Richard Hawley is a romantic born in the wrong era. The former Longpigs and Pulp guitarist's love of lush musical arrangements -- composed of reverberating hollow-body guitars, tremolo vocals and occasional orchestral strings -- is torn straight from Roy Orbison's book. Among the weepiest of ballads on Lady's Bridge is "Valentine," a sweeping, cathartic number about nostalgia for love lost. "Dark Road," with Hawley's baritone wail, pours straight from a broken heart, yet still manages a swagger. Editor: Dan Shumate
Waters' first after the (temporary) demise of Floyd came a year after The Final Cut, and, with a conceptual thread and Gilmour-ish guitarwork courtesy of Eric Clapton, Pros & Cons looked, sounded and felt like a new Pink Floyd record. The dialogue underneath the music and plot shifts cued by sound effects and explosive guitar moves were the very apex of what people thought you could do with rock music in 1984. While another tale of a rich guy's midlife crisis may not have been so necessary and also may not have aged so well, the sonic aspects of the album are irrefutable. Editor: Mike McGuirk
Sure, "Le Freak" might grace every company party dancefloor, but for good reason: it's a hot dance number that nudges booties into action to this day. But that's not the only track C'est Chic offered the world: this highly crafted release gravitates between disco-era pathos and disco-era Dionysian excess. Pick it up. Editor: Sarah Bardeen
For anyone wondering what good came out of T.I. catching a year on gun charges, Paper Trail is a good start. The Atlanta rapper has never lacked confidence, and he shines on opener "I'm Illy" over Chuck Diesel's ominous bells and operatic voices, but bearing his soul is where he's exceptional. Tip addresses his legal troubles on "Ready for Whatever," his beef with Shawty Lo on the scathing "What Up, What's Haapnin'" and the murder of his best friend, Philant Johnson, on the "Dead and Gone," featuring Justin Timberlake. This king isn't ready to give up his crown just yet. Editor: Toshitaka Kondo
For anyone wondering what good came out of T.I. catching a year on gun charges, Paper Trail is a good start. The Atlanta rapper has never lacked confidence, and he shines on opener "I'm Illy" over Chuck Diesel's ominous bells and operatic voices, but bearing his soul is where he's exceptional. Tip addresses his legal troubles on "Ready for Whatever," his beef with Shawty Lo on the scathing "What Up, What's Haapnin'" and the murder of his best friend, Philant Johnson, on the "Dead and Gone," featuring Justin Timberlake. This king isn't ready to give up his crown just yet. Editor: Toshitaka Kondo
Coldplay have mastered their anthemic craft so precisely that with every peak of Chris Martin's falsetto you can hear the faintest cha-ching of dollar signs. So, for them to usher in Brian Eno to help dip their toes into new terrain is a move that deserves some props. Eno gives them room to build their grandiose crescendos, while adding in oblique bars of airy soundscapes ("Life in Technicolor"), Eastern strings ("Yes"), Renaissance strut ("Strawberry Swing") and even some Phil Collins swagger ("Violet Hill"). It's a good progression, but not as innovative as they might have been hoping for. Editor: Stephanie Benson
The Kings of Leon never made much hay with American audiences -- especially compared to the arena-sized fawning they get in England -- which perhaps explains their reinvention on Only by the Night, which sees them transform from Strokes also-rans to grandly reverberant howlers. It can seem a bit put-on (the overfed swagger of the first single, "Sex on Fire," is a clumsy pole-dancing anthem) and plodding ("Crawl"), but when they channel the sex-god Morrison complex, it might just charm off some low-rise denims. Editor: Nate Cavalieri
With a new album hitting stores, New York art-rock combo TV on the Radio is presented with the unenviable task of wowing fans as they did with their much-praised, post-9/11 masterwork, "Return To Cookie Mountain." But for the follow-up, the band skews heady expectations and instead throws a New Wave dance party. More
