the guests' reverence for Booker T. is clear--the Truckers, as they did when they recently backed Bettye LaVette, know when to muscle up (on 'Pound It Out') and how to hang back (on moving, B3-powered track 'She Breaks,' a sweet, shimmering number filled with references to Booker T.'s awesome past).

"The Eminem Show" is not a great artistic step forward, but it reaffirms Eminem's stature as a talented and prescient pop star.

Elect the Dead, his first full-length solo effort, boasts the same kind of arty arrangements and cascading dynamics as SOAD's ouvre, a sign that while guitarist Daron Malakian is often considered the band's mad genius, Tankian's elastic, expressive vocals are as integral to its character.

Seventh Tree is as deliciously subversive, and in some cases more so, as the duo's past work.

Hearing a crowd go wild for a kick drum has to do the dance community proud.

Saturnalia, is teeming with the kind of raw and gritty music one might expect to hear kicked around in, well, the gutter. And considering the project is a collaboration between Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli, that's certainly not a bad thing.

Throughout, Kozelek connects memory to emotion with masterful strokes.

Snow Patrol handily manages the challenge of following up breakthrough album "Eyes Open" on A Hundred Million Suns.

The follow-up to Antony's acclaimed 2005 breakthrough album, "I Am a Bird Now," is perhaps only a less astonishing listen in light of the artist's growing reputation.

Rather than debut with her new label by methodically working the groove that got her here, she has cut a dozen tunes that suggest she's ready to crunch a few genres.

The 11-track set is unlikely to slow the group's momentum, since it's as polished as a diner countertop.

Oblivion simmers without boiling, and the tension is intoxicating.

The album's simple, pleasing blend of acoustic guitar-based folk music belies the complex nature of her lyrics, and it's a winning combination.

The always brash, often emotionally affecting Williams displays marked growth as a lyricist, zapping tunes like the fiery first single "Rock DJ" with enough clever twists to make the mind happily reel.

Frontman Aaron Espinoza digs deep into the crevice of his broken heart and pulls out arguably his finest batch of songs.

Play[s] out like a fresh discovery that's strangely familiar--a '60s soul in a 21st-century outfit.

Simple Plan is a shameless little heatseeker, which isn't much of a musical problem. Provided you're after a good time, several cuts make excellent use of keyboard bleeps and drum-machine beats.

The set is at once Slipknot's most ambitious and accessible outing to date, with a broad palette of sounds and textures that shift faster than Michael Phelps off the starting block.

With Blink-182/+44 bassist Mark Hoppus producing, Fight does pack a wallop, enveloping frontman Jordan Pundik's angsty relationship paeans on a dozen compact, dynamic and hooky tracks in a mere 35 minutes.

This is the stuff memorable summer days are made of.

Even naysayers will have to serve props to Lopez for the considerable growth she reveals as both a performer and tunesmith.

[Atmosphere] has never sounded as pointed and focused as it does here on its fifth album. [8 Oct 2005]

It's not all killer, but some impressive tracks lurk within.

Her 12th studio release, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, finds her in full command of her expanded arsenal, creating an overall sound that's as psychedelic as it is classic.

More satisfying than its predecessor, Lifeline is a classic-sounding album that reminds us of the power and beauty of simplicity.

The band's reverence for its source material--all horns, Stax/Volt soul and he-done-me-wrong lyrics--occasionally gets so close that it's more clone than homage. But there's no denying the 51-year-old Jones' brutal, Aretha-ish voice

Paul Weller's all over the place with his ninth solo album--he visits all his touchstones, but there's less nostalgia and more experimentation infused into the tracks than usual. And that's a good thing.

Call and Response is everything the format could and should be.