His scattershot approach at taking on everyone and everything gets a wee tiresome after a while.

Set to a backdrop that brings to mind Creed, Pearl Jam and Tool but still uniquely stands on its own, the album tackles subjects of suicide and basic alienation with relative control and directness.

Become You serves up sparse coffeehouse acoustic arrangements with a side of gorgeously hoarse and shimmering vocal harmonies.

Pat Monahan and his boys have reverted back to their quasi-bohemian roots, meaning they sound like a better Counting Crows (with a dreamier frontman) and less-challenging Wallflowers.

While a bit of this debut sounds like Cornell doing his best over Rage-ified staccato riffs, these guys are at the top of their game when they reverse the formula and make way for Cornell's masterful wail and poetic imagery.

Somewhere in here there's a really good album just fighting to get out.

Having scored a minor hit with a track that appeared on the Kids soundtrack, the group now has a big-label deal and a hip new style--still recognizably moody and tentative, but with enough down-tempo beats and electronic knob-tweaking to drift into trip-hop territory.

Pretty much the same Beatles-esque pub-rock with Middle Eastern punches you'd expect--though with more shared singing and songwriting duties than past outings have had.

It's nice to hear a garage band that actually sounds like it was recorded in a garage.

Home is a raucous acoustic album that mows through bluegrass and traditional country with a vengeance.

The rest of the disc glides along on that same smooth, if lightweight style, with Tyrese serving as little more than a hot conduit for top-notch producers and writers like Babyface, Jermaine Dupree and Diane Warren. Luckily, Tyrese can sing.

Taylor sounds assuredly relaxed and content.

But for all their influences, the Anniversary retains its own personality, with a laid-back style and pizzazz that keeps this party a pleasant one.

Mostly made up of charming-but-harmless ballads and little bursts of fiddly Celtic pop.

There are more than enough moments when Sheryl really shines in that Sheryl way.

More diverse than you might think...

It's Pulp's contribution on the terrifically revealing "Sliding Through Life on Charm" that really raises a smile...and a little something else.

[This] downcast disc is actually an improvement on its predecessor.

A few Sabbath-y moments aside, a majority of the disc finds frontman Daniel Johns singing more than screaming, much to the delight of those who may have worried these guys would give up on new things.

A leader of the old school teams up with an upstart from the new, and the classy result is the way-out antics of Handsome Boy Modeling School.

Pulling off the tricky balancing act of aiming for mainstream success while keeping one's street cred intact, songs like "Ghost of You" and "Predictable" abandon the band's mall-rat roots in exchange for more mature influences like U2 and Muse.

The lyrics aren't "How Soon Is Now?"-type genius, but they go down easily enough.

Touch shows her being assertive and in charge.

With Love and Squalor certainly won't change pop music as we know it, but it packs surprisingly huge melodies and shamelessly danceable beats.

If imitation is the biggest form of flattery, everyone involved in the Manchester scene circa 1988 will be smiling ear to ear when they hear Kasabian.

Thanks to soulful orchestral swells, the songs have lush contours, which soften the singer's macho stance.

Banks seems determined to launch a one-man revival with perfectly polished tracks like "Addicted" and "Hands Up."

Taking a cue from the success of his last major hit, "Again," Lenny, the sensitive, midtempo balladeer, cavorts all over this largely reflective, romantic effort.