Cookie Throwdowns

$7.62

While it’s easy to confuse Attack! Attack! with Ohio’s Attack Attack! (notice the difference in exclamation points), the U.K. act has very little in common with the heavy screamo act from the States. The specialty of the Cardiff-based band is glossy emo-pop and friendly, grunge-influenced alt-rock. Jimmy Eat World and Foo Fighters are similar buzz bands, and Attack! Attack!’s music is similarly apt for a festival or big arena stage. Latest Fashion focuses on building dynamic songs for mega venues and leans toward a more anthemic sound, with producer Romesh Dodangoda (Funeral for a Friend, Kids in Glass Houses) adding some sonic weight. The fact that this album’s cover resembles Electric Light Orchestra’s Out of the Blue is telling, since, like a Jeff Lynne production, the recording sounds as thickly layered as possible. This new degree of sheen leaves Attack! Attack! sounding like a completely different band than they did on their debut. Still, they maintain a degree of muscle on rockers “No Excuses,” “Seen Me Lately,” and “Latest Fashion.” Meanwhile, on the flip side, the power ballad “Best Mistake” finds the band setting its sights on a radio single. The crossover material leaves the album sounding a little stiff, and “No Tomorrow” seems manufactured to the point of feeling artificial, but if Attack! Attack! were aiming for commercially viable pop-punk, they hit the nail on the head with this one. ~ Jason Lymangrover, Rovi Performers: Romesh Dodangoda – Keyboards, Percussion, Piano; Sean Smith – Vocals; The Guns – Vocals

$7.94

Honey may have had the most controversial LP cover of 1975. Its erotic cover, which depicted a nude model covered in honey, was protested by feminists when it was alleged that the model had become stuck to the floor during the photo shoot. Some retailers, in fact, refused to carry it. All the controversy certainly didn’t hurt the album commercially. In 1975, the Ohio Players were one of R&B’s most successful acts, and were inescapable for anyone who listened to black radio at the time. The album kept the band’s commercial momentum going thanks to such hard-driving funk as “Love Rollercoaster” (a song that was sampled to death by rappers in the 1980s and ’90s and covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1996), “Fopp,” and the playfully jazz-influenced hit “Sweet Sticky Thing.” While the Players’ outstanding contributions to funk would continue to have an enormous impact long after the band’s popularity faded, it’s important to stress that only about half of Honey falls into the funk category. In fact, lead singer Sugarfoot’s moving performance on the remorseful “Alone” makes one wish that the Players’ ballads were discussed more often. ~ Alex Henderson, Rovi Performers: Billy Beck – Arp, Clavinet, Organ (Hammond), Vocals (Background), Fender Rhodes, Percussion, Keyboards, Vocals, Piano; James “Diamond” Williams – Vocals (Background), Timbales, Conga, Percussion, Drums, Vocals; Marshall “Rock” Jones – Bass (Electric); Mervin Pierce – Flugelhorn, Trumpet; Clarence “Satch” Satchell – Sax (Baritone), Sax (Tenor), Flute; Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner – Vocals (Background), Guitar, Vocals; Ralph “Pee Wee” Middlebrooks – Trumpet

$7.72

Sundar Singh

$12.39

With a career that spans nearly 20 years, 26 albums that have been certified platinum or multi-platinum, and countless number-one and Top-Ten hits, it’s probably easy for George Strait to gather some songs for a greatest-hits album. The cream of the crop

$11.81

Inspector Singh is in Cambodia – wishing he wasn’t. He’s been sent as an observer to the international war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh, the latest effort by his superiors to ensure that he is anywhere except in Singapore. But for the first time the fat Sikh inspector is on the verge of losing his appetite when a key member of the tribunal is murdered in cold blood. The authorities are determined to write off the incident as a random act of violence, but Singh thinks otherwise. It isn’t long before he finds himself caught up in one of the most terrible murder investigations hes witnessed – the roots of which lie in the dark depths of the Cambodian killing fields. . .

$15.18

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$7.88

{$Radiohead}’s debut album, Pablo Honey, is a promising collection that blends {$U2}’s anthemic {rock} with long, atmospheric instrumental passages and an enthralling triple-guitar attack that is alternately gentle and bracingly noisy. The group has diff

$10.46

Honey