The self-titled conclusion serves as a gentle, appropriate valediction.

Allen does indeed rally at unexpected moments--"Insincerely Yours" slides along to a yacht-soul groove, "Life for Me" cleverly twists Vampire Weekend's Graceland obsessions, and although the target of an Internet troll is beneath her, the barbs on "URL Badman" are at least sharpened--but these songs only put the rest of Sheezus in dreary relief.

So much about Jackman. feels incomplete or partially thought out, however, that the album relegates itself to mere background music with occasional flashes that suggest serious emotion or profound contemplation without ever fully delivering.

30 Seconds to Mars has managed to record an album that breathes life into the empty shell that corporate rock has become, and in reanimating an avenue of musical expression that has for many years been on its deathbed, has quite possibly offered the single best rock experience of 2002.

It may take multiple spins for a few songs to really find their footing with fans, but those people will surely be rewarded handsomely in the end.

Since the Riverboat Gamblers are regarded as one of the best live acts on the current punk scene, it seems curious that Underneath the Owl follows the strategy of sounding as little like a live performance as possible, and it neuters a band that knows how to get wild in the studio.

In Case You Didn't Know is assuredly going to help Murs become one of Britain's finest national male pop stars for the next little while.

Overall, the release is a surreal, unpredictable excursion, and it finds the duo continuing to venture further outside the styles of their main projects, tapping into their subconscious minds in order to create striking dreamscapes.

The album as a whole seems unfocused, and while the producer deserves kudos for making his most mature work yet, Foreign Light contains too few high points to warrant a recommendation.

Howlett is no slouch in the production chair, and the sounds are mostly blinding, but the songs are strictly by-the-books.

Seconds is a worthy successor to the classic Red Hash, but more than this, it is hopefully a new beginning for Higgins; god knows we need more songs like this in the world.

It's a mix that works like a charm and if they can find it, fans of scruffy, dirty, and not very nice rock & roll will take to Xray Eyeballs like squirrels to a birdfeeder.

Perhaps there are moments where texture trumps composition, but overall In a World Like This is a surprisingly mature and fine record from a former boy band that seems unafraid to act its age.

These guys are shameless and that's what makes them more fun than your average arena rockers.

Odd that "Beautiful Now" goes from horny ("I see what you're wearing/There's nothing beneath it") to Maroon 5-esque (the cloying "ba, ba, ba-ba, bah!" chorus), but otherwise the slick and skillful True Colors is built for fans of Zedd's music rather than his social media followers.

Two skills he has mastered in the past, mood and texture, make this record especially good.

Though a few songs border on being filler, The Black Ghosts is still a promising debut.

It's more of the same old, same old.

Youth Group's poignant and thought-provoking lyrics and storytelling style have pushed the group into the emo bag, but with their incandescent music, they're far too glittering to be left with that label for long.

Although its inspirations, musical and conceptual, trace as far back as Kraftwerk, The Complex serves as a reminder that modern devices and glistening production values can be applied to the most primal creative instincts, if utilized by the right -- blue -- hands.

Some of this works quite well, some of it is kind of juvenile, much of it is only slightly recognizable from the original, it's too long and compared to contemporary arty rock, it really isn't that arty.

Short, simple, and lively, a collection of rollicking, quirky road songs that recall some of the more oblique moments on Teenager of the Year and the more rock-oriented tracks on Pistolero and Dog in the Sand.

Sparta... sounds like a beast that's broken its chains and is fighting between the road ahead and going back from whence it came.

Morning Tide, though pleasant and by no means bad, is also far from original and too "of the moment" to make much of an impact beyond appearing in the occasional TV show or film soundtrack--basically anywhere that pleasant, generic modern rock is needed.

To be sure, there's some pleasure to be had here, but it's all about appreciating the album as pure texture: it's merely sunbleached mood music.

Swamped by the same safe, repetitive, and unadventurous production, the majority of the ten tracks are indistinguishable from one another, making Science & Faith a solid but pedestrian and uninspiring affair.

Muppets.... freshens up the franchise for the newish millennium, and Generation Z listeners will enjoy hearing current artists in this different context, but other listeners may be left reaching for their classic Muppets fare.

It's classic pop music for people who have never bothered with classic pop, which is reason enough to check this out.