1 RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE The Battle of Los Angeles (Epic). Because Tom Morello--who can make his guitar sound like a harmonica, a pair of turntables or a street uprising--is the most thrilling guitarist in rock today. Because rapper-singer Zack de la Rocha mixes poetry and polemics into song lyrics that would do Chuck D or Bob Dylan proud. Because in a year in which a riot of rockers copped beats from hip-hop, no other band made the rap-rock union resonate with such ferocity and intelligence.
2 THE ROOTS Things Fall Apart (MCA). This Philadelphia-based band named its CD after a novel by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe: very cool. And while other rap acts rely on canned beats, the Roots play instruments (guitars, drums, etc.), giving their work unique vibrancy and depth. Let the cartoon gangstas cater to suburban stereotypes--the Roots are keeping it real.
3 BRAD MEHLDAU Elegiac Cycle (Warner Bros.). A 29-year-old pianist who displays not only promise but accomplishment. With classical grace and jazz improvisation, he has created a masterly album about loss; virtually every track has the liquid warmth of a freshly shed tear. Moments of genius in music are rare as diamonds. This CD sparkles like a display case at Tiffany.
4 NINE INCH NAILS The Fragile (Nothing/Interscope). Into the orgy of urgently escapist pop that ruled music this year, Trent Reznor dropped this monument to loneliness and psychic angst. A powerful and creepily beautiful rock-'n'-roll album, The Fragile brought hope to alienated youth everywhere.
5 SANTANA Supernatural (Arista). Let's face it: most '60s rockers have headed out to pasture. But with a little help from his friends (Lauryn Hill, Everlast), 52-year-old Carlos Santana stayed alive by renewing the formula that once took him to the top: blues, Hendrix-style guitar work and chugging Afro-Latin rhythms. Rock history, written by lightning fingers.
6 FIONA APPLE When the Pawn... (Clean Slate/Epic). Like shards from a shattered mirror, the 22-year-old singer-songwriter's latest album glitters with reflective surfaces and sharp edges. Apple's songs, richly produced and intimately performed, explore the opposite of romance: betrayal, breakup, failure to commit. Apple has matured into more than a pop prodigy, more than a girl, interrupted. She is now, as an artist, a woman in full.
7 KIM RICHEY Glimmer (Mercury). "From the ashes some glimmer of the truth appears," sings this veteran Nashville thrush. But her wise, smoky voice doesn't languish in the ashes of self-pity or revenge. There's buoyancy and gravity, musical variety and sneaky lyric craft in this endlessly listenable set. Glimmer glows.
8 LES NUBIANS Princesses Nubiennes (Omtown). Helene and Celia Faussart, singing sisters from Bordeaux, France, boast a global sound: they take African rhythms and American soul and top them off with a cool, seductive delivery that's distinctively French. A magical musical package tour.
9 CONSTANT LAMBERT Tiresias/Pomona (Hyperion). Constant Lambert's final ballet score was roundly damned by critics at its 1951 premiere, then went unplayed for 40 years. This recording (performed by the English Northern Philharmonia, conducted by David Lloyd Jones and happily coupled with the ballet Pomona) gives a second chance to a masterpiece.