Short Cuts

Two CDs' worth of mambo garage rarities—from '95's Traitor's Gate EP to obscure B-sides, outtakes, soundtrack offerings and some molten live cuts. A double dose of Drunk delights.

Generation X

One Hundred Punks—BBC Live In Concert

Strange Fruit

As a snapshot of Billy Idol's punk-pop prime, whether attacking Gary Glitter's "Rock On" or their own "King Rocker", this combined '78/'81 live document knocks spots off Gen X's studio legacy.

Sparks

No 1 Song In Heaven

Island

Reviled by electrophobes in its day, the reissue of this 1979 collaboration with Giorgio Moroder can now be seen as a masterstroke on the part of veteran glam duo Ron and Russell Mael. They got wise to techno-pop sooner than a younger generation who should have known better and quicker.

Fox

Fox

Cherry Red

Noosha Fox's silky warble propelled the group formed by Kenny Young (co-writer of "Under The Boardwalk") to 1975 success with catchy singles like "Only You Can" and "Imagine Me, Imagine You". A frolicsome influence on Altered Images.

Various Artists

Funky Breaks & Sampled Soul

Demon

Funk's finest years, as pilfered by recent hitmakers. Includes The Chi-Lites' "We Are Neighbours", as borrowed by Groove Armada, Jimmy Bo Horne's source material for Stereo MCs' "Connected", and Funkadelic's "Knee Deep", as half-inched by De La Soul.

Blondie

Greatest Hits

EMI/Chrysalis

The ultimate NYC art-pop band's gorgeous hits have proven deservedly durable. Why have sex when you could listen to "Rapture" or "Atomic"? Why save the world when you could take in "Presence, Dear"? Guitars, glamour and guts.

Prince Allah And Junior Ross

I Can Hear The Children Singing 1975-1978

Blood And Fire

Two Tapper Zukie-produced LPs from the mid-'70s, back to back—Prince Allah's Heaven Is My Roof and Junior Ross And The Spear's Babylon Fall. Roots reggae at its finest, with extra dub cuts.

Rating: 4 / 10