A great new chapter for Donna Summer – a set that has her working with the legendary Quincy Jones as producer – who gives the whole album a very different sound! There's still plenty of the catchy, bouncy styles you'd know from Summer's late 70s work – but Jones also brings in some jazzy flair from time to time – using elements like keyboards from Greg Phillinganes or tenor from Ernie Watts to create a broader palette of color and sound than some of Donna's disco records. The rhythms change things up nicely too – reaching for a bit more than before – and titles include "Protection", which has a guitar solo from Bruce Springsteen – plus "Livin In America", "Love Is In Control", "State Of Independence", "Lush Life", and "Love Is Just A Breath Away". LP, Vinyl record album

Jr Parker gets some great help from Ray Parker – not that Ray's a family member or anything like that – he's just got a great ear for the kind of groove Jr's going for in his music! Ray produced and plays sweet guitar and keyboards on most tracks – giving the music that great Raydio bounce – which turns out to be a wonderful fit for the youthful Jr's vocals – almost styled in a Michael Jackson mode at points, but a bit deeper at other times too! Titles include "I Was Made For Dancing", "Too Young To Fall In Love", "If It's Love You're After", "Treat Me Right", "Mr Telephone Man", and "Bad Girls". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

The first full-length set from The Who – a blistering batch of rough-edged tunes that run the gamut from bluesy soul to sweeter pop to guitar-driven grinders that show an incredible amount of power – even at this early point! The album's somewhat all over the map, but in a good way – in that it already displays the rich talent the group had for many styles of music – that hard-to-peg quality that made The Who so undeniably Who-like over the years. Titles include the classics "The Kids Are Alright" and "My Generation" – plus "A Legal Matter", "Out In The Street", "The Good's Gone", "La La La Lies", "The Ox", "I'm A Man", and "It's Not True". LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe the first true moment of genius from The Who – a record that shows that the group aren't just the usual mod rockers of the time – even though they were already pretty darn great in that format! Instead, there's all these little weird bits and odd themes going on – including elements that would get expanded more fully in later concept albums, but which already have this great force here – especially packed into these short, tuneful little songs. The whole thing's wonderful – as dark as it is catchy – and titles include "Boris The Spider", "So Sad About Us", "Don't Look Away", "Run Run Run", "Whiskey Man", "A Quick One While He's Away", "I Need You", and "See My Way". LP, Vinyl record album

An incredible album – and one of the most revolutionary rock albums of the late 60s! The Who recorded this one as a tribute to mainstream radio at the time – linking together some solid stand alone tunes with shorter, wittier tracks that were recorded as commercials for products that included baked beans, acne cream, and deodorant – as well as cool announcer bits too! The end result is one of the most sonically complex records issued by a mainstream rock act of the time – sort of like The Who said "yeah, everyone's trying to copy Sgt Peppers with big arrangements, but we'll take this concept album thing in a whole new direction!" Brilliant all the way through, and with tracks that include "Armenia City In The Sky", "Heinz Baked Beans", "Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand", "I Can See For Miles", "I Can't Reach You", "Rale", "Sunrise", and "Silas Stingy". This fantastic new package features the whole album in stereo and mono – plus 26 more bonus tracks, and a 16 page booklet of new notes and photos! CD

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Beautiful later work from XTC – a record that has the group really reveling in that new pastoral sensibility they unlocked with Mummer – on songs that are more slowed down than at their start, with great use of acoustic instrumentation too – all with this well-crafted sense of songwriting that almost seems to preface some of the work to come by groups like High Llamas or Cardinal! There's so many folks who are slavish to the early years of XTC that they often miss the beauty of a record like this – a really cohesive whole that's given some superb production by Todd Rundgren in one of his best 80s moments. Titles include "Dear God", "Dying", "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul", "Big Day", "Another Satellite", "That's Really Super Supergirl", "The Meeting Place", "Summer's Cauldron", and "1000 Umbrellas". CD

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... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A massive collection of 47 songs and 18 memorable film dialog quotes! Features tracks by Led Zeppelin, Cat Stevens, Elton John, Stillwater, Fleetwood Mac, Seeds, Allman Brothers Band, Iggy & The Stooges, Yes, Jethro Tull, Beach Boys, Joni Mitchell, Little Feat, and many more! LP, Vinyl record album

Common lean, filler free late 80s Finding Forever – a set that's definitely the thematic follow up to the semi-comeback BE LP – and a solid one, with highpoints that equal Com's best work of the decade! The set is largely produced by Kanye West, with some terse, harder hitting moments, some laidback and soulful ones, and some really nice homages to Dilla and DJ Premier. Another winner from Com at a point just after he hit a late peak and was still riding high! Titles include "Start The Show", "The People", "Drivin' Me Wild" feat Lily Allen, "I Want You", "Southside" feat Kanye West, totally killer "The Game" featuring scratches by Premier (and a sound that's a total Primo tribute), "U Black Maybe", "So Far To Go" feat D'Angelo, "Break My Heart", "Misunderstood" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Includes the songs "Born On The Bayou", "Bad Moon Rising", "Centerfield", "Who'll Stop The Rain", "Rambunctious Boy", "Fortunate Son", "Lookin' Out My Back Door", "Up Around The Bend", "Almost Saturday Night (Live)", "Down On The Corner", "Bootleg (Live)", "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?", "Sweet Hitch-Hiker", "Hey Tonight (Live)", "The Old Man Down The Road", "Rockin' All Over The World (Live)", "Lodi", "Keep On Chooglin' (Live)", "Green River", "Deja Vu (All Over Again)", "Run Through The Jungle", "Hot Rod Heart", "Travelin' Band", "Proud Mary", and Fortunate Son (Live)". CD

