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The Soft Parade
After considerably broadening their sound on Waiting for the Sun, the Doors decided to continue pushing the envelope with their next release. Incorporating brass, strings, and even a full orchestra, The Soft Parade is easily the most challenging album in the Doors' catalog--if not the most accomplished. Though the hit "Touch Me" and other tracks ("Shaman's Blues," "Wild Child") hearken back to the band's edgier self, the title track is a multipart rock suite that evokes some of the psychedelic era's worst excesses. Robby Krieger's "Wishful Sinful" serves up some uncharacteristic melancholy, but elsewhere there's a sense that some of the "experiments" here just might be filler. --Jerry McCulley

Fallen
The Daredevil soundtrack provided a nice boost for this previously unknown quartet from Little Rock, Arkansas. Evanescence's songs "My Immortal" and the imposing "Bring Me to Life" are clear standouts in the film, mainly because they work so well with the dramatic, eerie undertones of the storyline. They reappear here on the band's debut, alongside a selection of similarly brooding tracks that evoke pensive artists like Tori Amos and the Cranberries. Vocalist Amy Lee has the kind of voice that can cause weeks of insomnia, but on songs like "Tourniquet" and "Haunted" she belies the music's sinister mood with evenhanded spirituality, thoughtfully letting some light shine through the tempest. --Aidin Vaziri

Own
UK reissue of the British mod-revivalist's classic 1979 album with 6 bonus tracks added, 'We Are The Lucky Ones', 'Living In The Sticks', 'Lois Lane', 'Today Belongs To Me', 'What Will Mother Say' & 'Undercover Agent Zero' (single version). Captain Oi! Records. 2001.

Kerplunk
Reissue of Green Day's second album that defined the band's sound with memorable riffs, metal-strength momentum and a decade's worth of attitude.

Bullet In A Bible (CD/DVD, Jewel Case)
If you're wondering how Green Day managed to become the biggest punk band in the world, take a look at Bullet in a Bible. Recorded at their June 2005 two-night run at Milton Keynes National Bowl in England, this combined CD/DVD sees these former bong-hitting Californian dropouts embracing political activism, pantomime hilarity, and all the fripperies of a rock opera--and excelling at all three.
The first half is essentially a run-through of the group's 2004 album American Idiot, complete with anti-American rabble-rousing and a set of barbed insults tossed back at the "rednecks" across the pond. That out of the way, the band careen into a sort of greatest-hits set, with the likes of "Longview" and "Hitchin' a Ride" sharing space with a brass-laden "King for a Day" that sees Billie Joe Armstrong prancing around the stage in crown and ermine cape, singing snatches of Lulu's "Shout" and Eric Idle's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." Tremendously silly, but Green Day have managed to figure out how to play it like showmen without resorting to juvenile puerility or morphing into corporate yes-men, and that's a way harder trick than it looks. --Louis Pattison

Get Stoned
2007 UK enhanced CD single from this Oklahoma Alterna-Rock band, taken from their Extreme Behavior album. Features two versions of 'Get Stoned'(Main Version and Enhanced Video) plus 'Bliss (I Don't Wanna Know)'. Island.

Lust for Life
The relentless, driving drums and thunderous bass of the opening title track are the magic components that make it the best song Iggy Pop ever recorded without the Stooges. They're also why this is Iggy's best solo album--which also includes the ominously upbeat "The Passenger," with its hilariously ennui-filled, sing-along chorus ("La la la la la la la la la..."). As with Pop's first solo album, The Idiot, David Bowie has his hands all over the proceedings (if not somewhere else as well) as the producer, songwriter, and general overseer of Iggy the popstar. The record reached 28 on the U.K. charts. Of course, as the jagged, dark guitars on "Sixteen" and "Neighborhood Threat" make clear, Iggy's version of pop music is anything but conventional, and anything but bland. "Some Weird Sin" ("That's what I want...") could have been Iggy's theme song in 1977, heavy with innuendo and a dangerous joie de vivre. --Percy Keegan

A Million in Prizes: The Anthology
Spanning the punk and garage rock globe--from snot-nosed trailer-park kid fronting the legendary Stooges to universal pop culture icon and influential granddaddy of punk--the career of Iggy Pop has reached its fifth decade, and this remastered 37-track, chronologically sequenced set has been christened to hold us over while we wait for the definitive box set. Commencing with "1969," "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and "No Fun" from the Stooges' trailblazing debut album, the first disc provides a ringside seat to the band's keg-of-dynamite demise Raw Power ("Search and Destroy," "Gimme Danger," and the title track, though omitting the spellbinding "Shake Appeal"), the David Bowie-led Pop restoration ("Nightclubbing," "China Girl") and Iggy's solo pinnacle ("Lust for Life," "The Passenger"). While the second CD is patchy (spotting synthesizers for guitars too often) and erratic (missing notable songs from the Soldier and Party albums), it does include duets with Debbie Harry ("Well Did you Evah") and the B-52s Kate Pierson ("Candy"), 1993 live versions of the Stooges "TV Eye" and "Loose," and the first Stooges studio partnership in 30 years, "Skull Ring." --Scott Holter

A Million in Prizes: The Anthology
Spanning the punk and garage rock globe--from snot-nosed trailer-park kid fronting the legendary Stooges to universal pop culture icon and influential granddaddy of punk--the career of Iggy Pop has reached its fifth decade, and this remastered 37-track, chronologically sequenced set has been christened to hold us over while we wait for the definitive box set. Commencing with "1969," "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and "No Fun" from the Stooges' trailblazing debut album, the first disc provides a ringside seat to the band's keg-of-dynamite demise Raw Power ("Search and Destroy," "Gimme Danger," and the title track, though omitting the spellbinding "Shake Appeal"), the David Bowie-led Pop restoration ("Nightclubbing," "China Girl") and Iggy's solo pinnacle ("Lust for Life," "The Passenger"). While the second CD is patchy (spotting synthesizers for guitars too often) and erratic (missing notable songs from the Soldier and Party albums), it does include duets with Debbie Harry ("Well Did you Evah") and the B-52s Kate Pierson ("Candy"), 1993 live versions of the Stooges "TV Eye" and "Loose," and the first Stooges studio partnership in 30 years, "Skull Ring." --Scott Holter

Definitive INXS
Import only 2002, 21-track collection. Includes two previously unreleased tracks, and 19 classics including, 'Mystify', 'Need You Tonight', 'New Sensation', 'Never Tear Us Apart', 'Suicide Blonde' and many more. Universal.

Bawitdaba/I Am the Bullgod
UK edition of the fourth single off rap-rock artist's breakthrough 1998 album, 'Devil Without A Cause'. Tracks, 'Bawitdaba' (Radio Edit), 'Cowboy' (Album Version), 'Prodigal Son' (Album Version) & the enhanced video for 'Cowboy'. 2001 release.

The End of Heartache
The title track of The End Of Heartache is an unabashed monster of a song, different than anything the band has ever written. Its epic drive nearly crosses the border into power-ballad territory. "Rose of Sharyn" is an anthem that's heavy in the most non-traditional of senses, building with dynamic energy into a crescendo with a chorus that is perhaps The End of Heartache's biggest reward. "When Darkness Falls," heard during the closing credits of "Freddy Vs. Jason," was the first song Jones ever wrote with the band and falls right into place on The End Of Heartache. With "Breathe Life" he delivers a heartfelt optimism that really makes the track `pop' with, "breathe life/ for you are not alone/ breathe life/ inside your heart of stone."

