Axis Bold As Love, MCA Records 97 Performance 10+ Sound 8.5 Axis Bold as Love is not the first record many music historians think of when talking about Jimi Hendrix, but I think it may be his finest and clearly one of the best records to suspend disbelief on a great music playback system. The guitar work is nothing short of sensational and shows tremendous technical development from the1967 album Are You Experienced. It is obvious that recording techniques had improved as had Hendrix's playing and more importantly on Axis, his songwriting had come of age.

Clumsy, Columbia Records | Performance 7 | Sound 7.5 | I love the fact that these guys have not forgotten how to crank up their amps and rock! Our Lady Peace is a hard rocking foursome build around the distinctive vocal style of Raine Maida. Clumsy, their latest release, is a strong record both lyrically and musically.

Souls On Ice, Rap-A-Lot Performance 5.5 Sound 6 Sometimes I'm biased against albums for absolutely no good reason. It could be the cover art. It could be the artist. Whatever it is, I've prejudged the album as bad. Thankfully, usually I'm right. With this album, I was wrong. It's not half as bad as I expected it to be. In fact, it's better than a good deal on the shelves as we speak.

Dig Your Own Hole, Astralwerks Records | Performance 8.5 | Sound 7.5 | The Chemical Brothers are among the elite techno artists who have crossed over to popular acclaim in The US. What separates The Chemical Brothers (and Orbital) from other techno acts is their developed melodic content. While slaves to a slamming' rhythm, The Chemical Brothers show on Dig Your Own Hole, why they are the most sought after re-mix team on the planet. They incorporate samples, chunks of schitck, with driving beats and obscure sounds to create a musically original art form that is potently significant for high end in the 90's.

Rap-a-Lot/Noo Trybe | Performance 6.5 | Sound 7 | Just in case the buying public was wondering whatever happened to Big Mike after the success of his first album, 'Somethin' Serious,' the largest of the Geto Boys steps back to the mic to answer that question with his sophomore release ' Still Serious.' One of the interesting things about rap these days is that it's gone regional. East coast rappers, for the most part, sound like east coast rappers and west coast rappers sound like west coast rappers. And while these two factions battle it out on wax and in the press, it seems as if everybody else has selectively forgotten that there are more than two states in the hip-hop union. However, what seems to be even more ironic is that the rappers in the fly-over states such as Big Mike just don't seem to care. From this release it's obvious that they'd ...