Widely credited with being the band who kicked off (and merged) the two sub-genres of punk-pop and geek rock, The Green Album is Weezer's attempt to wrestle back their crown from the upstart likes of Blink 182 and Wheatus. The Green Album, recorded nearly five years after their previous album, the widely ignored (but wholly excellent) Pinkerton, sees the band reunited with former Cars frontman Rik Ocasek, who produced their multi-platinum debut way back in 1994. The result is an album of catchy pop gems, more accessible than Pinkerton, and with a quicker pace and more sonic depth than Weezer. Though the high-pitched harmonies of former bassist Matt Sharp are missed (he left to focus on his own band, the Rentals), lead singer/songwriter Rivers Cuomo still has a way with an infectious hook and a sing-along chorus, especially on "Don't Let Go", "Photograph" and "Knockdown Drag Out". The album's first single, "Hash Pipe", kicks off with a bass-heavy, 70s-sounding metal riff, while "Island in the Sun" is as summery as its title suggests. At just over 30-minutes long, The Green Album may leave some listeners feeling a little cheated, but overall, this is a gem of an album, small yet perfectly formed. It is also a worthy return for a band whose influence is undeniable, if under appreciated. -Robert Burrow.

Since exploding out of Sydney, Australia in 1973, AC/DC have been at the very forefront of heavy metal. Built around the central core of Glaswegian-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young, whose brutal dual guitar assaults almost immediately set the rock world aflame, the band's awesome live battery has since passed into legend. AC/DC's stock in trade, a simplistic and uncluttered blend of fundamental rock & roll riffs and deliciously amoral licentiousness, has gradually come to exemplify the metal ideal, and the blistering stage performances captured herein show exactly why. The precision holocaust of "Highway to Hell", blazing ferocity of "Let There Be Rock" and immense triumphalism of "For Those About To Rock" are visceral sonic power incarnate. As Angus slashes forth elemental chords and struts the stage in his trademark school uniform, Brian Johnson roars himself ragged and bellows the crowd into abject submission. Mayhem has never sounded more glorious. -Ian Fortnam.

Produced by rock-rap supremo Rick Rubin, Rage Against The Machine's Renegades contains a series of cover versions whose selection seems as considered as the band's politics. And there, in part, lies the problem. Among the downright obvious there are moments of pure inspiration. They are on safest ground when rehashing hip-hop for the mosh pit: Eric B and Rakim's "Microphone Fiend", EPMD's "Housin'" and Cypress Hill's "How I Could Just Kill A Man" all rock with a furious energy. Best of all, though, is the revision of the relatively obscure "Pistol Grip Pump" by Volume 10. The bass rises and crashes like a tsunami, while Morello morphs his guitar into cheesy funk synth licks-it's as close as they'll ever get to raging against the funk, although their cover of Afrika Bambattaa's "Renegades Of Funk" comes in a close second. Elsewhere, the band's limited powers of reinvention are stripped bare when they tackle a holy grail of confrontational rock-the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man", the Stooges' "Down On The Street" and MC5's "Kick Out The Jams". On the latter, Zack makes a valiant attempt to sing (later sounding as fragile as a butterfly on a wheel on the acoustic version of Devo's "Beautiful Farm") and makes it plain that screaming like a member of the Socialist Workers Party is clearly what he excels at. Renegades is like a lesson in "how can be I down?" historical revisionism, one that sees RATM attempting to secure their legacy up among their musical heroes. They get five out of 10 for effort. [+]

Also known as the "rune" album because of the medieval symbols adorning its cover, Led Zeppelin's fourth album, released in 1971, turned them from mere superstars into giant behemoths of the rock world. On tracks like "Black Dog", "Misty Mountain Hop", and "Rock and Roll", the combination of Robert Plant's banshee wails and Jimmy Page's frenetic guitar playing forever altered the stylistic bent of hard rock music. And the foreboding "When the Levee Breaks" demonstrated that Zeppelin could indeed play the blues fairly straight if they so desired. Still, everything here ultimately took a back seat to the album's (and, ultimately, the band's) magnum opus-the expertly constructed and deftly executed classic, "Stairway to Heaven". -Billy Altman.

