Eyes Open is composed of broad, obvious songs with broad, obvious hooks, aimed straight for the hearts of as many people as the band can manage. All of this would be bad, horrible even, if it didn't work. But it does.

Riot! is immediately appealing because it focuses on sounds that have been neglected by the genre’s frontrunners. This is an uncomplicated album comprising of strikingly uncomplicated music, entirely lacking in 15 word song titles, Jay-Z guest appearances, and theatrical meta-concepts about performing in a rock band.

They rock hard and fast and damn the stylistic similarities, because they have as much energy and explosive tendencies that even the Stooges themselves showed back in their heyday.

It takes a couple of good close listens to appreciate Herren’s languid songwriting; a casual listener will likely enjoy listening to only a track or two before turning off.

Has only a slightly spottier ratio of hits to misses than their best albums.

It’s not essential listening by any means, but an interesting look into his working methods of previous years, nonetheless.

We can only parse this album as that of a brilliant group still trying desperately to reconcile its awkward youth into an identity, but only managing to hide behind a few ten-year old audio masks.

This album’s appeal is so superficial that those who don’t cotton to guys trying to look pretty while the bombs drop should avoid this entirely.

There’s a distinct lack of personality, meaning that LL Cool J’s eleventh long player is merely good, and his reputation (and bank balance) will be neither tarnished nor expanded.

Never, Never, Land exposes Lavelle and File as, surprisingly, excellent songwriters with an ear for a good chorus and a knack to fitting performers and material together.

Props for being candidly happier, but as is often the case with bands with ten-plus-years of solid material, Earlimart’s newest release serves us better as an unwitting PR campaign for the rest of their oeuvre.

As long as Wonder is producing and laying down basic arrangements himself, he’ll never be awful, which is a shame: like any lifelong charmer, he can stand to be more vulgar, or show some teeth, damn it.

The pandering that characterizes the first half of the album leaves no hint of the hidden gems that follow.

Is it alchemy or robbery? Inspired or insipid? Who knows.

Unfortunately, while Kweli’s message is spot-on, his delivery of that message is highly flawed.

Only half of these tracks provide truly valuable alternatives to Guero songs.

Insufferably vacuous.

The mood for both is, in a word, joyous.

A band as talented and enjoyable as Clinic should be allowed to distill and advance their sound without getting tarred with the brush of stagnancy.

Ultimately, that’s the problem: No one can really decide where to take these songs, so everyone takes them everywhere.

Completely forgettable.

Right now, it's an album I'm unlikely to play all that much now that I'm done reviewing it.

Unfortunately, after this three-track novelty act, Fulfilled/Complete comes down to earth in a decided crater-dive.

With The Cover Up, IATWTC does a better job of ripping off New Order, while often drawing from trance.

Goswell deserves praise for putting together a solid album that could appeal to both fans of her previous work and others.

One of 2005’s most thudding disappointments.

Unfortunately, the record fails at times to live up to its largesse.

Except for Ghostface, he's probably rhyming as well as anyone around right now.