Greatest Hits

Country Mile

Think the VIBE Awards got rowdy? Remember Charlie Rich burning the envelope when John Denver won CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1975? It was always a mistake to think of Denver's Colorado hippie sunshine, collected yet again on RCA's hyperbolic, 2-CD Definitive All-Time Greatest Hits, as country, because he was a folkie all the way. Nothing got him going like some girl whose beauty reminded him of the great outdoors. Real country, however, concerns feminine treachery and neon, and finally re-emerged as a commercial force in 1986. Alongside Steve Earle and Lyle Lovett, Randy Travis' and Dwight Yoakam's debuts that year secured the traditionalist flag planted by George Strait a few years earlier with time-tested sounds and top-notch songwriting. Travis was the straight arrow of the bunch, with an aw-shucks charm and an otherworldly tenor, Yoakam the hillbilly rabble-rouser who grew enamored of Phil Spector. For both, Rhino's elegant single-disc Very Best ofs are well-chosen and well-mixed. 1988's Diamonds & Dirt gave him five straight No. 1s, but many of Rodney Crowell's unshaven, literate songs are better-known as others' hits. Columbia's The Essential Rodney Crowell lets him reclaim "I Ain't Livin' Long Like This" and "Please Remember Me," closing with three songs from 2003's scary-good Fate's Right Hand. Johnny Paycheck's '66-'68 jukebox gold, The Real Mr. Heartache: The Little Darlin' Years (Country Music Foundation), brilliantly confines itself to three subjects: loneliness, despair, jealousy. Hard to picture John Denver doing "Pardon Me, I've Got Someone to Kill." – Christopher Gray

The Animals

"House of the Rising Sun," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" – easy, right? Go ahead, try and find a decent Animals comp. With the catalog in shambles since its Sixties heyday, a decent hits collection latter Eric Burdon FM staples ("San Franciscan Nights," "Monterey," "Sky Pilot," "Spill the Wine") with early essentials, this single disc Retrospective is worth the taxidermy.

– Raoul Hernandez

Bee Gees

Long before Madonna was the mother of reinvention, Brisbane, Australia's brothers Gibb engineered a dramatic move from the dreamy Sixties pop that broke them to the disco inferno that made them legends. Number Ones ensures that Bee Gees neophytes and fans alike get the whole spectrum of the triocs output, though the high point remains "Stayin' Alive."

– Melanie Haupt

Brian Jonestown Massacre

Interest in Brian Jonestown Massacre no longer stems from the music, but rather from the antics of frontman Anton Newcombe via documentary Dig!, which chronicles Newcombe's rivalry with Dandy Warhols singer Courtney Taylor. Tee Pee's 2-CD retrospective follows BJM's psychedelic Brit popistry through 10 years, and despite the band's reputation for fisticuffs, there is a bit of bliss here ("Wisdom," "Prozac vs. Heroin"). From chaos, comes beauty.

– Audra Schroeder

Peter Case

This decade-spanning compilation makes a case for Peter Case's being one of America's best working songwriters. From country-hits-in-waiting like "Coulda Shoulda Woulda" to melancholy lamentations like "On the Way Downtown," Case's songs stick to your soul. In addition to highlights from his Vanguard tenure, Crooked Mile features two new songs ("Wake Up Call," "My Generation's Golden Handcuff Blues") and a fiery live version of the title track.

– Greg Beets

Hall & Oates

Admit it: There's at least one Hall & Oates song you like, and chances are it's on this 2-CD comp. The duo's genre-blending mash of Motown soul and New Wave thump is all over "Private Eyes," "One on One," high school prom favorite "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)," and "Maneater." There's no denying their timelessness. Why else are we still dying to sing "Kiss on My List" at karaoke night?

– Audra Schroeder

KMD

Long before donning the Metal Face and monikers like Viktor Vaughn and King Geedorah, MF Doom, then named Zev Love X, fronted a duo called KMD along with his brother DJ Sub-Roc. Culled from two studio releases, 1991-1994, during which time Sub-Roc died in an automobile accident, The Best of KMD captures the cartoonish sarcasm of a group equally inspired by racism, Five Percent theory, and swooping upright bass.

– Robert Gabriel

Marilyn Manson

Almost lost in the pre- and post-Columbine uproar over the former Mr. Warner is the fact that his best songs – "The Beautiful People," "The Dope Show," "Disposable Teens" – mirror modern rock's craven, bloated, strung-out countenance. Good ear for covers too, of which Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" is the latest (and reportedly last). God of Fuck, we hardly knew ye.