Korn - Greatest Hits, Vol. 1
First installment of the track-suited inventors of nu-metal's greatest hits. It draws on their back catalogue, from the1994 self titled debut; right through to 2003's 'Take A Look In The Mirror'. 'Greatest Hits Vol.1' displays the originsof the downtuned early 90's metal sound that went on to influence countless acts. It also includes covers of material by Pink Floyd and Cameo.

The Family Values Tour '98
If you missed 1998's Family Values tour featuring Incubus, Orgy, Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube, Rammstein, and Korn, fear not: 15 tracks from the aforementioned bands, plus "interludes," add up to well over an hour of neo-metal-angst-rap that can be enjoyed without venturing into a mosh pit. The CD is a cool deal in that it contains the best songs from each lineup, including radio hits such as Orgy's cover of New Order's "Blue Monday," Limp Bizkit's breakthrough version of George Michael's "Faith," and Rammstein's incendiary Germanic ode "Du Hast." Korn's medley of older material and singles from Follow the Leader prove why they're the headliners. In fact, this CD--and the tour itself--was partly based on the accurate assumption that Korn have such a strong influence that any band they tour with must appear Korn-approved kool to the kids. Both Ice Cube and Rammstein seem out of place, though kudos to Korn for including them. Ultimately, Family Values '98 is a great sampler for a metal-rap neophyte. --Katherine Turman

See You on the Other Side
On its seventh album--and first without founding member Brian "Head" Welch--Korn makes a few changes and gets on with proving that it's still a viable force within the world of heavy rock. The venerable veterans lean on outside help from the songwriting team of the Matrix and producer Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails). The end result is that this is a big change for Korn and one that will garner large shares of message board controversy on wether this album is more industrial than nü. The band is at its deftest on "Getting Off," "Politics" and "Coming Undone," which highlight the industrial bend. Stalwart fans need not worry for "Liar" and "For No One" remain in lock-step with classic Korn. One need not listen to the full hour-plus to discover flaws. Its center becomes weighed down with bland mid-tempo numbers and the final song detracts from the powerhouse close the record might have had they ended with "Interlude #3/I've Seen It All." Still, Korn has demonstrated that it's capable of weathering the storm and emerging with an album that will carry them onward. -- Jedd Beaudoin

Untouchables
The band that unwittingly begat the current, if waning, rap-metal frenzy, Korn has been semidormant since 1999's multiplatinum Issues, while bands they inspired, such as Linkin Park, have ruled the charts and minds of disenfranchised teens. The wait for Untouchables' 14 cutting cuts is more than worth it, however. The quintet's heavy sound and lyrical angst have not been dulled by success. Singer Jonathan Davis's often agonized, cathartic lyrics and slightly lispy, emotive delivery are as heavy and varied as on previous outings. On the first single, "Here to Stay," which boasts a spooky, Nine Inch Nails feel and Fieldy's aggro, down-tuned bass, Davis growls in pain, "This state is elevating / As the hurt turns into hating / Anticipating all the f---ed up feelings again." Among and within songs, Korn move seamlessly and dynamically from gentle, spooky, and lushly melodic to a bass-heavy propulsive, explosive musicality. "Embrace" is almost grandiose and Cult-like in its rock drama, in contrast to the punky, straight-up "Wake Up Hate," on which Davis's vocals are especially creepy and Marilyn Manson-like as he rants: "I'm, I'm filthy/ Wasted piece of s--t/ I am disgusting/ Take me away." Untouchables, with its brutal introspection and hints of misogyny, is sure to earn its parental advisory sticker. But the album is still a must-have: 62 minutes of deeply felt, ultra-intense spewings, a tour de force that will strike a chord with fans and critics alike. --Katherine Turman

Unleashed Memories
Italian six-piece Lacuna Coil are one of the hardest working & rapidly progressing gothic metal outfit of our times. Their dual-vocal approach featuring the heavenly voice of Cristina Scabbia juxtaposed with the harsh style of Andrea Ferro will appeal to fans of The Gathering, Theatre Of Tragedy & Nightwish. Unleashed Memories also includes last year's mini-CD, 'Halflife', as a bonus. Bonus tracks, 'Halflife', 'Trance Awake', 'Senzafine', 'Hyperfast', & 'Stars'. Century Media. 2001.

Complete Studio Recordings
As Basil Bunting wrote about Ezra Pound's Cantos, "There are the Alps... you will have to go a long way round/if you want to avoid them." Led Zeppelin's work is the central fact of 1970s rock & roll; in its loving homage to and shameless piracy from the blues, its glorious and wretched excess, its transformation of hippie and folk-rock graces into a foundation-shaking kaboom, and its offhanded myth-making, the band turned everything caught in its wake into a reaction to it--or against it. The three non-album tracks the box includes are grace notes rather than lost jewels, but the point of the set is to be a Rosetta stone of album rock, the stairway to a gaudy paradise that they constructed. --Douglas Wolk

How The West Was Won
For a band with such an overarching legacy, the official record of Led Zeppelin's legendary--and unpredictable--live act has heretofore been poorly represented by the disappointing, scattershot soundtrack to The Song Remains the Same. But this triple-disc live set (culled from 1972 Long Beach/LA shows in advance of Houses of the Holy) addresses history with a vengeance, if a few decades late. These shows have rightfully assumed cult status in the bootleg market, showcasing a band at the peak of its creative and performing powers. Zep faithful will welcome the belated release as evidence for enduring loyalty, but younger fans may find its diversity and dynamics even more enlightening--indeed, whole careers have since been built on the musical ideas Jimmy Page and company toss off here as decorative filler. Crucially rooted in the amped-and-hammered American blues of the guitarist's former band, the Yardbirds, the marathon workouts of "Dazed and Confused" and "Whole Lotta Love" (which consume nearly an hour all by themselves) somehow encompass Ricky Nelson, Morocco, James Brown, Holst, Elvis Presley, and Muddy Waters amidst their trademark sturm und drang, while the acoustic set that closes out disc one showcases the band's--and particularly Robert Plant's--good-natured, crypto-Celtic folk appeal with energetic aplomb. Bigger and brasher than just about any rock act that followed in its historic wake, yet ever fan-loyal to its myriad influences, Led Zeppelin's live juggernaut finally gets the monument it deserves. --Jerry McCulley

Early Days: The Best of Led Zeppelin, Vol. 1
Having previously released no less than four boxed repackages of their studio output, Led Zeppelin may well be the band who made redundancy redundant. Well, surprise! They've done it again. Culled from the band's first four albums by Jimmy Page himself (as if a fourth-grader with an FM radio would have been hard-pressed), this collection captures Page and company's blues-riff-ripping prime, relieved only by the folksy "Battle of Evermore" and the song that made Skynyrd's "Free Bird" (almost) tolerable, the ubiquitous "Stairway to Heaven." Strung end-to-end, this is pretty heady stuff, and a great introduction to Zep's core early work for anyone who's spent the last couple of decades hangin' with Gilligan and the Skipper. The rest of us may just grumble and fast-forward to the previously unreleased 1969 live video clip of "Communication Breakdown." The package includes a 24-page booklet with many rare photos. -Jerry McCulley

Led Zeppelin Remasters
European only highlights collection compiled from the box-set originally released in 1992 but without the interview disc and at a much better price. 26 tracks on two CDs and featuring the original box-sets cover art. All the big hits are here, including 'Communication Breakdown', 'Heartbreaker', St airway To Heaven', 'Kashmir' and more. Slimline double jewel case.

