Babylon A.d.

More hard-rock than heavy metal, L.A.'s Babylon A.D. get the commercial sound right on Nothing Sacred, despite the tacky cover artwork. More muscular and real than most of the pop-metal to hit the charts in recent years, one can only hope that groups like this will continue to supplant Poison-type dross. The live-wire guitars on uptempo material like "Sacrifice Your Love" and "Psychedelic Sex Reaction" owe a debt to Michael Schenker from his UFO days; lead vocalist Derek (just Derek to you) sings as if life itself depended on every note; the group delivers powerful, memorable ballads on "So Savage the Heart" (serious hit material) and "Down on the River of No Return" without resorting to power-ballad cliché; and integrates some cool banjo picking on the Aerosmith-like "Dream Train."

BABYLON A.D. is one of the few hard rock bands from the late '80s/early '90s that are still operating with all of their original members: vocalist Derek Davis, guitarists John Matthews and Ron Freschi, drummer Jamey Pacheco and bassist Robb Reid. The group formed in 1987 and to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary, BABYLON A.D. will release a new album, "Revelation Highway", on November 10 via Frontiers Music Srl.

This whopping 30-CD box set gathers together the best of Trojan's three-disc box set series. Included are the Ska, DJ, Dub, Instrumentals, Jamaican Superstars, Lovers, Producer Series, Rocksteady, Roots, and Tribute to Bob Marley volumes, each of which can be found under Trojan Box Set for their individual reviews. What's lacking here is a booklet with additional notes and information; the bulk seems to demand some extra coverage and care, yet all that's here are the original notes of each volume – only as much text as can fit on the back of the CD sleeves. From a music standpoint, however, this box is excellent; a truly diverse and comprehensive collection. Of the 500 songs, less than ten reappear on another volume, so you get a more-than-satisfying amount of music spanning the history of the Trojan label.