In a live setting, Oasis are too often just another band churning out big, bad anthems for the masses.... it remains troubling that a band with so much quality material buried as b-sides or minor album cuts needs to resort to pointless, set-padding covers of Neil Young's "Hey Hey, My My," and the Beatles' "Helter Skelter."

Unlike recent collections Music and Ray of Light, the lyrical content of American Life relies less on spiritual introspection and more on woman-in-the-mirror confrontation.

Lloyd still serves up a satisfying sophomore suite.

Not every album can be a tour de force, but Keenan is normally much better than this even on his worst days.

What there is not quite enough of is Rhymes himself--the deft MC is a bit crowded out by collaborators' mic turns and auto-tuned refrains.

This Way is not as accessible to the masses as previous albums, but this jewel doesn't need to be so polished to glitter.

The Special Goodness' has crafted a dozen punk and pop-influenced songs that the modern rock hoi polloi will have a hard time leaving alone.

The constant talk of expensive cars, gyrating women and endless parties quickly becomes redundant--and boring.

Though Milian often comes off as a third-rate Beyoncé, her feathery soprano captivates when her lyrics do not.

A breathtaking refresher in all things Mos Def.

Man vs. Machine is an intense set that never stops.

While the majority of the cuts expertly merge the group's melodic vocals, the aggressive chants of Edwin Starr's 'War' are unbefitting an act known for silky ballads.

On the Missy Elliott-assisted 'Bad Girl,' the group croons about its seductive ways over heavy drums, while the bass-laden 'Sucka for Love' finds it confessing to being "addicted to kissing and hugging/touching and rubbing."

Nostradamus isn't likely to surprise you--this is softcore for the hardcore.

To be sure, Osborne proves again she has a wonderfully rich, sensual, and powerful voice that commands respect. But besides a winning cover of Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love," she chooses to showcase it among mostly flat and/or generic arrangements.

Gore's reworkings sparkle with visceral emotion, aching vulnerability, and sublime intensity.

As uneven as the film itself.

"Ultra Payloaded" is a party record that veers from the light, airy and catchy to the absolutely crankable. [2 Jun 2007]

While his talent as a lyricist may leave something to be desired, you can't fault the guy for his dedication to putting a smile on the listener's face.

A strong effort that trades sunny-sounding rockers and breakup songs for weightier concerns of war and family, "Lights" conveys that maturity without seeming strained. [28 Jan 2006]

Surprisingly, a middle-aged Cube still packs a youthful punch when it comes to the gangsta tales. [3 Jun 2006]

It is hard to hear much difference between each cut. [24 Sep 2005]

Now in his 30s, he doesn't surf the beat so much as box with it, with both brutality and no small degree of grace. That a rapper of this much verbal gymnastic ability is still making Perez Hilton cracks is too bad, but the bigger problem is that Eminem's recipe of gore and gay jokes sounds like the past.

While the debut showed him eager to step outside the confines of STP, he essentially has nothing to prove here, and as a result, it's a casual-sounding record.

Over the course of 14 cuts, the record gets a tad repetitive, with nary a fiddle or steel break within earshot.

Daughtry and his band return with similar aggression on their sophomore album, Leave This Town. Daughtry's ferocious growl is still the centerpiece of the new songs, but the band has also taken a few creative risks.

While the lyrics are more introspective and the music more electronic than what we've come to expect from the Pumpkins or his most recent project, Zwan, thankfully Corgan's distinctive vocals and grungy guitar riffs are ubiquitous.

[A] compendium of mostly refined Americana, albeit filtered through Black's uniquely cockeyed worldview.

I Created Disco feels renegade, and that's what makes it more than irresistibly fun synth-pop.

Seal's David Foster-produced tribute to classic soul is a figure skater of a collection, all elegance and grace. But some of these songs require the more aggressive approach of a hockey player.

Barenaked Ladies play it straight with mixed results...

With Shaman, Santana delivers an album that will, no doubt, please fans of its globally successful predecessor, while at the same time reel in new ones.

The Maels continue flexing their musical might. Tracks like "More Than A Sex Machine," "The Calm Before The Storm," and the eye-winking title track are just waiting to be embraced by dancefloors worldwide.

