Built with introductions and interludes as if it were a live performance, the 25-song set is an exercise in community that employs friends and family wisely, enlisting a choir to fill out the jaunty 'Wonderful Friends' and making Seeger's quavering yet impressively vital voice the centerpiece of his again-relevant Vietnam-era protest, 'Waist Deep in the Big Muddy.'

If you haven't discovered him yet, there's no better time than "Time Being."

If Hot Hot Heat try a little too hard here, they still pile on infectious charm and solid songwriting until resistance seems futile.

Between the grounded sweetness of her singing and the quirky naturalism in her lyrics, songs like the throwback-style 'Anyone but You' develop a naturally appealing sophisticated country.

On 'Sensitive Boys,' one of several standout ballads, he articulates the album's thematic truism: Done right, rock 'n' roll is a reason for living.

It's a far-reaching and ambitious album, stronger than its predecessor and full of gallant wordplay and vivid imagery.

It's been a long time since Radiohead made records with an eye toward anything more than satisfying the band's own creative impulses, if it ever did. Those who are prepared to stick it out, though, may well find The King of Limbs worth the wait.

It's dark and harrowing, but "Year Zero" is the most compelling and fully realized album Reznor has made since "Pretty Hate Machine."

The duo’s modern take on a classic sound runs throughout the new record, a worthy 13-song sophomore effort.

For as combustible as they are, the songs are catchy and conducive to repeated listening.

It's a record with a folky, sometimes psychedelic edge, but it's never self-indulgent or less than focused. In fact, Smoke Ring for My Halo is persuasive evidence that Vile has come fully into his own as a songwriter and musician.

Merritt dials back her soul-shouter instinct on her third album, a collection that finds her balancing restraint with the vivid emotionalism that has driven her music from the start.

This is a more sophisticated record that manages to keep intact the brash sensibility that helped attract all those fans in the first place.

It's an assured effort from the very start.

Despite a slew of hit singles and eye-popping sales figures, Britney Spears has never released an album as coherent from start to finish as her latest, Femme Fatale.

The Crawling Distance, Pollard's umpteenth disc since officially going solo in 2004, offers more of what listeners have come to expect.

Auerbach shows his vocal range again and again, actually singing instead of just howling at the moon, and his knack for warm production is impressive.

A delightful album designed to sink in over repeated listens.

They've recaptured the brash cheek of their best work on Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, which the trio has elected to release before the "delayed indefinitely" Part One.

It's a successful experiment... largely because the differences between Marr and Mouse turn out to be more harmonious than anyone could have expected.

Among Manson's most compelling records.

Jay-Z sounds much more engaged on American Gangster, a collection of taut, focused songs heavy on musical references to the '70s

White, a Wesleyan graduate, takes the best elements of punk, new wave, dub reggae and electronica and fuses them into an utterly arresting sonic pile-up different from anything else around.

From this ambitious approach comes an unqualified stylistic success.

There's plenty for everyone to love here, actually, and despite the silly title, Spoon's latest is worth going ga-ga over.

With its varied sound and newly expansive songwriting, "Attack & Release" is a bold but entirely fitting way for the Black Keys to prove they know more than one way to make a statement.

Jumping from Sub Pop to Toronto-based Arts & Crafts, the band is as strong and endearing as ever on Kensington Heights.

Challengers live up to a certain essential challenge: They’re catchy enough to spend long periods stuck in your head.