"Never too old to contain my rage," bellows 51-year-old Bob Mould on his new solo LP, proving it on 10 songs (in 38 minutes) blistered with blow-torch riffs. The lyrics on Silver Age echo Mould's recent memoir; "The Descent" could even be read as an overture toward a long-hoped-for Hüsker Dü reunion tour. But sugar-crusted blitzkriegs like "Keep Believing" show he's doing fine on his own.

Listen to 'Silver Age':

“All Along the Watchtower”

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."