(FORTUNE Magazine) – LOU REED Ecstasy (Reprise)

On his best record since 1989's New York, the bard of Gotham grit has thankfully returned to the dark side, spouting off like a crazy street-corner prophet who's seen it all...and taken excellent notes.

ELLIOTT SMITH Figure 8 (Dreamworks)

Smith unabashedly wears his slacker heart on his sleeve, sounding like the amplified bastard son of Simon and Garfunkel. He somehow manages to avoid being annoying. No small feat.

TRAVIS The Man Who (Epic)

In the wake of Radiohead, Oasis, and Gomez, is America ready for yet another hip British band riding across the Atlantic on a tsunami of hype? And how. A moody, mellow masterpiece from Glasgow.

JOSHUA REDMAN Beyond (Warner Bros.)

Long billed as jazz's most promising--and ferocious--young lion, the Harvard-educated saxophone colossus finally delivers by showing off the best chops this side of a gourmet butcher shop.

NO DOUBT Return of Saturn (Interscope)

After her recent reign as the Betty Boop of the Top 40, Gwen Stefani reveals more than her belly button this time out--ambition. Perhaps the catchiest New Wave record since Reagan's first term.