The Big 3 - 60ft Dolls
Pop/Rock, review by Douglas Wolk
Spinal Tap reincarnate: Clichéd Welsh rockers break like the wind (01/29/97)

Boys For Pele - Tori Amos
Pop, review by Cynthia Joyce
This time, not even sex can save Tori Amos. (1/13/96)

Landmarks - Clifton Anderson
Jazz/R&B, review by Andrew Gilbert
Boning up: Authoritative swinging from trombonist Clifton Anderson. (01/16/97)

Richard D. James - Aphex Twin
Pop/Rock, review by Hans Eisenbeis
Is it sound or is it music? Aphex Twin's terrific techno-trance tunes. (01/27/97)

Tone Soul Evolution- Apples in Stereo
Pop/Rock review by Andrew Hultkrans
Apples frontman Robert Schneider, a four-track whiz kid with a line in homebrew pop that draws on the Beatles, Kinks, Byrds, and most prominently, Pet Sounds/Smile-era Beach Boys, doesn't sing about anything in particular on "Tone Soul Evolution," but who cares? With melodies this memorable, lyrics are pure frosting.(11/03/97)

Vitus Tinnitus - Archers of Loaf
Pop/Rock, review by David Fenton
Archers of Loaf: Uneasy beauty from a massively underappreciated band. (01/24/97)

Life Could Be A Dream - Auntie Christ
Pop/Rock, review by Joe Heim
As the music charts float and flutter with the pristine melodies of Jewel and the pseudo-funk harmonies of the Spice Girls, the disquieting, discordant rage of Exene Cervenkova on Auntie Christ's "Life Could Be a Dream" is more than a welcome antidote. (05/30/97)

Chant d'Amour: Melodies Francaises - Cecilia Bartoli
Classical, review by Andrew O'Hehir
Unmitigated Gaul: Cecilia Bartoli tackles French art songs. (12/13/96)

The Pet Sound Sessions - The Beach Boys
Pop/Rock review by Mark Athitakis
The reworked music of "Pet Sounds" is so wondrously varied, so thrilling, so listenenable in and of itself that it's a Beach Boys fanatic's dream come true (11/12/97)

The Beatles Anthology, Volume 2 - The Beatles
Pop, review by Mark Hertsgaard
Their "new" single "Real Love" is one of the highlights of the Beatles' second Anthology CD. (3/23/96)

Odelay, Odelay - Beck
Pop, review by David Fenton
With his new album, "Odelay, Odelay," Beck proves he's more than a one-hit wonder. (6/10/96)

Lazy Line Painter Jane (EP) - Belle and Sebastian
Pop/Rock review by Nick Hornby
Belle and Sebastian, a ramshackle, cute and only occasionally fey folk-pop band from Scotland, provide a charming respite from the braying mob that is Britain these days (11/14/97)

Whatever and Ever Amen - Ben Folds Five
Pop/Rock, review by Gavin McNett
Even without the success of their new album, "Whatever and Ever Amen," Ben Folds Five's fresh, distinctive rock sound is enough reason to see them live -- although maybe not in New York. (05/01/97)

On Holiday - Tony Bennett
Jazz/R&B, review by Charles Taylor
Tony Bennett's beautifully weathered tribute to Billie Holiday. (2/6/97)

Dan Bern - Dan Bern
Pop/Rock, review by Lori Leivobich
Singer-Songwriter Dan Bern may sound like and even sing about Bob Dylan on his self-titled debut EP -- but that doesn't mean he's not sick of the comparison. Lori Leibovich talks to Bern about what it's like to be anointed the new folk king. (07/04/97)

Homogenic - Björk
Pop/Rock, review by Keith Moerer
With her fourth album, "Homogenic," Björk combines the warmth of Iceland's String Octet with Mark Bell's programmed beats on the same songs, provoking shave-headed DJs to swoon and conservatory-trained musicians to party like it's 1899. (10/02/97)

Telegram - Björk
Pop/Rock, review by Keith Moerer
Björk remix: Studio wizards turn sexy Nordic pixie into robot (01/13/97)

