Dirt Merchant (1999)

A superb-sounding double CD of alternate mixes and (just a few) actual alternate takes, named after the late Abbey Road engineer John Barrett, who catalogued and copied many Beatles vault tapes in the early '80s. At first glance, this appears to be a goldmine of unreleased Beatles goodies, spanning "From Me to You" to the Let It Be sessions, but read the fine print carefully. Most of the takes are in fact stereo and mono mixes that happen to be rare or commercially unavailable, not performances that are commercially unavailable. To some fans, these different mixes are revelations; to many, however, they are barely or completely indistinguishable from the familiar versions on official Beatles albums.

R.E.M. has released a new live album titled "Live from the Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury Festival, June 25, 1999." This album captures their legendary headline performance at the Glastonbury Festival in 1999. The setlist features a mix of their classic hits and newer songs, showcasing their extensive catalog and the band's dynamic stage presence. R.E.M. has released a new live album titled "Live from the Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury Festival, June 25, 1999." This album captures their legendary headline performance at the Glastonbury Festival in 1999. The setlist features a mix of their classic hits and newer songs, showcasing their extensive catalog and the band's dynamic stage presence. The performance includes iconic tracks such as "Losing My Religion," "Everybody Hurts," "Man on the Moon," and "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)." The album also highlights songs from their then-recent albums like "Daysleeper" and "The Apologist.

This lovely jazz vocalist recorded something like 150 songs for the Atlantic label alone, about a quarter of which are collected here on this double-CD set. Fans may fear a set of poor song choices with such a large number of recordings to choose from, but the songstress herself was involved in the compiling, working with an enthusiastic producer who seems to get a bigger kick out of music than anyone on the planet, Joel Dorn. This collection comes with his usual send-offs, dripping with camaraderie, and a sense of deep appreciation for the works of art he is presenting. These recordings brings us a voice with all the colors of the rainbow dropped into one swinging and well thought out instrumental combination after another. Jazz fans can listen for blowing from top-flight players such as Frank Foster, Al Cohn, Maynard Ferguson (his tracks are also recommended for dogs as well as jazz fans), Jaki Byard, Oliver Nelson, and Clark Terry. Even the mighty Mongo Santamaria is on hand. Chris Connor and her arrangers must have had pretty consistent good taste with their choice of material, because there are less lemons in the batch than one might expect skipping around through more than a dozen albums spread out over an equal number of years.~Eugene Chadbourne

Album Notes Aussie Only 3CD Box Set. 35 Remastered Tracks. GREAT is an Australian exclusive three-disc best-of set for Olivia Newton-John. "If Not For You," "Let Me Be There," and "Love Song" are among the tracks, all of which are remastered.

"The Thriller Collection" is a compilation album by Ennio Morricone, released on May 1, 1999, under the DRG Records label. This two-disc set features a selection of Morricone's thriller film scores composed between 1969 and 1984.

Released in 1999 by Startel Entertainment. Featuring 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s best singles. Features: The Hollies, The Animals, Fleetwood Mac, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Simple Minds, Lou Reed and many more.

Rhino's five-disc box set Respect: A Century of Women in Music was surely assembled with the best of intentions, but it doesn't quite work. First of all, any collection that focuses solely on "the female contribution" comes off as a little condescending, no matter how good the intentions are. Still, the concept has enough weight to make for at least an interesting listen. However, any compilation that spans nearly 100 years and every conceivable popular musical genre is bound not only to be incomplete, but too sweeping to be totally effective. The scope is impressive, as are the featured artists – think of any major female musician and they're likely to be here, unless it's Joni Mitchell (Kim Gordon and Kim Deal are also missing, as are several other similarly minded post-punk rockers and various pop and folk singer/songwriters, but no omission is as shocking as Mitchell's) – but the overall effect is somewhat bewildering.

One Hit Wonders - The Sixties is a various artists compilation album. Released in 1999 on EMI.