Led Zeppelin IV (aka ZOSO)
Also known as the "rune" album or Zoso because of the medieval symbols adorning the inner sleeve, Led Zeppelin's fourth album, released in 1971, turned them from mere superstars into giant behemoths of the rock world. On tracks like "Black Dog," "Misty Mountain Hop," and "Rock and Roll," the combination of Robert Plant's banshee wails and Jimmy Page's frenetic guitar playing forever altered the stylistic bent of hard rock music. And the foreboding "When the Levee Breaks" demonstrated that Zeppelin could indeed play the blues fairly straight if they so desired. Still, everything here ultimately took a back seat to the album's (and, ultimately, the band's) magnum opus--the expertly constructed and deftly executed classic, "Stairway to Heaven." --Billy Altman

Led Zeppelin
Here are the original monsters of rock in all their epic, bombastic glory. The Who may have had more decibels (a dubious distinction), but no band took hard rock higher into the stratosphere than the Zep did with their cosmic mixture of deep blues, gothic melodrama, and the supernatural chops of Page, Plant, Bonham, and Jones. For listeners new to the Zep canon, there's no better primer of the band's range and power than this 4 CD box set, compiled and remixed in 1990 by Page himself. All the obvious song choices are here. But even if you've already heard "Black Dog" once too often on the car radio, this set wisely spotlights several overlooked gems, including their ultimate blues lament "I'm Gonna Crawl." It's a blueprint that later generations of head-bangers tragically failed to follow. --Steve Appleford

Lenny Kravitz Greatest Hits
More prolific than D'Angelo and Terence Trent D'Arby combined, one-man rock & soul revivalist Lenny Kravitz kept traditional pop values alive through much of the '90s. From the Motown-perfect "It Ain't Over Til It's Over" to the Beatlesesque "Let Love Rule," Kravitz has always inhabited his influences with a genuine spirit that transcends imitation. The 15 tracks found here provide a surprisingly coherent reminder of just how much the artist has accomplished in a relatively short time. And even if his biggest hit, "Are You Gonna Go My Way," falls short of its Hendrix target, Kravitz's cover of the Guess Who's "American Woman" still rocks in a pleasingly Neanderthal way. An infectious new cut, "Again," fits neatly alongside sturdy Kravitz originals such as "Fly Away," "Mr. Cab Driver," and "Black Velveteen," showcasing a talent whose postmodern pop should play well into the new century. --Bill Forman

Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water
The splicing together of nu metal, rap, funk, and sterile electronica laced with dark melodies as infectious as anything Britney has to offer inspired 6 million people to purchase copies of Limp Bizkit's Significant Other. With Chocolate Starfish, they perfect their formula. From the electro-infused "Intro" through the contagiously chugging "My Generation" to the straight-up rap of "Getcha Groove On," Chocolate Starfish is a slick, clinical, and flawless platform for Fred Durst's effortlessly savage--and occasionally unintentionally comic--sociological rants geared toward disaffected youth. Ultimately, though, it's that undeniably intelligent musical backdrop--the brooding guitar sound that gave the Mission Impossible 2 theme haunting new life and menace, and that defines "Hot Dog," "Full Nelson," "My Way," "Rollin'," "Boiler," and "It'll Be Okay"--that makes this a seething work of genius. The fact is, with rap and rock saying pretty much the same thing, Limp Bizkit have plenty of competition. They just do what they do better than everyone else. --Dan Gennoe

Minutes to Midnight
"Minutes to Midnight" is rock's most anticipated album of the year. This album redefines one of today's most adventurous, accomplished and acclaimed bands.

Live in Texas
Recorded on the Dallas date of the 2003 Summer Sanitarium arena tour, with Metallica, Limp Bizkit, et. al, Live in Texas is a concise, no-frills two-disc DVD/CD souvenir of the muscular Linkin Park live experience. 5.1 Surround Sound captures every nuance of Brad Delson's explosive guitar, the incendiary turntable flourishes of DJ Joseph Hahn, and the interplay between MC Mike Shinoda and singer Chester Bennington (although the audience sing-along on "Numb" gets lost across the barricades), as the sextet runs through a tight set of selections drawn exclusively from its bestsellers Hybrid Theory and Meteora, with the big hits ("Crawling," "In the End") programmed toward the climax. Casual fans may grumble about the absence of extras--there's no backstage-with-the-band documentary or viewing angle options, no previously unreleased songs--but hardcore devotees (who get plenty of face time on the DVD) should appreciate the opportunity to revisit the thrills of Linkin Park in concert whenever they wish. --Kurt B. Reighley

Hybrid Theory
It may be too cynical to assume Hybrid Theory changed its name to Linkin Park in order to appear right next to Limp Bizkit in your local record bin. But rock-rap workouts like "One Step Closer" and "Papercut" do make Linkin Park a comfortable fit with Fred Durst and his ilk. Producer Don Gilmore (Pearl Jam, Lit, Eve 6) and twin vocal threats Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda serve up industrial-strength rap and rock melodicism with equal aplomb on this woulda-been-self-titled debut effort. "Points of Authority" aims to sound like Trent Reznor wanking it up with Lars and company, whereas guitarist Brad Delson's Edge-y harmonics help "In the End" and "Pushing Me Away" evoke a dark romanticism akin to A Perfect Circle. Curiously, the band gets by with no bass player, while sample-happy DJ Joseph Hahn's step into the spotlight on the instrumental "Cure for the Itch" suggests a potential for eclecticism that could help Linkin Park outlive its seemingly transient genre. --Bill Forman

Minutes to Midnight (CD/MVI DVD)
"Minutes to Midnight" is rock's most anticipated album of the year. This album redefines one of today's most adventurous, accomplished and acclaimed bands. Special Edition includes hard bound book with Linen-wrapped cover with embossing on front, 32 pages of full-color artwork and lyrics. MVI DVD includes downloadable MP3s for all tracks; the "What I've Done" video; "Making Of" videos of Minutes To Midnight and "What I've Done"; a "What I've Done" ringtone; a photo gallery, booklet in PDF, screensavers, lyrics and more.

Ride the Lightning
Don't let that classical-guitar-ish opening to "Fight Fire with Fire" fool you--Ride the Lightning packs a heavy-metal wallop. While not as ambitious as the subsequent Master of Puppets, this early Metallica album is indubitably one of their best. Thematically, it explores death and dying from myriad points of view: nuclear war ("Fight Fire with Fire"), electric-chair execution (the title track), and drowning ("Trapped Under Ice"). Interestingly, the best track on this album is probably "Fade to Black," a slower, more introspective song about suicide. There's also "Creeping Death," which remains a concert favorite. An excellent mix of rapid-fire guitar riffs, rip-roaring solos, and singer James Hetfield's trademark growl, this is thrash metal at its finest. Very highly recommended. --Genevieve Williams

Garage, Inc.
This double-disc, all-covers release could come to represent a vital turning point for Metallica. While disc 2 is a straightforward collection of every cover the group have recorded in its 16-year history, disc 1 comprises 11 new selections drawn from the oeuvres of such exciting and diverse artists as U.K. punks Discharge and nefarious Australian Nick Cave. The heavier songs, such as the Mercyful Fate medley, Black Sabbath's "Sabbra Cadabra," and the Misfits' "Die Die My Darling," prove that nobody delivers a crunching riff better than these metal veterans. But it is vocalist-guitarist James Hetfields's confident approach toward the likes of Cave's "Loverman" and Bob Seger's "Turn the Page" that delivers the most electricity; here his raw, heartfelt vocals are largely untouched. Given that the recharged group spent only three weeks in the studio recording these tracks, it appears that these guys have remembered the value of studio spontaneity over laborious pontificating. Hopefully, that mindset will resurface in future projects. --Steffan Chirazi

