It takes some commitment, and maybe a little homework, to get the most out of the album.

The music on Smoking in Heaven is simple, but these songs are also beautifully rendered with a kinetic energy missing in much of today's auto-tuned chart-topping hits.

His vocals are slightly generic yet the songs are solid and when he shifts into falsetto, you'll take a time trip back to the 60s heyday of this sumptuous and frisky R&B that moves from the dance floor to the bedroom.

McBride is still singing--and now occasionally even writing--songs that employ specific, substantial storytelling to speak to modern women's experiences.

As 25 Years proceeds, the music grows fussier and increasingly self-impressed in its jazz and world music flourishes, yet even as Sting's voice grows slightly deeper and more textured over the years, he never really evolves or develops as a solo artist.

This is the comeback album they should have released in '03.

Mylo Xyloto is fully realized and instantly revealed on first listen.

Divine Providence, music that the Creator Himself may have sent, is the best, funniest, most detailed, thrilling blast of rock and roll since The Hold Steady's Boys And Girls In America.

The "big-in-England" quartet's fourth release is more of the same that made them so admired overseas;ie trippy yet expansive psychedelic Brit-pop sung and played with attitude (some may say ego), a whip smart attention to melody and an arena sensibility/swagger that screams "rock stars."

Although Jack's Mannequin hasn't been able to match the balls to the wall gusto of Everything in Transit, its 2005 critically acclaimed debut, People and Things is easily the most musically cohesive album in the band's catalog thus far.

Marriage, fatherhood, L.A., and devotion to Sri Sakthi Narayani Amma may have mellowed the former Noise Addict leader, but Lee continues to release engaging, if slightly more introspective, work.

Even as he enters his 60s, Waits still sounds as lively and as cagey as ever, indulging both his most brazen and his most sentimental urges to upend all of our expectations.

The songs that stand out here are the ones that have the most authentic feel.

Combining their soft and sensual harmonies and energetic, pop song craft into a set of lovely songs, Beauty Queen Sister confirms The Indigo Girls are still making invigorating and emotional music, have plenty left to say and show no signs of slowing down or easing into nostalgia.

Modern Art stands as one of Sweet's most mature works, displaying his unique gifts as a songwriter and musician.

Despite two new numbers near the end of this album, New Blood feels, despite it's occasional avant-garde touches, like another holding pattern from an artist who has not been particularly prolific since his 80s commercial heyday.

Soaringly tuneful rock is back on this brilliant, cohesive CD.

In Reverie, Joe Henry and his group have created a raw, raucous and messy masterpiece.

Everyone acquits themselves admirably with highlights being Chris Isaak's sumptuous "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and Imelda May's rocking "I'm Looking for Someone to Love." However a closing trash-up by Monty Python's Eric Idle is painfully unfunny and borderline disrespectful to a still influential artist who deserves all the accolades he receives.

Even though there's nothing here Randy Travis didn't do first, McCreery flies the C&W flag proudly, singing hummable cherry picked songs that spotlight his impossibly deep voice and backwoods spirit.

Her voice flutters, bounces, and hiccups through the twelve songs on Metal, and her singing is dynamic and never boring.

It's a solid, not spectacular album with a few very fine songs.

That sense of hostile irony may be one of the most underrated qualities on Nevermind, whose sly dismissals and cagey lyrics sound like an extension of Cobain's scabrous guitars and Dave Grohl's thundering drums.

The famed slide guitarist and world music enthusiast releases his most incisive and sardonic political album.

Elsie sounds like a step down from his Gaslight Anthem fare, lacking the emotional and regional details that make that band's songs sound so lived in.

This is a solid album that will make fans happy without an instant classic like "Waiting For The Sun" or "Blue."

Jennings' songwriting is at its best in Minnesota when reflecting this troubling sense of uncertainty and contradiction.

If Wilco (The Album) was the band tempering their experimental nature into something more accessible, The Whole Love refines that approach and showcases the full range of Wilco's considerable abilities.