Long held as a talisman by Santana fans, who had to buy it as a triple-LP Japanese import before Columbia finally issued it on CD, Lotus is a live album that finds Carlos Santana and his octet (aka the New Santana Band) at a nexus between rock, Latin music, jazz fusion and spiritually driven communiqués to the gods. Some of the early hits are performed, such as "Black Magic Woman" and "Oye Como Va" but long, intense instrumentals are the order of the day, as on the breathtaking "Incident at Neshabur", "Every Step of the Way" and "Toussaint L'Overture". -Daniel Durchholz.

By their fifth album, most bands have grown up, but not American brat-punks Blink 182. Take Off Your Pants And Jacket is more of the same three-minute bursts of immaturity and deliberate stupidity that made their previous album, Enema of the State, an international hit. It's just that now the band too often cross the line from adolescent angst to annoying whingeing. The album opener "Anthem Part Two" is an us-versus-them call to arms against the "adults" of the world-"Kids are victims in this story/Drown the youth with useless warnings"-which seems to overlook the fact that by now, Blink 182 are probably closer in age to their A&R man than their average fan; "Happy Holidays You Bastard" and "F**k A Dog" resort to cheap mom-and-dad jokes and obvious shock tactics. Even the more sentimental moments are ruined by clumsy and overly simplistic lyrics ("Stay Together for the Kids", a tale about divorce from the child's perspective, whines, "I see them every day/We get along so why can't they?"). It's not all bad news, though: first single "Rock Show", "Reckless Abandon" and "Give Me One Good Reason" are as catchy as anything they've ever done, while "Story of a Lonely Guy" and "Roller Coaster" hint at what this trio are capable of as songwriters when they put their minds to it. -Robert Burrow.

The growling, choppy guitar sample that opens the first track here, "It's My Life", is a virtual declaration of intent for the first Bon Jovi album in five years, a statement that they're updating the sound without abandoning the traditional virtues that made them one of the biggest bands on the planet. So make way for a hi-tech parade of smooth-but-gutsy rock anthems, almost any one of which will gladden the heart of every AOR radio programmer in the land. Unless the world has changed irredeemably, cuts such as the mid-paced heartbreak chugger "Say It Isn't So" are destined to become Bon Jovi standards, while an outbreak of scarf-waving and lighter-flicking is certain to accompany any live performance of the big weepy, "Thank You For Loving Me". Arguably, everything on Crush is done by the numbers, but with consummate pros like Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora at the helm, these are the kind of numbers you have to take seriously, because by the second time they kick into the chorus of any song it's damn near impossible not to sing along. -Johnny Black.

Alongside Ghost, another romantic comedy drama, Pretty Woman dominated the box office of 1990. The movie revitalised Richard Gere's career, and made a superstar of Julia Roberts, launching her on a string of hugely successful romantic comedies including My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), Notting Hill (1999), and, reuniting her with Gere and Pretty Woman director, Garry Marshall, The Runaway Bride (1999). Inevitably the movie's theme song is Roy Orbison's "Oh Pretty Woman", sounding fresh as ever. And if that is a typically male view of feminine attractions, Natalie Cole tells the other side of the story with the unrepentant "Wild Women Do". David Bowie provides an update of one of his greatest hits, with "Fame 90" and Robert Palmer describes "Life In Detail". The remainder of the album is a snapshot of up-and-coming acts at the beginning of the 90s, with Go West's massive hit, "King Of Wishful Thinking" and Roxette's chart smash "It Must Have Been Love" setting the agenda for slick, well produced power-pop. As nostalgia for the time just before dance took over the charts, or simply as a highly polished souvenir of one of the most popular movies ever made, Pretty Woman requires, as Peter Cetera appropriately adds, "No Explanation". -Gary S. Dalkin.