Share My World - Mary J. Blige
Rap/Hip-Hop, review by Laura Jamison
Mary J. Blige, the mean queen of hip-hop soul, reigns on the smooth "Share my World," but she seems to have lost heart along with her rough edges. (05/02/97)

Earthling - David Bowie
Pop/Rock, review by Gavin McNett
Ground Control to Major Tom: David Bowie goes techno on "Earthling," gets lost in space. (2/11/97)

Songs of Innocence and Experience - Billy Bragg
Pop/Rock, review by Gavin McNett
On his new "William Bloke," Billy Bragg, the loveable socialist folksinger, finally merges his political and personal sides.
Text-only version. (9/2/96)

Nico - Blind Melon
Pop/Rock, review by Hans Eisenbeis
Blind Melon's passionate farewell (12/5/96)

Live from Chicago's House of Blues - Blues Brothers and Friends
Jazz/R&B, review by Pete Golkin
With the lesser Belushi standing in for John, the old minstrel show is back -- just in time for the Clinton era, where the man himself brings home the Reagan Democrats and is known to strike the smirk-and -shades pose at his favorite House of Blues. (06/20/97)

Im/possible to Keep - Hamiet Bluiett
Jazz/R&B, review by Michael Ullman
The Old "New Thing": Baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett makes his mark blending avant garde with traditional jazz.(2/20/96)

Blur - Blur
Pop/Rock, review by Gavin McNett
With the Brit-crits on their case, Blur goes American-eclectic -- and sounds suspiciously like a bald-faced caricature of the Amerindie style (3/20/96)

Shelter - Brand New Heavies
Pop/Rock, review by Ezra Gale
Instead of pursuing the "brand new funk" they so obviously yearn to patent, Brand New Heavies have opted to take a step back in time and grab for the brass pop-star ring on "Shelter." (05/16/97)

Die Vögel - Walter Braunfels
Classical, review by Paul Festa
A forgotten composer's forgotten opera to refresh your cultural wardobe. (3/21/97)

The Pawn Shop Years - Buick MacKane
Pop/Rock, review by Gavin McNett
Buick Mackane's "Pawn Shop Years": A virtuoso performance disguised as mondo-trasho slop by under-the-hill veteran Alejandro Escovedo. (2/28/96)

Perfect From Now On - Built To Spill
Pop/Rock, review by Joe Rosenthal
They're "Perfect From Now On": Built to Spill's guitar-rock masterpiece (01/30/97)

"Razorblade Suitcase" - Bush
Pop/Rock, review by Keith Moerer
Pothead poetry for teen seductions (11/19/96)

The Coming - Busta Rhymes
Rap/Hip-Hop, review by Milo Miles
The Fugees, Busta Rhymes and Positive Black Soul take black music back from the gangstas. (5/13/96)

Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, The Ballad of Easy Rider, The Notorious Byrd Brothers - The Byrds
Pop/Rock, review by Sean Elder
Columbia's reissue of four album's from the Byrds' own "Blue Period" (1967-1970) harkens back to a time before lite rock, when the band's distinctly Southern California sound projected an optimism and sense of possibility that perfectly captured the mood of the times. (04/10/97)

Feelings - David Byrne
Pop/Rock, review by Mark Athitakis
Working hip-hop, feedback-drenched rock and even country into his trademark Latin themes, David Byrne has created his freest, most diverse and optimistic post-Talking Heads work with "Feelings." Mark Athitakis talks to Byrne about "surviving through change." (06/30/97)

Bug Music - Don Byron
Jazz/R&B, review by Milo Miles
Wacky jazz CD inspired by The Flintstones (11/13/96)

Eat/Kiss - John Cale
Pop/Rock, review by Mark Athitakis
Like some of John Cale's more experimental solo records (like "Fear" or "Music For a New Society"), "Eat" and "Kiss" conjure up a sense of both forboding and joy -- and often blurs the line between the two. (06/19/97)

Life - The Cardigans
Pop, review by Charles Taylor
The Cardigans' American debut, "Life," evokes the spark and fantasy of pop at its best. (4/6/96)

Butterfly - Mariah Carey
Pop/Rock, review by Gina Arnold
The woman may have a ruthless career plan, but Mariah Carey also has genuine pipes, and, seemingly, her finger directly on the pulse of the populace. Carey, now sure of her fanbase, divorced Mottola just in time for the release of "Butterfly," her fifth and cheesiest LP yet. (09/30/97)