– Christopher Gray

Blind Willie McTell

Ever wonder about the origins of one of Bob Dylan's late-period aces, "Blind Willie McTell"? If so, begin with these 71 hallowed minutes of translucent rural blues from the Twenties and Thirties, sonically restored to lullaby-like heaven. The Jimmy Scott-like vocal delicacy of this Georgia peach (1898-1959) eases the purgatory croak of his era peers. Like the Man sang, "Nobody can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell."

– Raoul Hernandez

Mekons

As bits (Fear and Whiskey) and pieces (So Good It Hurts) of the Mekons' mutinous catalog get reissued, 2-CD overview Heaven & Hell makes a damning case for these Class '77 UK lads/lasses' being the Band of their generation. The musical world-view of "Olde Trip to Jerusalem," ballroom swoon of "(Sometimes I Feel Like) Fletcher Christian" – Sally Timms' rich "Millionaire" and "Brutal" reverie. The proletariat rock of "Johnny Miner." From primitive pissings of debut "Never Been in a Riot" to the dollhouse skank of "Work All Week," via 2004's Punk Rock racket. Righteous.

– Raoul Hernandez

John Mellencamp

Better than Bob Seger with PC politics, John Mellencamp never let his farm-bred ideas of social justice get in the way of a catchy tune, and vice versa. This 2-CD set doesn't stop when the hits did, giving equal weight to later work both rootsier and more indignant. For those who just wanna rock, he does that quite well on "Crumblin' Down," "Pink Houses," and "Authority Song." Ain't that America.

– Christopher Gray

Pearl Jam

There are, essentially, two PJs: the epic grunge pioneer and the folk-inflected jam band. Evidenced on Rearviewmirror, the Seattle group shifted gears in the Nineties and never looked back. Two discs cover the spectrum, from MTV anthems ("Jeremy") to fluke hits (their cover of "Last Kiss"). It may take 33 tracks, but this collection proves that grunge can grow older even if it grows quieter.

– Matt Dentler

Seal

Like the Cure, Britpop soul singer Seal gives his singles the acoustic treatment on this 2-CD comp. Best: 1991-2004 marries the synth-pop of classics like "Crazy" with rearranged and reimagined unplugged versions, sprinkling covers of varying success (great "Lips Like Sugar," timid "Walk On By"). Programmed or acoustic, Seal managed hits with heart.

– Matt Dentler

Talking Heads

Talking Heads

With 18 of the punk/funk band's best tunes on one disc, the first-ever Talking Heads Best Of is a perfect place to start if you have none of their LPs. TNOTBITH, now expanded to two discs, is one of the reissues of the year. A live chronicle of their first four years, 1977-1981, it travels from jittery to massive, with 13 previously unreleased tracks, three rarities from a 1979 promo disc, and righteously tracing the Head's evolution into a stage monster. (Both)

– Jim Caligiuri

Travis

This collection is a treat for the fan who hasn't splashed out for B-sides and imports, with the added bonus of fleshing out the early years of the Scottish act's career. Singles runs the gamut from the melancholy of The Man Who to the cheeky cynicism of 12 Memories, maturation underscored by juxtaposing early rock ("All I Wanna Do Is Rock") with recent polish ("The Beautiful Occupation").

– Melanie Haupt

The Verve

The Verve's American legacy will forever be "Bittersweet Symphony," a post-Britpop fusion of orchestral rock twinned alongside a soaring sample from the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time." It's one of 12 essentials here (including a pair of newly excavated surprises), featuring standouts "Lucky Man," "The Drugs Don't Work," and "Sonnet," which frankly makes you puzzle why the Stone Roses' Ian Brown is still in top solo form whilst Verve's Ashcroft continues releasing self-indulgent drivel every time the rent comes due.

– Marc Savlov

X

Parented by John Doe and Exene Cervenka, Los Angeles birthed art-punk's favorite child, X. The top-heavy, 2-CD Make the Music Go Bang! covers '77-'92, with the grit of early X and the sheen of later X creating a magnetized effort that, while enjoyable, doesn't give the L.A. band their due.

– Darcie Stevens

Neil Young

Boiling the hide off Neil Young for a 77-minute bowl of roots stew according to the bottom line: "Inclusion based on original record sales, airplay, and known download history. – N.Y." Twenty opening minutes of "Down by the River" and "Cowgirl in the Sand" later – bookended by "Rockin in the Free World" and "Harvest Moon" on the backside – and you'll jones for N.Y.'s long-fabled, 927-disc archive.

– Raoul Hernandez