Includes the classic hit "The Boys Of Summer" – along with "Man With A Mission", "Sunset Grill", "All She Wants To Do Is Dance", "Land Of The Living", and more! LP, Vinyl record album

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... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

Includes the hit, "Harden My Heart" and "Find Another Fool", "Critical Times", "Valerie" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

"UNIverse at War" features verses from Common. 12-inch, Vinyl record

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... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Features Pat Metheny on guitars, Steve Rodby on bass, Pedro Aznar on marimba, vibes, saxophone, and melodica, and Armando Marcal on percussion. Titles include "Have You Heard", "Slip Away", "Vidala", "Are We There Yet", and "Beat 70". CD

Sonic Youth's best ever – bringing the earlier, noisier impulses into an anthemic rock realm prefectly! This album looms as heavily over indie rock to come as just about any one album we can think of. . .shoot, just the first 2 songs do that! Perfection. Includes "Teen Age Riot", "Silver Rocket", "The Sprawl", 'Cross The Breeze", "Eric's Trip", "Total Trash", "Hey Joni", "Providence", "Candle", "Rain King" and the closing "Kissability" suite. CD

Donna Summer steps strongly into the 80s with a whole new groove – still working here with producer Giorgio Moroder, but in a way that's quite different than the electro disco the pair created in the 70s! Instead, there's more of a straighter soul vibe to the record, but one that makes more use of the kind of guitar you'd hear in Moroder's pre-disco material – often giving fuzzy fills with a slightly rockish vibe to emphasize the vocal hooks – while Harold Faltermeyer still delivers a lot of cool 80s keyboard lines! Titles include "The Wanderer", "Nightlife", "Running For Cover", "Grand Illusion", "The Wanderer", "Looking Up", and "Stop Me". LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful later work from XTC – a record that has the group really reveling in that new pastoral sensibility they unlocked with Mummer – on songs that are more slowed down than at their start, with great use of acoustic instrumentation too – all with this well-crafted sense of songwriting that almost seems to preface some of the work to come by groups like High Llamas or Cardinal! There's so many folks who are slavish to the early years of XTC that they often miss the beauty of a record like this – a really cohesive whole that's given some superb production by Todd Rundgren in one of his best 80s moments. Titles include "Dear God", "Dying", "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul", "Big Day", "Another Satellite", "That's Really Super Supergirl", "The Meeting Place", "Summer's Cauldron", and "1000 Umbrellas". LP, Vinyl record album

If you're looking to start with Siouxsie & The Banshees, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better place to start than here – as the collection brings together all the classic cuts that first made the group a legend – from their earliest, punkiest material, to the tracks in which Siouxie was starting to bring a whole new mystical style to her music! Titles include "Hong Kong Garden", "Mirage", "The Staircase", "Playground Twist", "Love In A Void", "Happy House", "Christine", "Israel", "Spellbound", and "Arabian Knights". LP, Vinyl record album

Snoop brings Doggy Style over to Geffen – also the home to the Neptunes' Star Trak, Snoop's partners for this seriously strong later effort – also working with a diverse roster of producers and vocal guests including Alchemist, Lil Jon, 50 Cent, Hi Tek, and others. Snoops laidback rhyme style sounds really great on the Neptune productions, with that glittery minimalist electro sound and the digital handclaps that meld perfectly with Snoop's hazy delivery. The the now classic status of the standout single "Drop It Like It's Hot" is pretty much all the evidence you need, but Snoop's on a real high (artistically, that is) here, and mainstream street hop is all the better for it! Other tracks include "Bang Out", "Can I Get A Flicc Witchu" feat Bootsy Collins, "The Bidness", "Let's Get Blown", "Step Yo Game Up" with Lil Jon, "Oh No" with 50 Cent, "Pass It Pass It" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

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The grand dame of hip hop soul returns – and it's hardly a growing effort, it's got some of her best work of the decade! Growing Pains is a restless set of tracks that roll from hard hitting funky soul, to laidback sophisticated jams – working with a number of producers who are all fully committed to serving her best vocal traits. We'll admit we're a bit biased towards the heavyhitters over the romantic jams, but she's really a master of both styles, and everything in between! Her voice has never sounded better – and the titles include the launching pad single "Work That", the killer "Grown Woman" with Ludacris, "Just Fine", "Feel Like A Woman", "Just Fine", "Stay Down", "Hurt Again", "Shake Down" with Usher, "Till The Morning", "Roses", "Fade Away", "Talk To Me", "Smoke", "Come To Me (Peace)" and more. CD

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A record that forever changed the face of mainstream music in the 90s – a set that showed that a group could come from the underground indie scene and manage to take over the rest of the world with a record that went on to become an instant classic for a generation! Think what you want about the overwrought legacy of Kurt Cobain's place in pop stardom, the record itself still bristles over with power and energy that get way past all the cliches that you'll find on posters and t-shirts – one of the few cases in history where stepping to a major label allowed a group like this to really hit their heights. Titles include "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Drain You", "On A Plain", "Lithium", "Polly", "In Bloom", "Come As You Are", and "Lounge Act". 2CD deluxe edition features 16 more bonus tracks, recorded live in Tokyo, Melbourne, and Amsterdam in 1991 and 1992! CD