

Red Dirt Road is not just one of Brooks & Dunn's most ambitious records, it's also one of their best.

Satisfying but rarely challenging, Quixotic is a fantastic start to a solo career, and its display of range, talent, and charm suggests that Martina Topley-Bird has an endless well of creativity at her disposal and that she is most likely destined for greater things.

There really isn't another dance/rap act on the scene that combines snarky teenage style with seriously slammin' retro dance beats the way Fannypack does.

The Violet Hour not only perfects the gorgeously hazy pop of their previous releases, it also adds a guileless freshness to it that is completely apt for their debut album.

Those who appreciate an honest, basic record will enjoy Paloalto's simple approach.

The songs have about as much personality as Ashanti's voice, but that actually is a point in its favor, since it keeps everything on an even keel and makes Gotti and Santana's stylish production the star.

Another title that demonstrates what an awesome period the late '70s and early '80s was for music.

Answers has a heavy downtown spirit, with standard instruments played in a unique fashion, and an aggressive interplay that's nearly antagonistic.

If you can get past the clothespin-on-nose delivery... and the constant up-and-down swoops and dives in which it's delivered, the album has a certain sense of awkward, ramshackle charm that's frequently unhinged and claustrophobic at once.

But while De-Loused in the Comatorium may well remove the stigma from the prog and art rock forms it suggests, and is certainly a monument to unbridled creativity, it can also be seen as bombastic and indulgent.

All the Gang Starr trademarks are in place, from Premier's perfect upchoruses to Guru's reedy voice cutting or instructing, and sounding better than ever.

Terroir Blues is a significantly more ambitious and confident work from Farrar than Sebastopol, but it's also more elusive, and ultimately this is the sort of record fans will love, but the unfamiliar will have a hard time embracing.

Like a latter-day Digital Underground, Black Eyed Peas know how to get a party track moving.

The album doesn't have the detail of character that made Michelle Branch so appealing the first time out.

There's nothing wrong with a change of pace, but there's a startling lack of depth in either the words, which are entirely too literal, or the music, whose hooks are at once too obvious and not ingratiating enough.

Keep It Together may not feature the emotional dynamics or track-by-track genius of Lost and Gone Forever, but it has something that its predecessor didn't: an unabashed pop anthem that dares you to sit still.

The first half is good enough to make Dangerously in Love one of the best mainstream urban R&B records released in 2003.

A work of beautiful, desolate fragility.

Menomena clearly thinks of itself as a clever bunch of musicians. Maybe next time around they'll be more interested in sharing their wit with their listeners rather than just alluding to it.