Tom Waits's hipster persona began to evaporate at the beginning of the 1980s, but not before he released the transitional- but eminently worthwhile-Heartattack and Vine, which contained "On the Nickel", a Dickensian tale of street life, and "Jersey Girl," a song Bruce Springsteen gave a far wider airing to on his Live 1975-1985 box set. You can hear hints of Waits's style growing more trenchant on songs like "Downtown" and the stark, bluesy title track, which contains the immortal line "Don't you know there ain't no devil / That's just God when he's drunk. " Indeed. -Daniel Durchholz.

Punk's death knell had already been called, but London Calling found The Clash fighting a heroic rear guard battle. Having shelved the no-frills heads-down thunder of The Clash and Give 'Em Enough Rope, London Calling was an extravagant benchmark. Ostensibly about the ideological and real struggles that rent British society asunder at the end of the 1970s, London Calling was couched in the language of revolutionary desperadoes. Influenced by reggae and ska, and augmented by the Irish Horns, the result was one of the most heady, celebratory rock & roll records to have come out of the punk movement. For every traditional rabble-rouser like "Rudie Can't Fail" or "Revolution Rock", though, there was a starker truth to London Calling found in "Guns Of Brixton", or a shred of poignancy in "Lost In The Supermarket" that confirmed The Clash's ideological importance to a generation. Seldom, if ever, had punk sounded so gloriously righteous, but so damn right. -Louis Pattison Bursting at the seams with creative energy, the Clash's stunning 1979 double album more than made up for the artistic and commercial disappointment of its predecessor, '78's tried-too-hard Give 'Em Enough Rope. With ex-Mott the Hoople producer Guy Stevens harnessing their sound as never before, the band yielded what proved to be the best work of their career. Bouncing from hard-rock (the apocalyptic-vision of the title track) to rockabilly ("Brand New Cadillac") to reggae ("Rudy Can't Fail") to pop (the Top Forty hit, "Train in Vain"), the Clash knocked down all musical walls and, in the process, ended the argument over punk's viability in the U. S. [+]

Though R. E. M. titled a later album Monster, this 1991 smash was the true monster, with the little Athens, Georgia, quartet graduating once and for all from its jangling independent-rock roots. The confusion Michael Stipe communicates in the catchy "Losing My Religion" and the dark-and-dreamy "Low" hit the mainstream-rock audience when it was most primed for uneasy angst. (Nirvana's Nevermind was released a few months later. ) There are also odd but successful experiments, such as ceding the opening "Radio Song" to rapper KRS-One (with Stipe playing the moaning straight man) and going peppy for the surprisingly non-sarcastic "Shiny Happy People". -Steve Knopper.

This 1975 release came smack in the middle of a long and nearly mythic career. Physical Graffiti is the last great Led Zeppelin title, recorded before the influences of the day (synthesizers, disco) ended Zeppelin's reign as the kings of loud and sexy blues-metal. Playfully experimenting with new sounds, the band blended Middle Eastern rhythms, folk-stylings, heavy blues, and deeply impassioned rock riffs into a two-disc set that sounded as if they were still enjoying their place in the rock pantheon. As sprawling and adventurous as this collection is, there are some tracks so tightly focused-so ultra-Zeppelinesque-that it's tempting to name this as a number one or number two must-have. "Trampled Underfoot" and "Custard Pie" alone are almost worth the double-disc price tag. -Lorry Fleming.

Despite the acclaim accorded Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town, this is the album that broke Springsteen into the big leagues, thanks to "Hungry Heart", then his most pointedly commercial song; it had new fans swooning but some old ones grumbling for the "poetic" Springsteen of days gone by. Not to worry-though more economical lyrically, The River had something to offer nearly everyone: There's old-time bar-room rock ("Sherry Darling"), empathetic character studies ("The River", "Stolen Car", "Independence Day"), passionate rockers ("Out in the Street"), dramatic ballads ("Point Blank"), and even a couple of good-natured goofs ("Cadillac Ranch", "Crush on You", "Ramrod"). A sprawling double-disc set, The River offers proof that Springsteen could do it all and could do it better than virtually anyone else. -Daniel Durchholz.

