Van Lear Rose exceeds all expectations, a bold collaboration in which artists from two different musical universes forge a memorable work that neither could have created alone.

Zep faithful will welcome the belated release as evidence for enduring loyalty, but younger fans may find its diversity and dynamics even more enlightening.

His unsentimental, voluptuously masculine, spirit-guided magic is captured at its best, for all time, in this magnificent farewell.

This set stands alongside Waits's finest work.

Hell Hath No Fury isn't as well-assembled as Lord Willin' or as spontaneous as Clipse's lauded mix-CDs from 2005 but it is coldly efficient in knocking out 12 songs backed with superbly dark and sparse tracks by the Neptunes.

An adventurous meeting place between the Smiths' guitar-driven anthems, the Zombies' vocally intricate garage-pop, and melt-in-your-mouth '70s Quaalude rock.

On every tune, Mercer packs more hooks and melodic invention than most bands do on one album. As a whole, it's an even better record than Inverted World.

Almost wholly brilliant.

In drawing on the theatrical, macro-orchestrations reminiscent of Scott Walker and expanding on the slapdash, quirky, musical humor of the Red Krayola's Mayo Thompson, this album reaches another peak for Bejar and is one of Destroyer's best works yet.

A smoldering rock and roll record that rivals John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band and Nirvana’s In Utero in terms of unexpectedness.

This is his best since [Supreme Clientele].

West magically sledgehammers home his opinions on taboo topics over beats that are equally daring.

The album boasts a handful of crowd-pleasing, party-starting cuts.... Yet more common are moments of startling beauty... and heavy doses of recrimination and regret.

There's more Patti Smith in her than there is Patsy Cline.

Perhaps only the fantasy duo of King Kong and Bambi could be a more bizarre pairing than Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Yet on Raising Sand, their haunting and brilliant collaboration, the Led Zeppelin screamer and Nashville's most hypnotic song whisperer seem made for each other

Truly remarkable... Fans of Fela and the Ethiopiques discs will dig this, as will fans of the Notwist, Prefuse 73 and Aphex Twin.

She is still in the forefront of genre-transcending artistry.

There's an emerging depth and pensiveness to their songwriting, a growing sense of spirituality and drama.

Her most musically diverse and accessible album yet.

Sure, it's a jumble, but, like the Beatles' White Album, it hangs together.

True, LCD's music is not for everyone, which may have something to do with why their fans love them as they do. If you fall into the latter category, however, Silver is gold.

An impressive album in the best tradition of the Clan... Had this album come out in 1998, people might have hailed it as another Wu classic.

While [Finn's] odd and humorous rants are essentially compelling, they wouldn't be half as engrossing if his backing group... didn't smack up such a glorious din, scabrous punk rock swagger dolled up with classic hard rock power chords.

Minimum-Maximum is essentially a greatest-hits album with an audience applauding and occasionally shouting.

This album solidifies their standing as one of the most endearingly idiosyncratic bands on the American scene.

The result is an CD that sounds like it's aspiring to be something far more ambitious: a DVD, a theatrical production, even a time machine.

If the lyrics generally lack the literary precision of Zevon’s best work, the songs take on greater weight given the circumstance under which they were recorded.

Rootsy and undeniable, The Intercontinentals is yet another Frisellian work of genius.