Best of the Golden Palominos
Artist: The Golden Palominos

More concise and user-friendly than History, The Best of the Golden Palominos is a solid collection that draws from all of the group's albums, providing a good sampler of Anton Fier's many moods, styles and shifts in direction. It's not a definitive overview, since it lacks some essential songs, but it acts as a nice introduction for the... Read More

Hot Animal Machine/Drive By Shooting - 1999 REISSUE
Artist: Henry Rollins

Hank roared out of the box with this, his first solo release after the demise of Black Flag. Recorded in England with friend and guitarist Chris Haskett, this is a less groove-oriented album than subsequent Rollins Band releases, but it is still one hell of a rock & roll record. The punishing opener "Black and White" and the cover of Suicide's... Read More

Fun 9
Artist: Takako Minekawa
Community Score: 6.00

Takako Minekawa's third full-length U.S. release Fun 9 delivers more of her inventive electronic pop, and includes collaborations with co-producers Cornelius and DJ Me DJ You, the side-project of Sukia's Craig Borrell and Ross Harris. Not surprisingly, this means that while Fun 9 retains Minekawa's playful musical vision -- evident in songs like... Read More

Under the Milky Way: The Best of the Church
Artist: The Church
Community Score: 4.50

Buddha's Under the Milky Way: The Best of the Church is a terrific, comprehensive anthology, tracing their career from their 1981 debut, Of Skin and Heart, to 1994's Sometime Anywhere. Some hardcore fans may notice some personal favorites missing, but all their best-known songs -- "The Unguarded Moment," "Tear It All Away," "Month of Sundays,"... Read More

Voodoo Dollies: The Best of Gene Loves Jezebel
Artist: Gene Loves Jezebel
Community Score: 8.33

Looked at in the cold light of day and from some years' distance, Gene Loves Jezebel would seem like the last band whose work would stand the test of time. Weird thing, though -- in all their "everything goes" exuberance, from abstract goth wailing to balls-out Sunset Strip rock, the Aston brothers, much like their labelmates in the Cult, made... Read More

What Are You Going to Do with Your Life?
Artist: Echo & the Bunnymen
Community Score: 7.65

Echo & the Bunnymen made a dignified return in 1997 with Evergreen, but that record displayed some hints of rustiness and a desire to stay hip -- two things notably absent from its superb sequel, What Are You Going to Do With Your Life? Trimmed to just the duo of Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant, Echo has succeeded where many of their peers have... Read More

Astro Lounge
Artist: Smash Mouth
Community Score: 6.56

Based on their infectious summer single "Walking on the Sun," it was easy to dismiss Smash Mouth as a one-hit wonder, since it was hard to believe that they'd be able to top that sun-kissed delight that was easily the highlight of their debut, Fush Yu Mang. Perhaps that's why their second record, Astro Lounge, feels like such a surprise, since... Read More

New Pop Sunday
Artist: Sponge
Community Score: 5.00

Ironically, Sponge got better with their second album, but their sales bottomed out, leading Columbia to drop the group not long after the promotional cycle for Wax Ecstatic was completed. Undaunted, Sponge regrouped and signed with Beyond, releasing New Pop Sunday in the spring of 1999. Picking up where Wax Ecstatic left off, New Pop Sunday... Read More

13 - BONUS DISC
Artist: Blur
Community Score: 7.00

Blur's penitence for Britpop continues with the aptly named 13, which deals with star-crossed situations, including personal and professional breakups with Damon Albarn's longtime girlfriend, Justine Frischmann of Elastica, and the group's longtime producer, Stephen Street. Building on the un-pop experiments they began on 1997's Blur, the... Read More

Furnace Room Lullaby
Artist: Neko Case
Community Score: 7.30

It would be easy to call Neko Case alt-country's answer to k.d. lang; after all, they're both from Canada, both came into country music through artier pursuits, and both blend trad-style twang with a modernist lyrical perspective. But Case also has a couple more important things in common with lang -- she has a superb voice that's as big as all... Read More