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.

An astonishing debut.

Rocket is nuanced and shifting.

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

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

For the fan-atic, WTLO's scrapbooklike discography unveils both a gold mine of (still) unreleased material and the Seattle trio's penchant for dashing off B-sides, tributes, and noise at the smash of a guitar.

Do Hollywood offers a lesson in embracing both the origins and originality of modern rock & roll.

The Lion's Roar lacks gravitas, but that will come with time and heartbreak. The soul, candor, and the way they sing "darling," that's the hard stuff, and it's scarcely sounded more gorgeous.

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."

A perfect union, Mien proves the sum of its grimmest parts.

Jaysus lads, get out the oven mitts – this one smokes.

The band's post-thrash attack still levels steel, but minor tweaks--snakefinger solos ("Slave the Hive"), waltz tempos ("The Sunless Years"), thrash dynamics ("Luminiferous"), and psychedelic haze ("The Cave")--bolt a crushing new frame on a classic chassis.

Toasty as vinyl, comparable to Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's CDs of Nevermind (1991) and In Utero (1993), firstborn Bleach reiterates its place not at the front of the line but in between its two older brawlers.

Distilling others' heartaches ("Always on My Mind") comes Full Circle.

Benjamin Booker might not know where he's going, but he's well on his way.

With every track, Beck makes a statement, one that's overwhelming but oddly comforting. It's the need to be a part of something larger, a fear of being alone. And with Morning Phase, it feels like we're his lifeline.

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

Sea Change joins Weezer's Maladroit and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' By the Way on the list of beautiful-but-sad 2002 L.A. LPs.

Above all, this is an album of intensely dramatic arrangements, never allowing the listener to settle and continually rewarding anew.

Gates stands out amongst his peers through his ability to write fully realized songs, versus the normalized attempts to ride waves the production presents.

Like his piano chops, his lyrics are no-frills expressions, ripe and ready to be groomed into something even bigger.

[A] psychedelic rap reality worth wigging to.

["Song for Zula" is] brutal, beautiful, and like the rest of Muchacho, masterfully executed.

Bandleaders Phil Cope and Laura Pleasants show off five LPs worth of development, coming into their own on "Unspoken," "Quicksand," and "Grounded," all lessons in following the muse down a path of riff-ripened enlightenment.

Closing with the SST stomp of "Lips," summery strumming "Frank O'Hara Hit," and the smudged punk of "Communist Eyes," CLM never amounts to a full state of the union. Settle instead for a New York state of mind.

One listen, and you'll be hooked.

Ten tracks equal one very explicit diary entry of lust – for life, as much as intimacy – nearly every single line worthy of another song cycle.

A huge cast of supporting players like Ben Gibbard, John Roderick, Sean Nelson, and Juliana Hatfield add yet more depth to what might be Nada Surf's best work yet.