Third is a carefully rewarding record with enough inspired turns to entertain throughout.

This is the least fashionable album I have heard in ages, and all the better for it.

Kensington Heights matches up each spectacular moment with an equally mundane one.

While Smile may be inarguably more accessible than their previous releases, it still has enough cloaked treasures to keep the diehards interested.

Though Langhorne Slim has its delights, one would be remiss not to note its flyover country.

Elephant Shell has it all if you’re looking for youthful mistakes from a well-meaning (but again, young) band that really, really, REALLY shouldn’t let the hype go to their heads.

This album is a nice collection of songs for our fans.

We’re given a de trop of horrid synthesizers, only to be outdone by worse choruses and banal refrains.

So, if you're with indie-pop’s backward-gazing contingent, or if you prefer it when ‘achingly beautiful’ actually aches, or if you want an example of style-versus-substance as a false dilemma--then get this record.

Pyramids would serve as a helluva soundtrack to a dream I once had, a lucid dream around age 10 wherein I woke up within the dream, realized I was in a dream, and acted accordingly. Super accordingly.

The only thing keeping The Death Set from being remarkably original is the repetition of Siera’s beloved drum machine.

I’m deflated again, as all Gonzalez does with this blank canvas for electronic experimentation is cycle two chords over and over with a little synth sprinkled on top.

Where Newcombe’s music once sounded fresh and lively, his political message both controversial and effectual, on My Bloody Underground his music is neither fascinating nor engaging.

While Pfeffer’s lyrics are engaging, they’re sometimes inaccessible in delivery. Despite this, So Embarrassing is an interesting personal take on prog rock’s roots, and therefore quite a step in the right direction.

On Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, rock, country, blues, and post-punk rhythms meld with Cave’s lyrics on sex, death, God, and America to create what could be one of his most perfect albums yet.

Ghosts I-IV is a clear step forward while still managing to stay true to what NIN traditionally ought to sound like and represent.

This album is an embarrassment of riches.

Antidotes is really a pleasurable record that found itself displaced by its worn-out, second-hand clothing

Do It! is rarely dull. Uninspired? Yes. But it’s never dull.

Although the production isn’t what it would be if my dreams were made reality, Rabbit Habits is a respectable re-creation with chops cookin’ allova the place.

This album is a must for Decemberists’ fans and even a fairly pleasant diversion for casuals, but Colin Meloy Sings Live! is exactly that and nothing more: a few interesting veers among a bunch of Decemberists songs stripped of their playful pretentiousness.

The result is a cache of songs that are somewhat transposable with one another, but they’re undeniably well-crafted pieces of music, let alone psych-pop.

R.E.M. do sound like a band again, but they don’t sound like a band very much apart from their peers.

So, caveat auditor: this album is deep and often rich, but it definitely wants, even requires, you to pay attention.

So, while this compilation retrospective may be aimed at completists, there is plenty going on here to satisfy even the most casual listener.

Let it also be said that Jemima Pearl’s voice has improved in a myriad of ways; throughout Be Awkward, she wails, rally-cries, and (especially on 'Becky') croons with a range of emotions that were bereft in previous recordings. If there’s one thing Be Awkward has in common with BYOP’s first effort, it’s the fact that it runs a bit long.

A bit more polished, a little more cohesive, and a bunch more bizarre, but all still an attempt at reinventing rock ‘n’ roll from the inside out.

A Mad & Faithful Telling, however, comes off as their most focused and researched work yet, incorporating traditional and pop culture aspects without getting cluttered or seeming like they’re trying too hard to find a niche.