The Band's third studio album is also their third-best studio album, and that isn't bad. It's not as synchronous as Music From Big Pink or as overpowering as The Band, but that's part of its appeal. The quintet's first two albums were such towering achievements that the group came to lean on its songs, turning the lion's share of them into concert staples. Stage Fright is littered with lesser-known Robbie Robertson compositions possessing more modest charms than the overplayed likes of "The Weight" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". The title track is uncommonly hard-eyed and modern; Richard Manual's vocal, like most of his turns at the mike, is sparkling. (Manual also shines on the reflective "Sleeping" and the up-tempo "Just Another Whistle Stop"). "All La Glory" is a gorgeous lullaby, while "Time To Kill" sounds like the Band doing Creedence Clearwater Revival. This isn't the place to discover this great North American band, but it's definitely a stop worth taking before your exploration is completed. -Steven Stolder The Band's third studio album is also their third-best studio album, and that isn't bad. It's not as synchronous as Music from Big Pink or as overpowering as The Band, but that's part of its appeal. [+]

Before Sgt. Pepper's, no one seriously thought of rock music as actual art. That all changed in 1967, though, when John, Paul, George and Ringo (with "A Little Help" from their friend, producer George Martin) created an undeniable work of art which remains, after 3-plus decades, one of the most influential albums of all time. From Lennon's evocative word/sound pictures (the trippy "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", the carnival-like "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite") and McCartney's music hall-styled "When I'm 64", to Harrison's Eastern-leaning "Within You Without You", and the avant-garde mini-suite, "A Day in the Life", Sgt. Pepper's was a milestone for both 1960s music and popular culture in general. -Billy Altman.

"All pop music begins with Kraftwerk", it has been said-and, indeed, the 1970s experiments in minimalist electronics on the part of these four reclusive and bourgeois-looking young Dusseldorf men were directly responsible for the electrified landscape of subsequent decades of rock, pop and dance music. The album is dominated by its 22-minute title track, a beautiful electronic simulation of a motorway journey, from cranking up the engine to bowling along grey lanes cutting a swathe through the countryside, swerving and hooting the horn. Kraftwerk were prefiguring music's next step into the machine age but the antipathy they aroused in 1974 exposed the deluded Luddite tendencies of the pre-punk critical establishment who felt that music could only remain "real" by remaining as close to "nature" as possible. Kraftwerk slyly undermined this notion. After Kraftwerk, pop music would echo, not reject the sounds and rhythms of modern life. -David Stubbs.

Do It Yourself proved exactly who was responsible for The Stone Roses' comeback album, the poorly received Second Coming. With its reliance on sturdy Led Zep riffs, and its worrying number of protracted guitar workouts, the Roses' swansong showed rather a close correlation to Do It Yourself-the debut, and only album from lead guitar virtuoso John Squire's post-Roses outfit. If this demonstrated anything telling after the acrimonious split of the Roses, it was that Squire liked to keep a firm grip on the reins. Certainly, the Britpop staple of "Love Is The Law" demonstrated that Squire hadn't lost it completely, but it was pleasingly ironic that the ex-busking singer Chris Helme-a musician that Squire drafted in, only to lose patience with after the album's release-composed the best track, the bruised lament of "Blinded By The Sun". Do It Yourself is a treat for air-guitarists, but after the wonder of the Roses, is a sad anticlimax. -Louis Pattison.

Survivors of the disco boom of the late 1970s are of course bemused at the ease with which the patina of cultural significance has appeared on the music (and even the clothes) of the period. In any event, whether you can't resist tapping your feet to those four-on-the-floor Bee Gees tunes or whether you're curious about what is, after all, the precursor of hip hop, there's still no better way of enjoying this stuff than through this era-defining recording. Interestingly, there's more social comment here than the happy tunes might suggest, such as in the lyrics of "Staying Alive" which are entirely reminiscent of the theme of the movie They Shoot Horses, Don't They? in their depiction of dance as a desperate escape from social deprivation. Well, up to a point. Then there's "Night Fever" and "Disco Inferno" and all the other white-suits-and-sequins standards which epitomised the movement. What's notable-and perhaps surprising-are the strong melodic and lyrical identities the songs all have, which resulted in a string of hit singles. If you were there, you'll want this music. If you weren't, you'll still want it. It explains a lot. -Roger Thomas.

