Reg. of Laws of The Arab. Gulf S.1 '93

20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Burt Bacharach collects a dozen mostly instrumental versions of some of the pop composer's best-known works, including "The Look of Love," "What the World Needs Now Is Love," and "I Say a Little Prayer." The lush '60s arrangements make this album a collection of retro mood music of the highest order, but anyone expecting a distillation of The Look of Love box set – i.e., a collection of the definitive vocal performances of Bacharach's songs – from this compilation will be disappointed. Still, the album delivers first-rate instrumental pop, reaffirming that Bacharach's music works equally well with or without vocals.

A posthumous collection of all of the Wonder Stuff's singles from 1987 to 1993, plus a cover of Slade's "Coz I Love You" from a charity compilation, If the Beatles had Read Hunter…the Singles is both a fine starting point and, for most, all the Wonder Stuff they'll ever actually need. Albums one and three, 1988's The Eight-Legged Groove Machine and 1991's Never Loved Elvis, are solidly entertaining (in wildly differing styles) throughout, but the rest of the group's output was fairly inconsistent. However, in the classic Brit-pop tradition pretty much all of the band's very best material, from the Kinks-like, music hall-style tune "The Size of a Cow" to the manic buzz of "Give Give Give Me More More More," was released as singles. There are a couple of iffy inclusions, particularly the frankly terrible version of Tommy Roe's "Dizzy," recorded in collaboration with British comedian Vic Reeves, but overall, this is a solid, completely representative overview. Those whose curiosity is stoked would do well to buy The Eight-Legged Groove Machine next.

This collection features rerecorded versions of some of the Manhattan Transfer's best-known songs, including classics like "Embraceable You," "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" as well as their inspired reworking of Weather Report's "Birdland."

This collection features rerecorded versions of some of the Manhattan Transfer's best-known songs, including classics like "Embraceable You," "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" as well as their inspired reworking of Weather Report's "Birdland."

The McCoys' first two albums, Hang on Sloopy and You Make Me Feel So Good, were combined on one CD by Repertoire Records in the early '90s. 30 tracks, both of their first two LPs plus five rare bonus cuts salted with the hits Hang on Sloopy; Fever, and You Make Me Feel So Good. The most comprehensive retrospective of one of the great American '60's Pop bands.

After building a reputation as being a concept-record mastermind and releasing four highly-realized conceptual works under The Dear Hunter name, frontman Casey Crescenzo has taken the path of the original 70’s proggers: he’s gone back to basics.
Comparisons aside, you’d be hard-pressed to find another recent album that sounds like Migrant. Although the record is mostly filled with shorter songs that do not share any particular thematic or conceptual space, the songs and arrangements themselves are still rich and unique. The end result is a fine and diverse record of standalone tracks that mostly work, but sometimes display growing pains from Crescenzo’s transformation from concept album maestro to songwriter…