Every classic, from "Blitzkrieg Bop" to "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World," bleeds fresh energy. The three CDs of stereo and mono mixes, demos, single versions, and two blistering live sets from 1976 L.A. are killer, but the new vinyl makes purchasing this box mandatory.

Sketchy sound quality (on The Vanilla Tapes), to be sure, but its rawness makes the final product that much more impressive.

50 years on still doesn't obscure its frivolity. Paul McCartney dominates vocally and compositionally, and a mind-bending stereo remaster redefines the psychedelic summit while making the mono mix on disc 4 superfluous, but a pair of demo discs single out John Lennon's backbone contributions in multiple takes of pre-LP single "Strawberry Fields," plus "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and "A Day in the Life."

Nearly a half-century after the sometimes haphazard creation, this music retains every bit of its intimacy, mystery, and resonance, and The Basement Tapes Complete boxes it up with the respect and insight it demands.

Unsurprisingly, the true treasure for devotees occurs in long-vaulted studio moments.

The 6-disc set witnesses the studio process as it unfolded 50 years ago, particularly the CD unfolding the complete session for "Like a Rolling Stone."... Experience history in real time.

It's as if this box set wants to prove Slint was human, not just a faceless menace that cut a record lost to time and circumstance, worthy of celebration and also fitting neatly in a box.

VU arrived in Los Angeles with new bass player Doug Yule to track its third and final LP for MGM Records, here excavated as a 6-CD set. Bassist/keyboardist/viola virtuoso Cale's absence proved sonically profound.

The usual ephemeral padding--an extensive oral history rendered redundant by the documentary, a poster, and a replica of Simon's legal pad of lyrics--fills the linen-bound Graceland deluxe, which footnotes the remastered album with a 25-minute bonus CD of demos mostly heard on previous editions, though a 10-minute "The Story of 'Graceland'" audio deconstruction by Simon sums up the box in a song.

The second CD of Led Zeppelin III expands on its mothership's psychograss exhilaration.

Sound System presents the complete Clash, lovingly remastered on six discs, comprising the five studio LPs the classic lineup released between 1977 and 1982, plus a 3-CD set featuring non-LP singles and B-sides. A DVD unspools archival footage, plus every video. The sonic upgrade sounds best on the earliest material.

Hearing the newly recorded album as a completed work instead of dismembered modules is a rollicking reassertion of Wilson's compositional genius.

Kudos to White's preservation of Lynn's loving, narrative songwriting even when paired with his own grittier sensibilities. In doing so, the two unlikely bedfellows have cut a classic.

This self-titled album, released on UK indie Rough Trade in 1988, began her journey to becoming a household name. In a newly remastered 2-disc edition, Lucinda Williams blossoms all over again.

The fearsome foursome's eponymous, 1969 debut pairs its volcanic blues and folk with a raw performance from that same year in Paris.

"Black Dog" and "Over the Hills and Far Away" back-to-back are gonzo.

Stepping upward into the macro, the album's landmark achievement lies in Kendrick Lamar's elevation of hip-hop into subtle invisibility, his blackness not exclusively tied to the rapper image.

Authoritatively illustrating why, the 4-CD Keep an Eye on the Sky might be considered compilation overload on this admittedly obscure Memphis quartet for the newcomer, but cultists and anyone interested in some of the purest guitar pop ever made will find lots and lots to love.

Unfortunately, the 4-CD deluxe reissue doesn't offer much that accentuates beyond the original.

Two decades later ... these weighty collections still earn and own those [accolades].

Gainsbourg's whispered nothings are mystery no more, translated here alongside the French lyrics. While there are no bonus tracks, the accompanying booklet features extensive essays from music writer Andy Beta and electronic musician Andy Votel.

Despite the box set's girth and groovy 3-D cover, anyone who's not a hardcore completist or David Leaf understudy will be sated by the 2-CD version.

Led Zeppelin II binds the biggest and baddest of the group's heavyweight first chapter with the thinest of extras, 33 minutes of early mixes and backing tracks.

Master of Puppets realized the band's greatest strengths, coalescing hardcore punk with progressive metal.

It's a sharp look at how a major artist sees his own work, set to a soundtrack that's held up incredibly well.

One of his most accomplished recordings.

Through thick and thin, Kanye West proves the ultimate curator and host, the master of his domain.

1993's Icky Mettle thumps Warp's warpath between lo-fi sad sackery ("You and Me") and shitstorm post-post punk ("Sick File"). The Archers of Loaf vs. The Greatest of All Time EP ignites a bonus disc as anthemic as 1977 Clash ("Bathroom").

Not only does it capture the unstructured verse of a masked maniac within a sheer net of plausibility, it parades his inner dementia among instrumental adornments of the highest order.

A 25th anniversary minibox stuffs poster and postcards in with a mother lode second disc of 19 "Athens Demos," from punky ("Bad Day") to finished ("All the Right Friends").