Reload
For many heavy metal fans, Metallica epitomizes the genre, especially for those listeners who remember the band's fast-and-furious 1983 debut, Kill 'Em All. As a result, their continued foray into a more stripped-down, laid-back sound with this album has met a mixed response. However, there's enough innovation and just plain strange stuff on this album to make it worth a listen. The creepy "The Memory Remains" is perfectly accentuated by Marianne Faithfull's backing vocals, and "Where the Wild Things Are" features the multilayered vocals and guitars that Metallica is famous for, albeit at about half their usual speed. The opening ("Fuel") and closing ("Fixxxer") tracks are especially strong, and intermixed with some slower, country-inflected tunes are the obnoxious rockers that made Metallica the long-running success they are. --Genevieve Williams

S&M
At a point in their career when most bands would rest their laurels upon a greatest-hits package or live album, Metallica has done both, but with a decidedly loopy twist. They've recorded a double-live greatest-hits package with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra "sitting in." Rock history and cutout bins are littered with previous attempts at a rock-symphonic fusion, from Emerson, Lake & Palmer to Deep Purple to the Moody Blues and the Siegel-Schwall Blues Band. But while previous efforts at mixing the low-brow with the high-brow have mostly ended up browbeating the intended audience, S&M plays like a precarious joy ride. Set against the shrewd efforts of a team of orchestrators and arrangers (who employ enough taste to keep proceedings from sounding like one long "Live and Let Die" outtake), Metallica plays for their lives, undercutting their general somber tone by ratcheting up their musicianship several notches. The most underrated player here is SFO guest conductor and soundtrack vet Michael Kamen, whose attention to detail and nuance--and intuitive grasp of the Metallica canon--keeps this unlikely meeting of the minds focused and on track. -Jerry McCulley

Load
With Load, Metallica takes a dramatic left turn with their music, continuing in the direction suggested by Metallica, their previous album. The songs on Load have groove; they're slower, with far fewer of the lightning-fast riffs that have been Metallica's trademark since their inception. While songs like "Ain't My Bitch" and "Wasting My Hate" are up-tempo and full of the vitriol one would expect from the quintessential heavy metal band, "2 X 4" is hard rock with a blues beat, "Hero of the Day" sounds positively mainstream, and "Mama Said" is an actual, honest-to-god ballad. While some diehard fans may find this mix unappealing, there's plenty to like about this album, including its laid-back, rhythmic orientation, and James Hetfield's characteristic growl tempered by his growing maturity as a vocalist. -- Genevieve Williams

Master of Puppets
One of the defining albums of thrash metal, Master of Puppets is arguably Metallica's best album (as well as their last with bassist Cliff Burton). Focusing on the concept of power and abuses thereof, this is a collection of complex, intelligent music, played at about a hundred miles an hour. Not that these are short songs; this eight-song album clocks in at over an hour, which makes it all the more impressive that not one moment on this recording is boring. In tackling various approaches to their subject, Metallica is insightful lyrically as well as musically: "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" is from the point of view of an institutionalized inmate and "Disposable Heroes" is the perspective of a soldier. If all you've heard of Metallica is what's been on the radio recently, check this one out. You're in for a surprise. --Genevieve Williams

Kill 'Em All
While not as timeless as Ride the Lightning or Master Puppets, Metallica's debut album--originally released in 1983--is still a fine piece of thrash metal, and as good a marker as any for the debut of the genre. Fusing the rapid-fire attack of bands like Motorhead with a guitar style reminiscent of such British heavy metal bands as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, Metallica essentially created a new kind of metal. Several of the songs from this 1983 album have since become classics, including "Seek & Destroy", "The Four Horsemen", and "Jump in the Fire". The songwriting isn't as sophisticated as on Metallica's later releases; still, it's a great listen, and essential for any heavy metal fan. --Genevieve Williams

The Black Parade
My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way has alternately described his band's third album as "completely over the top" and "borderline psychotic." But even those words can't adequately prepare fans of the group's 2004 platinum major-label debut, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, for the onslaught of twisted song suites, glam-rock cannon fire and drama-club theatrics that make up The Black Parade. Tracks like "Mama" and "The End" make "Bohemian Rhapsody" sound like "Blitzkrieg Bop." It's no coincidence that the disc feels as dizzyingly monumental as Green Day's American Idiot--after all, the two albums share the same label, producer, studio, janitorial team, and sense of apocalyptic dread. Similarly, The Black Parade will cast its creators in a completely new light. Despite its overly histrionic tendencies and a totally oddball cameo from Liza Minelli, it offers a clear signal that My Chemical Romance is ready to be taken seriously. --Aidin Vaziri

The Downward Spiral
Originally released in 1994, Trent Reznor created THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL as both a concept album and modern day classic. This influential 90's classic is Trent Reznor's industrial cum-tragic opera view of the world and the soul's sonically detailed fall from grace. The Downward Spiral delves into despair and anger with hard guitars and brutal beats. DUAL DISC VERSION (CD & DVD on one disc) CD SIDE: Includes entire album in Re-Mastered CD Stereo DVD SIDE: * Video in surround sound and Stereo of "Closer" * Videos of "March of the Pigs" and "Hurt" * Entire album in Stereo and Advanced Resolution Surround Sound * Entire album in Dolby Digital Surround Sound and Stereo * Image Gallery * Complete Discography * Random DVD menus * Surround Sound mixes by Trent Reznor

Year Zero
Nine Inch Nails' sixth studio release, Year Zero takes the concept album further than it may have ever gone before. In advance of its release, URLs were hidden in tour t-shirts, music- and image-filled USB drives were 'found' at concerts, and dozens of websites have been packed with conspiracy stories that all involve the year 2022 or 'Year Zero.' Each clue is part of a cohesive whole, requiring a listener to follow an exhaustive web trail to grasp the entire tale. Focusing specifically on the music, "The Beginning of the End," the powerful first vocal track, is like the sonic and lyrical equivalent of an emotional ascension to a rollercoaster's peak, with the last few cacophonic seconds equaling the fall of individual freedoms. "Survivalism," Year Zero's first single, follows with guest vocalist/Slam artist Saul Williams pumping up the passion in its urgent chorus. While still industrial in genre, it's clear that Trent Reznor's musical evolution finds him bringing more mellow songs to the mix than he has on previous discs ("The Good Soldier," "The Greater Good," "In This Twilight") as well as an increased number of funk-affected rhythms, specifically in standout tracks "Capitol G" and "Me, I'm Not." Devotees of NIN's harder sound will appreciate the metallic crunch of "My Violent Heart" and "Meet Your Master." On the whole, the Nine Inch Nails we hear on Year Zero is less focused on producing heavy music and more focused on delivering its heavy, conspiratorial doomsday message. --Denise Sheppard

The Downward Spiral
Nine Inch Nails are a pretty amazing phenomenon when one considers what they--um, he--have done with just a few studio recordings. The Downward Spiral, NIN's second full-length album, is just as packed with vitriol as Pretty Hate Machine and the EP Broken--and has just as solid a base of pop hooks that go a long way toward explaining NIN's popularity. Most recognizable is the down-tempo single "Closer," which remains a staple of dance clubs everywhere. But for the most part, the album is all heavy beats and aggressive guitars--industrial music with a pop angle. That winning combination is what makes Trent Reznor a law unto himself, becoming insanely popular while the main body of industrial music retains its subculture status. --Genevieve Williams

