Various

"'80s Metal: Gold"

Metal: B+

However many times these head-banging ditties are reissued, the metal cannot be tarnished. The scene-defining Motley Crue and Guns N Roses are missing in action but there's plenty of gutter-boy glamour provided by Poison ("Talk Dirty to Me"), Cinderella ("Gypsy Road") and L.A. Guns ("Never Enough.") Filled with one fuzzy climax after another, the best numbers are valentines to staying up all night, sleeping all day, rocking on, growing your hair to the sky and getting a slice of cherry pie. Cum on feel the noise; this 32-track compilation proves that '80s metalists shouldn't be hair today, gone tomorrow.

Amy Longsdorf

LCD Soundsystem

"Sound Of Silver"

Electronica: B

For the record, I tired of LCD Soundsystem's eponymous 2005 debut before I even had the chance to heard it, what with the overnight canonization of James Murphy being a legitimate distraction-and-a-half. So I did what every red-blooded member of Generation X would do ... I didn't even bother.

LCD's James Murphy's sophomore effort is one great party album drenched with emotive attributes not normally associated with the dance/punk/funk genre, namely loads of introspection.

On "Someone Great," he even masterfully one-ups Magnetic Fields' Stephen Merritt on a remorseful love song. And the album closer, "New York I Love You," replaces frenetic dance beats with swooning guitars, as Murphy tries to woo the city he loves back to the dark side.

For those who have come knocking to get their respective grooves on, Murphy co-founder of dance-punk label DFA Records, doesn't disappoint - even though he lets tracks like "Us vs. Them" and "So Innocuous" bleed on past the point of pertinence. But perhaps that sentiment has more to do with the layer of dust caked on my dancing shoes, andthe focus here is that Sound of Silver still triumphs through sheer relatability.

Firmly entrenched within his middle-aged persona, Murphy perfectly continues to play against type, proving some can whip up a better frenzy with age.

James Doolittle

Fountains of Wayne

"Traffic and Weather"

Rock: C

Over the last ten years, through three excellent albums, numerous movie scores, and various side projects, Fountains of Wayne have repeatedly proven themselves masters of pop songcraft. So it's a huge disappointment that their fourth LP, Traffic and Weather is about as interesting as the title suggests.

"Traffic and Weather" finds FoW mining their standard tales of suburban malaise. Though adept at penning wry observations of the mundane, their bread and butter has always been their unending string of catchy hooks. Unfortunately, "Traffic and Weather" is a barren wasteland of banal verses, with nary a catchy chorus oasis, and commits the cardinal sin of pop albums: there's no immediately engaging, hit single. The countrified "Fire in the Canyon," is pleasantly boring, the waltzy "Seatbacks and Traytables Up," evokes a depressing, pre-redemption moment in a Broadway musical, and "'92 Subaru," with its Tom Petty-esque spoken verses and cookie-cutter hooks, is, simply, offensively bad.

It's fitting that the best track, "Someone to Love," references the "King of Queens," because "Traffic and Weather" could easily be compared to that sitcom. It's comfortable, familiar and has some redeeming moments, but on the whole it's formulaic, uninspiring, and ultimately forgettable.

Greg Chow

Reviewers write for Merge, an edition of The (Allentown, Pa.) Morning Call. Find Merge online at: www.mergedigital.com