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Joss Stone's The Soul Sessions.

I was fortunate to hear the artist Gary Jules' latest release Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets, an absolutely wonderful artist who does a heartwrenching version of "Mad World" that was originally done by Tears for Fears. Gary Jules' other CD is Greetings From the Side. There is not a bad song on either CD. This is one CD that you cannot go wrong with. I purchased it on CD.Baby.com, a website that charges reasonable prices and generously compensates the artists.

Electric Version by the New Pornographers. It's fun, bouncy, catchy, and intelligent. Albums like this give me faith.

Soundtrack from the film Moulin Rouge.

Boulez's Mahler Third symphony on DG.

Christoph Graupner, Partitas for Harpsichord, (Vol. 2,) performed by Genevieve Soly on Analekta CD (FL 2 3164). It is performed on a modern copy of a Hass instrument (c. 1730). A sensitive performance of this sadly neglected music. Recorded in a Quebec church, it has a lovely balance between direct and ambient sound, and the 4' stop still has the proper brilliance and "bite" to it.

Pink Floyd: Dark side of the moon. We just don't create music like this anymore.

Branford Marsalis recordings: Footsteps of the Fathers and Bearden Revealed. Two excellent recordings and performances.

On Dangerous Ground, the 1952 original film soundtrack just recently released in a limited edition by Film Score Monthly magazine—although the sound can only be described as wretched and they explain in detail that filtering or "cleaning it up" would destroy the true character and psychological effect intended. This score, by the master Bernard Herrman, is soaring, brooding, tender, wrenching, and violent. If you are at all interested in classic film scores, then this is a must. Guys like John Williams and Danny Elfman can occasionally write an effective score, but no one today can write a score like Waxman, Steiner, Tiomkin, Korngold, or, above all, Herrmann.

Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen

I generally despise most of the new music released today. It is upsetting that I almost never may enjoy the anticipation of a new release by a favorite artist. It is sadder still that the few times I am still able to experience that feeling of anticipation are with respect to releases by favorite musicians that are in the twilight of their careers (ie Dylan, Neil Young). However, I love the new posthumously released Zevon album, The Wind, as well as the posthumously released Joe Strummer album, Streetcore. The final songs on each of those albums are beautiful swan songs in the most literal of figurative senses and the albums in general are very good, and both sound tremendous.

Radiohead's Hail to the Thief, A Perfect Circle's Thirteenth Step, and Tosca's Delhi9—all CDs.

Classic Records re-issue of Procol Harum's A Whiter Shade of Pale.

Murray Perahia: Schubert Piano Sonatas (D958, D959, D960)

I don't have one myself but have you seen the LP's being shown on the David Letterman show that he calls "a large CD that needs to be played on a large CD player" from some of his musical guest!

Richard Thompson's The Old Kit Bag. Thompson has gone back to a rich, unprocessed sound, and his songwriting remains excellent. His singing remains an acquired taste, which many listeners never acquire.

I'm going to pick two LPs from Robert Pollard's (of Guided By Voices) side projects that were released in 2003 as #27 and #29 in the Fading Captain Series. Number 27 Lifeguards, Mist King Urth, has Doug Gillard playing all of the instruments and Robert Pollard providing all vocals. Number 29, Circus Devils, Pinball Mars features Todd Tobias on instrumentation and noises, Tim Tobias on guitar, and Robert Pollard providing vocals. I sometimes find Robert's Fading Captain Series more interesting then the standard GBV releases, which I also like as well.

The Bob Dylan SACD "cube," at $200 or less, was an event both musically and sonically.

A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay.

Britney Spears: In The Zone

I discovered Patti Griffin!

Too often audiophiles overlook the music in their pursuit of fidelity. It's about the music first. When it is good, the format matters little. This year I loved Van Morrison's What is Wrong With This Picture. However, too bad I can't get this on reel-to-reel tape.

Thinking Plague: The History of Madness, an incredibly original blend of tight composition and vast soundscapes that sounds like Enya going over to the dark side. (Available at www.cuneiformrecords.com.) If I had to vote for something anyone else has ever heard of, it would be Radiohead's Hail to the Thief, which is a beautiful summation of their first four wildly disparate albums, from the angst of "Pablo Honey" to the earthy spaceouts of "Kid A."

let it be..naked

Beethoven's violin concerto in D on the new JVC XRCD24 series. SACD and DVD-Audio just need not apply.

Tord Gustavsen Trio's Changing Places on ECM. I have two copies of the disc. One is manifactured in the US and the other one in Germany. The German imported pressing in much better sounding than the American.

The Masked and Anonymous soundtrack, from the Dylan movie. Available on CD with a Dylan SACD sampler included, and on two different weights of vinyl—one of the most beautiful record packaging efforts I have ever seen. Great! Get it while you can.

Johnny Cash, American IV

it`s so good....

Damien Rice - 0