#657 - Room On Fire, The Strokes

"Sounding like a group that's been on tour for nearly three years, the Strokes' second album is filled with confidence in the music department, while singer Julian Casablancas delivers a road-weary rasp up front. Highlights include the guitar solo in "I Can't Win" and the purely Strokes-tastic pop of "The Way It Is."" (real music guide)

#656 - The Soft Parade, The Doors

"The record is quite good, especially the huge hit "Touch Me" (their most successful integration of orchestration), the vicious hard rock riffs of "Wild Child," the overlooked "Shaman's Blues," and the lengthy title track, a multi-part suite that was one of the band's best attempts to mix rock with poetry." (allmusic guide)


#655 - White Blood Cells, The White Stripes

"White Blood Cells lacks some of the White Stripes' blues influence and urgency, but it perfects the pop skills the duo honed on De Stijl and expands on them. The country-tinged "Hotel Yorba" and immediate, crazed garage pop of "Fell in Love With a Girl" define the album's immediacy, along with the folky, McCartney-esque "We're Going to Be Friends," a charming, school-days love song that's among Jack White's finest work." (allmusic guide)

#654 - Moon Safari, Air

"Part after-hours/early morning comedown album and part French retro-futuristic mod pop,this 1998 album was embraced by all sides. The keyboards and basslines work out a minimal funk rhythm, while the vocoders and breathy vocals create a new genre of post-disco folk pop. A great album from beginning to end." (real music guide)


#653 - Wind & Wuthering, Genesis

"For many veteran fans, Wind & Wuthering was the last near-great Genesis album, as well as their last album to feature a progressive rock sound. The group's second (and last) album as a quartet, it features the requisite long-form songs, complete with slashing guitars, rippling synthesizers, sweeping Mellotron passages, and elegant piano parts, along with some beautifully complex and poetic lyrics." (allmusic guide)

#652 - New Morning, Bob Dylan

"1970's New Morning could very well be Dylan's most underrated album. Classics like the subtly triumphant "The Man In Me" (popularized by the Coen Brothers in The Big Lebowski), or the George Harrison-covered "If Not For You," reveal a mature and less self-conscious Dylan who seems most at home with love songs." (real music guide)