Billboard 21 November 2009

The High End of Low is the seventh studio album by Marilyn Manson. Manson first began work on the album with guitarist Tim Sköld. However, Sköld left the band when the vocalist reunited with former bassist Twiggy Ramirez. The album was produced by Manson and Twiggy (who dropped the Ramirez moniker) along with former Nine Inch Nails co-producer and keyboardist Chris Vrenna, as well as Antichrist Superstar (1996) and Mechanical Animals (1998) co-producer Sean Beavan. It was the last album to feature the band's long-time drummer Ginger Fish. The record received mixed reviews from music critics, with several publications praising it as their best album since Mechanical Animals; although others were critical of both its length and more personal lyrical themes…

Number Ones - released as The Best in some territories outside the U.S. – replaces Design of a Decade, released 14 years prior. Excepting the new song "Make Me" (hard neo-disco/funk excellence), each song here was indeed a number one hit on Billboard's various charts, though "Got 'Til It's Gone" sneaks through a side door via the Japanese charts. One number one, oddly, is missing: "So Excited," a perfectly fine 2006 single that topped the club chart. This set is more thorough with 1986-1996, too, adding Herb Alpert's "Diamonds" (which would not have been out of place on Control, given Jam & Lewis' production and Janet's precedence over Alpert's trumpet), as well as "The Best Things in Life Are Free" (with Luther Vandross), all the smashes off janet., and "Scream" (with her brother).

Tourism: Songs from Studios, Stages, Hotelrooms & Other Strange Places is the fourth studio album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, released on 28 August 1992 by EMI. Despite often being mistaken for a live album, the record was described by Roxette in its liner notes as a "tour album": the band recorded the majority of its material in numerous recording studios in-between live dates of their worldwide "Join the Joyride! Tour". The album contains three live concert recordings, while another track was recorded live in an empty nightclub in São Paulo. A further two tracks were recorded in Buenos Aires' Alvear Palace Hotel.

The Final Countdown: The Best of Europe is a compilation album by Europe, released in 2009 by Sony Music and Camden Deluxe. This album contains some songs from their debut album and albums through 1999. This album contains 36 songs with 18 on each CD. Europe is a Swedish rock band formed in Upplands Väsby in 1979, by vocalist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bassist Peter Olsson, and drummer Tony Reno. They got a major breakthrough in Sweden in 1982 by winning the televised competition "Rock-SM" (Swedish Rock Championships): it was the first time this competition was held, and Europe became a larger success than the competition itself.

Singer/songwriter Michael Bolton emerged in the mid-'80s as a major soft rock balladeer. Originally, he recorded under his real name, Michael Bolotin, turning up on RCA Records in the mid-'70s singing cover tunes and his own blue-eyed soul songs in a voice reminiscent of Joe Cocker. He then became the lead singer of Blackjack, a heavy metal band that made two albums for Polydor before splitting up in the early '80s. Looking to relaunch his career, he changed his name to Michael Bolton and signed to Columbia Records as a solo artist in 1983. Bolton's achievements include selling more than 75 million records, recording eight top 10 albums and two number-one singles on the Billboard charts, as well as winning multiple American Music Awards and Grammy Awards.

Original Album Series contains the first five albums from the mighty Dayton funk band Slave: Slave (1977), The Hardness of the World (1977), The Concept (1978), Just a Touch of Love (1979), and Stone Jam (1980). Each disc is in a thin cardboard pouch with reproductions of the original front and back sleeve designs. Since the series limits itself to five discs, the band's phenomenal sixth album – Show Time (1981) – couldn't fit, but this is a convenient way to snap up the majority of the output from one of the planet's best funk bands. Not even the two-disc The Definitive Groove Collection covers all the great singles and album cuts featured within this small box.