Having outgrown their Stray Cats and Green Day phases, the Living End join forces with Midnight Oil and Silverchair producer Nick Launay for an album that firmly establishes them as Australia's Great Rock Hope. Like late, great power-pop revivalists Material Issue (to whom the chorus of "Dirty Man" bears a more than passing resemblance), this Melbourne power trio fully justifies their plundering of past musical forms thanks to enthusiasm, chops, and songwriting talent. From the fist-in-the-air populism of its title track to the anthemic "Silent Victory" (which Launay gives the full Midnight Oil treatment), Roll On signals the Living End's readiness for an international pop overthrow. --Bill Forman

14 Tracks - 1. Chocolate Cake 4:02 2. It's Only Natural 3:32 3. Fall At Your Feet 3:18 4. Tall Trees 2:19 5. Weather With You 3:44 6. Whispers And Moans 3:39 7. Four Seasons In One Day 2:50 8. There Goes God 3:50 9

This live album documents a love affair, one between a singer-songwriter who attracted a whole new following with the release of 2002’s 1000 Kisses and the devoted fans who flocked to her subsequent tour. The rapturous response at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, long the hallowed home of the Grand Ole Opry, makes it plain that Griffin is among friends for this concert recording, with kindred spirits Emmylou Harris and Julie and Buddy Miller joining her onstage to lend vocal support. Despite the setting, Griffin’s music resists categorization as country (or folk or rock), with acoustic guitar, accordion, and piano providing exquisite settings for her expressively edgy vocals on a range of striking material--from the suicide of a tormented gay boy in "Tony" to the plight of an unhappy heiress in "Christina" (which Griffin explains to the crowd came to her in a dream about Christina Onassis) to the hint of ragtime in "Mad Mission." A bonus DVD of backstage scenes and videos completes the package, which lets fans feel they’ve gotten to know not only the music, but the artist. -- Don McLeese