Yearwood's voice is a treasure, alternating between jaw-dropping heights and ideal understatement.

Subtlety is one thing, but at times Williams makes the Cowboy Junkies seem downright rambunctious.

By resolutely forgetting formula, Radiohead proves itself all the more relevant with Amnesiac.

Sadly, Beck's delivery on "The Vagabond" is a tad misguided; his spoken words on "Don't Be Light" are slightly better, but one wishes that he would simply go with the flow and not try so damn hard.

While her introspection and understated approach bog things down at times, songs like "The Dreaming Road" and "King of Love" are finely crafted and often hauntingly beautiful.

The fab five has more than made up for lost time with the deliriously buoyant God Bless the Go-Go's.

Two things hold the set together: Mark Bell's quirky, other-worldly production and Dave Gahan's still-haunting voice, which has never been more agile.

Lions is indeed a truer expression of the Crowes' potential: adventurous songwriting ensconced in a blues- and funk-inspired swagger.

Offering her strongest material since her 1982 landmark, Bella Donna, Nicks is radiant as she vamps through guitar-charged rockers that deftly balance her signature poetry with sticky pop hooks.

Gone are the meandering Sonic Youth impressions, and in their place are imaginative songs that don't alienate.

Improvisatory and poetic, Bardo Pond has more in common with avant-jazz and contemporary classical than with most heavy rock.

All for You overflows with Parliament-etched funky beats, orchestral disco flourishes, and rich bursts of sensuality.

In lieu of monotonous dancefloor beats, Cole prefers a more intricate soundscape, one in which pizzicato string flourishes freely caress funk-fortified rhythms

Those looking for peak-hour club music are advised to look elsewhere, but those in search of quirky aural landscapes to play alongside their Groove Armada and Bent discs need to investigate lemonjelly.ky. [Critics Choice]

The music fails to gain any momentum until track seven, and by then, Train's lucky the listener's still spinning the CD.

Whole New You easily rises above the din of the sound-alike pop and rock recordings currently crowding the marketplace, offering a plethora of complex yet sweet melodies and lyrics that are both smart and rife with empathetic emotion.

Renaissance finds Richie in an oh-so-contemporary setting, encompassing uptempo dance, Latin-hued and funky pop, and power ballads. It also finds him working with such hitmaking producers as Rodney Jerkins, Walter Afanasieff, and Brian Rawling and Mark Taylor. While this may sound like a farfetched concept on paper, it works surprisingly well on disc -- albeit without breaking any new ground.

A delicious, genre-defying sound

Canto is a passionate mix of originals and material drawn from the traditions of Mexico, Cuba, and Peru.

Reptile shows the guitar legend continuing to explore classic blues-derived sounds with palpable sincerity and conviction.

An early contender for the year's best dance/pop album.

An extraordinarily potent recording, one that will likely be among 2001's best.

Sure, there's the occasional melodramatic interlude (despite its lyrical cliches, "Luv Lies" has the potency to be another "Angel"-size smash). But there's also more white-knuckled hard-rock intensity here than on the band's most recent efforts.

Beautifully strange and richly tuneful...

Like its predecessor, the stellar Sleepwalking is steeped in mature songwriting craftsmanship and versatile rhythms that encompass dance, reggae, hip-hop, and left-field ambiance.

Easily its most lushly orchestrated and diverse output yet.

The band seems oddly restrained and processed through much of the album's 12 numbers.

A baker's dozen's worth of featherlight ditties that range in quality from guilty pleasures to already-dated clunkers.