Listen to me: Chris, the critic, gives his slant on this week's new releases

The end of the world is surely near.

I don't think I'm alone in declaring that Tiffany's decision to climb out of the hole of obscurity she has dwelt in for the past decade is the most surprising occurrence since Britney Spears released a follow up single.

"The Color of Silence" marks the return of the former queen of mall rat pop, however this time she claims she is all grown up. While some have hailed this album as the year 2000 equivalent of Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" it remains to be seen whether Tiffany reputation is salvageable.

However, one thing that sets her apart from the current queens of bubble gum pop, Christina Aguilera and Spears, is that she has lent a hand in writing a couple of her songs. Rumor has it that she co-wrote seven of the songs on the album, but there is nothing that will ever help Tiffany shake her ultra cheesy, squeaky-clean '80s image.
 

Slash's Snakepit: "Ain't Life Grand" (Koch)

Since Guns N' Roses imploded seven years ago, the public has been subjected to two Snakepit albums, three Duff McKagan (GNR's ex-bassist) side projects, three Gilby Clarke (former guitarist) albums and three Izzy Stradlin (yet another former guitarist) releases. With the exception of Clarke's and Stradlin's first releases, none of them are even worthy of being used as a coaster.

The latest release from Snakepit is no different.

This time around he has assembled a completely different group of musicians backing him than he had on his first solo endeavor "It's Five O'clock Somewhere," yet it yields the same results. It is no more than a failed attempt to recreate the classic GNR sound. Slash needs to realize Snakepit singer Rod Jackson is no Axl Rose, guitarist Kerry Kelly is no Stradlin or Clarke for that matter, and bassist Johnny Blackout is no McKagan.

Rose and Slash should bury both of their egos in the back yard and resurrect the rotting carcass of the once glorious institution known as Guns N' Roses before the world is subjected to yet another solo project from one of the former Gunners.
 

Collective Soul: "Blender" (Atlantic)

Will this stream of worthless, uninspired, unoriginal pop-rock bands never end? How Collective Soul believes that they are any different than the Matchbox 20s, Three Doors Downs and Third Eye Blinds of the world is more enigmatic than how those bands have broken through into the mainstream in the first place.

Perhaps the album would be more appropriately titled "Blunder."

Somehow they conned Elton John into appearing on one song. What is next? Cher guesting on a Limp Bizkit song?
 

Wallflowers: "Breach"

In all probability this will be the last anyone hears of this third rate Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers knock off. The band's hugely successful debut "Bringing Down the Horse" was fueled solely by the fact that Jakob Dylan looks good on the cover of "Rolling Stone" magazine and that he is Bob Dylan's son. The band's limited potential was made apparent when the only song they have managed to muster up in the past three years was a cover of David Bowie's "Heroes."

Chris Lew is the Diversions editor: for the Daily Forty-Niner