A mind-twisting collision of rock, techno and hip-hop.

A headache-inducing mess of rehashed classic rock riffs and stale grooves.

This sub-par group's darker efforts to push society's hot buttons and dis others are ultimately more silly than sinister.

Most of the good parts of the Britney that originally hit us, baby, one more time (then oops!...did it again) drown in breathy vocals and multiproduced, tweaked-to-perfection studio gimmickry.

Although he has sensibly cut back on the droning that defined his last disc's stand-out single "Strange Condition," this release shows few other signs of growth.

This hand-clapping, disco-ball-driven journey sounds like all the other stuff in [Jay Kay's] catalog.

Grand Champ would make a great single. As it stands, it's about a full hour more of DMX hollering gruffly than anybody really needs.

There's a little reggae touch here, some mild folk there, but mostly Johnson just excels at creating gentle background music that sways like the waves and feels twice as cool.

Even if it doesn't wow you, Autobiography may surprise you.

Diverse and constantly engaging.

There's little here that Our Lady Peace, Foo Fighters, Everclear and a half-dozen other post-grunge bands don't already do better.

It's sweet and kind of sexy and all that, but clearly designed for those who find John Mayer too challenging.

This is mainly just D12's other five anonymous members moaning on about the lack of credit they get by dropping the most underwhelming rhymes this side of the last Dogg Pound album.

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

The white-boy funk routine wears thin fast, but the overbearing Broadway-style ballads are even worse.

Exactly as gratingly infectious as you might expect.

Surprisingly bright and confident.

Even more of a musical jumble than her first album.

Despite the fact that nobody bought their lackluster last two albums, Art Alexakis and his two lackeys are back with the even more banal and unnecessarily loud Slow Motion Daydream.

Chesney sticks with what he knows best: drinking ("Beer in Mexico"), driving ("Somebody Take Me Home") and raising his glass to everyday heroes ("Who You'd Be Today").

Unfortunately, Jewel... chooses to revert to the soppy musical formula of her 1995 debut, Pieces of You.

At their best they sound like a female Black Sabbath tribute band, at their worst they sound like slutty old goth rockers. Frankly, neither is all that appealing.

So, it's not exactly a musical revolution in the making, but it'll sure be easier to tell her apart from Vanessa Carlton from now on.

We'd rather watch the Dandys than listen to 'em.

Sure, a couple of the hokey lyrics... slightly taint the return. But pulling tricks like sampling the Welcome Back, Kotter theme for the [title track's] intro is pure genius.

Tracks like "Lonely No More" might strike a chord because people will think it's a funky new Maroon 5 song. However, Backstreet Boys-esque ballads like "Ever the Same" and "When the Heartache Ends" are just way too much to handle.

Listening to her debut album, you get the feeling that she breezed in and out of the studio.

Nothing here is as generous as the hooks found on the band's sole hit (you may remember "Natural One" from the Kids soundtrack), but there's plenty of mournful rock for the mopers in the world.