Melissa Etheridge
Artist: Melissa Etheridge
Community Score: 7.81

This was one of the most stunning debut albums of the 1980s. Given the domination of synthesizer pop on the radio, Melissa Etheridge was a breath of fresh air when she burst out of the gate with this roots rock album sung with a sensitive bravado often compared to Janis Joplin. Although the passionate vocal deliveries are similar, the... Read More

Greatest Hits - SONY INTERNATIONAL
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Down by the River
Artist: Neil Young

During Neil Young's limited acoustic tour of 1999, he virtually duplicated the same set for the first few nights, rotating selections from Tonight's the Night, Harvest Moon, and After the Goldrush, while plugging in a few new songs. On this night in Oakland, CA, he mixed it up, unleashing a slew of rarely performed acoustic goods-from the... Read More

The Best of John Hiatt - INTERSCOPE
Artist: John Hiatt
Amen
Artist: Paula Cole
Community Score: 10.00

Thanks to Paula Cole's appearance on the first Lilith Fair and "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?," This Fire didn't really take off until nearly a year after its 1996 release; plus, its closer "I Don't Want to Wait" became nearly omnipresent in 1998. So, the gap between This Fire and its sequel, Amen, didn't feel all that long, but a cursory... Read More

Mule Variations
Artist: Tom Waits
Community Score: 8.62

Tom Waits grew steadily less prolific after redefining himself as a junkyard noise poet with Swordfishtrombones, but the five-year wait between The Black Rider and 1999's Mule Variations was the longest yet. Given the fact that Waits decided to abandon major labels for the California indie Epitaph, Mule Variations would seem like a golden... Read More

V.O.L.
Artist: Vigilantes of Love
Community Score: 3.50

The first Vigilantes of Love album on the Warner Brothers label is a retrospective of their first five CDs, which featured five different band lineups. Fittingly, singer-songwriter Bill Mallonee has recorded four new songs for the compilation with yet another new band. With the exception of the rock-hymn "Double Cure," the new songs are the... Read More

Mono USA
Artist: Ben Vaughn

Who knew that artists as disparate as Fred Neil, the Ventures, and Alan Vega were actually spiritual kin? Ben Vaughn knew all along and he proved it on this album of covers. Vaughn has always been part musicologist, and he probably thumbed through a record collection the size of two rooms to rescue the songs (and in some instances, the artists... Read More

Live/Dead
Artist: Grateful Dead
Community Score: 10.00

The Grateful Dead's fourth title was likewise their first extended concert recording. Spread over two LPs, Live/Dead (1969) finally was able to relay the intrinsic sonic magnificence of a Dead show in real time. Additionally, it unleashed several key entries into their repertoire, including the sidelong epic and Deadhead anthem"Dark Star" as... Read More

Franks Wild Years
Artist: Tom Waits
Community Score: 8.52

Tom Waits wrote a song called "Frank's Wild Years" for his 1983 Swordfishtrombones album, then used the title (minus its apostrophe) for a musical play he wrote with his wife, Kathleen Brennan, and toured with in 1986. The Franks Wild Years album, drawn from the show, is subtitled, "un operachi romantico in two acts," though the songs themselves... Read More

Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back - DVD VIDEO
Artist: Bob Dylan
Community Score: 10.00