John Legend is modern R&B's classiest male singer, bringing old-fashioned suavity to hip-hop soul; the Roots are the world's most versatile (and maybe best) band. Together, they have made a brilliantly conceived and executed album, reviving music from the Nixon-era heyday of politically engaged R&B. Bustling through funk, Philly soul …
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On Maroon 5's third album, their already polished sound is burnished to a high-gloss glow. With producer Robert "Mutt" Lange — the guy behind AC/DC's Back in Black, Def Leppard's Pyromania and Shania Twain's biggest hits — at the helm, the dozen songs on Hands All Over are models of …
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"They can take away my job but not my friends," sings Michael Franti on his new disc, which suggests a musical activist's job — especially in hard times — is about celebration as much as agitation. Coming after a hit single ("Say Hey [I Love You]") and a near-fatal ruptured …
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Brooklyn's Drums are not only blessed with the best bone structure since Franz Ferdinand, they work an irresistible concept: What if after Ian Curtis' suicide New Order moved to California to surf and write Beach Boys songs? Singer Jonathan Pierce moans stuff like "Run till the end of time/Until our …
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Rivers Cuomo has done battle with his fans, his record label, success itself. But the title of Weezer's eighth album is an olive branch to the ride-or-die nerd side of his audience: A Weezer record named after Hurley from Lost is like Rick Ross slapping a picture of Scarface-era Pacino …
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