The concept behind Meet Glen Campbell is so obvious it's a surprise that no one had thought of doing it before. Once Brian Wilson's touring replacement in the Beach Boys, then a megastar with his country inflected orchestral pop productions in the late sixties and early seventies, Glen Campbell has seen it all. Now in his seventies, his star has faded since his collaborations with young songwriter Jimmy Webb ruled the charts, but he remains a fine singer and a deft guitarist still. Taking ten recent songs by the likes of Tom Petty, Travis, Foo Fighters and even Green Day, and dressing them up in the expansive arrangements he's still remembered for effectively makes them his own property. Who knew that Travis's once torpid "Sing" needed only some Campbell magic to revive it? Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" is a perfect choice, its country roots always unconcealed, while the genesis of U2's "All I Want Is You" in the Stooges "No Fun" is made obvious even as Campbell's heartfelt version challenges Bono for sincerity. The closer, a stately version of John Lennon's posthumously released "Grow Old With Me", will be soundtracking wedding ceremonies for decades to come. Unlikely though it sounds, Meet Glen Campbell has to be count amongst the year's most successful comebacks. -Steve Jelbert.

The Reason, the second album from clean-cut Californian mall-rockers Hoobastank, is a massive improvement on the band's eponymous 2002 debut. It's a thoughtful and passionate alt-rock set that consigns many of the band's more obvious influences to the dustbin and proves that even rock's most transparent copyists deserve a second chance to make a first impression. Frontman Doug Robb has shaken off his rather Brandon Boyd-esque vocal affectations and now sounds very much like his own man, riding bruising rockers such as "Just One" and "Let It Out" with a flexible emotional range and sharp ear for a scream-along chorus. The band, meanwhile, have grown into an altogether different beast, guitarist Dan Estrin coaxing his fretboard from deft, nostalgia-pricked melodicism to complex metal riffing with evident skill, and the powerhouse rhythm section of bassist Markku Lappalainen and drummer Chris Hesse firing off virtuostic dynamic flourishes right through to the last climactic lap of the closing "Disappear". It's true, Hoobastank's rather bland, cookie-cutter image probably won't do them any favours in today's cooler-than-thou alternative marketplace, but you overlook this album at your peril. -Louis Pattison.

In recent years, Mary Chapin Carpenter-once among the most promising stars of the folkie infiltration of Nashville ("Down at the Twist and Shout," "I Feel Lucky")-abandoned all desire to dot the country music charts. Free of that ill-fitting yoke she returned to being what she really was all along: A literate acoustic singer-songwriter. In 2004, she released a tour de force, Between Here and Gone, which combined affecting social commentary on the events of 9/11 with personal meditations on her changed life as a married woman living in rural Virginia. The Calling picks up where that album left off, using the same co-producer, pianist Matt Rollings, and core musicians, including John Jennings, who helped Carpenter shape her sonic landscape some 20 years ago. If the new album goes farther in advocating a political conscience-"On with the Song" takes jabs at the jingoistic rubes who dissed the Dixie Chicks, while "Why Shouldn't We" insists we'll have worthy heroes in office again one day-it largely invokes the same quiet, warm, and conversational tone as its predecessor. On the whisper-soft "Twilight," which frames a perfect, peaceful evening with a nearly spiritual grace, a listener might easily imagine himself chatting with the artist about long-held secrets and shared experiences, the Blue Ridge Mountains looming in the background. That is part of Carpenter's gift-connecting with her audience's shadow self, using her deeply nuanced alto to fill even the simplest words with profound knowing. As a pure craftsman, however, she ranks with the giants of past generations in capturing the small, bruised hearts seemingly lost in the chaos of a catastrophic event. "Houston," one such song here, recalls Woody Guthrie's great "Deportee" in its power and the pathos of the Hurricane Katrina victims who were forced to evacuate their homes, leaving everything behind but fear and hope. "Mama's got her baby/Sleeping in a grocery cart," it begins, at once setting up a picture of wrenching desperation. [+]

Shangri-La sees the sweatband-loving Knopfler team up once again with producer Chuck Ainlay for a sturdy celebration of Americana through country and the blues with a dash of easy listening thrown in. The overall sound is laid back with only the electric blues of "Song for Sonny Listen" providing a bit of a crunch. For the most part Knopfler sounds heavily influenced by troubadour JJ Cale and none more so than on "Boom, Like That", a groove driven country honk with soft, lazy vocals. Renowned for not taking things too seriously, many of the lyrics are comical in their narrative such as "I stuck a couple of air-craft carriers up his ass" on the mariachi backed "Don't Crash the Ambulance", a tongue in cheek song set around the Mexican border. His style may have softened since the Dire Straits days but this can only be a good thing whe none recalls the bloated synths of their latter years. Shangri-La is Knopfler living his cowboy dream which seems to be what keeps his spirit for good music as fresh as it ever was. -Steve Beefmark.