The closest the Beatles came to a greatest hits package, this document of the early part of their career features hit singles (in chronological order) and selected album tracks, running from "Love Me Do" through the groundbreaking Rubber Soul and Revolver albums. While this may be an excellent intro for beginners, real fans will never be content with only selections, especially when you're dealing with those aforementioned albums. Capitol packages the collection on two discs, copying the original vinyl version-but, of course, CDs hold more music than records did. Still, you do get 26 bona fide classics, so there's no real need to complain. -Bill Holdship.

Young James Morrison has "success story" written all over him. Drawing influence from soul greats like Cat Stevens, Otis Redding, and Van Morrison, debut album Undiscovered reveals this Rugby-born vocalist has the sort of world-weary voice and songwriting chops to take the Later…With Jools Holland path to mainstream success that's formerly made stars of Damien Rice, James Blunt, and former tour-mate Corinne Bailey Rae. In keeping with his soul influences, much of Undiscovered has a full, warm multi-instrumental sound neatly rendered by Martin Terefe, producer for the likes of KT Tunstall and Ron Sexsmith. "Under The Influence", a passionate upfront love song, is borne along on florid piano and Beatles-esque string arrangements, while the tear-stained "Wonderful World" matches its emotional message ("I know that it's a wonderful world/ But I can't feel it right now") with optimistic brass and cascading percussion. Album stand-outs come with "You Give Me Something" and the closing "Better Man", a solo acoustic number that really showcases the range of Morrison's voice. Purists may still baulk at the prospect of a white lad from the North of England singing soul, but the sure success of Undiscovered ought to prove that a strong voice will always be the bottom line. -Louis Pattison.

Originally released in the US 25 years ago on November 30, 1982 by Epic Records, Thriller, Michael Jackson's sixth solo album and second with producer Quincy Jones, rocketed the former child-star and lead singer for the Jackson 5 into the stratosphere of international super-stardom. Introducing the "robot" and the "moonwalk" into the international lexicon of clubland dance moves via the pulsing sounds of Thriller, Michael Jackson revolutionised all aspects of mainstream pop culture-from radio airwaves to the newly emerging art form of music videos-becoming the world's most popular entertainer in the process. The original Thriller spent an astounding 80 consecutive weeks in the American Top 10, 37 of those at No. 1. Seven of the album's original nine tracks became Top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 while individual singles from Thriller reached No. 1 chart positions in the US, the UK, France, Italy, Australia, Denmark, Belgium, South Africa, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, and Canada. Thriller made history as the first and only record to be America's top-selling album two years running (1983 and 1984). In February 1984, Michael Jackson held a record-breaking 12 Grammy nominations, going on to win eight, which stands as the record for most Grammy Awards® to be won by anyone in a single year. Seven of Michael's Grammys that year were for Thriller: Album of the Year; Record of the Year ("Beat It"); Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ("Thriller"); Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical (Thriller); Best Male Rock Vocal Performance ("Beat It"); Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ("Billie Jean"); Best R&B Song ("Billie Jean"). (Michael's eighth Grammy that year was in the Best Recording for Children-Single or Album, Musical or Spoken category for "E. [+]

There are only three stories worth knowing from the last 2,000 years of history: the life of Mohammed, the life of Jesus and the career of The Beatles. They invented all music ever. John was the best one; but Paul is-despite the knighthood and everything-still the most under-rated songwriter of the 20th century. This is the album with "Eleanor Rigby", "Here, There and Everywhere", "For No One", "I'm Only Sleeping" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" on it-but then, you knew that anyway. We presume you have this album already and you're just getting a second copy in case you lose the first. -Caitlan Moran.

With the pop sense of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks now leading the band, Fleetwood Mac moved completely away from blues and created this homage to love, Southern California-style. Each songwriter makes his or her presence known: Nicks for her dreamy, mystical reveries ("Dreams", "Gold Dust Woman:); Christine McVie for her ultra-catchy slogans ("Don't Stop"); and Buckingham for his deceptively simple pop songs ("Second Hand News", "Go Your Own Way"). "The Chain", written collectively, is the Mac at their most dramatic. But it's the ensemble playing, the elastic rhythms and lush harmonies that transform the material into classic fare. -Rob O'Connor.

