Time to Roll

This five-disc set was the first release in BMG's effort to present Elvis's recorded legacy in a manner befitting the most important musical artist of his time. The strategy was simple–showcase, in chronological order, remastered versions of the King's 1950s output, from his sessions with Sam Phillips at Sun Studios (where they arguably invented the very notion of rock & roll) through his 1958 Army induction. Not everything Elvis recorded in the '50s was great (just as not everything he recorded in Hollywood was rotten), but there are dozens of tracks here that, quite simply, can make a bad day seem all that much better. Which surely still makes him the king of something. Suffice it to say this is one box set that lives up to its title.

One of the finest rock & roll revival bands of the 1970s, Showaddywaddy also proved to be one of the most successful and enduring. Originally styled as a British answer to American retro-masters Sha Na Na, Showaddywaddy found themselves scooped up into the glam rock basket; indeed, at a time when rival giants Mud, Wizzard, and the Rubettes were also mining the '50s for inspiration, Showaddywaddy swept ahead with barely a glance over their shoulder. The group's run of greatest hits sounds devastatingly pure, even authentic, while further evidence of their resilience can be garnered from the fact that Showaddywaddy are regularly gigging, a full 50 years after the bandmembers first heard the music which brought them such fame.

When the Voyager space probe was launched in 1977, a gold disc was placed on board containing examples of humanity's defining cultural achievements. The spacecraft is still out there hurtling through the cosmos and has so far travelled more than six billion miles. Should it ever reach an alien civilisation, they will find on board music by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven - and Chuck Berry. If you had to define rock music by one single track, NASA's choice of 'Johnny B. Goode' was surely impeccable.