Musically they offer nothing that hasn't been heard in every coed dorm via their 1989 hit "Closer to Fine." [Apr/May 2002]

Etheridge backs up her verbal cliches with musical ones. [Mar 2004, p.117]

Its 12 tracks are unusually raucous and raw, as Kravitz finds a comfort zone with turbocharged punk and arena rock. [Oct/Nov 2001, p.111]

There's no unnecessary reverence, so the roots move that could have tagged Aerosmith as geezers proves instead that they're still wild boys. [May 2004, p.118]

Offers something for everyone -- and ends up an intermittently engaging but overall shapeless collection. [#4, p.112]

Only on the album-closing "Summer Never Ends"... do the gals sound like they're relaxed and doing their own thing--not trying to make Paula's Boutique. [Sep 2004, p.140]

The subtle, heartfelt results may not help them shed the "emo" tag, but should propel them beyond cult status. [Apr/May 2002, p.116]

Coheed have found their sweet spot.

He can go from dazzling to deadeningly dense over LP lengths, so this smaller dose is appealing. [Apr 2005, p.112]

This time they've vacuumed all the loose dirt out of the silicon chamber and left a low-funk environment. [Nov 2006, p.154]

There aren't many things worse than a pretentious hippie. [Apr 2006, p.112]

This compendium of pop standards is as good an introduction to the great American songbook as any.

Texturally, it's a middle ground between her searing early album Under the Pink and the sun-dappled 2005 The Beekeeper. [Jun 2007, p.105]

The emotional terrain is much more treacherous here, and more rewarding for it. [Oct 2003, p.114]

The Garbage machine doesn't always function so pristinely. [Oct/Nov 2001, p.105]

Cute but not too sugary, smart but not too brainy, [Stacy] Jones's songs practically define pop-punk. [#14, p.130]

[McCoy's] delivery is laudably cool for a Warped Tour MC. But it’s gunk on the gears of this dancing machine.

Satisfyingly sloppy.

No new fans need apply here, but those who know and love his sound will find that this self-styled career summation, a nod back to late Husker Du with computerized updates, sprouts horns with repeat listens. [Aug 2005, p.112]

Underneath his architecturally impressive hair, front guy Justin Pierre is a savvy melodic songwriter and, refreshingly, he’s completely incapable of taking himself seriously.

Keith and co-writer Scotty Emerick can't resist country cliches, but at least they use them brilliantly. [Jul 2005, p.118]

Though its sound is still cloudy and distant, the group takes tentative steps toward Everything But The Girl territory. [Aug/Sep 2001, p.123]

The mood is too inconsistent to connect. [Oct 2003, p.127]

A sound that is almost vintage Bowie.... Even so, many of these 12 perfectly harmless songs plod where instead they should spring. [#8, p.115]

On this eight-song EP--available for free on his Web site--the amiable 42-year-old lends his peach-cobbler drawl to songs about maimed soldiers and power-drunk bullies, a doleful cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 'Fortunate Son' and 'Mission Accomplished (Because You Gotta Have Faith),' which deploys a Bo Diddley beat to excoriate a leader who “drove us off a cliff and told us we were flyin’.”

[A] tightly coiled second album. [Jul 2007, p.119]

Us[es] Nevermind as a trusty road map. [Apr 2006, p.116]

Instead of sunshine-pop sugar, there's the cloying tang of saccharine. [Jun 2005, p.109]