Songs like "Driving School," "M Train" and the deathlessly compelling "Crazy" sound unerringly alive and modern, making this an excellent archival release. [No. 134, p.59]

Revolution is not a political screed, as the band scorches and eases its way through a fair number of life/love reflection. [No. 144, p.55]

The songs are tightly constructed, the recordings clean and largely devoid of production effects, allowing the melodies, all quite lovely to take center stage. [No. 147, p.61]

On par with anything in the back catalog. [#69, p.106]

The music seems to matter, and for the listener, that's welcome relief from indiedom's groveling. [#52, p.82]

On [Her Majesty...], the whimsy and multicolored narrative threads that represented the best of the Decemberists' terrific first album are given room to breathe. [#60, p.96]

FLOTUS is unexpected, occasionally inscrutable and fascinating. [No. 137, p.57]

Midway through, it's already tiresome to hear the anthemic shouting and seemingly non-stop drum fills. It's a celebratory listen for sure, but one that could do with a breather that shows off this duo's skills. [No.88 p.58]

They've consistently upped tempos while delivering saccharine-infused riffs with all the sunshine-y aplomb of a Prozac salesman's first and last day on the job. [No.87 p.59]

Mould’s in a dark place right now: bile in his gut, pain in his heart, doom on his mind. It’s the end of days, people. He makes it sound so fun. [No. 129, p.56]

Golightly brings out rock'n'roll's original transgressive spirit. [#60, p.98]

Gibbons' craft is making her desperate drama believable and compelling.... [But] the lack of memorable tunes is Gibbons' worst affliction. [#61, p.96]

That the feel throughout is cruel New England winter suggests July is one hell of a break-up record. [No. 106, p.57]

The inanely literalistic Looping State of Mind magnifies that trend [toward expansionism], offering seven mutations of his trademark sound, in a newly expansive array of tempos. [#82, p. 55]

Paternoster invites you to get ugly and rotten with her like it's a call to arms. [No.86, p.57]

I Hate Music weds the North Carolina indie legends' eternal penchant for grind-it-out power punk with the pensiveness and introspection that colored their late-'90s/early-aughts output. [No. 101, p.56]

It's the sound of Griffin at an intriguing crossroads. [No. 104, p.56]

One of the band's best.... While 1999's Ric Ocasek-produced Do The Collapse was criticized by some for its thick, pop-radio gloss, Isolation Drills shows more restraint, reconciling Pollard's idiosyncrasies with the track-to-track consistency great rock albums demand. [#49, p.75]

What sounds like downcast spaciousness is actually riddled with layers of sound complementing the expected morose and heartfelt topics. [No. 121, p.61]

Surprisingly, Dylan has never been more deliberate or so overtly savage. [No. 93, p.54]

The sounds of the time are eclectic DIY, and often impressive. [No. 124, p.55]

Is White's nonchalant spectrum dabbling [found throughout the album] as interesting as the myriad variables of his own quirky sound? Eh, not quite. [No.88 p.60]

By stepping around traditional rock instrumentation, the group is able to cover a lot of ground. [#69, p.112]

Languid and sometimes lagging, [a] sensual 47-minute set. [No. 92, p.52]

With Foil Deer, Speedy Ortiz fully owns its style, quirks and neuroses on a level that would have been unimaginable circa 2013's Major Arcana. [No. 120, p.61]

An album chock-full of some of the most melodic and memorable work the band ever produced.... This reissue definitively covers the final chapter of Reed's time with the band that not only established his street cred, but launched him headfirst into his solo career. [No. 126, p.56]

As fine a record as you're likely to hear in 2016. [No. 132, p.54]

A soundtrack that hits with the force of a well-timed punch and soothes like the ministrations of a doomed romantic poet. [No. 142, p.56]