It's been a long, hard career for the Manic Street Preachers, from busking in Cardiff to losing a guitarist (Richey Edwards) and winning awards; but somehow the band survived. Forever Delayed is the long-overdue collection of their best songs, spanning the course of their turbulent career. This was always going to be a weak collection-not because of any shortcomings in their singles material, but because they've always been about something bigger than mere singles. They produced not so much concept albums, but albums of concept, presented as completed works of art. As such, removing any songs from their original context is to immediately weaken them. It shows their career progression clearly-from the dark places of avant-garde The Holy Bible (the Richey album) to the critical and commercial high point of the era-defining Everything Must Go (the without Richey album) and the ensuing struggle with how to proceed musically. The loss of Edwards had an obvious effect, but wasn't immediately indicative of an artistic decline. Only when they tried to revert to their roots did they come unstuck without him (2001's Know Your Enemy). Their commercial and artistic high points rarely combined, but to produce a collection from this period is to do the Manics a great injustice-even if it does have "Motown Junk" on it. -Ben Johncock.

Then a holding action while Dylan unloaded his head after his May 1966 motorcycle crash, now a nostalgia merit badge for boomers and a course in Dylan 101 for newcomers, Greatest Hits stands up remarkably well as a listening experience. Smartly programmed to ride all over any residual worries about acoustic-vs. -electric authenticity-in fact, blowing a raspberry in their face by opening with the Salvation-Army-band blast of "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35"-this best-of stacks smashes and protest anthems together in celebration of a pop star like no other before. -Rickey Wright.

Dido's debut is moulded from Sarah McLachlan's intimate soul, Sinead O'Connor's Celtic yelp, and Beth Orton's morose resolve-with all the sharp edges rounded out. Sculpted by producers Rollo (her brother) and techno-scientist Youth, No Angel is dream-pop mixed with Portishead-esque trip-hop; the results are mid-tempo ballads that would feel at home in Seal's neighbourhood. The melancholy opener, "Here With Me", incorporates acoustic rhythm guitar, fluid strings and a snare-driven tempo that simulates the slapping of rain on a windscreen. "My Lover's Gone" is ethereal and misty, sounding at once ancient and modern with its synthesised ocean sounds and seagull cries. The only clunker is "Don't Think of Me", a passive, soft-bellied cousin to Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know". These songs play out beautifully in that quiet zone between slumber and consciousness-where you can see everything behind closed eyes. -Beth Massa Dido's debut is moulded from Sarah McLachlan's intimate soul, Sinead O'Connor's Celtic yelp and Beth Orton's morose resolve-with all the sharp edges rounded out. Sculpted by producers Rollo (her brother) and techno-scientist Youth, No Angel is dream-pop mixed with Portishead-esque trip-hop; the results are mid-tempo ballads that would feel at home in Seal's neighbourhood. The melancholy opener, "Here With Me", incorporates acoustic rhythm guitar, fluid strings and a snare-driven tempo that simulates the slapping of rain on a windscreen. "My Lover's Gone" is ethereal and misty, sounding at once ancient and modern with its synthesised ocean sounds and seagull cries. [+]

Sheer Heart Attack is probably the band's first mature album, in which they married the Led Zeppelin-influenced crunch of their eponymous debut, and the sonic gimmickry and thematic ambition of its follow-up, Queen II. They then hitched the result to their strongest songwriting to date: the single, "Killer Queen," actually won an Ivor Novello award, and pointed the way forward to subsequent glories. Occasionally their desire to cover every conceivable stylistic base becomes wearying (did ragtime pastiche "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" ever seem like a good idea?), but the ambitious structures and elegant arrangements of tracks like "In the Lap of the Gods" and "Lily of the Valley" attest to a formidable and distinctive musical vision. And when they cut loose and actually rocked out ("Now I'm Here", "Brighton Rock"), few of their peers could match their power-something that many critics, alienated by Mercury's fondness for the grand gesture, nowadays mostly choose to forget. -Andrew McGuire.

