(FORTUNE Magazine) – Bruce Cockburn Anything Anytime Anywhere Rounder Records Thanks to soapbox orations like "If I Had a Rocket Launcher," Cockburn has a rep for being a sanctimonious priss--a militant, NPR version of Phil Collins. It's too bad, because whenever he unclenches his jaw, the man can deliver a great, subtle song. (See "Wondering Where the Lions Are.")

Dream Theater Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence Elektra Shifting time signatures! Ominous titles ("The Glass Prison," "The Great Debate")! A second-disk symphonie fantastique that stretches on for (ooof) 42 minutes! Here's a prolix prog-rock monolith that's guaranteed to entice all of those midnight-oil-burning Microsoft geeks for years to come.

Andre Williams Bait and Switch Norton Records Most R&B is polished to a blinding sheen these days. Motor City vet Andre Williams has the opposite approach. His salacious soul workouts are clotted with good, old-school sonic crud; sometimes the mike literally sounds as if it's daubed with griddle fat and carburetor grime.

Sloan Pretty Together Murderecords On "If It Feels Good Do It," they embrace their inner Cheap Trick. On "The Other Man," they mind-meld with Crowded House. Even though Sloan's influences are all over the place, Pretty Together is the most focused and potent disk these Nova Scotians have ever put out.

Haywood We Are Amateurs, You and I The Self-Starter Foundation If Michael Stipe were writing songs as clever, transporting, and unabashedly romantic as Haywood's "Six Stars," you might still care about R.E.M. Sadly, this samizdat triumph is the last we'll hear from Haywood: The band, originally from Philadelphia, has called it quits.