Jet hit the American shores in late 2003, with the infectious and bouncy “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”. The song hit, and a slew of rock radio hits ensued, and their debut album “Get Born” went platinum. On their second record, “Shine On”, the Australian quintet keeps the formula almost exactly the same as their last record, and it works to some success.

Led by singer Nic Cester, the AC/DC meet Stones sound is kept strong early on in the album, with tracks like “Holiday” and the rollicking opening single, “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is”. The band steers clear of the low-fi garage rock on the highlight of the album, the fuzzy, large sounding “That’s All Lies”.

“Shine On” starts off rocking enough through the first half off the album, but like many bands in this day of age, the second half of the album begins to slide into piano ballad hell. Tracks such as the title track, and the album closer “All You Have to Do” sound like the uninteresting hit track “Look What You’ve Done” from their first album. Songs like this are not Jet’s strong point, whereas the 70’s influenced hard rock pieces fare much better.

“Shine On” is not much of a departure of their first album, but there are some decent enough moments for it not to be a highly disappointing album.

GRADE: B-

Beck - The Information

After 2004’s strong return to form in his “Guero” album, Beck Hansen erased the bad memories of his previously two weak studio efforts. More than likely, Beck figured that he had pleased his early fans with that album, and decided to experiment a little bit. This is exactly what he has done with the uneven, but somewhat appealing album “The Information”.

On the new record, Beck has decided to mix the elements of his debut record, “Mellow Gold”, with the odd material from his “Mutations” record. Beck decides to go into Ben Folds mode on the entertaining “Strange Apparition”, which may be the catchiest piano ditty in a while.

The electronic influence seems prevalent on the new crop of songs, such as the opening “Elevator Music” and “We Dance Alone”. The first single, “Nausea” dabbles with the electronic sound and Beck’s distorted voice resembles the single “Devil’s Haircut”.

“No Complaints” indie-slacker roots are firmly based in the “Mellow Gold” days, while Beck uses innovative instruments called pots and pans on his track “1000 BPM”.

The album seems a little long, and some of the tracks fail to captivate his core audience. Even though “The Information” is not as bad as his “Sea Change” record from 2002, nothing on the new album is as appealing as “E-Pro” or “Girl”, from “Guero”.

GRADE: B-