By and large, the featured performers--mainly McCartney's peers, including his good friend Steve Miller, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Jeff Lynne, Roger Daltrey, and Willie Nelson, but also a handful of younger performers and old pros, too--stick to both familiar tunes and familiar arrangements, which means The Art of McCartney often gets by on sheer enthusiasm

The Ting Tings aren't quite ready to grow up and stop partying, but the maturation on Super Critical takes them out of the "overbearing pop flash in the pan" category and suggests they may have even more interesting statements ahead of them.

On Soft, Bodan is assisted by several producers, and while the backdrops range from light drum'n'bass to the kind of stark and lurching beats heard more commonly on labels like Tri Angle and Modern Love, the album isn't quite as scattered as the singles.

He seems like a featured artist on his own album, which would be standard issue for other producers turned artist, but not Guetta.

The band's overall distaste for sound quality will probably put some listeners off, as much of the record sounds like it was recorded in real time on an old Tascam four-track in somebody's basement, but King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard possess enough pop acumen and oddball charm to lure even the most unsuspecting psych-rock fan downstairs for a taste.

Nico & Vinz are lite bubblegum worldbeat pop, and will try on any fashion just as long as it might bring them a hit.

Texturally, there's not much of a surprise but The Dream Walker does have its own distinct momentum.

The series is still going strong with Punk Goes Pop, Vol. 6.

As this train barrels on, there's the sense that the record never really started and will never really end, but such full-throttle indulgence may indeed be what some fans want, for there is a whole lot of bang for this buck.

By Shonen Knife's standards, Overdrive does sound like some sort of hard rock album, and the attempts to make like Kiss, Thin Lizzy, or Deep Purple come off better than one might expect, though Yamano's guitar skills are less impressive than those of the average metal axe slinger.

Kudos to the group for deciding to do a little remodeling, but it might behoove them to keep the original floor plans, as the current arrangement feels a little out of character.

The album might scare off some fans who were reeled in by his perky pop songs, but it might find a home with those who like their pop seriously murky and gray.

My Garden is a mix of colorful party anthems and substantive, pull-no-punches ballads with warmth beneath the surface.

Ultimately, it's just this kind of self-flagellating, dark-hued rock aesthetic that's worked for Papa Roach for well over a decade, and despite whatever passing styles or trends in pop music they've ignored in the process, it's a sound that seems to be working for them.

This stuff can't touch Adrian Younge's Venice Dawn project, which released the dynamite Something About April in 2011, but it has its own charm.

Afraid of Ghosts isn't as immediate as some of his other records, but it will suit the needs of anybody craving a record that sounds like Ryan Adams used to make them back in the day.

I Sell the Circus is the debut album from Ricked Wicky, the latest in a long line of projects from Pollard, which finds him in a straightforward rockin' mood while also indulging his fondness for classic hard rock and progressive influences.

Sure, most fans of the duo will reach for the original album 9.99 times out of ten, but it's hard to look askance at the playful spirit behind the album and the thoroughness of Cornershop's complete deconstruction of one of their career highlights.

The soundtrack to Fifty Shades of Grey winds up as something conventional: high-thread count seduction with nary a hint of menace, suitable for any romantic evening you choose.

Patched together and seemingly out-of-character as it is, the singer's fourth album does have more going for it than her third one did.

Carey's strengths are in building enchanting musical landscapes inspired by the beauty of the natural world, but presented here as a more straightforward piano-and-strings songman, his shortcomings are revealed.

While there's much here Gill can point to with pride, more than a few fans are likely to feel they didn't get what was advertised.

The electronic bedroom pop inventiveness of his earlier EPs and debut has been replaced by plaintive bedroom pleas on this misguided second effort.

A Thousand Miles of Midnight spins new soundscapes from the moody frameworks of Lanegan's original recordings, bringing his electronic influences to the forefront and confirming the strength and versatility of Lanegan's work.

These cuts ["Let Your Tears Fall," "Good Goes the Bye," and "Nostalgic"], along with the title track, manage to strike the right balance of Kelly's indomitable character and fresh electronic beats but overall Piece by Piece sounds a shade too desperate, which means it winds up having the opposite effect than intended: instead of sounding like a new start, Clarkson sounds a little bit behind the times.

While Butler may have the chops to captain his own ship, he'll need to put some more water behind him before he can successfully steer the beast into port.

Too many other tracks have one too many verses, could have used bridges, or been left off altogether. Ol' Glory may reveal a bigger, more multi-dimensional sound for Grey and Mofro, but at what price progress?

The band manages a reasonable re-creation of the Ramones-esque sound the band delivered in its salad days. But if Zero comes within driving distance of the classic sound of the Rezillos, it seriously misses the mark in terms of feel.