Wingspan could be the collection that finally gives Wings the respect that they've long been due. Some people are wary of Wings simply because knocking them is the done thing. Others are dubious because they've actually tried listening to London Town or Red Rose Speedway all the way through. It's a truism that without a vociferous writing partner, Paul McCartney's sense of quality control could be rather lax, but it's easy to overlook how many fine tracks he and Wings produced from 1970 to 1983, the period covered on Wingspan. Compiling 40 of them on a two-CD set is a smart move-it allows you to purchase pretty much every post-Beatles McCartney song you could ever possibly want, all at once. The hits crowd together on the first disc, while the second cherry-picks album tracks and oddities; forget the inevitable "Mull of Kintyre", let "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Waterfalls" and "Back Seat of My Car" remind you of just what Paul McCartney could always do when he tried. -Taylor Parkes.

Having nearly exhausted their capacity for pop-song politics on War and The Unforgettable Fire, U2 turned toward themes of personal identity and complex relationships on The Joshua Tree. Not that the group was willing to come down off the barricades entirely: "Mothers of the Disappeared" and "Bullet the Blue Sky" turned a jaundiced eye toward Central America and the United States's role there. But the predominant mood here is one of self-discovery and the hunger for something more on tracks like the pulsating "Where the Streets Have No Name" and the gospel-ish "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". The album's masterstroke, however, is "With or Without You", a nasty love song dressed up as an ode of devotion and care. It ranks with the Police's "Every Breath You Take" as the most misread smash hit of the 1980s. -Daniel Durchholz U2 have made a lot of grand music, but 1987's graceful, powerful Joshua Tree stands as their masterwork. It is by turns moving, inspiring, and exhilarating. Each member contributes his best work, and each song shines. Would that all rock records were made with the same care, the same passion and invention. The ubiquitous opening salvo of "Where the Streets Have No Name," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and the tense "With or Without You" may define this album to many, but its real strengths lie in the brilliant second half: "Red Hill Mining Town," "Trip Through Your Wires," and the surging "One Tree Hill" (the latter being one of rock's-hell, all music's-truly finest moments). [+]

One of rock's most overlooked masterpieces, this third album by the L. A. folk-rock outfit led by inscrutable singer-songwriter Arthur Lee sounds as fresh and innovative today as it did upon its original release in 1968. With David Angel's atmospheric string and horn arrangements giving the work a conceptual underpinning, Lee explores mainstream America's penchant for paranoia ("The Red Telephone") and violence ("A House is Not a Motel") with songs that are as sonically subtle and lilting as they are lyrically blunt and harrowing. Add two gems by Love's secret weapon, second guitarist Bryan Maclean ("Alone Again Or" and "Old Man") and you've got one of the truly perfect albums in rock history. -Billy Altman.

Bruce Hornsby is now best known for his stints playing keyboards with the Grateful Dead and for his involvement in such post-Dead projects as the Further Festival. An incomparable keyboard wizard whose skills are widely admired while his albums are consistently underrated, Hornsby's greatest commercial success is slipping rapidly into the past. His 1986 debut, The Way It Is (recorded with his band, the Range) is the high watermark of his career commercially, having sold several million copies and spawned a trio of hit singles, including "Mandolin Rain," "Every Little Kiss," and of course, the No. 1 smash, "The Way It Is. " Overall, it's Hornsby's most tuneful album, though not necessarily his most accomplished work. His is a catalog that is long overdue for reevaluation. -Daniel Durchholz.