A Woman & A Man - Belinda Carlisle
Pop/Rock, review by Michelle Goldberg
She may be gorgeous now, but like Madonna, Carlisle made her best music when she was chubby and funky. But beneath layers of treacly production on "A Woman & A Man," Carlisle's voice trills just as prettily as it did when she was the fabulous lead singer of the Go-Go's. (07/22/97)

Unchained - Johnny Cash
Country/Folk, review by Gavin McNett
Essential work by the master (11/7/96)

The Boatman's Call - Nick Cave
Pop/Rock, review by Sam Hurwitt
The godfather of goth lets his lyrics into the limelight on "The Boatman's Call." (3/19/97)

Time Out Of Mind - Bob Dylan
Pop/Rock, review by David Bowman
It's now been seven long, lackluster years since Bob Dylan's "Oh Mercy" -- can producer Daniel Lanois fire up the Bard a second time? Amateur Dylanologist David Bowman takes on the long-awaited "Time Out of Mind." (09/19/97)

Epiphany: The Best of Chaka Khan - Chaka Khan
Pop/Rock, review by Michael E. Ross
Sizzling tribute to a funk goddess (11/21/96)

Dig Your Own Hole - Chemical Brothers
Pop/Rock, review by Terri Sutton
With its hip-hop influenced hybrid of techno and rock, the Chemical Brothers' "Dig Your Own Hole" is dangerous enough to seduce all your sullen guitar diehards into crashing the all-night disco party. (04/09/97)

About to Choke - Vic Chesnutt
Pop/Rock, review by Joe Heim
The beneficiary of "Sweet Relief II" sings his own songs on his major-label debut. (11/11/96)

Keepers - Guy Clark
Country, review by Milo Miles
On Guy Clark's first live album of his 22-year career, the Texas songwriter reclaims his own often-covered tunes, highlighting a voice that's richer with dry, dusty creaks than ever. (04/07/97)

Classics for Moderns
Classical, review by Tim Riley
Ten new classical music recordings that even a novice will want to own. (7/15/96)

Forever: The Judy Collins Anthology -Judy Collins
Pop/Rock review by Gavin Mcnett
There's no clearer soprano in popular music, nor is there a singer who can enunciate so crisply with so much warmth. The thing to do with "Forever" is just to sit back and let the Voice wash over you (11/20/97)

Blue Train - John Coltrane
Jazz/R&B, review by Michael Ullman
Now that Blue Note has reissued John Coltrane's "Blue Train" in such excellent sound, you can hear why critics in 1957 called it a perfect recording -- and why Coltrane considered it his favorite. (04/17/97)

My Soul - Coolio
Rap/hip-hop, review by Natasha Stovall Coolio has an ear for using just the right musical spark on his knockout new album, "My Soul," jamming with samples as if they were other instruments, but never letting himself be carried by them. (09/05/97)

"Remembering Bud Powell" - Chick Corea
Jazz/R&B, review by Andrew Gilbert
Chick Corea's tribute to monster pianist Bud Powell (2/18/97)

All This Useless Beauty - Elvis Costello and The Attractions
Pop, review by Joyce Millman
Mr. Costello records the songs he wrote for his favorite singers — because they won't. (5/13/96)

The Vision Thing - Counting Crows
Pop, review by Gavin McNett
Counting Crows play it safe on their long-awaited second album.
Text-only version. (10/21/96)

200 More Miles - Cowboy Junkies
Gentle Creatures - Tarnation
Country, review by Sam Hurwitt
Sam Hurwitt mainlines the Cowboy Junkies and Tarnation. (12/2/95)

To the Faithful Departed - The Cranberries
Pop, review by Charles Taylor
On "To the Faithful Departed," the Cranberries' craftsmanship gets buried beneath a wave of socially conscious gruel. (5/6/96)

Miracle of Science - Marshall Crenshaw
Pop, review by Charles Taylor
Although out with the in-crowd, Marshall Crenshaw is a master of pop song-craft. (7/29/96)

