This set of songs recaptures much of their original nonchalant magic. [Feb 2007, p.86]

By giving us the best album of his career, and subsequently re-ascending to Top 40’s mountaintop, Bieber’s answered his own question: In pop music, it’s never too late to say you’re sorry.

It’s a confusing but enjoyable record that sidesteps the rap hand-wringing and telegraphed weirdness of the drama surrounding Yachty.

Unlike 2007's self-indulgent The Third Hand, here he wisely picks his spots, chirping a few modest ditties. Four albums deep, he's found his comfort zone.

On these subtly lovelorn songs, his voice quavers with a grounded, lived-in authority. [Feb 2005, p.92]

The production retreats into his comfort zone. But it is also really just a breakup album, and a really mopey one at that.

The energetic players temper Farrar's grave persona--for all the vintage touches, this is a deceptively funky band, as the sultry 'Down to the Wire' proves.

Survivor is relentlessly inventive in its recombinations. [Jul 2001, p.126]

The album feels unfocused, and this time, Alien Ant Farm don't have a novelty hit up their sleeve. [Sep 2003, p.111]

Storm is no Shaggy-style mall-reggae move; its beats and attitude are harder and more streetwise than Beenie's 2000 Art And Life. [Oct 2002, p.116]

Golden State merely sounds like Bush--not as buffed as 1999's The Science of Things, but slicker than 1996's Razorblade Suitcase. [Dec 2001, p.152]

Tiller thinly stretches himself to 19 tracks with no added dimension. It ultimately amounts to a checklist for Broke Boys-turned-Hurt Boys, with Tiller listlessly ticking the boxes.

Lonely Avenue's two knights of music nerd-dom use their disarming pop smarts to wryly sympathize with the hapless Playgirl cover boy. The empathy and humor run throughout.

The main problem with California isn’t that the songs are bad--it’s just that there are too many (16 for some reason), and not enough ideas to fill them.

These grooves shimmer brighter than anything he's done since 1999's disco-house monolith, 2Future4U. [Nov 2001, p.132]

It’s no more mixtape-like than anything else they’ve done, but Drift feels unusually scattered despite its lean runtime.

The problem bedeviling the first new Chic album since 1992’s Chic-ism is one of definition: What does Chic mean in 2018? To Rodgers and his collaborators, it means a Daft Punk album whose processed vocals and acoustic elements collide to abrasive effect; it means a tighter Maroon 5 album. Yet Adam & the Levines are nowhere in sight, nor indeed any major star with the exception of Craig David, Elton John, and Lady Gaga, the latter intoning the lyrics of an unwise remake of 1979’s “I Want Your Love” as if she were Minnie Mouse imitating Grace Jones.

Though they might always hit the sweet spots of DJDS’ first album, Stand Up and Speak’s comprehensive offerings--more substantial in structure and content than your average EDM--nod to the gilded early days of dance music across the country.

Big-name cameos... can't disguise the fact that this is one more rote chapter in the infamous Queensbridge duo's twilight. [Oct 2004, p.120]

Unfortunately, despite now working with David Bowie producer Tony Visconti, who infuses their angular, system-smashing screeds with timpani ("Good and Ready"), brass ("Shadow of the Dead"), and harmonica ("Go West"), Anti-Flag still don't possess the innate pop sensibility that's allowed Against Me! to make a mainstream move.

Sometimes, as on the Velvets-y vacuum of "Evol," the trio merely imitate instead of inhabit. But those moments are redeemed by many others that prove original thoughts aren't always necessary for a gritty good time.

Though modest, Skyscraper may prove to be an integral step in Interpol’s progression.

Though he sounds slightly out of place on the screeching "Lies X 3," standouts "We Live by the Beat" and "Kontrol Phreak" impressively blend synth-funk and neo-new-wave glamour.

A stylishly sweaty summer party. [Jul 2007, p.102]

DJ Babu's soulful, pyrotechnic turntablism straddles the indie-mainstream divide. [Apr 2006, p.91]

On their fourth album, the Kings of Leon still rule with a messy hand, applying rough magic and blurry, slurred imagery to their swashbuckling rock.

All Delighted People documents his struggle between fealty to the here-and-now and preparing for the hereafter; accordingly, it's unwieldy, schizophrenic, and frequently devastating.

I'm With You is a much more concise record, both thematically and sonically, than 2006's double-disc Stadium Arcadium.