If you dug the sweaty rowdiness of Mooney's last records, you'll find that the Matrix scrub-job has removed most of their traces of grit, grime and rock.

Hardly anything here makes an impression after repeated listens. What's worse, even fewer tracks possess the spark or invention for which Phish is revered.

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.

On "Machina," the Pumpkins don't sound creatively bankrupt as much as they sound burned out, uninspired, and not living up to their potential.

[Ashcroft] possesses one of the definitive rock voices and has an undeniable gift for melody, but he pairs those talents here with truly insipid lyrics and uninspired MOR arrangements.

But if t.A.T.u. represents the tippy-top of the marketing universe, it also represents the bottom third of pop songwriting.

The Grammy-garnering producer certainly shows good taste in his selection (favoring 20th-century pieces) and obviously knows his way around a mixing board, but his make-overs are ultimately bloodless, even banal.

Like its predecessor, the equally undercooked "The New Danger," there is a sense that a deadline crawled up before the music was cemented. [13 Jan 2007]