With Teeth
Trent Reznor has always been a one-trick-pony, but it's a damn good trick: sunny melodies filtered through ferocious electronics. Unfortunately, the trick's impact was often watered down by a tendency toward petulance and self-absorption. Still, almost six years after NIN's last release, The Fragile, the trick itself has lost none of its Teen-Beat-from-hell appeal. With Teeth blisters from the start with "All the Love in the World," and tracks like "The Collector" take full advantage of Dave Grohl's sledgehammer drumming. Reznor stretches occasionally, trying out different tactics, from crunchy, overtly commercial rave-ups ("The Hand That Feeds") to borderline New Wave ("Only"). But Teeth isn't about stretching. It's about doing the same trick, only better, with less clutter and more bite. By neatly distilling the sparseness of Pretty Hate Machine with Downward Sprial-style density, it ends up being the most focused record in the NIN catalog. -Matthew Cooke

Nevermind
If Nevermind's sound is familiar now, it's only because thousands of rock records that followed it were trying very hard to cop its style. It tears out of the speakers like a cannonball, from the punk-turbo-charged riff of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" onward, magnifying and distilling the wounded rage of 15 years of the rock underground into a single impassioned roar. Few albums have occupied the cultural consciousness like this one; of its 12 songs, roughly 10 are now standards. The record's historical weight can make it hard to hear now with fresh ears, but the monumental urgency of Kurt Cobain's screams is still shocking. --Douglas Wolk

With The Lights Out
Nirvana may have been the biggest thing in the music world in the early '90s, but the trio maintained an uncommon devotion to core fans who knew them when they were still sleeping in a van. Fending off the adoration of punk-rock dabblers in the media and their audience while simultaneously welcoming stalwart underground-music supporters, Kurt Cobain did things on his own terms--until it all came crashing down. A decade after Cobain's 1994 suicide and the band's demise, With the Lights Out remains true to the ethos that defined the band and the alt-rock revolution that rose and fell with them. Eschewing the standard hits-sprinkled-with-rarities mix, this lovingly compiled three-CD, one-DVD collection is made up almost entirely of previously unreleased selections. The handful of previously heard tracks are obscurities along the lines of the group's cover of "Here She Comes Now," recorded for a 1990 indie-rock tribute to the Velvet Underground. But it's not the B-sides and compilation oddities that define this idiosyncratic set; rather, its spirit is captured in the bedroom demos, radio performances, and sloppy amateur video recordings that catch Cobain and cohorts developing from just another punk- and metal-inspired bunch of grunge rockers pounding away in the bass player's mom's living room into a band that defined an era. --Steven Stolder

Sliver: The Best of the Box
Nirvana changed the course of popular music forever and remains an inspiration to those who have followed. The band's musical legacy was illuminated further in November 2004 by the release of the 3-CD/1-DVD box set With the Lights Out, the definitive collection of rarities and outtakes. Now the 22-song, single-disc Sliver: The Best of the Box offers fans audio highlights from With the Lights Out with the bonus inclusion of three unreleased tracks: "Spank Thru," "Sappy," and a rehearsal recording of "Come as You Are."

Nirvana
Essentially a greatest-hits collection with one previously unreleased song, "You Know You're Right," and producer Scott Litt's 1994 remix of "Pennyroyal Tea," Nirvana the album is nevertheless a welcome addition to the band's canon. Crisp, elegant liner notes by Rolling Stone writer David Fricke put us squarely in Kurt Cobain's mindset as he entered a Seattle studio in January 1994--a full two days later than expected--to record what would be his final session with Nirvana. The resulting "You Know You're Right" locates Cobain at the apogee of his disenfranchisement with tongue nevertheless planted firmly in cheek. Bawdy, raucous, and venomous, "You Know You're Right" could have been lifted from Nevermind. A mix of tracks from that album ("Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Come as You Are," "Lithium," and "In Bloom") sits opposite stuff from early EPs and the Bleach disc ("About a Girl," "Been a Son," and "Sliver"), plus two from the MTV Unplugged sessions and several more from In Utero. Not the Nirvana treasure chest we hoped for, but solid nonetheless. --Kim Hughes

In Utero
Overwhelmed by sudden success, Nirvana promised to take a harsher, more abrasive route on their second major-label release. Enlisting Chicago-based noise maven Steve Albini (of Big Black fame), Kurt Cobain and company succeeded in producing a record that was violent, disillusioned, and deeply moving. Every song reads like a commentary on the cost of fame ("Serve the Servants") and the unhealthy relationship between performer and fan ("Milk It"). Of course, they might all simply be about Courtney Love. Gossip aside, there is no denying the sheer power of Cobain's songwriting, his singing, and the band's amazing, visceral power. Cobain even manages a John Lennon-like mantra at the end of the heart-wrenching "All Apologies." "All in all is all we are," he intones repeatedly, only for Cobain that's no consolation. --Percy Keegan

From the Muddy Banks of The Wishkah
Kurt Cobain's former bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl clearly had an agenda in compiling From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, the second of what will no doubt be a long line of posthumous Nirvana albums. Because of its somber, intense nature, the first post-Cobain release, MTV Unplugged in New York, was largely perceived as music for a wake--an impression reinforced by MTV's constant airings of the special in the days following Cobain's suicide. But that acoustic detour aside, the Nirvana live experience was always about displaying a lust for life--not a death wish--with all the energy the musicians could muster. Wishkah offers 16 songs spanning the band's career, all delivered in the loudest, most frenzied, and sometimes the sloppiest versions imaginable. In the opening "Intro," a snippet of pre-show noise, Cobain screams his heart out in joyful contrast to the haunted screams on "Where Did You Sleep Last Night." Then the group launches into "School," which ends with the spirited chorus "Don't be sad." Indeed, it's impossible to dwell on the maudlin when listening to these renditions of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Sliver," "Heart-Shaped Box," and "Negative Creep"--they're too loud and too full of life. But while it should be applauded, Wishkah isn't the great lost Nirvana album--there are no unheard gems to add to the catalog--and in the end, it isn't nearly as essential as any of the band's studio albums--or even the downbeat but revelatory Unplugged. --Jim Derogatis

Smash
Call them the Nine Inch Nails of punk. Like NIN, the Offspring preserve the essential ingredients of their chosen genre--guitars grinding out three chords, shouted vocals, and plenty of vitriol--and layer them over a melodic base that packs considerable popular appeal. The singles from Smash, the Offspring's breakthrough album, still receive considerable radio airplay: "Gotta Get Away," "Come Out and Play," and "Self Esteem." With these and Smash's 11 other tracks, the band chronicles the adolescent experience with clarity and surprisingly incisive wit. That pretty much describes all of their albums, but this is the one to get. It's got more shape than their earlier material and isn't as disturbingly poppy as their more recent recordings; it's the perfect blend of riffs and rage. --Genevieve Williams

Ixnay on the Hombre
Every generation of high schoolers needs a band to express the angst and agony specific to 14-to-18-year-olds. At present, that band is the Offspring. Their songs are aimed squarely at a younger crowd, from "The Meaning of Life" to "Leave It Behind" to "I Choose," and especially "All I Want" and "Change the World". Their occasionally insightful lyrics are anything but obscure, which is actually refreshing; there's real pain behind "Gone Away," and "Way Down the Line" taps into the common fear among the younger crowd of turning out just like our parents. Musically, the Offspring are hardly complex, but then complexity isn't a requirement. This is music to play at full volume, bang your head to, and annoy your neighbors. Cool. -- Genevieve Williams