Crescent City Soul
Jazz/R&B, review by Tony Scherman
A new four-CD box, "Crescent City Soul" digs deeply into the hot, soulful world of New Orleans r&b. (4/6/96)

The White Album - Sheryl Crow
Pop/Rock, review by Stephanie Zacharek
Contemplating the sonic blancmange that is Sheryl Crow
Text-only version. (9/30/96)

Homework - Daft Punk
Pop/Rock, review by Michelle Goldberg
Daft Punk's debut album "Homework" puts a Eurotrash gloss over fat, squishy hip-hop beats and ecstatic house crescendos, and the result is exuberant, hands-in-the-air techno. (05/29/97)

Miles Davis Box Set: five discs - Miles Davis
Jazz/R&B, review by Ezra Gale
Miles Davis Box Set: Five discs ("Black Beauty: Live at Fillmore West," "Davis at Fillmore," "Live/Evil," "In Concert:Live at Philharmonic Hall," and "Dark Magus") that verify the musical merit of Davis' heavily criticized early '70s work. (09/16/97)

Stakes Is High - De La Soul
Rap/Hip-Hop, review by Zev Borow
De La Soul's new "Stakes Is High" returns to the high cross-over ground of the rap group's breakthrough first album, "Three Feet High and Rising." (7/8/96)

Dilate - Ani DiFranco
Pop, review by Lori Leibovich
Ani DiFranco is making it the hard way — on her own. (6/3/96)

Living in Clip - Ani DiFranco
Country/Folk, review by Lori Leibovich
With more than two hours of live music, the double cd "Living in Clip" is a perfect introduction to the powerfully sexy voice and dynamic onstage aura of indie queen/feminist folkie Ani DiFranco. (05/21/97)

Hand It Over - Dinosaur Jr.
Pop/Rock, review by Gavin McNett
Joe Mascis, the Greatest Living Burnout, may still be playing with the old high school band, but he parlays his genuinely epic slackness into an oeuvre of remarkable consistency on "Hand it Over." (03/28/97)

Casanova - Divine Comedy
Pop/Rock, review by Gavin McNett
Divine Comedy's adult-pop album "Casanova" is a big-ticket, technicolor Alfa Romeo ride through a landscape of antique Eurochic, moody sensuality and unfiltered cigarettes. (10/21/97)

Dizzy Gillespie - Dizzy Talkin
Jazz/R&B, review by Michael Ullman
Wildly unexpected Latin rhythms from Dizzy Gillespie (02/04/97)

Eric Dolphy: The Complete Prestige Recordings - Eric Dolphy
Jazz/R&B, review by Milo Miles
A magnificent, new 9-CD box set by Eric Dolphy, jazz's classic modernist (1/13/96)

Times Like This - Slim Dunlap
Pop/Rock, review by Keith Moerer
Ex-Replacements guitarist's minor-league masterpiece. (12/11/96)

Evergreen - Echo and the Bunnymen
Pop/Rock, review by Mark Athitakis
For all of the drab middle-of-the-road pop "Evergreen" proffers, none of it erases any of the impact and power of what Echo and the Bunnymen accomplished back in the days of "The Cutter" and "The Killing Moon" -- but it does make it look that much more like distant history. (08/04/97)

West - Mark Eitzel
Pop/Rock, review by Richard Overton
Former American Music Club crooner Mark Eitzel still has traces of bitters in his soda on "West," but thanks in part to the appearance of Peter Buck, the fog of his obscurity is lifting. (05/08/97)

"The Drop" - Brian Eno
Pop/Rock, review by Joshua Klein
No doubt "The Drop" will sound to some like aural wallpaper peeling. But for those willing to invest the time to get to the bottom of Eno's theory, it may be his most satisfying release since 1982's epochal "On Land." (08/13/97)

EV3 EASTWEST - En Vogue
Pop/Rock, review by Laura Jameson
It's a good thing the women of En Vogue can sing as well as they do -- even with their hackneyed proselytizing, EV3 is still a joy to listen to. (07/21/97)

Cowboy - Erasure
Pop/Rock, review by Gavin McNett
On "Cowboy," synthpop duo Erasure makes every song seem like an offhand gesture -- even while continuing, against the trend, to do things the hard way. (05/05/97)