Singles
Artist: The Smiths
Community Score: 7.86

The Best of the Smiths collections didn't work because they didn't have a sense of history and distorted the underlying sense of urgency that helped make the Smiths important. Singles simply collects all of the singles from one of the greatest singles bands since the Beatles. It's essential and influential guitar pop, presented in a way that... Read More

Envy of Angels - BONUS 7 TRACK CD
Artist: The Mutton Birds

Envy of Angels could have been recorded ten years earlier considering its invocation of the new south -- in particular the moodiness of Dumptruck -- not to mention similarities to more commercial guitar rock of the same period, such as that of 54-40. Perhaps it isn't a coincidence that Hugh Jones, who also worked with Dumptruck, produced Envy of... Read More

Envy of Angels
Artist: The Mutton Birds
Community Score: 10.00

Envy of Angels could have been recorded ten years earlier considering its invocation of the new south -- in particular the moodiness of Dumptruck -- not to mention similarities to more commercial guitar rock of the same period, such as that of 54-40. Perhaps it isn't a coincidence that Hugh Jones, who also worked with Dumptruck, produced Envy of... Read More

Good Dog Bad Dog: The Home Recordings
Artist: Over the Rhine

Five years after the dissolution of their relationship with IRS Records, the Cincinnati-based lit-pop band Over the Rhine once again became a major-label presence when they signed with Back Porch, a new offshoot of Virgin Records. The group took the opportunity to refine and reissue their 1996 homespun masterpiece Good Dog Bad Dog, which had... Read More

Strange Country
Artist: Billy Strange

Recorded in the 1960s (the liner notes do not specify the exact date), this was a sessionman supersession of sorts, also featuring Joe Maphis on banjo, Tommy Tedesco on second guitar, Jimmy Bond on bass, and Earl Palmer on drums. Strange offers fluid, crisp instrumental interpretations of a mixed bag of folk and pop tunes, including not only... Read More

Limbo
Artist: Throwing Muses
Community Score: 7.60

On the one hand, KRISTIN HERSH and mates are guilty of running in place: It's difficult to distinguish between the production and style of this LP with 1995's University. Indeed, one of Limbo's strongest efforts, "Ruthie's Knocking," sounds like a re-write of "Shimmer." Moreover, nothing grabs as much as the spine-tingling "Bright Yellow Gun"... Read More

Magic Box
Artist: Bel Canto
Community Score: 6.00

It's a sign of the times and relative fame that the opening track, "The Magic Box I," immediately calls to mind Tori Amos, where some years previous it would have just sounded like Bel Canto through and through. While Drecker and Johansen have never achieved the thorough fame of Amos or many other well-known names, the duo still stick to their... Read More

Happy Nowhere
Artist: Dog's Eye View
Community Score: 8.00
Intoxicated Man
Artist: Mick Harvey
Community Score: 8.00

Intoxicated Man is the first of Mick Harvey's tributes to French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. Released at a time when the icon was largely unknown outside his home country, the album offers 16 English translations. Years spent in a supporting role with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds taught Harvey the importance of yielding to the song. Whether... Read More

No Need to Argue - BONUS LIVE DISC
Artist: The Cranberries

With their second album, No Need to Argue, the Cranberries have managed to avoid a sophomore slump by turning in a set of songs that builds on their debut's finest moments. With the exception of the distorted march of "Zombie," there aren't that many great departures from the band's atmospheric, melodic guitar-pop. Most of the credit goes to the... Read More