These are the greatest hits of the version of Big Mac that produced Hits with a capital H! While pre-Stevie Nicks-Lindsey Buckingham versions of the group charted in the UK five times between 1968 and 1973, the post-blues-rock edition of the band reached unprecedented commercial heights beginning with "Rhiannon". It's on this 16-track solid-gold set, along with the rest of the hits up through 1988's "Everywhere". A long version of "Sara" and some bonus tracks are included for extra value. -Steven Stolder.

Queen's Greatest Video Hits 1 takes full advantage of the legendary status of "Bohemian Rhapsody", still ranked as one of the best-loved tunes of all time, and its equally legendary video. Although no one can wholly explain what Freddie's lament was about, this collection includes four mini-documentaries that attempt to unlock the mystery with limited success. The original videos to favourites such as "Someone to Love", "We Will Rock You" and "Killer Queen" are also included, as well as a new racier version of the video for "Bicycle Race". Brian May and Roger Taylor provide an optional audio commentary throughout, interspersed with edited interview snippets from the late Freddie Mercury. Unlike so many other audio commentaries where producers and artists too readily gush praise about each other, May's and Taylor's observations are both fascinating and frank. Although much of what they discuss about the making of the promos is replicated in the accompanying glossy DVD booklet, it's illuminating to hear them chat about their dislike of Dennis De Vallance's video for "Fat Bottomed Girls" (principally because the final cut focused almost exclusively on Mercury). Their stories about the making of the videos also add some much-needed panache to these basic low-budget promos. For instance, their account of the making of "Spread Your Wings", on a freezing winter day in Roger Taylor's garden, brings an added dimension to an otherwise flat video. On the DVD: Queen's Greatest Video Hits 1 reflects the limitations of pre-digital recording; much of the visual material looks tired and dated even though the original footage is now presented in 16:9 format. Closer attention has been paid to the remastering of the audio soundtrack, which includes DTS 5. [+]

Strangely for a greatest hits compilation, Green Day's International Superhits opens with two new songs recorded in 2001. "Maria" is Green Day playing to their strengths, a burst of rattling skinny tie new wave that has you itching to join the nearest mosh pit, and the cool acoustic pop of "Poprocks and Coke" is worthy of the trio's Nimrod. The implication is clear: the unfortunate diversion undertaken by 2000's Warning (where the band horrifically mutated into The Levellers) is over and now it's business as usual. Thank God for that. Although a host of skate chancers have tried to rewrite the likes of "Basket Case" and "Brain Stew", no one does punk pop better than Billie Joe and the boys. No one does it quite as intelligently either. "Longview" almost sneers at the slacker ennui it seems to embody, "Welcome to Paradise" sneaks in a cheeky steal from Dead Kennedys, and "Redundant" runs on a sublime psyche melody worth of Elliott Smith. All of which proves you don't need a potty mouth and a dull 'tude to be a real rebel-and dreadlocks and dogs on strings are a definite no no. -Ian Watson.

The Bangles' transformation from Merseybeat and garage-smart guitar band to near-definitive example of buffed-and-polished corporate popsters is one of the great rock mysteries of the '80s. What was up with that video for "Walk Like an Egyptian," anyway? Greatest Hits puts it all in perspective, tracing the curve from the post-Beatles group sneer of "Hero Takes a Fall" to the deadly earnest Susanna Hoffs showcase of "Eternal Flame. " Shortly after that ballad hit No. 1, the group split. Now unfairly remembered as little more than space fillers on turn-of-the-decade airwaves, the Bangles here make a good case for their spirit, their own songwriting gifts, and, of course, those voices. -Rickey Wright.

The great iconoclast of techno returns with a smooth, sacred and exhilarating record. Play's concoction of breakbeat rhythms, ambient mixology and inspired blues and gospel samples cry out across musical genres and histories, imparting a time-tested wisdom to beat-driven ears. Moby's devout faith-in both God and his own musical whims-give this approach a sort of legitimacy that another, less sincere artist would never have. That sincerity reverberates through the beats and instrumental eclecticism like a pulse. The soulful refrains and proclamations in "Find My Baby" and "Natural Blues" somehow nestle between straight-up dance-floor rave-ups ("Bodyrock") and melt-in-your-mouth ambience ("Inside") with an effortless grace. Moby reaches across his turntables and finds something pure-almost organic. In fact, the album feels more natural than techno is ever supposed to feel, more spiritual than DJs are supposed to be able to muster and more alive than it has any right to be. Check out the spellbinding compilation Natural Blues to hear the original source material from blues and spiritual singers such as Etta James, Vera Hall and BB King. -Matthew Cooke.

