The latest offering from hip-hop’s classic backpackers brings the tour for their Full Circle album to listeners in fine form.

My biggest disappointment is that I (reflexively) bought it from iTunes, only later to find out that hard-copy releases come with a DVD. Web releases appeal to me, but I feel like a chump when I buy an album from iTunes and later find that I would have gotten bonus tracks or video footage at a brick-and-mortar music store. Apple seems to have a solution in the works, judging by recent releases by big-grossing artists such as Coldplay, but the trickle-down to smaller artists can’t come soon enough.

Enough consumerist proselytizing, back to the music. The band’s Web site states, “The crew went through the tapes of the shows, and hand selected what they felt was the creme [sic] of the crop.” They mostly succeeded.

The kind of group hip-hop Hiero does can easily turn into calamity live. It shows talent when a crew can balance the polish and timing of the studio, and the rawness of live presentation. Two tracks from Full Circle, “Heatish” and “Powers that Be,” shine with that talent. Also, “Shout it Out.”

Del tha Funky Homosapien, a favorite artist of mine, earns his salary on “At the Helm,” “If You Must,” and others. I saw Del in Orlando earlier this year, and these songs capture that energy well.

Overall, I’d give this one a B. Taken as a whole, it doesn’t have the best continuity