There are fewer memorable moments here than on his solo albums, but it's still nice to hear him taking risks. [21 Apr 2007]

What the disc might lack in substance, it makes up for in some of the best sleazy, synthy, testosterone-fueled electronica since the Prodigy's 'Smack My Bitch Up.'

It's still a mess, though an ambitious and grandiose one.

Too many tracks get bogged down with a straight-ahead progressive trance formula, where zoning out feels more suitable than attempting to move your feet. Still, because the good stuff is so darn good (and it is), it is easy to brush aside any missteps.

Hudson is so comfortable with singing--whatever the song might be--that she elevates the material, making it sound like nothing you've ever heard before. All hail the new diva.

The whole set is heavily dosed with reverb and electro-swirls, perhaps to cloak Johansson's vocal limitations as much as to add psychedelia.

The combination of old-school melody and post-mod dissonance is risky, bold, and one of the most exciting releases of the year so far.

A nicely varied, wholly satisfying collection.

Jamiroquai continues to mine a musical playing field that pays homage to such soul, funk, and disco artists as Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, and Chic.

Despite detractors, Simpson remains a gifted vocalist who delivers on most every cut.

Chock-full of catchy songs.

Kudos for making such a disparate collection hang together as a cohesive, upbeat, infectious whole.

While collaborations with the likes of Viktor Duplaix ("Pull Up"), Rahzel ("Out of Breath") and British MC's Darrison ("Time") and Dynamite MC ("No More") provide interesting listens, nothing here is as revolutionary as such Roni Size classics as "New Forms" or Breakbeat Era's "Ultra Obscene."

Though the album is good, for an artist of 50 Cent's caliber, it's not great.

A silky tenor with a natural melancholy that makes him a heartbreaker by default. His charming debut exploits that very quality with some strokes of pop genius.

All spun together it works well, and maybe even better than on the debut. [16 Dec 2006]

There's an overriding sense of preciousness that permeates "Mr. A-Z," and a few instances ("O. Lover," "The Forecast") where his homages to '70s AM radio sneak over into copies.

While 'Troublemaker' and 'Holla Holla' each sound a lot like prior Akon songs (the former like Kardinal Offishall's 'Dangerous,' the latter like '07's Akon/T-Pain pairing 'Bartender'), ultimately they're highlights for that very reason.

Unified Theory -- while recalling the sounds of such bands as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Rush -- offers up a bold and psychedelic modern rock set.

Cook bursts back with Brighton Port Authority, a project that liberates him from the "electronic dance artist" identity crisis and allows his production talents to shine.

It is wonderfully all over the musical map.

Another eclectic musical trip.

Co-produced by Andy Johns (Van Halen), the set captures the fun energy of a mind-blowing all-star jam: Satriani's fretwork is surprisingly raw, loose and gritty, while Smith channels John Bonham more than once.

Everclear's first collection since 1997's "So Much For The Afterglow" is an unabashed love letter to the '70s, when AM radio still ruled and pop music was simple, good fun.

The mostly one-man-show of Time is another amalgamation of the vintage rock stylings that are his stock in trade.

7 This is Chesney doing what he does so very well, and his legions of fans will eat it up. [12 Nov 2005]

"Goodbye Alice in Wonderland" returns Jewel to her folk/pop roots, serving up her usual host of poetic metaphors for lessons learned and observations on humanity.

His fifth album puts the Dutchman in the company of the Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx and Paul Oakenfold: those rare dance producers who have the artistic fortitude to create a fully realized, addictive long-player.

Songs like "Do You Remember" and "Wasting My Time" are tolerable but don't require repeated listening.

It doesn't always make for an enjoyable listening experience, on or off the dancefloor.

"Born" loses its focus amid unabashed nods to Burt Bacharach and songs that are just not done yet, despite smart tempo changes and pretty melodies.

On "Mad Season" the band serves up another slick collection of R.E.M. and Pearl Jam-influenced post-grunge classic rock tailor-made for ubiquitous radio play.

Has its moments, but it comes across as a baby step forward.

The repetitive opener 'Let's Be Mates' gets the album off to a rocky start, but Lady Sov quickly redeems herself with 'So Human.'

An enjoyable pop romp.

