Hits and Misses

Bush

3.5/5

They're back. Seven years after the release of six-time platinum Sixteen Stone, the British quartet that brought us "Everything Zen" and Gavin Rossdale, is back. It doesn't matter if you called them grunge, alternative, or even techno over the years; Golden State is a 99-44 rock album. Rossdale's voice is more refined, more emotional, and even though his lyrics might be a little dry, they make for perfect grunge sing-a-longs. "Where is my head, Where are my bones/ Why are my days so far from home?" he moans on "Headful of Ghosts."

Golden State's instrumental tightness is something new for Bush, true evidence of all four members writing together. Rossdale's rhythm guitar and vocals perfectly match Nigel Pulsford's trademark repetitive leads. Dave Parsons adds interesting bass lines, moving chromatically through scales to repeatedly change songs' flavors. If tracks like "Hurricane" and the album's first single "The People That We Love" are any indication, Bush's comeback won't be a very difficult feat.<$>

@right:- Rob Bellinger<$>

@bodytext:Mint

3/5

There's nothing essentially wrong with Mint or with their album, American Style. At the very least, the album is entertaining for its novelty - American Style opens with a rock version of Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarahustra," which you would recognize it if you heard it, and a cover of Madonna's "Into the Groove."

The band's original music, however, is at best slightly above mediocre. Mint's style is best compared to the Goo Goo Dolls or Matchbox Twenty. The album sounds like several letters to old girlfriends that were never sent. Some are cleverly humorous, like "Pierced and Tattooed," in which the singer ponders what he has to do to gain his girlfriend's acceptance. American Style is useful for background music or a compromise between dueling styles, but little else. You wouldn't go out and buy American Style, but you wouldn't use it as a coaster if you got it for free.