On The New Fellas, Wakefield brothers The Cribs come on like Pavement if they'd been born in Northern England, raised on caffeine and cigarettes, and spat out into the world with a song in their hearts. And, it would seem, a chip on their shoulders: listen to the opening "Hey Scenesters!", a rowdy take-down of trend-chasers that sees frontman Gary Jarman sneering "Did you see his clothes?/ Everyone said he looked like a mess, yeah…" over some neat, choppy New York punk guitar strokes. In all honesty, The Cribs aren't light years from the current rock hierarchy: the likes of "Mirror Kissers" and "We Can No Longer Cheat You" barrel along in a neat simulation of The Strokes' metronomic rhythm and stabbing guitar lines - although there's no faulting those broad accents. What they do have, however, is an endearingly caustic wit that elevates them above many of their straight-faced peers. Who knows, though - the hipsters might just hear a line like "Take drugs!/Don't sleep!/ Have contempt for those who read!" and miss the irony altogether. -Louis Pattison.

The youthful faces that stare out from the cover of this latest collection of singles from Irish rockers U2 suggests that the focus of the album is, perhaps, their lauded yet under-represented early days. A quick glance through the tracklisting shows that not to be the case, however. There are examples of their rawer 80s sound - "Pride", "I Will Follow", "New Year's Day" - but where, older fans may well ask, are songs like "The Electric Co", "Gloria", "I Threw A Brick", "Fire" from Boy and October? Similarly, songs like "With Or Without You", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Where The Streets Have No Name" were on The Best Of 1980-1990, whilst "Beautiful Day", "One", "Mysterious Ways" and "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of" were all on The Best Of 1990-2000. U218 does have the advantage of featuring more recent tracks, including their collaboration with Green Day, "The Saints Are Coming" and a new song, "Windows In The Skies". Whilst dedicated followers of the band may see this as a missed opportunity to offer fans some genuinely rare gems, it still remains a collection of mighty pop music masterpieces. -Danny McKenna.

Garage-rock? The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' second album demonstrates that if this New York art-school trio were ever anything to do with the stripped-down, lo-fidelity rock ethic, it was strictly by coincidence. Rather, Show Your Bones marks this band out as true 21st Century new-wavers, their sound filled out with gleaming layers of guitar and a dynamic that bucks and coils with devious ambition under vocalist Karen O's gasped, orgasmic yowl. True, like Fever To Tell, Shake Your Bones opens with a snarl and an surfeit of fiery rock-out gumption-see single "The Golden Mile" and "Phenomena", Karen chanting "Something like a phenomenon/You're something like a phenomenon" over crunchy, distorted stomp. But gradually, the album softens to yield emotional secrets. "Cheating Hearts" commences with a triumphant Nick Zinner fanfare apparently cribbed straight from the Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant", but blossoms out into a passionate love song that flits between swooning poignancy and elatory triumph, while the hushed "Warrior" belies Karen and Nick's genesis as a singer-songwriter duo-at least until it rears into life like a rattlesnake, Karen letting loose gleeful kung-fu chops atop slices of choppy guitar. A second album that, far from feeling difficult, comes across as almost effortless in its excellence. -Louis Pattison.

There had to have been doubts, after Rilo Kiley lead girl Jenny Lewis' successful solo sojourn with the Watson Twins (2006's sumptuous, acclaimed Rabbit Fur Coat album), that she would ever come home to roost. There was no obvious need-she was the recognisable face of the band as it was, and had gone on to distil Rilo Kiley's sharp-witted alt-country pleasantry down to its roots and add an irresistible wholesomeness, the grace of a bygone age. But we find her back fronting Rilo Kiley, if only to prove that she's an indie diva on the rise and can wear any boot she sees fit. And here, on Under The Blacklight, we find her in sequinned disco boots ("Breakin' Up" is like something off Bright Eyes' Digital Ash album if the benchmark were Donna Summer's back catalogue), 60s girl group heels (the crying out for its own dance "Smoke Detector"), legwarmers ("Dejalo" is a low-light Gloria Estefan/Madonna-esque strut) and the old fashioned tan suede we were used to (the gorgeous "Close Call" should satisfy anyone who fell in love with "It's a Hit" from their last record). It's quite a distinct upturn in style for the band who forge on with steely determination, perhaps at the expense of the soft skinned appeal of More Adventurous, but ensuring that there's enough momentum to see them safe for a few years yet. -James Berry.