VA Menu Of The Day The Very Best Of Thai Chill Lounge (2013)

This two-CD set collects most of Celine Dion's essential recordings from her pre-superstar years, when she was a very young French singer, popular in Canada and France. This set starts with the heavily synthesized Euro pop of the 1988 Eurovision contest winner "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi," which was the song that introduced the singer to international audiences, and is something of a milestone in her career. Many of the songs on this set are fair, and differ from the processed teen pop of the late 1990s because of the ever-present sincerity in Dion's voice. Highlights include the elegant ballads "Tellement J'ai D'amour Pour Toi," "Benjamin," and "La Voix Du Bon Dieu"; the shimmering "Avec Toi" and "Du Soleil Au Coeur"; and the anthemic "C'est Pour Vivre."

For those who don't want or can't afford to plonk out for the Toots & the Maytals' Time Tough: The Anthology, The Very Best Of provides the perfect solution, distilling down that two-CD, 41-track set to a single 19-song disc. There are a few subtle differences, however; for starters this set boasts two different versions of the band's reggae smash "54-46, That's My Number," as well as the original ska version of their Jamaican Song Festival winner "Bam Bam," unlike the anthology, which included only a later remodel. However, the "Never You Change" found on this set is not the trio's original ska hit, but a reggae-fied remake. The rest of the album pulls directly from the anthology, with the disc divided almost evenly between the trio and a solo Hibbert's pre- and post-Island career. Thus, for those who prefer the Maytals' ska and/or reggae hits, this is not the collection for you, as there are much better compilations of those periods. But for fans looking for a larger overview of both the band and Hibbert himself, this is an excellent place to start.

Although they only attained the huge success of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys for a short time in the mid-'60s, time has judged the Byrds to be nearly as influential as those groups in the long run. They were not solely responsible for devising folk-rock, but they were certainly more responsible than any other single act (Dylan included) for melding the innovations and energy of the British Invasion with the best lyrical and musical elements of contemporary folk music. The jangling, 12-string guitar sound of leader Roger McGuinn's Rickenbacker was permanently absorbed into the vocabulary of rock. They also played a vital role in pioneering psychedelic rock and country-rock, the unifying element being their angelic harmonies and restless eclecticism…

Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band, founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets (and variations thereof), was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of America and the rest of the world. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group placed nine singles in the Top 20, one of those a number one and three more in the Top Ten.

Few front men can claim to have had such a lengthy and far-reaching career as Graham Bonnet; first finding fame as part of The Marbles, enjoying a hit with the Bee Gees’ ‘Only One Woman’ in 1968; a solo career across the 70s; further success with the Bee Gees’, and the disco flavoured ‘Warm Ride’. But Graham found what was possibly his greatest success replacing Ronnie James Dio in Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow for 1979’s “Down To Earth”, and the worldwide hit singles ‘All Night Long’ and ‘Since You Been Gone’. Solo success beckoned with ‘Night Games’ and the “Line-Up” album in 1981, before briefly joining The Michael Schenker Group for 1982’s “Assault Attack”.