#861 - Infidels, Bob Dylan

"Infidels was the first secular record Bob Dylan recorded since Street Legal, and it's far more like a classicist Dylan album than that one, filled with songs that are evocative in their imagery and direct in their approach. This is lean, much like Slow Train Coming, but its writing is closer to Dylan's peak of the mid-'70s, and some of the songs here -- particularly on the first side -- are minor classics, capturing him reviving his sense of social consciousness and his gift for poetic, elegant love songs." (allmusic guide)

#860 - Zooropa, U2

"Picking up where Achtung Baby left off, Zooropa delves heavily into U2's newfound affection for experimental music and dance clubs. While the title track marries those inclinations to the anthems of The Joshua Tree, most of the record is far more daring than its predecessor." (allmusic guide) (Blogger's note: I hadn't thought about this album in years until making this post. "Lemon" and "Stay" are two excellent, excellent songs)

#859 - End of the Summer, Dar Williams

"This could be Dar Williams' best effort yet. Her friends and fans from back in the day might well disagree, since it's also her slickest and most rocking, and old fans tend to get all disgusted when songwriters stop sounding as raw as they did before they learned how to make records." (allmusic guide) (Blogger's note: "Are You Out There" is my favorite Dar song, just for the fact that it's about radio DJ's)

#858 - Straight Outta Compton, N.W.A.

"Without question one of the most influential LPs of all time. N.W.A.'s '88 classic introduced Compton to the world and sparked a Gangsta Rap revolution that continues to this day. Dre's beats are astonishing, and the mic is slaughtered on every track." (real music guide)

#857 - The Missing Years, JOhn Prine

"Prine took five years between his ninth studio album and this, his tenth -- enough time to gather his strongest body of material in more than a decade. From the caustic "All the Best" to the cliche compilation "It's a Big Old Goofy World," Prine's gifts for emotional revelation and off-the-wall humor are on display in abundance." (allmusic guide)

#856 - Drum Hat Buddha, Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer

"Although gifted on banjo, guitar, fiddle, organ, and mandolin, the duo has placed a premium on the songwriting, with considerable payoff. "Tillman Co." details the ordinary terrors of rural working-class life, "Gentle Arms of Eden" evokes a mystical gospel vision, and "Ordinary Town" offers one of the best opening lines heard this year--"Common cool, he was a proud young fool in a kick-ass Wal-Mart tie"--and then somehow sums up the mysteries of small-town life." (amazon editorial review) (Blogger's note: This was the last release from the duo before Dave Carter's untimely passing.)