Car S.o.s.

Volume two of Hip-O's Mötley Crüe retrospective, Music to Crash Your Car To, is decidedly less impressive than its predecessor. That's not to say that the poster, essay-augmented booklet, demos, alternate mixes, unreleased track, and comic book aren't reasons enough for the average fan to run to the store…

Part of an extensive line of budget compilations from Sony, this Billy Ocean volume includes the singer's three number one pop hits – "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)," "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)," and "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car" – as well as seven other significant songs from his '80s albums for Epic and Jive. It's not particularly in-depth – it's certainly not as thorough as 2004's Ultimate Collection – but it does feature most of Ocean's big hits, which also include "Nights (Feel Like Gettin' Down)," "Suddenly," and "Love Zone." Some S.O.U.L. releases are marred by inferior live material, but this set consists of the original studio recordings.

Part of an extensive line of budget compilations from Sony, this Billy Ocean volume includes the singer's three number one pop hits – "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)," "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)," and "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car" – as well as seven other significant songs from his '80s albums for Epic and Jive. It's not particularly in-depth – it's certainly not as thorough as 2004's Ultimate Collection – but it does feature most of Ocean's big hits, which also include "Nights (Feel Like Gettin' Down)," "Suddenly," and "Love Zone." Some S.O.U.L. releases are marred by inferior live material, but this set consists of the original studio recordings.

Some classic rock reunions are driven by marketing, some driven by a desperate need to reconnect to the past, some exist merely for the music. Red Velvet Car, Heart’s first album since 2004’s Jupiter’s Darling, belongs to the latter camp: it’s music with no seeming commercial aspirations, music that is connected to the past but doesn’t strive to replicate it…

Concord release Thank You Friends: Big Star’s Third Live… and more celebrating the musical legacy of one of rock’s most influential bands – Big Star- and their legendary Third album. Experience this classic of late ’70s power pop through the prism of a collective of immensely talented fans, including members of Wilco, R.E.M., Yo La Tengo, and, of course, Big Star. Following the untimely death of Alex Chilton two days ahead of Big Star's SXSW performance in 2010, famous friends and fans came from far and wide to play the gig in his honour. Much of that spontaneous ensemble, along with other musical titans, assembled at Glendale, CA’s Alex Theatre in April 2016 to record and film an epic performance.