Produced by James Dring (Gorillaz) and Youth (the Verve), its ten tracks prove McClure's way with words is far less clunky when focusing on satirical tales of everyday life than trying to put the world to rights.

Nearly every single thing about this album is a shout-out to the Clash or Gang of Four, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but why not just listen to the originals instead?

With a slow, minimal style similar to producer Bangladesh, the Pac''s Young L handles most of the production on the album, delivering beats that favor impact over density.

2 Chainz over-promises and almost delivers on his official debut, putting him right in the punch-line rapper's sweet spot.

When the band attempts to branch out, the results are mixed.

With Hold My Home, they emerge as a more straightforward band, and also a more confident and engaging one.

Pink Elephant feels like an album Arcade Fire "had to" make, one that addresses a very public period of the band's history without getting too deep (or deep enough at all) into the matter, like they just want everyone to forget about it and move on to the inevitable next album cycle.

The Silver Lining suggests that Soul Asylum might still have another great album in them (especially if Murphy does more of the songwriting), but this one certainly isn't it.

Although the musicians here understand how to convey complex emotions in a pop song, Wilson and his co-songwriters obviously don't, and it's with them that the blame for this record lies.

From the confrontational album title to the cuss words, Berg is working to shake the pop tag and turn it hardcore with a baller stance that isn't so much embarrassing as it is uninteresting.

If you can take Hologram Jams lightly and come to terms with the fact that Jaguar Love’s post-punk and rock pretenses are fully behind them, then it’s a fun outing. Ridiculous lyrics, bristling energy, ‘80s synths, and booty beats are the core of the record.

For better or worse, this album is polished and mature -- words that never would have described Cold War Kids' music before.

Free is just too derivative to make the impact the band appear to crave.

While this is their debut release, there is a sense that Dog Is Dead are still growing and maturing as a band.

It doesn't quite hit the consistent heights of Stoosh or Post Orgasmic Chill, but Black Traffic more than justifies Skunk Anansie's re-existence.

This is merely designed to please the diehards... if anybody else happens to like it or if it stumbles into a hit, that's merely a bonus.

While by no means bad, is definitely more of a missing link for die-hard fans to get a taste of what's to come.

There's just not much here to keep the group's detractors from bringing out their pitchforks, and over time, staying the course may leave fewer and fewer townsfolk to protect them.

Throughout the album, Kylie sounds very game, merry even, and there's enough holiday spirit on offer to help even the grinchiest customer make it through the season with the bare minimum of humbug.

The makeshift album drags, even with its stylistic diversions. Bad Vibes Forever is less a testament to how XXXTentacion helped shape the wave of rap during his brief career and more a bottom-of-the-barrel-scraping of partially cooked ideas he left behind.

The flashes of brilliance that were once routinely delivered by Havoc and Prodigy are few and fleeting here.

That Oblivion resembles a blockbuster soundtrack more than an M83 album may disappoint some of Gonzalez's fans, but it means that he and Trapanese succeeded in making the film's music what it needed to be.

The stylistic range of Jekyll + Hyde proves that ZBB's reach is almost limitless, and this set will more than likely delight the group's legions of fans.

Sometimes Darkel seems in danger of floating away on its flights of fancy, suggesting that Godin gives some of Dunckel's more whimsical ideas some grounding when they work together as Air. Nevertheless, this is a lovely working holiday, full of songs as shimmery and delicate as bubbles, and their slightness doesn't make them any less enjoyable.

Simpatico... is the Charlatans' version of the Stones' Emotional Rescue: it's a groove-centric rock album, heavy on disco and reggae rhythms, where the overall vibe is more important than the individual songs.

Havoc and Bright Lights is as soothing as a Sunday afternoon nap or a warm bath: it's music for when you know you're right where you want to be.

While Amarantine will do nothing to win over the wrongly pegged new age artist's many detractors, longtime fans will find enough moments of serendipitous pleasure to hold them over for another five years.

That's the ultimate irony of 3 Doors Down as they mature: try as they may to pour out their angst-ridden hearts, by riding out their success and smoothing out their music they've turned into mildly aggro background music at malls and movie theaters across the nation.