Best Compilations
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I admit I originally bought this album because Split Lip Rayfield had a song on it--it's never too early to teach your children about great bluegrass--but it turns out the whole thing is fantastic."
"I bought this CD to get one song: Rosie Flores doing "Red Red Robin"."
"These are fun songs for kids of all ages."
"We received it as a gift for our son's birth and now I give it as a gift to other friends."
"The preschool member of the family loves "Senor Don Gato". Thank you Bloodshot for making a kids' CD that doesn't suck!"
"Bought this YEARS ago when my kids were still little."
"I checked this out at the library and liked it so much that I bought a copy for myself."
"It sets the tone of the album, which is almost relentlessly upbeat, fun music, with just the occasional slow song like It's not easy being green, performed by Rex Hobart and the misery boys. Apart from Red red robin, perhaps the most famous songs here are Camptown races (done as an instrumental), I am my own Grandpa (sung here by the Asylum street spankers), Three billy goats gruff (narrated by Carolyn Mark) and The fox (sung by the Waco brothers)."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Track for track it's so good. Warts and all this IS the set to get."
"early Desmond Dekker."
"I find that really good reggae/ska collections are few and far between."
"A legendary figure from that prolific island (thanks much in part to his long relationship with jamaican-chinese record producer/manager Leslie Kong); his songs "007 (Shanty Town)", "Honour Your Father & Mother", and "Israelites" are probably his most well-known tunes...but this superb anthology reveals many many more classic gems!"
"Desmond Dekker was turned down in his first few attempts at breaking into the Jamaican music industry...thankfully for us he found Leslie Kong and Derrick Morgan."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I grew up in the Bay Area and sat with my radio tuned in to KPFA waiting for the weekly MR&R show as a kid."
"Classic S.F."
"The whole package the music is everything I expected to be."
"Just like I remember in high school."
"Along with "Let Them Eat Jellybeans" and "New York Thrash", this comp introduced thousands of wayward youths in the '80s (myself included) to all the great bands that comprised the underground punk/hardcore scene. Sure, I had heard some of these groups already, like Dead Kennedys, MDC and Fang, but there were a bunch of bands that I had never heard of before that were absolutely incredible like Social Unrest (over the years I sought out all of their great records--the ep and first three 12"s), Los Olvidados, No Alternative, Impatient Youth, etc. Alternative Tentacles did a cool job keeping the original aesthetic quality by repackaging the lyrics/zine into a CD-size booklet that still devotes an entire page for each band (plus a cool intro to the reissue by Jeff Bale)."
"Perhaps we are still too close to this era to recognize what a spontaneous and authentic musical phenomenon took place in the days before hardcore punk became mired in its own cliches and formulas. It would be incredible to have a reunion of these bands, not that too many of them are doing much with music these days, I imagine."
"When it was initially released in 1982, the chunky compilation of 47 bands that swept through the bleak landscape of Reaganomics was not simply a chronicle of West Coast punk, but a coming out blast from an underground movement that was not going to be silenced by the growing pop culture robotics of the new wave sound."
"unreleased tracks from the vaults and nearly 80 minutes of DIY punk spirit homegrown in the Central Valley circa 1980-1982 - go to [...] to check 'em out!"
Best Compilations
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"BOOKENDS (released in 1968) is the greatest of all Simon & Garfunkel albums, and one of the best records made in the 1960s. The Vietnam War, the assassinations of public figures, and seeing part of my city burn the previous summer during riots-- it was a lot to handle. The first side of the record ends with the sad longing and fears of Old Friends, who sit on a park bench and reminisce together. The fears and sadness of 1968 are long past, but a final memory remains: As I lay in bed early that Christmas Eve, the colored glow of tree lights seeped into my room. Off in the distance were disembodied television voices of Apollo astronauts circling the moon-- they read passages from the book of Genesis, and wished well the "people of the good Earth.""
"The Vietnam War, the assassinations of public figures, and seeing part of my city burn the previous summer during riots-- it was a lot to handle. The first side of the record ends with the sad longing and fears of Old Friends, who sit on a park bench and reminisce together. The fears and sadness of 1968 are long past, but a final memory remains: As I lay in bed early that Christmas Eve, the colored glow of tree lights seeped into my room. Off in the distance were disembodied television voices of Apollo astronauts circling the moon-- they read passages from the book of Genesis, and wished well the "people of the good Earth.""
Best Ska
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Really, really, really, really, good!"
"This music is suitable for mailbox baseball, late night rendezvous with pinball machines, and even calculus homework."
"All the songs on here are instant sing along fan favorites, the opening song is sung at the beginning of every show (unfortunately there will be no more) which just kicks off a great night of entertainment. I love how the songs tell stories and mostly in a very funny or thought provoking way."
"'Midgets With Guns' has kind of a zesty Mexican feel to it, and then picks up to faster punk riffs. Just try these guys out, music fans of everything from ska to punk to emo to hardcore will love this band, and even most pop fans would like it."
"As said in the other reviews, I to enjoyed "The Wonderful Beef" and "Full Speed Ahead(which for whatever reason is not carried by this site)" They gained a little fame for their song and music video "Jabberjaw" on Cartoon Network."
"Pain displays numerous musical styles on the album, from a Middle Eastern tone on the revenge ballad "Chuck Al Hashib" to a Spanish flavor on the title track."
"No matter how many new CDs you buy, this is the one you'll keep going back to."
Best British Alternative
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Dig Out Your Soul [2 LP][Reissue]. Just got the double 45rpm vinyl reissue of this classic."
