The repetition is noticeable but ultimately minor for the box's target audience of dedicated Floyd fans, who will surely appreciate the care given to both the remastering and the packaging. On that level alone, The Later Years is something of a wonder, which means it's certainly worthwhile for those who have the interest and the cash to partake.

It offers a series of tough, meaty, adventurous songs, that abundantly indulge raw power and emotion. Bogren's production and Sepultura's execution are in perfect balance. Further, Green delivers a career-defining performance here. It is the first Sepultura album in decades to measure favorably alongside the band’s classic output.

The different shades of blue are nuanced but notable and help make Blues With Friends another strong latter-day collection from Dion.

With Catspaw, Sweet has crafted an album that cuts deep and leaves a strong impression.

His craft is far too strong to regard these as throwaways, and the intimacy of the home-recorded production and performances is a fine match for the material. Jump for Joy never suggests Louris intends this to be a grand statement or his break with the Jayhawks, but it serves him well, and hopefully he won't wait 12 years before he tries this again.

Triage finds Rodney Crowell wearing his heart on his sleeve, and it's a heart that's open and unafraid of life and its challenges. It's a compelling and absorbing work from one of America's best working songwriters.

Wilds stands proudly next to the albums that have come before it. A little bit more song focused, a little rougher around the edges, but still transcendent and heavily psychedelic in all the right ways.

The sturdiness of the craft and its faithfulness to Cast's body of work means Love Is the Call could indeed function as a handsome farewell, but it also suggests the band might have more plenty of road left ahead of them.

This collection is at its most intriguing in the brief moments where listeners can hear Reed experimenting with these ideas, ones he'd fully realize a little further down the road with the Velvet Underground. These moments show up fairly unambiguously in the sadistic sneering of the Primitives, but they're also there to be found just a little bit deeper below the surface of songs where Reed was trying his best to emulate simplistic pop music but couldn't keep his inherent darkness from showing.

Wide-ranging yet restrained components make for a quietly cinematic experience, as Jamieson goes on to examine other angles of love.

Maybe he isn't always happy, but The Sherlock Holmes Rhythm 'n' Beat Vernacular will make you crack a big smile and stomp your feet.

With its lyrics, textures, and production detailing working together, Life Slime is Pictish Trail's most substantial and affecting album to date.

The material is arranged chronologically, but beyond that, one set of tunes stumbles into another without making sense of their different sonic and musical characteristics as Iggy's backing bands (none of whom are credited) and musical approaches shift from concert to concert throughout this set, leaving Roadkill Rising in dire need of some sense of focus.

Real Estate grow up gracefully on The Main Thing while keeping a tight hold on the low-key charm and talent that made them stand out.

Stars' endlessly detailed arrangements are as impressive as ever, and become more powerful in the context of these highly reflective songs. Stars fearlessly investigate difficult feelings on From Capelton Hill, and capture a complex beauty in the process.

Whether you prefer the slightly more organic vibe of Toast or the cleaned-up Are You Passionate? will depend on your personal relationship with Young's massive catalog. For fans of his early moody rock or the rough-edged brilliance he always locked into with Crazy Horse, Toast will be a clear favorite more than just an interesting companion piece.

At times, The Neon Gate is transcendent, though it's easy to get lost in its labyrinth of unicorns, demons, and castle grounds. It's certainly a more challenging listen than their earlier albums, but Nap Eyes have never been a mainstream concern. To that end, a sprawling D.I.Y. art-pop composite merely feels like one stop on a larger journey.

Butler's voice navigates masterfully through the cosmic slop. In a way, it too is a softly narcotizing beam, coursing through slow-motion, spaced-out avant-funk and lurching creep-show house rhythms with typically mind-bending wordplay. Compared to Lese Majesty, this similarly concise set is a bit murkier and only slightly less enticing.

Holley's observations are as powerful and poetic as ever, and White and his band simply sound out of this world, making Broken Mirror a spirited, magnificent collaboration.

At a brisk ten tracks, Ancient Dreams is a quick dose of what makes Marina great: heartfelt honesty from a fellow misfit consistently pushing the boundaries of pop.

Hitchcock is clearly having fun here, and while that sense of joyful, mad abandon may not always result in quality, it's hard not root for a guy who, at 60, isn’t afraid to stand behind his "honey naked and uncooked."

It's not easy to face up to and present the worst parts of being alive, much less in a way that's artistically pleasing or relevant. The Lips don't make it sound easy, which is why The Terror is so powerful.

Any band can go out, buy the right pedals (or dial up the right effects on a computer), and come up with a reasonable facsimile of the shoegaze sound, but it takes a band with extra skill and imagination to make it sound fresh and vital like No Joy do on Ghost Blonde.

Close to a full mélange of all the band's various sounds thus far over the years.

It's a great reminder of how weird and one-of-a-kind Avey Tare has always been, and how he's still refreshing his strangeness with every new record.

While it may lack some of the focus of its predecessor, it retains every bit of its oddball charm.

Viet Cong were a group full of promise on their debut EP, Cassette, and with their harder, heavier, and more powerful debut album, they're making it clear they have the talent and smarts to become a major force in Canada's indie community.

These songs puncture the gloss, so they make the greatest first impression, but that glimmer remains the reason to get lost within Ryan Adams: his blend of song and studio craft turns this eponymous album into the equivalent of a substantive, new millennial version of the Eagles' Long Run.