Steve Earle adds yet another masterwork to his disparate collection of classics...

A masterwork of insight and delight.

Randy Newman's shock-and-aw-shucks wit is so joyfully scathing at times on "Harps and Angels" that it's hard to believe it's been nine years since his last album of new material.

Matt Berninger's murmuring, stream-of-conscious narratives are delivered with convincing melodrama, with few clunkers. [26 May 2007]

It trades in the Robert Johnson and Dolly Parton covers that go over so well live for more of singer/guitarist/keyboardist Jack White's hard-blues, garage-rock originals.

The peerless BBC archive continues to yield heaven-sent live performances, and none is more enjoyable than this two-disc set surveying David Bowie's early appearances on the British network.

A strong collection of quick, higher-energy rockers.

The material from '97 on offers many surprises, particularly a dreamy alternate take on "Someday Baby" from "Modern Times" and the strident "Dreaming of You," which wouldn't have fit at all on "Time Out of Mind. Less essential are the live cuts, which only reinforce how Dylan's unpredictable phrasing and enunciation can render a song transcendent one moment ("Lonesome Day Blues," which sounds sourced from a bootleg), then unrecognizable ("Things Have Changed") or ordinary the next ("Cocaine Blues").

Taking all the best parts of Jeff Buckley, Devandra Barnhart and Rufus Wainwright, Bird can be noisy, charming, frivolous, haunting and playful all at once.

BLACKsummer'snight is a testament that Maxwell hasn't lost a beat.

Case has never sounded as vital as she does on "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood."

This is an album overflowing with passion and tension.

Pitch-shifting strings punctuate the background like reminders of the cinema of the past, but this Portishead doesn't wink at anything, eschewing style altogether. In our self-referential culture, an album like this is an aberration. Again.

By the end of this 21-track opus, you still might not like West's self-assured declarations, but you will not be able to deny his talent.

Brooklyn's working class heroes have stepped up their musicality (harpsichord is featured on "One for the Cutters") and melodic balladry ("Lord, I'm Discouraged" is an aching prayer), while still providing their signature cacophonous anthems.

Murs' command of his rhyme scheme -- and the uniformly banging, soul-drenched beats of his labelmates -- make this one of the most engaging hip-hop records of the young year, even at just over a half-hour.

The group has already produced a barrage of great singles, but this time around, it digs in its collective heels for a worthy album, allowing the songs, and not just the musicians, to shine. [27 Aug 2005]

There are some real gems here. [12 May 2007]

[An] uneasy listening masterwork.

What makes "Source Tags & Codes" such an amazing album is how the band teeters on the edge of this implosion but always yanks its songs back from collapse at the very last second.

The Brooklyn quartet Grizzly Bear has earned a reputation for dense sonic buildups and gorgeous harmonies, and the group's third album "Veckatimest" excels on both accounts.

One of America's greatest bands has never sounded better. [19 Nov 2005]

Yearwood can pack more feeling into one line of a song than most artists can on an entire album, and the material on "Jasper County" gives her plenty of opportunity to work her magic. [17 Sep 2005]

A must-have for any fans of true alternative music and a primer for younger generations to see where their favorite bands got their inspiration.

Callahan's songs occasionally lapse into banal rhyming patterns, but more often than not he masters the metaphor.

[Finn's] attempt to add more dimension to his whiskey-soaked vocals is striking. And for the most part it works.

Best-known for her flame-throwing hit "Kerosene," Miranda Lambert delivers more of the same on her new album. [5 May 2007]

"One Beat" is so rich with strong new ideas that the dense disc actually takes some getting used to, a real accomplishment for a band some already view as an acquired taste.