NEIL YOUNG Le Noise [Reprise Records] If nothing else, Le Noise is proof that Neil Young doesn’t need a band to raise a ruckus. The elements are simple: Young’s voice and guitar, treated with the aggressive sonic manipulation of producer Daniel Lanois. The title is a pun on Lanois’ name, but it’s perfectly apt nonetheless—Young’s electric guitar rumbles and roars, and his producer’s eerie soundscapes are dissonant and dark. The sonic... 

ERIC CLAPTON Clapton [Reprise Records] Eric Clapton has always been willing to shrug off his audience’s expectations and even its desires. Fans might prefer that he crank out one guitar-heroic solo after another, but his tendency toward taste and understatement just won’t let him do it. He abandoned the Yardbirds when they went too pop, Cream when the trio got too self-indulgent and Blind Faith when the supergroup got too popular too quickly....