Predictable, perhaps, but such aural connections rarely fail as a crowd pleaser.

Tailor-made for post-club chill-out sessions, as well as weekend brunches at hip cafés, Details delights with warm electronic beats, organic guitars, and multi-tiered strings.

It may be his poppiest and slickest work to date, but Golden Delicious is more proof that Mike Doughty still knows where to make the melodies twist and turn to find the sweet spot among the ridiculous, the sublime and the sad.

Although the roster of the newly formed act Tinted Windows is a bit of a head-scratcher--middle Hanson brother Taylor Hanson, Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger, former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha and Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos--it all seems to make sense after one listen to the supergroup's self-titled debut.

The group backs it up with a forceful sonic fusillade that recalls Disturbed's 2000 debut, "The Sickness," while doing away with some of the melodic niceties that crept into "Ten Thousand Fists" and 2002's "Believe," right down to Draiman's jungle animal vocals.

In all, a fine effort...

Indeed, "Awake" is Lee's strongest album in years; so good that you can even forgive the Har Mar Superstar cameo.

The extremes offer up a portrait of a man far more complex than what we get from many of Banner's peers, and the inventive beats (by Banner, Cool & Dre, Akon and others) add vital life to his gruff flow. But you have to wonder if some of these tracks simply reflect the rapper's desire to be all things to all consumers.

Hill lets her vocal gifts soar on an outstanding group of songs. [7 Aug 2005]

If Hawthorne Heights stopped trying to please several different audiences and decided whether it wanted to be a pop band or a post-hardcore group, it could make a more definitive musical statement. [4 Mar 2006]

While more musically complex than previous set "Under Rug Swept," "Chaos" has less experimentation and fewer vocal intricacies.

This is some of Cornell's most uncomplicated and accessible music to date. [9 Jun 2007]

A mostly mainstream pop album with Latin inflections.

Has more melody and memorable riffs than the band's previous two albums.

The Memphis five-piece sometimes lacks a definitive sound... Yet the band excels at its straightforward, meat-and-potatoes sound.

Such tracks as 'Critical Acclaim,' 'Almost Easy' and 'Lost' keep the crank factor high--but as part of a bolder, broader and more engaging soundscape.

Though a floundering economy, bombed-out GOP and a season or two of corporate bailouts have provided them with a fat barrel of fish to shoot, this rap-rock hybrid simmers instead of seethes, never quite mustering the blood-boiling rage of its principals' previous material.

An erratic mix of messy ambition and indifferent sloppiness that sounds like it's falling apart even before it really has a chance to get it together. [11 Feb 2006]

While it's commendable for the trio to try to break out of its teen dream box, it's on songs like 'Before the Storm'--featuring Miley Cyrus--where the brothers prove they're still among the best at putting the fizz in pop culture.

Electronic music duo the Crystal Method hasn't lost its flair for funk and style as found on the act's debut release, "Vegas."

Last 2 Walk should satisfy longtime Three 6 fans.

Linkin Park's ambitions are nearly palpable, but songs likely conceived as homages end up sounding too close to their sources. [26 May 2007]

The band's writing stagnates, rendering the majority of the album in a rote midtempo formula that Stipe's increasingly trite lyrics can't always save.

While not as immediately memorable as "Lump" or "Peaches," punchy songs like album opener "Mixed Up S.O.B.," "More Bad Times" and the breezy "Loose Balloon" come across as less novelty-like as a result of songcraft.

After being the first white guy to grace the cover of a Gangsta Grillz underground mixtape ("The Greenhouse Affect" with Don Cannon & DJ Drama), this buzzed-about MC proves that suburban rap has finally arrived.

Songs so intimate that they sound like singer Margo Timmins could be whispering them in your ear remain the group's hallmark, but the delivery continues to grow more sophisticated. [21 Apr 2007]

Nearly everything here is top 40 or AC radio-ready.

The Fray is a more angst-filled and melancholy set than you'd expect from a group following up a double-platinum debut, populated with songs about lost love and tortured souls. But hand-wringing music sells.

A must-hear recording rich with pleasantly surprising depth.

It's hard to take the band too seriously, but the songs are debaucherous fun. [14 Jan 2006]