Working with Good Charlotte producer Eric Valentine, the Rejects trick out their hook-jammed anthems with sweet strings, zippy disco beats, and the occasional bit of Gary Glitter bleacher stomp.

Rocks with a woozy pothead-punk swagger. [May 2006, p.91]

An outrageously overblown pop-metal extravaganza, Chinese Democracy feels like a perfect epitaph for all the absurdity and nonsense of the George W. Bush era--one final blowout before Principal Obama takes our idiocy away.

But what that album [Knowle West Boy] had in abundance--loud guitars, noisy electronics, new ideas--this comparatively minimal one lacks.

The combination of titanic chunk-chunk riffs, sleek lead guitar, and radio-ready harmonizing comes across as heroic. [Jun 2006, p.82]

Houglass blatantly resembles sedate, later-day Depeche. [Nov 2007, p.118]

Instead of a triumphant return to form, then, Innocence is more of a satisfying side conversation, a familiar face coming round to the back door and whiling the time away nicely till dark or dawn

For the first time, the ballads are as memorable as the dance cuts.

Field Manual rests slight vocals atop memorable instrumentation, with surprisingly unshimmery production. [Feb 2008, p.98]

With riffs this sugarshit sharp, who needs ideas? [May 2002, p.124]

A post-masterpiece puzzler where the kicks just keep getting harder to find, spread-eagle between pop limitations and artistic aspirations. [12/2000, p.214]

A workmanlike pop album, vocally immaculate and sonically au courant, but seldom more than functional.

A melodic world of deliciously messy guitars, synthesizers, and piano. [Sep 2006, p.102]

Its follow-up is where they relax--literally. [Nov 2007, p.126]

The trio are certainly equipped for the challenge, since they're already experienced purveyors of foreboding, romantic, minor-keyed dreaminess; but their dub-tinged candle-flicker sometimes trades haunting for drab.

With the drums intimately booming and the occasional zap of an analog synth snaking across the formalist woodenness, the blessed simplicity of the arrangements on No No No makes one cry out for a more adventurous artist to place in these settings.

Such an over-the-top approach could end in solemn self-parody. But Broken Records' refreshing playfulness and surprisingly light touch indicate they're really enjoying themselves.

Your enjoyment of Love Story will directly correlate with the amount that you enjoy Yelawolf’s singing, because boy howdy is there a lot of it here. If you respect Yelawolf’s progression as a musician and wish him luck on his journey to artistic self-actualization, you will be pleased.

Unlike the Bollywood rock house sound of Cornershop, Clinton shimmies with science, canned beats and funk cornerstones, creating a technology-savvy dance floor pitch. It's so full of disco it could make a glitter ball blush.... Instead of inventive, the album sounds slightly recycled.

Over blotto new-wave/industrial beats, they party hard and get lost on the way home. [May 2003, p.116]

England's exoticism is offset by plenty of tough and tender ballads, and even the most stridently worldbeat numbers are joyous, well-made, and never patronizing. [Apr 2002, p.117]

Gracefully melancholic electronica with too much soul to be relegated to sushi-restaurant background music. [Aug 2007, p.106]

The result of all this hemming and hawing is a captivating reminder of how much weirder this band is than its reputation.

On this debut, Lerner's gorgeous vocals, sunny melodies, and ultra-catchy choruses sound like a Fab Four fantasy trip as he logs extensive mileage in a rush of crisscrossing travelogue songs.

The second half of this album is far more earnest; and in related news, far less fun.

Three albums in, the Stills still sound ambitiously confused.

His fifth solo album, which is rife with clichéd storytelling, shows signs that another makeover might be in order.

Slim aims for the gut but usually ends up hitting the hips; either way, his relentlessly cloying lyrics ensure that Be Set Free is more suitable for soundtracks and square dances than headphones.