Various The Best Blues Album in the World... Ever! (EMI)Two-CD set with Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker etc. The title really does review itself. 9.5 (JC)

Steve Grossman Quartet with Michel Petrucciani (Dreyfus/Koch) An exciting session from this underappreciated tenorman. 9 (LD)

House of Large Sizes Idiots out Wandering Around (What Are Records?) Sounds like a punked-out version of fellow Iowa-ites Built to Spill. 8 (JC)

Classified Unpredictable (Halflife/No) A little more straight-ahead than some of the more experimental Halifax heads, but not bad. 7 (SC)

Various Riff Rock High (Sony) From Boston to Kansas, "Cleveland Rocks" to "Mississipi Queen," here's classic mullet rock as geography lesson. 7 (RB)

Kohndo Jungle Boogie (Exil/Delabel) La Cliqa boy fronts with Jee De and La Umma but shines with Odyssee. 7 (SC)

Project Orange self-titled (ViK/BMG) Radiohead: so much to answer for. 5 (CY)

Donovan Rising Again (NMC/SRI) Donovan live? Oh. And I thought he was dead. 4 (CY)

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