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No Need to Argue (Island). A wondrous collection of crunching rock and dreamy ballads, heartfelt confessionals and political declarations. There's no arguing that this youthful band of Irish rockers, led by singer Dolores O'Riordan, is maturing gracefully.
9. Witold Lutoslawski
Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4 (Sony). Krzysztof Penderecki may be better known, but Lutoslawski, a composer of uncompromising integrity, was the dean of contemporary Polish composers. He died in February, but his work lives on in these splendid readings by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Particularly noteworthy is the Fourth Symphony, Lutoslawski's last and most moving orchestral essay.
10. TLC
CrazySexyCool (LaFace). The producer known to all as Babyface was everywhere this year, producing and writing hit songs for Boyz II Men, Madonna and Aretha Franklin, among others. But he's done some of his finest work with the vocal trio TLC and their latest collection of slinky, saucy R&B tunes.
...And The Worst
The Three Tenors II
To vary Marx's formulation slightly, history repeats itself -- the first time as an enchanting evening of song, the second time as an example of extreme bad taste and lazy greed. What was wonderful in Rome in 1990 was awful in L.A. as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras sight-read their way through arias and show tunes on a set that included a waterfall. And no, the Brindisi from La Traviata -- the sequel's intended Nessun dorma -- did not fly to the top of the charts.