"And to be quite honest, though I've enjoyed these early records that most Oasis fans continue to hold up as the holy grail of band, I found them to be generally kind of musically one-dimensional. Oasis is a one vocalist band, for crying out loud, banging on three or four jangely chord songs,with amps on 11 for most of those early records. In this sense, they are following a path perhaps originally layed down by The Beatles, but followed by a number of wonderful British bands who proved over the years that they were much more than just the muscial adrenaline of their youth. This wasn't the straight up rock n' roll band I had fallen in love with and these new sounds The Beatles were making just didn't do it for me at that time. Though I can't say I like it quite as much, after afew listens, "Dig Out Your Soul" picks up right where "Don't Believe The Truth" left off, but without quite as much of the Beatle derivative in it."
"That said, the tension between these two artists is so strong that it creates an amazing sonic experience almost 20 years into the band's journey. Ian Gallagher the vocal brother is channeling Lennon in this album through the filter of the familiar Oasis sound. Noel Gallagher is channeling Tommy from The Who with ghostly drum rhythms from a drummer that seems to be none other than Keith Moon himself in the bodily form of Zak Starkey. Ringo's son Zak was the Godson of Moon and learned to play drums at his feet."
"This album proves that Oasis is more than just "stadium rock," and provides modern alternative vibes that definitely are great to listen to."
"Better than most other bands best albums and that's a fact."
"There are some other good tunes in here, but a lot of the songs are very mellow, psychedelic (not what I was expecting, although it isn't necessarily a bad thing), and a little blase, with too much reverb effect on the vocals that make it sound like Liam is singing in a public restroom....or singing off key through a megaphone."
Best American Alternative
![Minutes To Midnight [Explicit]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41H0qcOUjBL._SS600_.jpg)
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The events over the last year with Chris Cornell and Chester just broke my heart."
"Great value, ships quickly and comes with Amazon digital album."
"I love the music, came on time perfectly and everything."
"It is what the description says it is, but in the end it doesn't even matter."
Best Live Recordings
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Boz has always been a great singer song writer."
"Usually I'm skeptical of live greatest hits albums, but Boz Scaggs Greatest Hits Live offers an intriguing look at the career of a successful artist who gained a larger audience by altering his approach without losing his integrity."
"outstanding cd came on time and also played great."
"Although I am a real fan and may be biased, I truly believe this is his best CD, not only because he's in such good voice, but because the band that backs him is unbelievable."
"If you love Boz Scaggs like I do, this is a must for your collection."
"My only hesitation is that I realize I enjoy the polished rich sounds coming from studio musicans, and not the improvised singing (from the back up singers) or sounds of the audience in the background."
Best Goth & Industrial
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"One of the most underrated albums of Nine Inch Nails, but I find it one of the most cohesive and with a strong personality."
"I thought this was a better album than "Year Zero"; I'm finding that I listen to this album quite a bit more than "Year Zero"."
"Head Down is great, Echoplex is awesome, and Discipline is my favorite single from the last 3 major CDs NIN has released (as in I like that song more than both The Hand The Feeds and Survivalism)."
Best Indie & Lo-Fi
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I wish that M Ward and Zooey Deschanel were my parents."
"Downloaded this album years ago, decided to purchase on vinyl and very glad I did so!"
"Bought as a Christmas present (It's what they asked for)."
"Love the cd, it's awesome!"
"My only complaint is the way she did the song "Baby, it's cold Outside. "."
"I'd prolly buy a copy for my sis or niece who appreciate different kinds of music."
Best Singer-Songwriters
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It's so good, so awesome to listen to, that I just could not pull myself away from listening to it in order to write a review. Let's face it, when having the choice between listening to a jewel of a surround disc or writing out a review, the music is going to win every time. I want to emphasize this again, as a music lover- if you love this album, if you appreciate the few in a lifetime experiences of joy when you listen to a real talent performing in front of you, get this disc for yourself."
"I bought one of these for my sister when hers got fried in her car a. number of years ago."
"The multi-channel is well done with nice separation between the vocals and the instruments for each channel."
"I got this was for my mother for Christmas she said when she was a child when she was young she just had this album and it was her favorite album ever and that it brought back a lot of memories in a few tears to her eyes when she got it."
"I can't say how much I'd like this if I were in my 20's, but as this album came out when I was indeed that age and was both relevant and well performed (and composed! If you were fortunate enough to hear and see Aretha Frankllin singing "Natural Woman" recently, you know what I mean."
"Heard a deep dive on Ms. King on EW radio and it brought back so many memories of the best album of my youth."
"What can you say about Carol King....she's one of the greatest singer songwriters of her day and she continues to still measure up to that statement."
"Great CD and it was in great condition."
Best Hardcore & Punk
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Good press."
"Smashing!"
"Love this one - even better on vinyl."
"Great great cd."
"This album does everything a punk rock album should do: Violently discuss politics, quick jab authority, and ask the same time how educated are they and how much drugs do they have in their system?"
Best New Wave & Post-Punk
![1999 [Explicit]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61dvtOA1x3L._SS600_.jpg)
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Other highlights include the bouncy "Delirious", great party dance song "D.M.S.R."
"Our birthdays were separated by 2 yrs & 2 days. Favorite from this cd,..."Lady Cab Driver"."
"This was the album that started it all for me back in the 80s."
"I will continue to purchase my music from Amazon, for this very reason."
"I'm a Prince fan every since I had a record player."
"Bought this to have it available digitally easily... it really took me back."
"I love this record as it helped create a major shift in what we heard on the radio and saw on MTV."
"Another beautiful piece of work by Prince."