Daniel Johnston & Jad Fair It's Spooky (Jagjaguwar) Two nutty guys sing nutty songs about Roky Erickson, McDonald's and acid. 8 (JC)

Lalo Schiffrin Cool Hand Luke Soundtrack (Aleth/Fusion III) "What we have here is a failure to communicate." Nice work by Schiff and an Oscar for George Kennedy. 7.5 (RB)

Hugh Cornwell Hi Fi (Koch Progressive) Ex-Stranglers man presents simple, pleasant, psych-pop (with guitars). Lazy beats, waves of chorus, touch of brass, a few punk surprises. 7 (LC)

Geggy Tah Into the Oh (Virgin/EMI) A steady groove on this blue-eyed R&B/funk with requisite beats, acoustic guitar. Plus new-age granola philosophizing. Oh? 7 (LC)

Various Trance All Stars (Popular) Yay! Another compilation of homogenous, repetitive, mono-melodic trance music, this one mixed by Toronto native DJ Cory Cash. 5 (KE)

Stone Temple Pilots Shangri-la Dee Da (Atlantic/Warner) Growly nu-metal, angular power pop, straight rawk, sensitive balladry, shrouded glam. A song for everyone! Or no one? 5 (LC)

Various Sweet Emotion: Songs of Aerosmith (Heavy Hip Mama) The world doesn't really need tired old blues hacks tackling "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)." 3 (JC)

Full length reviews...