You'd be hard-pressed to ask much more from a record.

This is one of the most accomplished, powerful, and entertaining hard rock albums ever made.

This powerful set restates Springsteen's great showmanship and generosity of spirit, and the sheer force of his magnificent band. Simply one of the best live albums imaginable.

The sheer melodic gorgeousness of the finest songs here make Alice the pick of Waits's new matched set.

The group's innate intelligence and almost shocking ability to forge something new and thrilling out of typical garage-rock influences always shines brightly through the thick Guinness fog.

Just when you figure he's down for the count, he comes back with an album as majestic and epic as this one.

This is one striking album from start to finish.

This Is Not A Test isn't perfect.... But it's plenty close enough.

The production, lyrics, and hooks make this an impressive sophomore effort from Ms. Badu.

God Says No brings the New Jersey quintet into the millennium with the same sharp approach of their other four records--it's loud, it's brash.

This is 33 minutes of pure pop bliss; there isn't a bad song or a missed opportunity anywhere here.

At first listen a morose rumination on the many shapes of love, the album slowly unfurls as a grand, almost gothic epic of vast proportion and luxurious significance.

A shoo-in as one of this year's "best of's."

Illumination is heartfelt, lost-in-the-'60s songcraft, so perfect in style and sound you might think you’re in the cavernous halls of London’s BBC studios, home to a zillion performances of the Beatles, the Stones, the Faces, and yes, the Jam. When the past sounds this good, why not revel in it?

Celebrating nonsense and good sense, Beta Band make music from junk and found sounds, their quirky combo of serendipity and sample skills paying off in spades.

It's unquestionably one of the best rock albums of 2002.

Essence is the album Roni Size's Breakbeat Era hoped to be, a song-based, drum 'n' bass epic that works on many levels.

One of the most extraordinary indie sets since the Olivia Tremor Control's Dusk At Cubist Castle.

Daring and inventive, it takes the kind of stylistic chances and creative leaps that were once the property of the heavies of '60s rock and pop.

Offers 12 diamonds that aren't quite total pop or total rock--but fall in a wonderful zone somewhere in between.

Further indulges his penchant for meticulously-crafted songs, exquisite production, and (sometimes painstaking) personal and spiritual introspection.

Point is in another zone altogether, establishing Cornelius as one of the most creative pop musicians around.

Zwan is Billy Corgan's triumph, an unrepentant glam-rock/prog-pop bacchanalia, an album of stadium happy singles and up-with-people wonder anthems.

This is an astounding body of work--and definitely one of the year’s best.

A very tastefully crafted, tuneful, and affecting piece of work with a band that is still just beginning to tap its enormous potential.

Exhibiting a lyrical prowess which has made him a fan and critical favorite over his relatively short career, Xzibit holds his own...

Offering musical redemption for the New South's old hang-ups, Deliverance delivers.

The music gets gorgeously bizarre, but there is always a sleepy dog and a piece of apple pie waiting at night's end.