Americana
Maybe hanging out with Jello Biafra put the fun-loving spring in Offspring's step. Or perhaps it was just the royalty checks, hot babes, and fast cars. Whatever the case, the band's fourth record, Americana, is its most lively offering to date, replacing angst and rage with energy and sarcasm. The novelty single "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" matches infectious riffing and shout-along vocals with fly-girl chants of "Give it to me, baby" and lyrics about wannabe scenesters; and a storming punk-rock version of Morris Albert's "Feelings" sees the band hitting a new level of, er, (in)sensitivity. Elsewhere, the humor is slightly more subtle; "She's Got Issues" cops a new-wave guitar line from the Cars songbook, "The Kids Aren't Alright" opens like an Iron Maiden anthem, and "Why Don't You Get a Job?" is a blatant reggae-style spoof of the Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da." Musically, Americana offers no real revelations, but the songs are a bit craftier and more diverse than the rest of the Offspring oeuvre, veering haphazardly between anthemic punk metal, blistering hardcore, and near-psychedelic experimentation. --Jon Wiederhorn

Ignition
It seems like the terms catchy and punk shouldn't go together, but for the Offspring, they do. Listening to Ignition, one gets the sense of rage tightly controlled, powering the band's uptempo, driving material. While their sensibility is firmly punk, the Offspring have clearly borrowed from heavy metal for their chord progressions and guitar sound--check out the solos on "Nothing from Something" and "Forever and a Day." While this album didn't have the major-label success of its follow-up, Smash, all the ingredients that made that record a hit are here, if not quite as refined: angry, incisive lyrics; fast-driving rhythms; and--dare one say it--melodic chord progressions. It's easy to hear why Ignition was an underground hit and why the Offspring's later records, while somewhat diluted, have been so successful. --Genevieve Williams

Tribute
Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist Randy Rhoads was a technical genius on his instrument, but that's only half the story. Rhoads shaped the direction of Osbourne's first two post-Sabbath recordings, Diary of a Madman and Blizzard of Ozz, which still stand as his best solo studio albums. Rhoads also was capable of pulling the best out of Osbourne onstage, a notable accomplishment in itself. This live set was released five years after Rhoads's death in a bizarre plane accident, and it's still a striking reminder of what was lost. Osbourne and company run through the Blizzard album in its entirety, adding a few tunes from Diary, and the Sabbath classics "Iron Man," "Children of the Grave," and "Paranoid." The highlights are Rhoads's guitar freakout on "Suicide Solution" and studio outtakes of his solo acoustic showcase, "Dee." --Daniel Durchholz

Prince of Darkness
Not entirely a career retrospective and decidedly not a vault raid that reveals the junk in the trunk, this four-disc collection chronicles Ozzy's hot-burnt and all-too-brief Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman post-Black Sabbath era with Randy Rhoads and also the long road the Ozzman traveled in search of a guitarist that could ever come close to matching his late friend's creative spark. Listening to material from albums such as Bark At The Moon and The Ultimate Sin reveals that even when Osbourne wasn't flying all that high musically he did keep evolving and, in the often risk averse world of heavy metal, he often took chances that could have potentially alienated core fans ("Thank God For The Bomb" reveals that Ozzy may care about the planet but he doesn't possess the same knack for politics as Bob Dylan) but made them embrace him even more. He managed to hit another career high with guitarist Zakk Wylde and the No More Tears album which provides some of the second disc's finest moments. ("Mama I'm Coming Home" proves one of the underrated balladeer's most poignant moments.) But the back end of this collection shines as much as its front with a disc that compiles various collaborative efforts, including a tussle with Miss Piggy on "Born To Be Wild" and a strange detour with Was (Not Was) on "Shake Your Head (Let's Go To Bed)." The real gem is the fourth platter which finds Ozzy covering some of his favorite tunes from the past, including a moving and wholly accurate reading of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero," a song that almost seems to have been written with Osbourne in mind. Ozzy may be the prince of darkness but he's also the king of heavy metal and this set demonstrates, once more, exactly why. -- Jedd Beaudoin

Blizzard of Oz
The first solo effort by the former lead singer of Black Sabbath, Blizzard of Ozz became a classic, due in large part to Osbourne's partnership with the late Randy Rhoads. The most immediately recognizable song is "Crazy Train," whose distinctive riff has made it a staple of rock radio even today. "Mr. Crowley" and "Suicide Solution" generated considerable controversy, which is equivalent to good press when it comes to heavy metal. Other strong tracks include "Revelation (Mother Earth)" and the opening song, "I Don't Know." While Osbourne hasn't always been taken seriously, even by heavy metal listeners, his influence on the genre has been considerable. Blizzard of Ozz is an excellent example as to why. --Genevieve Williams

The Ozzman Cometh: Greatest Hits
15 Tracks Charting his Whole 30 Year Career Beginning with Black Sabbath's Work and Ending with a Newly Recorded Track 'Back on Earth'. Initial Copies Will also Feature a Bonus Four Track CD featuring Previously Unreleased 'Basement Tapes' from 1970.

Live At Budokan
The mind-bending success of the reality TV series The Osbournes has made Ozzy Osbourne more famous for his shaky hands and swearing tantrums than infernal heavy-metal racket. Time for a quick fix, then. Recorded at the Tokyo arena first made famous by Cheap Trick's 1979 disc Live at Budokan, Live at the Budokan (note subtle difference) is a rudimentary primer on Osbourne's musical activities over the last 30-odd years. There are serviceable renditions of monster solo hits like "No More Tears" and "Bark at the Moon," an encore of Black Sabbath's warhorse "Paranoid," and an impressive amount of cursing between songs. Astoundingly, Osbourne sounds no worse for wear than he did on 1993's similarly primordial--if slightly more generous--Live & Loud. --Aidin Vaziri

Diary of a Madman
The second album of Ozzy Osbourne's solo career, Diary of a Madman was his last to feature the talents of guitarist Randy Rhodes, who died in a plane crash soon after the disc's release. While it's not as furious as his first solo album Blizzard of Oz, it still captures Ozzy's maniacal glory. Highlights include "Over the Mountain" and the kinetic "Flying High Again," which benefit as much from Rhodes's blistering musicianship as from Ozzy's heavy, melodic songwriting. Some of the disc is burdened with overly sappy passages and obligatory ballads, but overall, Diary of a Madman is required listening for the well-heeled metalhead. --Jon Wiederhorn

The Ozzman Cometh
The real reason to own this two-disc set is not to get Ozzy's greatest hits, but to get the "basement" recordings of Black Sabbath doing "Black Sabbath," "War Pigs," "Fairies Wear Boots" and "Behind the Wall of Sleep," as well as a hilarious interview with the Ozzman himself from 1988 (e.g. "I didn't think [Sabbath] were that good a band. We were all f--- up on drugs and booze all the time.) If you're an Ozzy fan, you'll definitely have everything else on this--from "Goodbye to Romance" with Randy Rhoads to his last single with Zakk Wylde, "I Just Want You." There is one unreleased track from the Ozzmosis session, "Back on Earth," but it's cheesy and unremarkable. --Adem Tepedelen

Ten
Part of the '90s Seattle grunge triumvirate completed by Nirvana and Soundgarden, Pearl Jam debuted with Ten, their most accessible, least self-conscious album. Over time, PJ's rep as a politically correct band just a little too above it all to prostitute its music on MTV has nearly superseded the music. But before that, they were a simply an in-your-face, in-your-head, loud, melodic rock band. And lead singer Eddie Vedder was known for his possessed stage presence and a primal growl that sounded like it required three vocal chords. The personal, narrative singles "Alive," "Jeremy," and "Even Flow" catapulted the reluctant band into the 10-million-plus-sales division. Subsequent albums are more intricate, subtle, thematically complex, and, in many ways, better than Ten. But the band may never repeat the stampede caused by this debut. --Beth Bessmer