At the beginning of Time Out of Mind, Bob Dylan finds himself in the same dead-day world as on 1964's "One Too Many Mornings. " By now, though, he can't be bothered to romanticise the street and the distant dogs' barking; he can only moan about how sick he is of love, of himself. Saying it seems to give him the strength to go on, and go on he does, over 11 songs that are among his most plainspoken and musically eloquent. The reconstituted bottle-blues that sparked the early '90s acoustic masterpieces Good As I Been to You and World Gone Wrong carries over to Daniel Lanois's carefully dirty production and a groove that tops anything Dylan's done in a studio since, at least, Blood on the Tracks. No matter how lousy he feels, this is the work of a mighty, mighty man. -Rickey Wright.

Clapton caught the "unplugged" trend just at the right time, when the public was hungry to hear how well rock stars and their material could hold up when stripped of elaborate production values. Clapton himself seemed baffled by the phenomenon, especially when picking up the armload of Grammys Unplugged earned him, including Record and Song of the Year for "Tears in Heaven", the heart-rending elegy to his young son, Conor. That song and a reworked version of "Layla" got most of the attention, but the rest of the album has fine versions of acoustic blues numbers such as "Malted Milk", "Rollin' & Tumblin' and "Before You Accuse Me" that make it worth investigating further. -Daniel Durchholz.

From the first strains of the opening track "Sisters", it's clear that Betcha Bottom Dollar is not a typical debut album. But then the Puppini Sisters are not a typical pop act, at least not in the 21st Century. Their close, three-part harmonies are reminiscent of the vocal groups of the 1930s and 1940s, and particularly the Andrews Sisters. But rather than sounding like an anachronism, the Puppini Sisters merely demonstrate the timelessness of some of these songs. Betcha Bottom Dollar is fresh, fun and vibrant, blowing the dust off of cobwebby classics like "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and "Mr Sandman". Elsewhere, they also put their own unique stamp on more recent hits, with varying results. While Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" and Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" fail to get things swinging, Blondie's "Heart of Glass" and The Smiths' "Panic" are both injected with a fresh new (old?) sound. Much credit must also be given to producer Benoit Charest, who manages to employ a whole host of instrumentation and orchestration, whilst never forgetting to put the voices of the Puppini Sisters front and centre. It might be easy to dismiss the Puppini Sisters' debut as another novelty album, but their intentions and love for the style-like their voices themselves-are crystal clear. -Robert Burrow.

So is generally regarded as a peak in Gabriel's recording career, notable both for its solid set of songs and lush yet musically sound production. For Gabriel, who'd put his music in theatrical contexts ever since his days with Genesis, the modern sound of So (co-produced with Daniel Lanois) was itself a dramatic conceit that effectively played off the more organic roots of many of its songs. The album's big hit was "Sledgehammer", the English rocker's somewhat stilted take on the Stax/Volt style of rhythm and blues. Gabriel was much more powerful on his own art- rock songs, such as "Red Rain", which evoked nuclear ruin with its cascading rush of guitars and synthesizers. "Don't Give Up" is perhaps Gabriel's best ballad, with Kate Bush's heavenly second vocal enough to give anybody encouragement. But the song that best exploited So's blend of technology and soul is "In Your Eyes", a beguiling rhythmic tapestry in which Gabriel duets with Youssou N'dour. - John Milward.

Layla stands as one of a handful of pillars of classic rock. The short-lived ensemble that was the Dominos provided an outlet for Eric Clapton to vent his then unrequited (and secret) passion for the wife of his best friend, George Harrison. Romantic anguish inspired Clapton to write and collect an embroiling and interconnected song cycle. Meanwhile, latecomer Duane Allman prodded Clapton to tear it up on guitar, so as not to be overwhelmed by his even more talented foil. Of course, Clapton eventually won the hand of his lady love. And then he divorced her. Sometimes real life messes up a good plot line. -Steve Stolder.