Girl On Fire – Alicia Keys – I couldn't dislike Alicia more, she is a stubbornly, arrogantly boring woman and whenever she heads for her piano I head for the nearest exit. Also, 95% of her songs are really awful and while "Empire State Of Mind" wasn't much, she managed to make it worse. This is the same dreary AOR for people who should know better but a little more. "Tears Always Win" and the Maxwell duet are both OK. Yes, I said it, I admit it – Grade: C+
Wy Block – Wu Block – Ghostface Killah and The Lox together at last. Not bad, though a little downbeat for my taste. When did hip hop become such a miserable art form? Did I miss that meeting? "Drive" is really good. This album is why Biggie and Big L loom over the entire scene. they sounded good – Grade: B-
Pluto 3D – Future – Wadja get if you have Drake, Snoop, Diddy, Ludacris, R. Kelly on your album? Not much – Grade: C-
True – Solange – I've always loved Solange, my fave of the Knowles sister and 4 was one of my fave albums last year. But this is too hip for its own good. The problem, she mistakes subtext for text, andas much as I like Dev Hynes, and I loved Coastal Grooves last year, I wish she would get somebody who could find the song in her songs. Big sister maybe? Caveat: "Losing You" is a growe" and would grow fast without that irritating "wawe" sound on one of the tracks – Grade: B
Three Chords Good – Graham Parker – The songs are really good, the lyrics a bit too morbid, and the playing consistently masterful – Grade: A-
Celebration Day – Led Zeppelin – Maybe Robert POlant, if this one off reunion is anything to go back, perhaps the last thing on the world they needed to do was go on a world tour. Truthfully, it is much more fun if you actually watch the video. But it had nowhere to go but up. A tired, tedious drag, if you ever listened to How The West Was Won or, worse, saw em back in the day, don't bother with this. – Grade: C-