First Rays of the New Rising Sun
Artist: Jimi Hendrix
Community Score: 8.53

Posthumous reconstructions of unfinished works are inherently dangerous, principally because even the most capable scholar or producer can only make, at best, an educated guess as to how the work in question would have been completed. Indeed, in dealing with some such pieces, you're sometimes lucky to get the work of the artist claimed (the... Read More

Straight on Till Morning
Artist: Blues Traveler
Community Score: 8.86

The commercial success of Four was a mixed blessing for Blues Traveler. It did give them a wider audience, but it also put them in the delicate position of pleasing their new, hook-happy fans while retaining their hardcore, jam-oriented cult following. They skillfully manage to do just that on Straight on Till Morning, the bluesy, ambitious... Read More

Fit to Be Tied: Great Hits by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Artist: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

Fit to Be Tied was intended to be the definitive Joan Jett hits package, and it nearly succeeds. Since Jett's Blackheart label only secured the rights to her first four solo albums (her most consistent work), the singles from the uneven Up Your Alley -- "I Hate Myself for Loving You" (one of Jett's best originals and biggest hits) and "Little... Read More

Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix
Artist: Jimi Hendrix
Community Score: 8.06

This compilation just misses being the perfect single-CD Jimi Hendrix anthology, and it's a crying shame because it comes so close. Its main virtue is that, in contrast to Smash Hits -- the only compilation of Hendrix's work approved by the artist -- it extends its reach past 1968. The last of the tracks come from the abortive First Rays of the... Read More

Super Hits
Artist: Blue Öyster Cult
Community Score: 8.00

For a band that was a staple of the arena rock circuit, Blue Öyster Cult didn't have that many hits -- actually, only four of their singles made the charts. Still, they had many, many songs that were played heavily on the radio, even if they didn't officially make the charts. The ten-track budget-line collection Super Hits balances the two... Read More

The Best of Cold Chisel
Artist: Cold Chisel
Community Score: 4.00

Cold Chisel started life as just another pub rock band, but it finished as one of Australia's all-time greatest acts. This disc provides the perfect retrospective of one of the seminal Australian acts of the early '80s.

Cold Chisel was a band that was able to rock hard, but it also showed a deceptive depth and perceptiveness in... Read More

Skynyrd's First: The Complete Muscle Shoals Album
Artist: Lynyrd Skynyrd
Community Score: 8.00

This may be the greatest unissued first album ever to surface from a major band. The story behind the 78 minutes of music on this CD, cut two years before their official debut album, could fill a chapter of a book. Cut primarily during late June and late July of 1971, with a quintet of 1972-vintage tracks added, they constitute the group's... Read More