At just 35 minutes, she's now produced one of the tightest and most complete albums of 2018, while advancing philosophical wax on contextual freedoms of her black body.

New DVD/CD combo Live at Reading rides the wave of mutilation that was Nevermind, but its best moments dump Bleach, the busy shoot pausing to catch Cobain picking out debut detention "School."

He's a thief, a con, a 60-year-old with nothing to say. And he continues saying it.

An alternate and/or nascent mix of Achtung Baby not only doesn't add to the dialog, it perhaps subtracts from it.

It's largely successful, because it's hard to go wrong with Dolly Parton; 26 gold and platinum albums make her arguably the most successful female country singer-songwriter, and Dolly goes a long way toward that.

The first disc of the 4-CD trove provides the best comparisons, showcasing the troubadour's most familiar tunes ("This Land Is Your Land," "Pretty Boy Floyd") with vocals and picking that are rich and unblemished.

Combative and hostile even 30 years later, ... And Justice For All delivers exactly what its title promises.

Twenty-one discs address it in explosively comprehensive detail for The Box, all seven of Blur's full-lengths now doubled by a brimming parallel disc of era singles, B-sides, demos, and live swaths.

By effortlessly topping her own best work. Lemonade now sets a new standard for cross-genre collaboration.

Not only are these titles among David Bowie's best--dystopian "Rebel Rebel" rock, Soul Train albinism, and Berlin trilogy precursor, respectively--their refractions here bolster each case.

Nicene Creedence Ed. doesn't exactly unravel Malkmus' lyrical labyrinths, but the sprawling, double-disc, 44-song set ties up all loose ends, gathering essential B-sides ('No Tan Lines'), outtakes (instrumental 'Beautiful as a Butterfly'), and live sessions.

After 30 years, Waits keeps getting weirder and weirder while still aging gracefully.

Woody at 100 doesn't aim to be the definitive, exhaustive guide to Guthrie's singular legacy; it's far too egalitarian for such ambitions.

It's a headphone masterpiece that bangs on shelf speakers.

A baby elephant still, bigger, brighter than its two siblings, but it's in your kitchen, and it ain't leaving anytime soon.

It's like Lennon and McCartney solo albums: plenty of solid tunes, but the pen held together is mightier than a solo sword.

As much Tom Waits as Roy Orbison, both Amigo the Devil and Born Against expertly navigate the twisted path between a metaphorical heart on a sleeve and real live beating one bloodying up his flannel.

Higher! details every ounce of Stone's genius, while cropping just enough to avoid the lengthy, late-Seventies tailspin continuing on today.

The quotidian problems and longings of the title track making up the real heart of the album, a rough and tumble struggle to the top.

The first hip-hop classic of the new millennium.

Bruce Springsteen's fifth release proved a cardinal development in his storytelling, and The Ties That Bind: The River Collection dissects it across four CDs, a 2-DVD concert from the same year in Arizona, and an hourlong documentary on a third DVD, plus over 200 coffee-table-ready photos.

No chips or cracks in this debut's silly-grin inducing veneer, just one short, sharp jolt of postmodern skank.

With the CD mix the same as the 1996 remaster, plus a poster, 7-inch single, replicas of Townshend's handwritten notes and drawings, a DVD of 5.1 mixes, and a hardback book packed with photos and creative musings, this Director's Cut earns its indulgence.

The 22-song epic marries Stevens' personal history to that of the state, as well as knitting spare emotional lyrics with lush orchestral and choral arrangements, upping the ante for singer-songwriters everywhere.

Especially refreshing in this city, the player lets his modern blues simmer and smoke, avoiding pyrotechnic blister. Somber and guarded, opener "Lost & Lonesome" pins the simple tools behind most of the album – evocative acoustic guitar, barely there percussion, and Nichols' wisely pleading voice.

The Oregonians' confident comeback is balls-out bold, the threepiece returning with fresh vitality.

[Graceland is] perhaps, the musical mash-up of all time... a summit of Western self-reflection and African spirituality.

More Blood, More Tracks: The Bootleg Series Vol. 14 also validates Bob's brother's urging to scrap and drastically rerecord five songs last minute. It's all especially enlightening if you have the blood and guts to listen to the collection in one sitting.

A 2013 mix of the LP, reportedly overseen by Albini and surviving group members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear, and boasting an alternate guitar solo on "Serve the Servants" and a different cello overdub on "Dumb," but otherwise it's indistinct. The bonus material gets worse: ubiquitous B-sides ("I Hate Myself and Want to Die"), boring instrumental demos, and a "Forgotten Tune" that simply sucks.

The cameos (T.I., Janelle Monáe, Gucci Mane) hit all the right spots, the skits are delightfully juvenile, and Big Boi's idiosyncratic delivery and tightrope cadences throughout teeter toward Jedi mind tricks. Stank you very much.

While some may quibble that the set isn't chronologically ordered, that makes each disc more like a concert unto itself. All the hits and some deep cuts are present and accounted for, but the covers are the most interesting.