Crosby, Stills and Nash were already a "supergroup" before Neil Young, previously of Buffalo Springfield, joined them for this album. Indisputably one of the key albums of the immediate post-Woodstock era, Déjà vu does at times however sound a bit of a period piece. Ranging in emotion from the almost cutesy "Teach Your Children" and "Our House" to the moody, dark guitar sounds of "Almost Cut My Hair" and their version of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock", it is nevertheless an important document of the time. Young, who would go on to release the excellent After The Gold Rush later in the same year, provides the best moments with "Helpless" and the "Country Girl" medley. -Tim Perry.

With Load, Metallica takes a dramatic left turn with their music, continuing in the direction suggested by Metallica, their previous album. The songs on Load have groove; they're slower, with far fewer of the lightning-fast riffs that have been Metallica's trademark since their inception. While songs like "Ain't My Bitch" and "Wasting My Hate" are up-tempo and full of the vitriol one would expect from the quintessential heavy metal band, "2 X 4" is hard rock with a blues beat, "Hero of the Day" sounds positively mainstream, and "Mama Said" is an actual, honest-to-god ballad. While some diehard fans may find this mix unappealing, there's plenty to like about this album, including its laid-back, rhythmic orientation, and James Hetfield's characteristic growl tempered by his growing maturity as a vocalist. - Genevieve Williams.

Punk had flirted with mainstream attention before-the Clash and Sex Pistols had hits-but didn't fully advance from the underground until this pure-punk 1994 album. In singing catchy, tight rock & roll tunes-including "Longview", "Welcome to Paradise" and "When I Come Around"-Green Day sneered its way into the hearts of millions. The Berkeley, California, trio also ignited a debate: Is it selling out for punks to sign with a major record label and become multi-platinum stars? Fortunately, this band didn't seem to care as much as Kurt Cobain did. -Steve Knopper.

The debut of thundering supergroup Audioslave-featuring members of Rage Against the Machine post-Zack de la Rocha with ex-Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell-is as much curio as fascinating blend of visions. Cornell might be outnumbered, but his unmistakable holler and nihilistic imagery ensure that Audioslave, the album, recalls early Soundgarden. That's especially true since de la Rocha took Rage's signature rap and politicking with him. Still, if this is Soundgarden, it's Soundgarden set to stun. Rage guitarist Tom Morello is more of a mauler than Kim Thayil ever was-witness "Shadow on the Sun", which moves from bruising thud to psychedelic freak-out and back again-while the Rage rhythm section of Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk anchor the bottom end with pure instrumental cement. Intentionally or not, "Gasoline" bears passing resemblance to "Rusty Cage", while the sweeping "I Am the Highway" and slow-burning "The Last Remaining Light" best showcase Cornell's surprisingly New Age-y lyrical bent. Cover art by Storm Thorgerson-who gave Pink Floyd records their distinctive stamp-underscores the set's inherent celebrity. Fans of Rage and Soundgarden can raise clenched fists in unison, for Audioslave is win-win. -Kim Hughes.

All the voices in Tom Waits' head come out on this album: the growler (of course), the crooner, the preacher, the screecher, and the Vegas cheese ball. The instrumentation is equally eclectic. (Yep, that's Waits himself playing the "rooster" on the album's best song, "I'll Be Gone". ) More memorable moments: "Innocent When You Dream" (both times), the vocal howling at the end of "Blow Wind Blow", and the lovely coughing fit after "I'll Take New York. " Frank's Wild Years is the musical remains of a theatrical collaboration between Waits and Kathleen Brennan, originally staged in 1986. It contains nuggets of important practical advice, sure-"never drive a car when you're dead" (from "Telephone Call from Istanbul")-but mostly these songs are fantasy freaks. Frank's is big-time dreamer. It's a dreamy album. Sweet dreams. -Dan Leone.