friends) can mix and mingle with rap, turntablism, trip-hop, and--of course--tongue-in-cheek humor. And while this idea may sound original, its name came straight from an episode of Chris Elliott's short-lived sitcom Get a Life . Elliott--the goofball writer and cameo guest for David Letterman--springs up a few times on the disc in the form of a few vocal samples, but mostly this show is centered around the guests: Encore provides the disc's best rap on "Waterworld," Grand Puba and Sadat X (from Brand Nubian) perform "Once Again" on top of a sample of Three Dog Night's "Old Fashioned Love Song," and DJ Shadow does his usual magic with the 1200s on "Holy Calamity." Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto), Mike D., Sean Lennon, Alec Empire, and even Father Guido Sarducci are...  (less)

West Virginia cave. Adopted by the family of the town's vet, Edgar--as he comes to be known--actually goes on to acquire an education and even falls in love with the vet's daughter, all the while struggling to keep his blood thirst under control. Things end tragically--unsurprisingly, interspecies romance is still battling considerable prejudice in this country. Composer-lyricist Laurence O'Keefe came up with catchy songs that owe a lot to late 1960s and early '70s rock musicals such as Godspell and even The Rocky Horror Show . Skillfully walking the thin line between over-the-top camp and actual emotion, O'Keefe has written a wonderful little musical that cleverly deals with issues of difference and community values. As weird as it sounds, we foresee quite a future for Bat Boy in amateur pr...  (less)

shouts, lofty cries, and rumbling, emotional singing that seems to have the power to move mountains. The group stick to their well-known "mother" theme (their first hit was the mind-blowing "I Can See Everybody's Mother, But I Can't See Mine" in 1949) on these two early '70s LPs, issued here as one CD. No less than three songs mourn the death of a matriarch--the bluesy, brilliant standby "Alone and Motherless," the moody, slow-tempo "When I Lost My Mother," and the revved tearjerker "Goodbye Mother." The group singing is tight, the tempo and material varied, the minimal percussion perfectly complementary, the guitar playing subtle, sparse, beautiful. But the real treat is when the five singers wind each other up, like a spinning top, into ecstatic realms of ent...  (less)

unbridled ecstasy of the phenomenon known as the circuit party. Features the massive international hits "It Just Won’t Do" by Tim Deluxe, "Shiny Disco Balls" by Who Da Funk, "Shine On Me" by Praise Cats and "The Beat Goes On" by Bob Sinclar as well as circuit favorites from Linda Clifford, DJ Disciple, Divine, Funk Project and more. Vol. 1 also includes the current Top 10 Billboard Dance Chart hit "Shake It" by Marascia. The hottest circuit hits and an undeniably sexy cover boy make Circuit Boy Vol. 1 a must-have for any fan of gay dance music!  (less)

poster/lyric sheet. Originally released in April 1992, "Check Your Head" was a milestone for Beastie Boys on multiple levels and on the strength of now-classic singles and videos 'So What'cha Want', 'Pass The Mic', 'Gratitude' and 'Jimmy James', "Check Your Head" stormed the U.S. Top 10, ultimately returning Beastie Boys to hard-touring, platinum-selling status, and setting the band up for the pop cultural dominance it would achieve in the decade to come.  (less)

else--Jimi Hendrix was one fine blues guitarist. Combining the fluid lines of B.B. King with the spikiness of Hubert Sumlin and the crying tone of Elmore James with his usual synapse-frying intensity, Hendrix manages to both honor the music tradition while remaining uniquely himself. These studio outtakes and warm-ups (plus one previously released track, the magnificent "Hear My Train a Comin'") include a playful "Mannish Boy," the slow burn of "Once I Had A Woman," and a metallic "Bleeding Heart." --Steven Mirkin  (less)

Boy and a Thin White Duke. He went on to invent synth-pop with Tony Visconti and Brian Eno and then disappeared behind the make-up of Pierrot when the New Romantics mixed all of his eras together. And then, he became a truly global megastar in the 80s. This collection contains four UK No. 1s, 15 Top 10, six Top 20 and 14 Top 75 hits; 338 weeks of UK chart history. But David Bowie could never be contained by statistics alone: any collection that contains Starman, The Jean Genie, Fame, "Heroes", Sound and Vision, Ashes To Ashes, Under Pressure and Let's Dance spells it plainly - this is a collection of some of the greatest and best-known music of the 20th Century by one of its very finest performers. 57 tracks in total. EMI. 2005.  (less)

differences be fended off for long? But, of course, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and the boys had a juggernaut on their hands, generating a dozen top 10 hits in their initial eight-year spurt. Selected Works: 1972-1999 gathers all the highlights from the group in all of its '70s and early '80s glory on three discs, dubbed "The Early Years," "The Ballads," and "The Fast Lane." The handsome box is fleshed out with a live disc from New Year's Eve 1999. With striking packaging, extensive liner notes, and a surplus of vintage photos, Selected Works is a suitable retrospective on a band that defined the California sound and took it easy, and, in the process, took it to the limit. --Steven Stolder  (less)

the trenchant nature of bubbly-on-the-surface pop tunes such as the U.S. Top 20 single "Perfect Way" ("You want a margin of error for two") and "The Word Girl" ("The girl was never real / She stands for your abuse"). With veteran Aretha/Dusty/Bee Gees cohort Arif Mardin on board for several cuts, and contributions by pop subversives such as Fred Maher and Robert Quine, Cupid remains a classic of hyperintelligent post-new-wave pop funk. --Rickey Wright  (less)

1994-2004, and collects the very best of her Atlantic years on one essential disc. Highlights include a pair of #1 Billboard® pop hits Have You Ever and the GRAMMY®- winning The Boy Is Mine the #1 R&B hits I Wanna Be Down and Baby, the MTV Movie Award-winning song Sittin Up In My Room, the 2004 Kanye West-produced Top 40 hit Talk About Our Love, and much more.  (less)

best and forge a riveting selection of sacred material ("I’ll Go To Church Again With Momma" and "Bring It To Jesus") as well as heart-breaking ballads like the title track —every offering created with the ease of master craftsmen.  (less)