Everyone--yes, everyone--should buy this version of London Calling, because in this form, audio and video, it acts as a veritable design for living. [#12, p.96]

Four decades on, and there has yet to be anything that hits on this kind of organic, brain-melting, structured psychosis.

Sound System drives home the foursome’s adeptness at boundary hopping, while never forgetting the value of a good hook and a politically righteous lyric.

One of the most inspiring and triumphant projects of the year, and perhaps the last 30 years. [#13, p.89]

This box mingles an abundance of demos, alternative takes and other previously unreleased iterations of Big Star tunes amid sparsely retained original album versions. [Fall 2009, p.92]

These lovingly remastered and richly expanded editions of the Smashing Pumpkins 1991 debut Gish and 1993's mainstream breakthrough Siamese Dream soundly prove that the band's place in rock history is firmly cemented.

Raw, crunchy beats and ugly, monster flows delivered in a punk album format. [#9, p.110]

The whole package is a head-snapping reminder that when R.E.M. was on fire, you couldn't put them out with all the water in the world.

Sure, the original album may still tickle your testes and get you off, but this boxed set is nothing more than a handjob without a happy ending.

Songs like these are why Nirvana was king and this show proves why the band was peerless. Suddenly Nirvana is everything to me all over again. [[Holiday 2009, p. 92]

Achtung Baby is the last great U2 album and one of the best records ever made, but is this $150 six-CD, four-DVD 20th anniversary edition worth your time and money? Short answer: F--k yeah

This boxset--quite literally a suitcase--highlights four distinct sides of one of the most prolific icons of the pre-dylan era, and introduces both unreleased and released tracks to a new generation in themed installments. History is back in session. [Fall 2009, p.100]

The second disc of this deluxe edition makes Brighten The Corners's faults more difficult to accept as hard truths. [Holiday 2008, p.98]

Ignore whatever purist backlash you may encounter. In Channel Orange, we have been granted a truly classic document, perhaps the very first that feels synchronized with the present decade.

The landmark proto-punk album is refined at a decibel-defying rate while the outtakes highlight the grating guitars and Iggy's guttural vocals that trademarked the group's sound.

There is real joy and loss within these unwieldy song titles. [#16, p.88]

While the synthesized sheen of '80s pop hasn't held up for everyone, even casual listeners will discover a new appreciation for the artist underneath superficiality and infamy.

Z is a great record--more expansive than its predecessors and less tunnel-visioned too. [#17, p.94]

St. Vincent is buoyant in the way that the Hindenburg was—it floats along steadily and excitedly, but with a decisive coldness that suggests that something unexpected might happen.

For residents of the 21st centurey, the sound is not nearly as exotic [as it was in 1980]....However, what is particularly striking about this album is the players' ease and familarity, both with each other and with their instruments. [Winter 2010, p100]

There aren't many dull points on this two-disc collection. [#16, p.93]

Well into their fourth decade, with the aughts years spent in hibernation, Swans are still making records of brilliance and majesty.

Everything comes together, creating an album as deep and wide as the vistas it conjures up.

Dear Science has its moments, but these moments means less and weigh more. Pretty cool? Well, it's pretty alright. [Fall 2008, p.91]

As an artistic achievement, it ranks incredibly high on the list of great postmodern statements. Here is a piece of music (but oh so much more) that proves that something new can be done, and it can be entirely engaging. [#21, p.92]

It is, in effect, the only acceptable historical document of the nearly incomprehensible phenomenon that was The Smiths.

In context, Rubies [is] just another piece of the puzzle, but it's the finest jewel yet. [#19, p.99]

Large and epic, but tense and claustrophobic as well, and gratefully, it's as close to Elliott as we've ever been. [#12, p.92]