Bright, punchy, and well crafted, it slathers an extra layer of grinding guitars on top of the Vol. One sound while maintaining the group's melodic trademarks.

It would have been a shame if this album went unheard, as it is the most fully realized Painters album to date and finds the band, as well as Kozelek's songwriting, in peak form.

There is much temptation in all of this, but little satisfaction. It all sounds like someone named Shelby Lynne, for her voice is impeccable throughout. But despite its title, the album comes no closer to suggesting who she might be than her previous outings have. And too few of the songs -- despite their technical virtuosity -- beg to be played over and again.

The irony, of course, is that More Light is a perfect fit within the Dinosaur Jr catalog and, in fact, would rank as one of its better entries, a spirited, 11-song outing on which Mascis' writing and performing sound fresher and more muscular than they have in years, certainly since the early end of the '90s.

Rock affirms that he is no overnight sensation...

The record succeeds on the strength of Williams' tremendously appealing musical personality and her winning songs.

The only significant problem with Kidman and McGregor's numbers, which constitute half of this 15-track set, is that they don't work as well without the accompanying visuals.

In a genre that is often as repetitive as it is flighty, the witty and musically well-informed Essential Mix, though unrevelatory, works beyond the club floor, too.

For all his flexibility, Xzibit's Restless is more skewed to the cars and clubs than the basement, due in no small part to Dr. Dre's influence as the album's executive producer. Restless rolls in the same kind of fluid funk that Dre's brought to both his and Eminem's recent albums -- fat electric bass lines and synthesized symphonics.

The members of the group craft melodic grooves that mesh with unpolished but tuneful guitars and mellow vocals into a lo-fi ambient sound that grows on the listener.

A deeply contemplative album...

God Says No maintains the attributes of its predecessor but also delves deeper into the groove-y psychedelia that's also part of the band's makeup.

Kelly's new work offers about as much stylistic variety as he could possibly be expected to, while still remaining in territory familiar to his panting fans.... All in all, the production is sharp, with some fairly clever vocal and percussion arrangement ideas throughout.

Strangely enough, it seems the further Black distances himself from his heroic work in The Pixies, the better he gets.

The blond brothers' creative maturity is evident all over the disc's 13 songs.

Flowers features the familiar psychedelic-tinged pop songwriting, chiming guitars, and unmistakable voice that have always been the group's trademark, but 20 years down the road, experience, nostalgia, and longing have tempered the band's sound.

A dense and textured rock affair that builds a bridge between grunge, goth, and industrial stylings.

Gerald's mastery of his own sound and style generally triumphs over his occasional lapses in focus.

Without the context of the film, the songs don't stand particularly well on their own for the purposes of casual listening.

While Run-D.M.C.'s chest-thumping reclamations of its prominence grow tiresome through the course of the disc -- they need to do more showing than telling -- the good news is that the tracks helmed by the group ("Crown Royal," "Aye Papi," "Ash," and "Simmons Incorporated") show that its own creative touch is still intact.

A smooth and engaging affair, with consistently strong singing and playing from Clapton.

Familiar-sounding as these songs may be, they function as well as any blend of jazz and rock...

Instead of serving up another platter laden with goopy ballads or attempts to revivify '40s swing, Midler sets her sights on more ambitious and varied targets this time, with engaging covers of easygoing soul tunes and a few spicier selections tossed in. The results, while promising, are a mixed bag.

Some of the strangest lyrical fodder ever to inhabit radio-ready fare.

Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars won't prompt the inauguration of a Nobel Prize category for dance music, but like Armand Van Helden's Killing Puritans and the Chemical Brothers' 1999 gem Surrender, its another great example of a maturing dance artist learning to harness the ecstatic abandon of late night dance floor epiphanies to sentiments -- musical and emotional -- inventive and universal enough to flourish in the light of day.

Taken individually, the tracks on G.O.A.T. often stand tall, and as a rapper, LL Cool J is unparalleled -- his delivery is unique and totally familiar. Brought together as a whole, however, the record falls short of the near perfection he's found in the past...

Overall, this is a compelling mix of underground and moderately mainstream fare, and a top-notch -- if long overdue -- American introduction to this seasoned U.K. vet.

But as the songs blow by like so much sonic shrapnel, Rancid runs the risk of trying to say too much too quickly and losing its voice amid the ranting, raging blur.