Rhythm and Gangster is right up there with his best while being riskier than anything before it.

On this 11-track masterpiece, so full of adrenaline and swarming moods, ATDI has created one of the most infecting and mind-blowing rock albums in a long time. While most of the tracks are of the more aggressive edge, this is undeniably the band's most focused and well put together and, therefore, best all-around album yet.

If you know Sexsmith's work, then you already have a good idea of how good this album is, and if you don't, this is a fine place to get acquainted.

As fun as all of this is (and the lip-smack glam of "Music Is the Victim" is very, very fun), the Sisters' revisionism can also get them in trouble.

The Eminem Show is essentially a holding pattern, but it's a glorious one -- one that proves Eminem is the gold standard in pop music in 2002, delivering stylish, catchy, dense, funny, political music that rarely panders.

The most surprising thing about the album is that it sounds exactly like classic Steely Dan, but without feeling dated.

While there is much good music here, there isn't much that adds to Nirvana's legacy, nor is there much that's revelatory.

While the artifact quality and live vibe of this music come as no surprise, the show band emphasis of Trey Anastasio suggests that this artist may be placing a little less faith in the voodoo of improvisation and more in the payoff guaranteed by musicians who can tear up the same charts night after night.

This is a comeback record to be proud of; it not only sates the appetite of those fans who felt Linda Thompson left the scene too abruptly, but it is also the British folk record that everyone interested in the genre has been waiting such a long time for.

The Magnificent has an incredible range; Jeff does it all well, even when moving from soulful R&B ("Rock Wit U" with Eric Roberson) to basement hip-hop on the very next track ("Scram" with Freddie Foxxx).

It's beautiful, weird, and difficult to love.

The group sometimes sacrifices immediacy for angular melodies and riffs that don’t catch hold. On balance, though, One Beat’s musical progression is still extremely impressive.

Many of their B-sides are just as good as their album tracks, so it's terrific to see them collected onto a single disc. But a number of factors make it somewhat disappointing, not the least of which is that Complete B-Sides is available only as a U.K. import, due to U.S. licensing problems.

An all around flavor of melancholy as the loose guitars and laid back current result in the labeling of "Rainy Day indie."

Although it is never overpowering, Dusty Trails is too well crafted to be reduced to mere background music.

The band's best record in some time, and for anyone not a purist, it's possibly Morcheeba's best ever.

While the album lapses occasionally with a couple of patches of redundant production, Date of Birth is a strong follow-up from a crew who keep it real by nature.

In the same vein as Saint Etienne, Ivy, and Emiliana Torrini, Autour de Lucie casts a spell.

With You're the One, Paul Simon is back on track, writing and recording timeless music that keeps him on par with Neil Young and David Bowie, but in his comforting familiar way.

Dead Media thankfully brings the focus back to personal matters, and it sees a breath of fresh air introduced in the form of analog synthesizers and audio experimentation.

Though Variaciones Espectrales might be too noisy to work as background music for some listeners and too experimental for the dancefloor, it's another accomplished, fascinating slice of sound/beats exploration from this consistently pioneering artist.

This all flows well and is quite a good piece of mood music, yet there's no hiding that for all their political stances and past reputation, Cornershop doesn't really have all that much to say this time around, nor have they delivered more than a handful of songs to have all this stick.

The album is as streamlined as a mix set.

Ladytron's most interesting aspect is their mix of retro songwriting with distinctly modern themes.

A spellbinding tribute, with a commanding presence and sustained intensity that most songwriters can't manage even with their own material. Like a reverse version of Bob Dylan and the Band's The Basement Tapes, 'What's Next to the Moon' turns songs that were loose, irreverent, and even silly or one-note in their original readings into songs of timeless beauty and depth, their passions, pains, and torments made agonizingly palpable.

A collection of songs that are as clever and intelligently crafted as they are danceable.

Bette is a tasteful album that showcases Midler's expressive singing but avoids her excesses.

It is the combination of street tales, social criticism, and self-awareness that made him a unique artist, for whom the term gangster rap truly does not do justice.