He hasn’t made a great album, but even Tupac never managed that; the bombed-out landscape of Boy In Da Corner burns instead with all the anger, confusion and messed-up desperation of youth.

Combining the two discs might have insured an unbeatable follow-up; however, the flawed, fascinating separation reveals what makes this partnership so special.

Skinner has often been declared the Eminem of British rap. But on A Grand..., he proves that if anything, he's British hip-hop's answer to master storyteller Ray Davies, or maybe idiot savant Brian Wilson.

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

Spinning a zoo of samples redundantly, song after song, can only amuse the most blissed-out of stoners...

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

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

Hammond's vocal, minus Waits's affected (and annoying) growl, puts the emphasis where it belongs--on the songs. The effect is to make peculiar vistas like "Jockey Full Of Bourbon" and "Murder In The Red Barn" even more vivid and the tunes truly sound like artifacts from another era.

One of his best.

This is simple music, driving music, perfect music for getting a good bath from the asinine perils of nu-metal and modern rock.

Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe, like the Chemical Bros. before them, have the brains to upend house with music as disparate as Spanish flamenco, bebop, Motown funk, and Philly soul.

West is at his best the higher the lyrical stakes get, and the more they contradict hip-hop orthodoxy.

A pleasure to examine at close range.

World Without Tears... is the singer-songwriter's rawest album to date -- it's often closer to all-out rock than it is to either alt-country or the singer-songwriter tradition -- and it's also her best release so far.

Grace includes lots of atmospheric touches that are two steps beyond country and miles too ethereal to call pop.

All the experimenting produces inevitable indulgences (take Amiri Baraka--please!), but even throughout them, each backbeat from drummer ?uestlove hammers an exciting new sound into place.

Along with her partner David Rawlings, Welch pulls together quiet unassuming tunes that straddle the line between country and folk and have finally found a home in the public consciousness via the Coen Bros.' O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack.

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

Yes, it's an earful of music, but it's a good earful, with more smarts, twists, turns and ear-pleasing trickery than one band should be allowed.

Highly recommended.

This may be the Steve Earle album for people who've never been Steve Earle fans before.

Her taste in cover material is slightly idiosyncratic, but that does nothing but add luster to the program...

Genre-wise, it's a schizophrenic shambles, yet somehow it all hangs together wonderfully as a solid, satisfying album.

His singing is a bit improved and the playing throughout is heartfelt and strong.

The Soft Bulletin is sparse and enchanted, like the band has awoken from a long dream spent spinning in outer space.

An album meant to enrage, amuse and enliven.

A funky good time from two house music smarty pants with a future.

Geogaddi is even more stripped-down and beautiful than Music Has..., BOC using simple circular rhythms and eerie samples to create an airless, ethereal ultraworld.