Toby Keith’s “Pull My Chain” is about men and women. It discusses being in love, breaking up, trying to get over lost love and scoring a one night stand – all from a man’s perspective.

“I’m Just Talking About Tonight” discusses looking for a one night stand and not worrying about a relationship. On the other hand, “Pick `Em Up and Lay `Em Down” describes how some men are tempted to act that way but don’t.

The rest of the album deals with the aftermath of losing someone. Keith croons about an ending marriage in “Trying To Matter,” though he is willing to try to make it work in “Forever Hasn’t Got Here Yet.” The rest of the songs are sung to an unknown woman whom Keith tells he will get over in “The Sha La La Song.” Keith shows his true feelings by showing that men cry in “Yesterday’s Rain” and hurt in “You Didn’t Have As Much To Lose.”

He seems to follow the usual country style of loving and leaving, although there are more songs that sound more pop than country.

The album does not have enough songs similar to the first two singles “Talking about Tonight” and “I Wanna Talk about Me.” After getting pumped up early on the album, listeners slide into depression through the middle. The bonus track “Gimme 8 Seconds,” a rodeo tune, seems out of place with the ballads of heartache Keith has co-written.

Keith’s eighth album is OK, but it is not as great as it could be.

-Wes Griffin

It has been four years since the Greensboro, N.C., foursome Athenaeum released their major label debut “Radiance.” While it enjoyed moderate commercial success with the single “What I Didn’t Know,” and opened for bands such as the Goo Goo Dolls and Semisonic, “Radiance” was most popular among critics.

The second time around, Athenaeum again tries to ignore current pop trends, only it doesn’t seem to work as well. “Suddenly” is the one brilliantly crafted song on the album. The song encapsulates frontman Mark Kano’s deep, depressed voice over the alt-country sound which made “Radiance” a critical success.

Synthesizers and Wurlitzer drench this album with background noise. And while the thickness is nice in some spots, most of the album drips with overproduction.

Four years after Athenaeum’s debut, the self-title lacks originality and flavor and plays out more like a “Best of the B-sides” than a new studio album.

-Dewayne Hankins

Ja Rule had a great 2001. He had three hit singles off a platinum album in heavy rotation. And now he is trying to ride the wave of his newfound fame with “Pain is Love.”

Though the album was obviously rushed, it is still OK. Irv Gotti and Ja Rule did most of the production on the album. Rule has everyone on the album from Missy Elliot and Charli Baltimore to Boo and Gotti (the guys from the “Fiesta Remix”).

The first single, “Livin’ it Up” featuring David Hollister, is a lighter side to the album which addresses more pain than love.

Jiggy tracks with Elliott and the “I’m Real” remix with Jennifer Lopez will get the party people out of their seats.

Rule does try to show his emotional side and pain in songs like “Never Again” when he harmonizes “Never again/ Would I run down a road so dark, hoped to die, cross my heart/ Never again.” He delights his audience with a remake of 2Pac’s “Bring the Pain” that is surprisingly tight and even features Pac on the last verse.

“Pain is Love” has a lot of miscues with songs like the title track and “Dial M for Murder.” They lack lyrical content and nice flow. Rule tries to harmonize like he is Teddy Pendagrass but fails.

Rule doesn’t really prove that “Pain is Love” besides trying to display hardship. At the album’s end, one can’t conceive what he meant by the title.

Overall, the album doesn’t have the staying power of past great hip-hop albums.

-Darryl Frierson