 | Mantaray by Siouxsie
Buy new: $14.98 / Used from: $2.39 Punk's undisputed witch queen comes out swinging with a new solo record. Some very far-reaching stuff, ranging from thrashing glam rock to Edith Piaf-esque ballads to ambient dream pop songs. Just superb.
Highlights Include: "If It Doesn't Kill You", "Loveless", "Sea of Tranquility", "Here Comes That Day", "They Follow You"
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 | Volta by Björk
Buy new: $19.98 / Used from: $1.60 After making records that truly tested people's open-mindedness towards music, Bjork comes out with a slightly more accsessible record, though it's no less challenging. Ambient techno ballads and world-music flourishes abound here.
Highlights Include: "Earth Intruders", "Declare Independence", "My Juvenile", "Hope", "Innocence"
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 | Songs of Mass Destruction by Annie Lennox
Buy new: $10.99 / Used from: $1.20 Although I prefer her edgier stuff with Eurythmics, this album really clicks with me. She has one of the best voices that a woman could hope for, and it hasn't aged one bit.
Highlights Include: "Dark Road", "Sing", "Fingernail Moon", "Ghosts in my Machine", "Womankind"
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 | Necessary Evil by Deborah Harry
Buy new: $17.98 / Used from: $2.45 Suprisingly, I've never gotten a chance to listen to her solo stuff, but judging from what I've heard from this, it matches even the best of what she did with Blondie.
Highlights Include: "Two Times Blue", "Jen Jen", "School For Scandal", "Charm Redux", "Naked Eye"
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 | Zeitgeist by Smashing Pumpkins
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $2.46 When I heard that the Pumpkins were reuniting, I was a bit suprised. Then I heard this album, and I knew that it was worth it. Billy Corgan's guitar symphonies effortlessly bring back memories of the 90's.
Highlights Include: "Tarantula", "That's the Way (My Love Is)", "Doomsday Clock", "For God and Country", "Bleeding the Orchid"
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 | White Chalk by PJ Harvey
Buy new: $13.98 / Used from: $3.98 Pure bliss. PJ Harvey drops the guitar, an instrument that almost always dominated her other work, in favor of sparse, incredibly eerie piano ballads. It conjures up images of dark crypts and run-down chateaus in the Louisiana bayous.
Highlights Include: "When Under Ether", "The Devil", "Grow Grow Grow", "To Talk To You", "White Chalk"
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 | Back to Black by Amy Winehouse
Buy new: $12.99 / Used from: $5.36 Although best known for her incredibly unstable personal life, Ms. Winehouse posseses an incredible Southern-tinged voice that makes it hard to belive that she's an English white girl with a ratty black beehive and multiple tattoos.
Highlights Include: "Back to Black", "Rehab", "You Know I'm No Good", "Love Is a Losing Game", "Tears Dry on Their Own"
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 | Shine by Joni Mitchell
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $1.64 After fleeing the music business in 2002 and calling it a "cesspool", the reigning queen of confessional folk-rock releases an album that harks back to her early, less experimental days. Let's hope that she releases albums more often after this, she's too good to stay in hiding.
Highlights Include: "Big Yellow Taxi", "If I Had a Heart", "Shine", "Bad Dreams are Good", "If"
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 | Twelve by Patti Smith
Buy new: $8.98 / Used from: $3.18 Punk's poet laureate comes out with a spectacular collection of cover versions, all of them marked with her obvious artistic ability and cunning wit.
Best Songs: "White Rabbit", "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Are You Experienced?", "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", "Gimme Shelter"
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