Vitalogy
Vitalogy reaffirms the Seattle quintet's status as the principled, proudly confused voice of a generation. On their third album, they've found their footing as a raw, forward-looking '90s rock act that fearlessly tackles the Biggest Questions. Lead track "Spin the Black Circle" celebrates the healing power of Eddie Vedder's LP collection, but it is overshadowed by such masterstrokes as "Immortality" (which can be read, right or wrong, as a reaction to Kurt Cobain's suicide), the Lennonesque "Tremor Christ" and a thrilling anthem for the pro-choice movement, "Whipping." --Jeff Bateman

Live on Two Legs
Seventy-one minutes of live Pearl Jam plus an unreleased song? It's aural nirvana for fans of the reclusive, integrity-driven Seattle quintet. Pearl Jam are nothing if not passionate and unabashedly rocking, and this 16-track offering, recorded during their Yield tour, illustrates why the mumbly voiced rock deity and his band of merry men inspire such ardor in their followers. Eddie Vedder's emotive vocals, Mike McCready and Stone Gossard's raw and raging fretwork and edgy, catchy, whisper-to-a-scream dynamics are deftly and inspiringly captured. Though a few staples (including "Jeremy") are missing, songs running the gamut of the band's seven-year career--from "Corduroy" to "Nothingman" to the Neil Young-penned "F*ckin' Up"--more than make up for any exclusions. The breadth and scope found on Live on Two Legs (a take on the Queen song, "Death on Two Legs"?) proves the once über-"alternative" Pearl Jam have struck a loud chord in the mainstream...and that's not a bad thing. --Katherine Turman

Ten
Part of the '90s Seattle grunge triumvirate completed by Nirvana and Soundgarden, Pearl Jam debuted with Ten, their most accessible, least self-conscious album. Over time, PJ's rep as a politically correct band just a little too above it all to prostitute its music on MTV has nearly superseded the music. But before that, they were a simply an in-your-face, in-your-head, loud, melodic rock band. And lead singer Eddie Vedder was known for his possessed stage presence and a primal growl that sounded like it required three vocal chords. The personal, narrative singles "Alive," "Jeremy," and "Even Flow" catapulted the reluctant band into the 10-million-plus-sales division. Subsequent albums are more intricate, subtle, thematically complex, and, in many ways, better than Ten. But the band may never repeat the stampede caused by this debut. --Beth Bessmer

rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991-2003)
In an era when pop nihilism fulfilled its dark promise all too regularly, Pearl Jam not only survived, but thrived to become one of rock's greatest bands. This 33-track double-disc career retrospective documents the arc of a career that went from arena and radio triumphs in the early 90's (while Nirvana's promise imploded in the wake of hype, Pearl Jam's crowd-pleasing fame only burgeoned) to the uncompromising, core audience-focused tack that carried the band into the 21st century. Shrewdly compiled by the band into an "Up" disc that chronicles the band's driving, Stone Gossard-Mike McCready fueled hard rock dramatics (including such early career landmarks as "Jeremy," "Alive" and "Even Flow" alongside more aggressive fare like "Go" and "Spin the Black Circle") and a "Down" side that focuses more on Eddie Vedder's brooding, often dark ballads ("Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town," "Yellow Ledbetter," their unlikely hit cover of the oldie "Last Kiss"), it's a collection that underscores both the band's range and musical integrity. Though centered largely on the band's pre-Vitalogy studio era and containing no new material, longtime producer/collaborator Brendan O'Brien contributes remixes of "Once," "Alive" and "Black" that offer new insights on the familiar, while non-album tracks like "Man of the Hour" and "State of Love and Trust" considerably enhance the overall listening perspective here. --Jerry McCulley

Pearl Jam
If its debut album 15 years ago made Pearl Jam apprehensive with success, the Seattle quintet better buckle in for a return to eminence. On its eighth studio release--and first since 2002--the band socks away the adventurous experimentation that dogged some of its most recent records to investigate a post-September 11, war-ravaged world overflowing with urgency and significance. "It's the same everyday in a hell manmade/What can be saved, and who will be left to hold her?" lead singer Eddie Vedder wonders in "World Wide Suicide," one of several contemptuous rants on the Bush administration. Yet the album's spark is more than political. Songs like "Life Wasted," "Comatose" and "Big Wave" embrace the garage-rock past, as guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard play off each other with the primal lucidity of a decade ago and drummer Matt Cameron, one of rock's best, adds raw backing vocals to Vedder's polished craft. But Pearl Jam also turns up some of its most harmonious works since "Daughter," including "Marker in the Sand," with its radio-ready chorus, the tuneful "Parachutes" paced by Gossard's divine strumming, and the burning narrative and Urge Overkill punch of "Umemployable." Finally Vedder pleads for a lover's return in "Come Back," a keyboard-soaked love song complete with a chilling Gossard solo. It's got a soulfulness that begs for Sam Cooke to sing it and an originality that shows that a vibrant and cocksure Pearl Jam is back in town--and ready to retake the world. --Scott Holter Recommended Pearl Jam

rearviewmirror
Riot Act
Live at Benaroya Hall

Live on Two Legs
Vitalogy
Live at the Garden (DVD)

No Code
Though it contains none of the band's radio staples, No Code may be the one Pearl Jam record that holds up start to finish. Partly this is because of the songs, which like the hypnotic "Who Are You" are unusually straightforward. But it's also because this is the most musically varied effort of the band's career: "Hail, Hail" is a full-tilt firestorm, but the quiet "Sometimes" is a hesitating, slow burn. And while "Smile" has a Crazy Horse roar, the unplugged setting of "Off He Goes" lets the song breathe and the emotions sink in. --David Cantwell

The Wall (Deluxe Packaging Digitally Remastered)
The Wall is less a collection of songs than a single work, which is sometimes frustrating; the plot lacks enough coherence to hold the snippets of music together. However, there are occasional flashes of brilliance on what ranks as Pink Floyd's most ambitious project. Most of these come from the fully developed songs, which have become classics in their own right. "Hey You," "Mother," and especially "Comfortably Numb" are subtle, incredible pieces of music. Though complex, they move at a relaxed pace, allowing the listener to absorb them slowly; this kind of pacing was something Pink Floyd excelled at. Also worth noting is the "Another Brick in the Wall/The Happiest Days of Our Lives" medley, which has become a staple of rock radio. --Genevieve Williams

Pulse
A two-CD live collection from a band left splintered by the departure of bassist-songwriter Roger Waters, Pulse is perhaps best noted for the blinking red light that was set in its spine upon initial release. It contains the remaining band (with guest musicians) performing the entire Dark Side of the Moon album, the novelty of which wears off soon after the crowd noise interrupts any potential intimacy. The crowd also sings along for several songs, which makes this either a great audio-video document or a misguided attempt at replicating the live experience. --Rob O'Connor

Works
A concise, if somewhat haphazardly sequenced, introduction to Pink Floyd's first era (1967-73 on EMI's Harvest label), this collection documents the band's evolution from their creative force Syd Barrett's tinkly psych-pop (represented here by the standout singles "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play") to the ubiquitous, world-beating strains of Dark Side of the Moon's "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse." It's a decidedly different band than the one familiar to fans of The Wall, The Final Cut, and its post-Roger Waters incarnations, one with an experimental bent that fueled an eclectic mix of driving space-rock ("One of These Days"), Roy Harper-esque folksiness ("Fearless"), and free-form sound collages ("Several Species"). Ironically, this is also the Pink Floyd for whom younger, alt-rock schooled music fans may find an unlikely affinity. --Jerry McCulley

