The measures are commercial viability, longevity and the ability to take its music to the masses without compromising punk's unbridled aggression. It has all the bases covered, and this live release, which comes with a DVD, proves it.

Together for 16 years, Green Day has outlived the Clash, the Sex Pistols, and any other band that plays whiplash three-chord rockers. The Ramones never had the commercial success Green Day realized with 2004's "American Idiot," which is still spinning off radio hits.

And "Bullet In A Bible" proves that, for good or ill, the California rockers still play full-on punk. At its best, the music is brutally forceful, especially as the band tears through most of "Idiot." But it is punk with a large dollop of arena rock thrown in, which, in large doses, means when the adrenaline rush of a full-force bashing wears off, the effect becomes tedious.

This three-disc set is beautifully illustrated and annotated in great detail, with a 40-page booklet chock full of great photos, many not published before. The 60 songs cover at least one version of everything the legend recorded during his years with Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis.

These outstanding, early country/rock numbers show the development of the Man in Black while he was in his formative stage and still just a dark shade of gray. He was refining his own, distinctive sound while his well-known stable mates, Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins, were doing the same.

Time Life passed up later versions of some of these songs that Cash re-did at Sun, opting instead for the least-dubbed recording, even leaving a couple of these classics complete with a false start or two. Wisely so, because the music made by Cash with just a guitar or very simple backing remains special, indeed.

Chris Botti has the kind of problem most people dream of having: Being one of the best in the world at what he does. The problem? Figuring out how to have all that talent packaged and marketed for the rest of his career.

Madonna returns to the music of the clubs and to co-producer/co-writer Stuart Price who worked with her on the Drowned World and Reinvention tours, recording "Confessions" in London, where dance music is a major musical force. The result is a disc that hit No. 1 driven by disco-tinged beats, though weighed down by an over-the-top production and too many mediocre songs.

Take the opening track, "Hung Up." The song rides on a rolling bass and synth lines reminiscent of Rod Stewart's disco days, and a locked-in-the-groove drum beat. But Madonna's waifish vocals and the silly lyrics will try listeners' patience. Other songs succumb to the blandness of euro-trance, drown in a wall of sound, or are just boring.

The disappointment in "Confessions" is that there is evidence of a much better disc trying to shine through. "Get Together" rides on a disco-house rhythm with less-mannered vocals, and "Let It Will Be" has a more open sound, the focus on the beats. And in the hands of quality remixers, "Isaac" would be a trance stormer.

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