The cynical may question just how many Beach Boys greatest hits albums are enough. Non-cynics, however, will appreciate what makes The Very Best Of. unique. This is the first single-disc collection to feature such a large cross-selection of hits from the group's entire career, spanning 1962's "Surfin' Safari" through to 1988's "Kokomo". All 30 tracks, spanning several label changes are probably now as identifiable as the national anthem to anyone with radio or TV access. The fact that the tracks aren't in chronological order helps make for a fresh listening experience, as does the crisp digital sound. And yet these songs-even those that are more than four decades old-always sound strangely fresh and will likely remain so as long as there are beaches, young people and that symbolic season of freedom and dreams. Perfect for those casual fans not yet ready to spring for the individual albums, The Very Best of the Beach Boys is, in many ways, a better representation of this legendary band's art than Elvis' 30 No 1 Hits and the Beatles' 1 were of the King and the Fab Four. [+]

One of ZZ Top's great gifts is its concision; even in the side-long-jam era of the 1970s, the Texans almost always fit 10 cuts on their albums. Surveying two decades of their output, Greatest Hits isn't the perfect overview you might expect, but it's still a pretty darn good driving album. The disc goes easy on the pre-Deguello stuff surveyed on their earlier best-of, and seems to digitally boost the drums on tracks like the 1975 "Tush". Still, later cuts like "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" and "My Head's in Mississippi" are full-on triumphs of this trio's very weird, very blues-drenched sensibility. -Rickey Wright.

While it's tempting to position Elbow next to the sardonic likes of Badly Drawn Boy-mainly because of their proximity to the city of Manchester and their way with an acoustic guitar-Asleep In The Back, their frighteningly competent debut album, bears not the joker's smile. Instead, it comes straight from Manchester's simmering, ugly dark side-eleven tracks of rain-sodden misery, blown up into the breed of gracefully elegiac fatalism that once formed the essence of the likes of Joy Division. The foggy psychedelic swirl and sewer-deep dub basslines might recall the prog-rock indulgences of Radiohead, but Elbow's grievances are unmistakably aired from the far end of a dole queue; "Any Day Now" veritably fidgets with small town frustration, lead singer Guy Garvey-a man with the voice of an angel and the face of a brickie-hissing "Any day now/ How's about getting out of this place/ Anyways?" over and over, a mantra of desperation. Should we take it as a given that Elbow will break out of this rut of depression and despair? Asleep In The Back is good enough to suggest so. But then, Asleep In The Back also knows that fate can be awfully cruel. -Louis Pattison.

The Beatles' last days as a band were as productive as any major pop phenomenon that was about to split. After recording the ragged-but-right Let It Be, the group held on for this ambitious effort, an album that was to become their best-selling. Though all four contribute to the first side's writing, John Lennon's hard-rocking, "Come Together" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" make the strongest impression. A series of song fragments edited together in suite form dominates side two; its portentous, touching, official close ("Golden Slumbers" / "Carry That Weight" / "The End") is nicely undercut, in typical Beatles fashion, by Paul McCartney's cheeky "Her Majesty", which follows. -Rickey Wright.

So this is where it all began. This is where Noel Gallagher first realised his vision of a band that matched the swagger of the Stone Roses to the harmonic thrill of the Beatles. It is difficult to resist this album, despite the obvious flaws. (It plods. The production is too heavy-handed. "Shakermaker" borrows its melody from a soft drink commercial. ) There is such a passion, such self-belief in these tracks, such a refusal to be overwhelmed by the odds. "Cigarettes And Alcohol" virtually defined a generation. "Supersonic" still sends a pure adrenaline rush through the listener, despite the cack-handed lyrics. "Live Forever", meanwhile, is simply fantastic-still Oasis's finest moment. [+]

Reykjavík-based noise quartet Sigur Ros are the biggest band in their native Iceland, which should say much, much more about the collective insanity of that earthquake-ridden, blizzard-beaten crag of an island than anything to do with Sigur Ros' sound. But in their music, Sigur Ros reflect all the breathtaking glory of the Icelandic wastes-a fairy-tale explosion of unhinged elemental majesty that's finally crystalised here, their debut European release. Poised somewhere between the haunting soundscapes of Labradford and the lilting Celtic falsetto of Enya, Agaetis Byrjun is a truly breathtaking listen. Frontman Jon Por Birgisson sings in a language that Sigur Ros dub Hopelandic-an otherworldly mutation of Icelandic, sung in the falsetto cadence of angels; similarly, he plays his guitar with a violin bow, opening the floodgates for brilliant waves of feedback. And while it's the opening "Svefn-G-Englar" that's Sigur Ros' defining moment to date, there's far more that Agaetis Byrjun has to offer; the pomp and flourish of a full orchestra on "Flugufrelsarinn", or the awe-inspiring near-religious mantra of "Ny Batteri". -Louis Pattison.