Shine On
Box sets are difficult phenomena. Their cost is often prohibitive, and the weight of outtakes, alternate takes, chronological corrections, and myriad other completist elements make them sometimes less listenable than the original recordings. But this mammoth nine-CD package is a different breed of cat. It collects a smattering of early Pink Floyd, including the great hits and misses caught on Relics, A Saucerful of Secrets, and Meddle, and then moves into the band's great period, with Dark Side of the Moon and their first Sony titles, Wish You Were Here and Animals. Their development from early psychedelicists to producers of suite-length musical ponderings is great to witness. And it's even more fascinating to see where the band went with what they'd learned by 1977. To that end, the set includes The Wall in its entirety as well as A Momentary Lapse of Reason. No doubt about it, this is a huge investment, but the packaging, thoroughness, intent, and impact all warrant that even casual fans should make the leap ahead into the fullness this box offers. --Andrew Bartlett

The Wall (Deluxe Packaging Digitally Remastered)
The Wall is less a collection of songs than a single work, which is sometimes frustrating; the plot lacks enough coherence to hold the snippets of music together. However, there are occasional flashes of brilliance on what ranks as Pink Floyd's most ambitious project. Most of these come from the fully developed songs, which have become classics in their own right. "Hey You," "Mother," and especially "Comfortably Numb" are subtle, incredible pieces of music. Though complex, they move at a relaxed pace, allowing the listener to absorb them slowly; this kind of pacing was something Pink Floyd excelled at. Also worth noting is the "Another Brick in the Wall/The Happiest Days of Our Lives" medley, which has become a staple of rock radio. --Genevieve Williams

Wish You Were Here
Wish You Were Here is a song cycle dedicated to Pink Floyd's original frontman, Syd Barrett, who'd flamed out years before: two grimly funny songs about the evils of the music business ("By the way, which one's Pink?"), and two long, touching ones about the band's vanished friend. The real star of the show, though, is the production: sparkling, convoluted, designed to sound deeply oh-wow under the influence--and pretty great sober too--with David Gilmour getting lots of space for his most lyrical guitar playing ever. And, though the album is big and ambitious, even bombastic, it somehow dodges being pretentious--the Barrett tributes are honest and heartfelt, beneath all the grand gestures and stereophonic trickery. --Douglas Wolk

Animals
Although not in the same vein as the deliciously hallucinogenic earlier Floyd works such as Ummagumma and Dark Side of the Moon, Animals is innovative and musically diverse in its own right. Inspired in part by George Orwell's political fable Animal Farm, Roger Waters condemns the avarice and inequalities of capitalism, metaphorically and musically grouping humans as pigs, dogs, and sheep. The pigs are self-righteous hypocrites inflicting their beliefs on everyone else, the dogs greedy money-grabbers, and the sheep witless followers. Dark, cynical, and brilliantly composed, Animals is an ingenious and under-acknowledged album. --Naomi Gesinger

Meddle
For all that menacing, hatchet-happy growl at the beginning of Meddle's opener, "One of These Days," Pink Floyd really weren't about to "cut you into little pieces." Meddle did, however, show that the reigning British monarchs of 1970s-era psychedelia could rip into galloping jams. It also showed what its predecessor, Atom Heart Mother, promised--that the band could excel in long, breathtaking suites that revealed strains of late-classical music, Sun Ra-inspired space explorations, and a patchwork approach to colliding sounds that together took on acid-drenched proportions. And if all that isn't enough, "San Tropez" revealed a playful side of the band, playing footsy with loungy jazz and having good fun in the process. --Andrew Bartlett

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
While they took their name from blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council when they started out as an R&B combo in the mid-60s, Pink Floyd's leader, guitarist Syd Barrett, soon began piloting the band through unprecedented sonic excursions typified by the title of their 1967 debut album's most celebrated track--the outsized instrumental "Interstellar Overdrive." Equally adept at composing catchy-sounding, Gothic-themed pop songs such as "See Emily Play," "The Scarecrow" and "The Gnome," Barrett seemed destined for greatness--that is, until psychedelic drugs got the best of him, and he abandoned the band to bassist Roger Waters and new guitarist David Gilmour. The rest, as they say, is history. --Billy Altman

A Momentary Lapse of Reason
Though many predicted that Roger Waters's acrimonious split with the band after 1983's aptly named Final Cut would ultimately spell the end of Pink Floyd, the remaining band members confounded pundits by extending their status as classic rock's most ponderous dinosaurs into the 1990s and beyond. And if the title was a gentle jab at Waters after a years-long legal struggle over the Floyd moniker, the music was all too familiar; some would say even formulaic. And lest anyone doubted that the absence of Waters's dour soul would lighten things up a bit, guitarist and post facto leader Dave Gilmour gamely took on the Mantle of Conscience for topics ranging from the cold war ("The Dogs of War") to yuppie self-indulgence ("On the Turning Away"). And if this album sometimes evokes an uncomfortable feeling of a band on autopilot, it's one that can still turn out the likes of the anthemic "Learning to Fly" on cruise control. --Jerry McCulley

Obscured By Clouds
Commissioned as the soundtrack for Barbet Schroeder's 1972 film The Valley, Obscured By Clouds actually holds up rather well on its own terms. The title track is a trippy, cinematic instrumental that features some searing guitar work from David Gilmour, but full-fledged songs like "Free Four" (which sounds like a morbid inversion of Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky"), and the folksy "Wot's...Uh the Deal" are the real highlights of the set. Essentially a transitional work, Obscured By Clouds has long been dwarfed by Dark Side of the Moon, the album which came immediately after it. In fact, the funky "Childhood's End" and the ethereal "Burning Bridges" could well be dry runs for the Dark Side tracks "Time" and "Breathe," respectively. In all, it's a priceless snapshot of a band on the verge of immortality. --Dan Epstein

A Saucerful of Secrets
A Saucerful of Secrets is an uneven album that could glibly be called Pink Floyd's sophomore jinx, though it's a bit more complicated than that. The problems behind the band's second outing can be summed up in two words: Syd Barrett. Or rather, the absence thereof. The creative force behind Floyd's first distinctively baroque collection is credited with just one track here ("Jugband Blues") and the occasion marked the beginning of his decades-long withdrawal from public life, battles with mental illness, and burgeoning cult legend. What's left is essentially the first album by the "classic" Floyd lineup, though they're understandably a long way from their focused 1970s prime (as witnessed by the 11-minute title track); the dense sound and effects collages that are mere seasoning on later Floyd records are too often the whole point here. Roger Waters barely hints at his later glories on "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun," a would-be stellar journey that's ultimately rather pedestrian. An album that seems alternately driven by a genuine experimental spirit one moment and creative panic the next. --Jerry McCulley

Dark Side Of The Moon
Dark Side of the Moon, originally released in 1973, is one of those albums that is discovered anew by each generation of rock listeners. This complex, often psychedelic music works very well because Pink Floyd doesn't rush anything; the songs are mainly slow to mid-tempo, with attention paid throughout to musical texture and mood. The sound effects on songs like "On the Run," "Time" and especially "Money" (with sampled sounds of clinking coins and cash registers turned into rhythmic accompaniment) are impressive, especially when we remember that 1973 was before the advent of digital recording techniques. This is probably Pink Floyd's best-known work, and it's an excellent place to start if you're new to the band. --Genevieve Williams

Delicate Sound of Thunder
In the late 1980s, Pink Floyd came roaring back with a decent studio album and an awesome stadium tour. Delicate Sound is a postcard from that tour that has the impossible task of capturing the spectacle of flying pigs and crashing beds. Also without the brood and bass of the departed Roger Waters, even a large backing band can't recreate the majesty of the original recording of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond." Still "On the Turning Away," from A Momentary Lapse of Reason, sounds better than the studio version and a smattering of Floyd's best cuts from The Wall and Darkside of Moon make this live album a decent collection. --Greg Emmanuel