Savage Young Dü aches breadth and depth.

Not as big and bright as 2003's It Still Moves, yet with the early-career sprawl edited out, Z's as lovingly worn as a vintage clothing score.

A legendary liquor-soaked session with Tom Waits, two discs containing a ragged-but-right contemporary concert, and a booklet that takes an in-depth look at the making of DTAS crackle and pop, but in revisiting its creators' original intent, a formerly sneered at LP becomes essential.

Clark's exacting sensibility makes every song a new experience, finally birthing an album where every shot hits its mark.

Run the Jewels 2 gut-punches the competition into second place.

Since I Left You is as much of a revelation now as Primal Scream's life-changing Screamadelica was a decade ago.

Three albums isn't especially encompassing, but if you're invested in deciphering the legend of Captain Beefheart, Sun Zoom Spark boxes up more vitals.

Overlong as they are, these are beautifully recorded tracks: unadorned, antiquated, intimate.

Live at the Paramount--also included as a CD--comes off as otherwise bloodless. Joyless. That goes double for the lifeless remastering of the original LP.

There's an enduring ebb and flow, and perhaps some intentional indecision, as the Denton-born Sylvester Stewart swings the band from humanist psychedelia to Church of God in Christ gospel modulation, James Brownian run-outs, and even showtune sing-alongs.

At times atmospheric with a grounded mysticism ("Astral Plane" and sweeping strings on "Just in Time"), June's voice still serves as mesmerizing focus, especially the slow drawl and moan of "The Front Door" and closing blast of "Got Soul."

Throughout, the 29-year-old Lone Star ambassador tucks the hallmarks of her roots--winsome steel guitar, rambling banjo, acoustic guitar--into genre-hopping, the elements present and persistent enough to make the album, at its core, country. Purists will disagree, but if anyone insists on calling this Musgraves' crossover, they must admit this: Golden Hour is a crossover done right.

Still the same Fiona Apple: bigger than "all the fishes in the sea."

Animal Collective has backslid into a comfortable, but unfortunately unexciting, middle ground.

The real feel good "hit" of the summer.

The Demos, Remixes & Live Radio half of Illmatic XX, the 20th-anniversary celebration of the Queensbridge rapper's seminal debut, deviates the right direction from its 10-year predecessor.

Every emotion is intense and genuine, and the musicianship is just as moving as Mercer's lyrics.

At its core, this constitutes a hearty glimpse of young Bob Dylan changing the music business, and the world, one note at a time.

It sounds unfiltered, raw, and rough, and the quartet's mixture of guitar, organ, fiddle, percussion, and flute (Jethro Tull in the house) makes it all the more authentic.

[A] meticulously compiling fan favorites, deep cuts, rarities, and alternate versions from that 40 years' worth of work. There's hardly a bad track in the bunch.

Though Waits holds a reserved seat in the small club of artists who don't put out bad albums, the whiff of wild youth hangs around Bad as Me as if it was recorded in back alleys, behind churches, and in bars after hours.

Gone are any remnants of yesteryear's "rock music" ideology, thrusting Radiohead into a mature state of potentially their best work still to come.

On third full-length Dear Science, the Brooklynites have turned a corner, safe in the knowledge they can pen a good pop song. Not everything works, of course.

Her proper debut full-length follows suit, but honed with more power.

Wrapping in just under an hour, this ultra tight-knit collection telegraphs timelessness in story and song, a lasting chronicle rooted in folk tradition that sits among Griffin's best work.

An 8-CD vinyl replica box set of no additional material.

Anyone on the fence after 2004's Your Blues need only hear Bejar bark, "I tried to enjoy myself at the society ball" on the luxurious "A Dangerous Woman up to a Point" to see his strength as a songwriter.

The Roots are the best hip-hop band today and ever, no questions asked, and Undun is Black Thought's greatest mark.

The era may have confounded fans, but Trouble No More harvests some of Dylan's most remarkable performances.

This is breathtaking, life-affirming music with the power to heal and restore. It's that beautiful.

More structured and electric than Either/Or, but without the overproduction of Figure 8, Basement is the next logical step.

'Bodysnatchers' exhibits the electioneering energy of The Bends with a monstrous riff that explodes into a spiral galaxy of guitar, but the remainder of the album flows like an extended Soma holiday.

Fans may have to have The Woods surgically removed from their players. It's just that powerful, demanding to be heard.

Built mainly of solitary guitar/keyboard figures and elementary rhythm parts, the songs are too direct for this to be Daniel's Kid A, but he's obviously enjoying tweaking people's expectations.

The Alabama Shakes mainspring's first solo release showcases R&B borne of a dark, introspective place, grooving like a 35-minute scream into a pillow.

The dolorous gloom of Foundations of Burden should be oppressive, but Pallbearer turns pain into beauty.

Even the tape warp of the demos sounds like it was done on purpose. The packaging gets updated, too, with liner notes pondering how so many current bands have added BT's sound "to their own DNA." A rare gem that still holds up.