Of course the signature Paste Sampler is still there, this time with an apparently durable envelope, but what's more impressive is the expanded review section, without any ratings. At first I was disappointed, because I've spent the last two years learning how to read the Paste ratings --- I knew what a three-star rating meant and when I could dismiss it --- but almost immediately I got a smile on my face, because now the reviews actually advance an argument to tell you how to think about whether or not you might like the album, rather than simply caption the rating.

But the real sign that this change is systemic --- the first ever Paste poetry review! The book is Beth Ann Fennelly's forthcoming, the reviewer the versatile David Kirby.... Was this predictable given William Gay's recent contributions, perhaps a sign that the editors at Paste are reading good books?

All in all Paste has brought itself back from the brink of irrelevance. Almost a year ago, I was just tired of the magazine, the formula, that old-glue taste in your mouth. I had given up. I let it lapse. And only the Radiohead-inspired name-your-own-price gambit brought me back, and now I am glad of it.

Get Paste. Get stuck. This is going to be good.