(FORTUNE Magazine) – Radiohead Hail to the Thief Capitol

Radiohead CDs should come with CAVEAT EMPTOR stickers: Fans never know if they're getting the future-shock blurps and blips of Kid A or the old guitar-shredding Radiohead who actually wrote "songs." Well, everyone can rejoice because the band decided to split the difference on this one--and compromise never sounded so great.

The Eels Shootenanny! Dreamworks

With his gigantic sunglasses, hooded sweatshirt, and crazy beard, the Eels' frontman (called E) looks a bit like the Unabomber crossed with Karl Marx. But he writes naive sunny-day ditties and howling blues benders, all of which are small-carat gems sparkling with wit and haunted by an unspoken sadness.

Freddy Cole In the Name of Love Telarc

The lesser-known brother of Nat King Cole, Freddy has a voice that is equal parts sandpaper and rose petals. On this set of boudoir ballads, the crooner locks a sultry bear hug on Boz Scaggs's "Harbor Lights" (not nearly as cheesy as you'd think) and Smokey Robinson's "Just to See Her" (every bit as seductive as you'd hope).

Archie Shepp Attica Blues Verve

The Penguin Jazz Guide calls Attica Blues one of Shepp's "worst and most ill-judged albums." Pishposh! Think of the socially conscious spoken-word interludes--it was 1972--as palate-cleansing sorbet courses between brassy blasts of jazz-funk fury and rollicking "A Train" swing.

Nicolai Dunger Tranquil Isolation Overcoat

Some might call Dunger a charlatan--a Swedish charlatan, to be precise--swaggering into our rural heartland like a carpetbagger and applying his Van Morrison-esque growl to fiddle-heavy roots music. They might be right. Nevertheless, Tranquil Isolation is quite simply one of the loveliest records of the year.