Given all the things Byrne and Clark pack into Love This Giant, it's a remarkably catchy and concise set of songs featuring some of the most vibrant work that either one of them has produced.

It's a brave, compelling collection from an artist who continues to evolve in remarkable and unexpected ways.

It's weird and willfully, proudly human, a big pop album about real emotions and one of P!nk's wildest rides.

It's as fresh as any music he's ever made, and one of his very best albums.

La Futura is the best album from ZZ Top since that '80s landmark but it flips Eliminator on its head, using synthesized elements as accents, not as a skeleton.

His slight adjustments and increased restraint make this his most accessible and creative release yet.

There are instances where the lyrical content edges too close to "artsy" teenage erotic poetry, but no song is without an attractive quality, whether it's a heavenly melody, a riveting rhythm, or a boggling production nuance.

Wolf is as honest and, in a greater sense, as generous a songwriter as we have, and Mumps, Etc. may be his finest gift yet.

It's hard to complain when the results are this stunning.

Long a master of obfuscation, Fagen plays it straight on Sunken Condos, tightening his songwriting and letting his music swing, and the results are an absolute joy.

Add it all up and subtract the hype, and this one is still potent enough to rise to the top of the pile.

If you're looking for depth and escapism, there are plenty of albums out there for you to dive into and explore, but if volume and intensity are what you seek, Pig Destroyer have just the punch in the face you've been looking for.

In its own less-alien way, Luxury Problems is just as brilliant as what preceded it.

Entertainment and enrichment are provided unsparingly.

The high points are so affecting and brief as to provoke small acts of violent ebullience, like the destruction of fragile objects on shelves. But it will never tire. It's another remarkable achievement in magician-MPC interface.

Made Possible finds the Bad Plus openly wrestling with the complex interrelationship between rhythm, harmony, and improvisation (individual and collective). It offers a more inviting aural view of the group confronting these questions, and the historic weight and imposing boundaries associated with "the piano trio" in jazz.

Ten Freedom Summers is his magnum opus; it belongs in jazz's canonical lexicon with Duke Ellington's Black Brown & Beige and Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite.

Again, it's easy to name great songs that are missing, but what's here is sublime, some of the best rock & roll ever made, and the best overall Stones comp to date.

One of the most impressive albums of the home-recording era while still feeling superbly refined.

Wreck & Ruin sounds fresh as the dew and old as the hills all at once, and anyone who doubts that Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson are two of the finest natural talents in country and folk music today need only listen to this to be convinced.

Quarter Turns Over a Living Line is the group's fine and uneasy full-length debut.

With Bish Bosch, Walker creates a kind of Möbius Strip: by virtue of creating a less physical sonic landscape, he provides a way into his great trilogy on his way out of it.

Ultimately, if there's any disappointment to be had with this near-perfect album, it's that it still towers above subsequent efforts as the unequivocal climax of Rage Against the Machine's vision. As such, it remains absolutely essential.

Ultimately, on Dark Black, Train is a master at keeping us on the edge of our seats.

Cut the World is easily the most revealing Antony and the Johnsons album to date, joining material from various recordings in one extended, sublime document.

It's lengthy, but anybody who was ever wondering if there was more to 10cc than the well-worn hits will find a rousing affirmative answer here.

Our Head Technician has delivered an accomplished album for Ghost Box that only serves to enhance the well-deserved reputation of both parties.

Just by its sheer size, a box this mammoth isn't for everybody but The Complete Columbia Album Collection restores warmth, heart, and mess to an artist whose legacy was turning into a monochromatic myth.