Post-War is not only Ward's best effort yet, it's one of the best records of the year.

It feels live, immediate.

After decades of giving us good and even fine work, he's finally treated the faithful to a masterpiece.

You will be hard-pressed to keep from walking around all day grinning like a fish once you give the album an airing.

Paris makes no apologies for being mass-market pop, but everybody involved made sure that this was well-constructed mass-market pop.

Game Theory is a heavy album, the Roots' sharpest work. It's destined to become one of Def Jam's proudest, if not most popular, moments.

Continuum is a gorgeously produced, brilliantly stripped-to-basics album that incorporates blues, soft-funk, R&B, folk and pop in a sound that is totally owned by Mayer. It's no stretch when trying to describe the sound of Continuum to color it in the light of work by such legends as Sting, Eric Clapton, Sade, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Steve Winwood.

Yellow House is... required listening not just for fans of Horn of Plenty, but for anyone who enjoys ambitious, creative music with an emotional undercurrent.

Truth to tell, since the quality of Oldham's songwriting has rarely wavered, the excellent arrangements and McCarthy's contributions make The Letting Go the best of his career to this point.

While the tracks are longer and more realized, they're still distinctly remixes instantly recognizable as DFA output -- a mark of individual distinction many remixers strive to attain but few reach.

The Town and the City isn't likely to be the soundtrack for your next party, but it's an exciting and emotionally powerful experience that grows with each listen.

Their inspired, eclectic mix of sounds and textures is always playful, but Taiga's powerful playing and sophisticated arrangements make it OOIOO's most mature album yet.

Be Still Please is another hidden treasure from one of the truly important bands, and persons, in pop music today.

It is, thus far, his masterpiece, and as beautiful a pop record as can be made these days.

An uncommonly rich and moving album.

This is Gill's masterwork.

[A] fascinating detour.

Yes, Ys is a demanding listen, but it's also a rewarding and inspiring one.

In the Absence of Truth is as solidly explosive and as adventuresome as Panopticon, but their elemental control over the music is greater, therefore creating a more even production.

The man writes honest, beautifully crafted songs that are adult enough to ponder, tough enough to rock, and tender enough to pull -- not tug -- on the heartstrings.

Orphans is a major work that goes beyond the origins of the material and drags everything past and present with sound and texture into a present to be presented as something utterly new, beyond anything he has previously issued.

The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me is the completion of their pop-punk molting process and one of the best surprises -- that isn't really a surprise at all -- to come out of 2006.

A lean, furious, cold-blooded album that is vividly to-the-point.

This mixture of clattering, ramshackle arrangements and smartly put-together tunes... is an intriguing new direction for a band that previously seemed more interested in artsy, diffident post-rock.

If you have the 2002 LTM reissues, there's no need to obtain the disc; it would be completely redundant. If you don't have them, you'll be getting the vivid gist of a sharp and short-lived band -- one that delivered brief, spastic shards of over-caffeinated post-punk with skittish vocals on the verge of spinning out of control.

Learn to Sing Like a Star was certainly worth the wait, and if fans will listen closely enough, they'll understand that Hersh's sophistication as both a singing poet and composer has grown almost immeasurably.

West is flawless; it is actually destined to become a classic.

Children Running Through is Patty Griffin's masterpiece thus far.