(FORTUNE Magazine) – Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Nonesuch

The folks at Reprise didn't cotton to this record (they dropped the twang-rockers after it was turned in), but what do label execs know? Jeff Tweedy's lazy drawl has never been more soaked with longing, while the band spirals off in playful, experimental directions, basting his melancholy lyrics with calliope flotsam. Wilco's best since 1996's Being There.

Various Artists The Funky 16 Corners Stones Throw

Music stores are brimming with encyclopedic boxed sets of '60s and '70s soul nuggets. But none of those behemoths come close to matching the trunk o' funk on this single disk, where curios by the likes of Bubbha Thomas and the Lightmen Plus One get the spotlight. Consider it the soundtrack to the best Quinn-Martin cop show that never aired.

Patti Smith Land: 1975-2002 Arista

Armed with a torn T-shirt and a seedy arsenal of rat-a-tat stage poetry, Smith rose to fame as the Baudelaire of CBGB. Her voice is like a dare--and the punk anthem "Gloria" belongs in every record collection. Ditto for her double-disk retrospective packed with demos, live tracks, and a killer cover of--whodathunkit--Prince's "When Doves Cry."

Dirty Dozen Brass Band Medicated Magic Rope A Dope/Atlantic

If you're into the Meters, Emeril Lagasse's cooking (not acting), and watching young women flash for Mardi Gras beads--basically anything New Orleans--you'll love the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. We're pretty sure there aren't a dozen guys in the group, but their horn section alone is plenty dirty.

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Source Tags & Codes Interscope

Sporting the best band moniker in years, Austin's...AYWKUBTTOD earn their name in adrenaline and fury alone. Unleashing their squalling guitars like executioners hell-bent on a reign of rock & roll terror, they've also hatched one of the most cathartic CDs in years. How can a mere four guys crank out this much noise?