Label: Warner Brothers

Can it really be ten years since Dookie brought punk into the mainstream? Green Day... as elder statesmen? Crap.

It's difficult for a rock band - let alone a punk group - to maintain credibility in a field based in youthful energy. After a decade, most groups have either artistically dried up, just plain broken up, or can be found playing at a county fair near you.

Yet, here's Green Day still going strong with the best album of their career. Choosing wisely to not chase after the the countless bands copying them these days, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool focus on what has always set them apart - their genuine songcraft.

That's not too say American Idiot doesn't rock hard, but it's so much more than that. A concept album displaying a startling expanded sonic palette - Idiot, as a fellow music fanboy called it, could well be the band's London Calling.

How ironic then that the chances they take on Idiot would have gotten them crucified ten years ago when any deviance from their punk roots would've been considered a "sellout." (The 80s influenced "Are We the Awaiting" alone would have been unthinkable)

Now in less stick up your ass times, Green Day have shown their in it for the long run. With American Idiot, they've defied the "here today, gone today" pop ethos.

What could be more punk than that?

(3 1/2 out of 4 stars)

Label: Universal

Screw Simba and Princess Diana! The Lion King and England's Rose may have boosted Elton's commercial standing, but only in the past few years has he returned to the stripped down rocking sound that made his career all those years ago. 2001's Songs from the West Coast was his best album since... well... the Nixon administration, and Peachtree Road continues his musical comeback.

While bereft of West Coast's catchier melodies, the country rock/gospel tinged Peachtree is a more soulful release. He may not be able to hit the highs he once did in the days of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" but Elton's huskier vocals perfectly complement the raw, loose arrangements.

Leadoff tune "Weight of the World" can stand proudly next to Elton's best. With a greatest hits arsenal as big as his, that's saying something.

(3 out of 4 stars)

Label: Atlantic

2002 was a good year for this Palo Alto bred band. They finally broke through with Spend the Night and with so many bands dotting the landscape with three chords and punk attitude courtesy of Hot Topic, the Donnas stood proudly as trendsetters with five albums of glorious Ramones-derived punk.

Perhaps smarting from criticism that once you've heard one Donnas album, you've heard them all, the girls - now going by their Christian names and not Donna A, Donna R. etc. - have broadened their sound. The title track is an acoustic Kinks influenced gem, and they've obviously been rummaging through their record store's seventies classic rock section. The Donnas have also improved as musicians.

Some old fans may feel they've mellowed too much, but you've got to give them credit for trying new things.

Plus the velvety black CD slipcover is nice too.

(3 out of 4 stars)

Label: Nonsuch

For about six months in '66, the Beach Boys were "Bigger than the Beatles". Pet Sounds had left Paul McCartney quivering in his Beatle boots and "Good Vibrations" was released to universal acclaim as the most innovative single ever made - a title it still retains. Thus began the Smile sessions. Dubbing it a teenage symphony to God, head BB Brian Wilson intended it to be the last word in rock that would forever secure the Beach Boys at the top of the charts.

Unfortunately, a labrythine succession of problems put the kibosh on Smile and Brian's sanity. The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper came out in 1967 and was hailed as the greatest album ever made. Brian went to bed waiting for the darkness to go away.

Now almost forty years after its intended release, Brian - back from the Dark Side of the Moon - has re-recorded his magnum opus and the results are in a word, heavenly.

It's amazing how Smile anticipated so much of Sgt. Pepper - the album that ultimately stole its thunder: recurring themes, the marriage between pop and classical, both even include songs employing animal sounds as accompaniment (guess Brian and the Beatles were using the same strand of LSD). What gives Smile the slight edge over Smile is how Brian took these similar traits and took them to their conclusion where Sgt. Pepper only dared flirt. Plus the Beatles never matched the vocal gymnastics gloriously displayed on Smile.

(4 out of 4 stars)

Label: Capitol

On John Lennon's solo albums, the production often multi-tracks the heart out of the songs. His best album, 1970's Plastic Ono Band, dispensed with studio doodling or "bullshit' as the great man called it. So it shouldn't be a surprise that Acoustic, featuring revelatory takes of unreleased and famous songs with only guitar accompaniment, is such a winner.

As an album, this attempt to show the raw side of Lennon is completely successful. You'll soon realize the overwhelming emotion of his voice and guitar alone are more than enough. Best of the bunch is "Cold Turkey" done à la Marc Bolan and a runthrough of "Well, Well, Well" where the Liverpool lad sounds like a banshee from the Mississippi Delta. While some of Acoustic has been previ0usly heard on the fantastic four CD Anthology set, most of the tracks here are brand new. The one bunk track is "Luck of the Irish", a duet with Yoko, which still sucks Walrus balls thirty years after it first appeared on 1972's Some Time In New York City.

The man never made it to the wooded stool on an episode of Unplugged. Acoustic is the fascinating "from the grave" next best thing.

(4 out of 4 stars)

Label: Sanctuary / Vapor

Like them damn Olsen Twins, I can't tell these two Canadian twins apart, but who cares who's who when they're serving up such winning acoustic based rock. With additional keyboards by ex-Weezer Matt Sharp and improved interplay with their band, Tegan and Sara have made their best record yet. Like Kurt Cobain, the pair write incredibly catchy pop songs, but dress them up in raw, acerbic clothing.

Each of the sisters compose on their own and then coalesce in the studio with Tegan's efforts reflecting a slightly sunnier sheen and Sara opting more for the dark, musically speaking. Still, trying to create a good cop, bad cop stereotype about the two is misleading, and a little disrespectful to this talented duo.

They deliver the kind of goods fellow Canuck Avril Lavigne only promises.

(4 out of 4 stars)